Thomas Varghese

@Tero Vallas @varunmehndiratta

@Kalahari

@Vanessa8580

The drive started with the most beautiful sunrise.

I would love to support your convoy @Ale Vallecchi. Got to learn support too. So let me start with the PROFESSOR

Very soon people from Guinness Book of Records will be contacting you for max no of PCR tests taken by an individual.

Angela @Foxtrot Oscar, you have only one miracle in your bag? I'm waiting for miracle too

I can give up my place for you as I already have a drive confirmed in the same day evening. @Ale Vallecchi you can drop me.

@Frederic I know a shop in SHZ road which used to sell analogue films. You can call them. His name his Fahim. ‎0 50 194 9516 and shop telephone number is ‎0 4 338 9234. Its near to Hashtag cafe. Forgot the name of the shop. They repair cameras and sell 2nd hand gear too. I bought my Canon 5D Classic from them. By the way they do the analogue film processing too.

congrats @Nithin Vaidir. Well done.

Am I in now?

My light doesn't reflect from the bonnet not produces much whistling sound. For a light bar, bumper maybe considered a better option for the installation as it doesn't interfere with the air flow into the engine. I choose the overhead installation as I was afraid these big lights may disrupt a part of the airflow into the engine bay. Be careful not to hit any steps inside the desert for your light bar to take the aerial route.

It can never happen without someone involved in the bank's IT dept doesn't authorize it. Dubai Police will take care of these cheaters.

That's the fun. The feeling you get when your skid plate rams the ridge and you feel the jolts transmitting through the chassis to the body. Why do you want to miss that? I love that.

As a previous banker myself kindly note that these fraudulent transactions are mostly possible with someone inside the bank initiating it. Kindly file a police case and all these silly reasons for the delay in investigation by the bank is over ruled and you get your money back in a couple of days. A client of mine got scammed for 800000 AED once he got a payment for a contract on the same day without any OTP. The victim got the shock of his life when he went to withdraw money for paying out his sub contractors the next day. The bank gave him 180 days or 6 months for investigation and no guarantee of money back. He was in tears and discussed the matter with me where upon I suggested him to file a police complaint. The police arrested the scammer within hours and the money was returned to his account same day. Don't under estimate Dubai Police. They are smart and have the means and ways to help you in times of need like this.

@Wrangeld to drive behind you as second lead closer to your car is not at all problem for me as your car always lets out a cry before getting a refusal when climbing up which I can hear and adjust my momentum. But @Lorenzo Candelpergher's Rubicon is so powerful that he can slow down and then power up just like that and a poor Xterra coming behind him lands up in trouble if I don't keep enough distance for me to gain momentum and found myself suspended on a crest twice yesterday. The Rubicon deceives my perception because of its abilities. After crossing both of you are almost same as you both just disappear in a flash. Either ways it is always fun driving behind you.

1st of all during night drive the pace is reduced so u can keep closer to the car in front of you. 2nd reason to drive closely is not to lose the car in front of you in the dark. But during climbs you have to keep more distance whether its night or day. 2 times I got crested during yesterday's drive with @Lorenzo Candelpergher was because I was too close to his car during crossing the dunes and his being the lead car has to slow down to find a safe way for others to follow. I had no choice to keep distance because after he crosses I may lose him as his car speeds away in the night. Most of the time I managed well but its not an easy task. So its a fine balance and a trade off between the possibility of getting stuck or lose the car in front of you. In due course of time you will find that balance and will drive smoothly.

What I know from guys who have done the lifts its good if you intend to break your back and your wallet even on normal tarmac road. Xterra offroad version Bilstein 4600 shocks are what I bought for my car and its smooth on Tarmac and ok to drive on sand. I don't know why people are getting obsessed with lifting their car up as we are not doing any rock climbing but only dune bashing. The stock height is ok for our sport I believe. Maximum you may experience with stock car is you have the chances to get crested on a ridge if your momentum and approach angle is not correct. Its not going to improve your driving anyways and still the chances of getting refusals and stucks remain the same whether the car is lifted or not. Moreover I advise our members not to get carried away by these mods and spend money on them as at the end its your skill which matters. By the way lifting a car up to 2 inches more will cost you 12000 AED from Dobinsons and if you want 2.5 inches it will be 15000 AED. Its not worth investing all this money if your skill remains the same. If you have the skill to drive on sand then these mods are not needed.

@Rizwanm2 as I explained to you during our last drive with @Lorenzo Candelpergher you rear suspension is bottoming out or you feel probably bottoming out maybe due to worn out rear leaf spring bushes. My X had the problem of swaying from the line and I got it sorted out by replacing them. Unfortunately Nissan doesn't provide bushes separately and you have to buy them as a set with new leaf springs. By enquiring around I found you can get them at Dobinsons and their bushes are made of neoprene which is of better quality. They may ask you to switch to greaseable shackles which I didn't as my wallet was thin at that time. By the way the total cost of changing all the leaf spring bushes at Dobinsons was around 500 AED. I changed the front suspension bushes also. They are not available separately from Nissan and it would cost around 3000 AED if you buy and change all the suspension arms for the sake of worn out bushes. I found out an alternative method of sourcing only the bushes from third party vendors and I got my suspension bushes changed all for a paltry amount of 600 AED. Bushes made in Thailand are good and will outlast the OEM ones. Thailand is a world leader in rubber products. I changed all the bushes 3 months ago and they are still holding challenging the opinion of so called experts who advised me to go with OEM Nissan parts. It was @Shaaz Sha who helped me in sourcing these third party bushes. I haven't done any lift to my car and I'm perfectly comfortable with the performance of my X with stock height.

I still feel I acted childish and didn't help a fellow driver and stand with him in times of need. I just can't forgive myself. I promise I won't do it again. Of course the sun was overpowering everybody. But it is not an excuse for my irresponsible behavior. I'm sorry I ran away.