[VinodDevil81]

Originally Posted by On the Move

Not sure if the lights under the door handles can give an electric shock while opening the door (not had an occasion to try one, but always had that doubt ).

There is no such real risk of a fatal electric shock since all such cheap modifications use LEDs and are powered by 12V of the car battery itself.
But it is not volts, it is Ampere that kills.
In terms of Amperes used, such small LED modules use only less than 100 milliAmperes. That is not a high current to be fatal to humans.

The actual risk in such fitments is not shock, but short-circuit and chances of fire.
If the installation,wiring,insulation & water-proofing is not done properly for such fitments, problems like short-circuit, blown fuses, damage to the cars original wiring kit & OE electrical parts and in worst case,even fire can occur.

Most of these cheap LED light fitments are done by cutting/splicing & rejoining wires from the car's original wiring kit.
And most car accessory shop fitters never bother to use fuse tap wires or atleast get the power from the 12V socket using a splitter.
The cutting & splicing method is far far easier & cheaper. So why would they bother with the other safer methods?

[Jag4]

Originally Posted by lollapalooza

The one which I learned the hard way was floor lamination. We got it in our Jazz a couple of years ago thinking it will make the car floor easy to clean. What it has done instead is make the floor very smooth. And that means the floor mats move around as you move your feet. This happens with both the stock Honda mats and 3M noodle mats. And that's very irritating (to say the least) when it is the driver side floor mat.

Definitely avoid.

I always thought getting the floor laminated was a hassle but it does make things easier to clean.

Also in your situation, I would recommend Attaching 2-3 Inch wide Velcro strips under the mats and on the floor using Araldite Rapid or some strong adhesive.
You can DIY and it'll not cost you more than 200-300 rupees.

[dr_anurag]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

My addition to the list - Rubber and chrome strips on bumper corners and doors that are supposed to prevent scratches. Agreed they may help in preventing the odd scratch or two, but they look far worse than small scratches here and there .

I have used transparent strips from Autografix. They blend in with the car and do their job as well.

[ariesonu]

My cousin in Durban had put one of those mobile phone holders on the windshield and during a drive he jumped a speed breaker and the phone got tossed from the holder, instinctively he bent down to pick it and ended up driving into somebody's frontyard, killing their dog. Had to serve two weeks, lost his license to drive for next six months & now has a criminal record.
Mobiles, in general, are a real nuisance in cars.

Regards-Sonu

[aashishnb]

One thing I noticed today morning which definitely needs to be avoided is 'blacking out of the tail lights & turn indicators'.

I know some members here have also done it. I think people do not realize that these are for safety of the driver & the people behind. With the blacking out, especially the very dark ones, the light travel from he bulbs is severely restricted & therefore visibility of the indicators & brake lights. This could lead to some serious rear ending, more so, during rains & foggy days.

Perhaps, adding bulbs with much higher lumens before proceeding with the 'blacking out' should be one solution to those who still want to do it.

[sgiitk]

i have graduated to the minimum add on category. Why, it is very rare for the add-ons to have the quality and durability of the OE stuff.

The only place I am willing to accepts add ons/replacements are lights. My son as HIDs with projectors on his City and I have HIDs (3000K) in the fogs of my Civic. Rest we keep standard. The other place I may accept add-on / replacements is the Audio system. Rest keep as near OE as possible.

[kunal_kaushal]

Originally Posted by aashishnb

One thing I noticed today morning which definitely needs to be avoided is 'blacking out of the tail lights & turn indicators'.

I know some members here have also done it. I think people do not realize that these are for safety of the driver & the people behind. With the blacking out, especially the very dark ones, the light travel from he bulbs is severely restricted & therefore visibility of the indicators & brake lights. This could lead to some serious rear ending, more so, during rains & foggy days.

Perhaps, adding bulbs with much higher lumens before proceeding with the 'blacking out' should be one solution to those who still want to do it.

Hi Ashish, I am one of the members who had put a tint over the tail lamps to get the smoked effect, only I have chosen a lighter shade rather than getting a darker tint so that to have the tail lamps cluster adequately lit and visible in day/night/rain/fog.

Please dont feel offended that I am justifying or advocating the use of tints rather I am just assuring that my customized tail lamps doesn't pose a threat to the people driving behind me in case of emergency barking or visibility under unfavourable weather conditions.

[aashishnb]

Originally Posted by kunal_kaushal

Hi Ashish, I am one of the members who had put a tint over the tail lamps to get the smoked effect, only I have chosen a lighter shade rather than getting a darker tint so that to have the tail lamps cluster adequately lit and visible in day/night/rain/fog.

Please dont feel offended that I am justifying or advocating the use of tints rather I am just assuring that my customized tail lamps doesn't pose a threat to the people driving behind me in case of emergency barking or visibility under unfavourable weather conditions.

Hi Kunal,
Nothing to get offended about!
I was talking about the thick black 'painted' ones, some of them you can even see the brush strokes!!!

[aqualeo2040]

How about those blue bulbs for indicators!
Not sure whose great idea was that, these bulbs are invisible during the day and nearly so at night.

Another major no no are those led repeating strobes at the back and people using them as pseudo brake lights. They hurt the eyes, period!

For all the crackdown on tinted glasses, what are the authorities doing about these?

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

My addition to the list - Rubber and chrome strips on bumper corners and doors that are supposed to prevent scratches. Agreed they may help in preventing the odd scratch or two, but they look far worse than small scratches here and there .

Again I disagree. I have these tiny little door nudge guards (they are of a similar colour to the body of the car itself, so they do NOT look out of place.)

They are placed at the exact strategic point on each of the 4 doors at their widest portion, which is the place that is most likely to "ding" with someone else's car OR the wall OR similar obstacle.

And the reason I have these is because my car doors open pretty wide, too wide in fact, for the average Indian parking space.

By nature, the average Indian parking space is very narrow. The builders typically try and squash in as many vehicles as possible in any given area.

They are not generous with the parking spaces in general OR perhaps the parking spaces were designed, planned and envisaged for smaller cars.

I don't think this particular accessory is to be avoided at all. In fact, to me, it is like a "must have" in our country at least. Of course, the ones that one uses, ought to be elegant and understated and not "in your face" like most Indian car accessories are.

[revharder]

1) The so-called Teflon Coating being offered with a hefty discount at every car accessory shop, and even at Authorised Service Stations.

2) Synthetic oils for small engine cars. Service center gets adamant at times and cites benefit of synthetic oils over regular OEM oil. Waste of money IMO.

3) 'Tibetan Buddhist Prayer Flags' hanging over rear glass. Car owner might have never searched even for a flight to Ladakh! Not even a single percent of such car owners can recite a mantra from those flags.

[T.S.]

Below is my list of "to be avoided car accessories":

1. Hangings on the rear view mirror. Distraction and obstruction of view in some cases.
2. The aftermarket Bentley inspired chrome grill. Looks downright cheap in my personal opinion.
3. Tissue boxes and what not other stuff on your dashboard. Again, blockage of view.
4. Too much aftermarket chrome in form of chrome handles, window strips and the ones on your tail lights. Jazzy me! Also, they tend to rust much faster that the oem chrome stuff that came in with your car.
5. Mobile holders on your windshield. Very dangerous in my opinion. A strict no for me.
6. A shark fin antenna fitted alongside your oem radio antenna. Weird, confusing.
7. After market wheel caps. Most of them seems cheap to me. More so, I’ve seen some older gen Innovas using the ones written Ertiga on them. I mean really!
8. Any kind of a reverse horn. Specially hate the ones with an Bollywood instrumental song.

[SnakemanJohny]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Why is "Exposed Towhooks" on this list?

The Towhook or Pintle Hook by its very nature is an external fitment and fits perfectly on Jeeps and 4WD vehicles. Not just for show. But for functionality.

Indeed, I ve had them on one of my Previous Gypsys, my Bolero and my Scorpio and in the case of the Gypsy and the Bolero they came in very handy indeed to pull people out of the guff they got themselves into! (Once on the beach in Madras where a Tata Sierra got stuck, in 2005 when I pulled out a Nissan X Trail from a pretty deep ditch near Sarjapur road and another time in 2005 during the floods in Bangalore when I pulled out several cars from deep ruts, manholes and what not...)

Agree with you there, it is a functional fitment. Slightly off-topic, please let us know which vehicle (Gypsy or Bolero) pulled out Sierra, X-Trail, and the other cars ? In spite of being a Gypsy owner, I consider the vehicle pretty anaemic... barely enough muscle to pull itself out -- even MG413W ! Bolero, being a diesel, may just have enough torque.
Anyway, even if a Gypsy can pull somebody out, it has eye loops front and back, sufficient for short recovery actions. Pintle hooks are more for towing continuously, and I always wonder why the army Gypsies bother to fit one in such an underpowered vehicle -- can they tow anything bigger than a Bullet m/c ? I fear if anything bigger is attached to those tow-hooks, the Gypsy frame may come apart in pieces !

[prithm]

Originally Posted by revharder

3) 'Tibetan Buddhist Prayer Flags' hanging over rear glass. Car owner might have never searched even for a flight to Ladakh! Not even a single percent of such car owners can recite a mantra from those flags.

Couldn't have been put better. Sometimes I used to wonder if they are using their rear view mirror at all when you have so many little cloth pieces obstructing view.

In fact for tall guys they can see the entire road behind to know how far someone is trailing them. But for shorter people, such decorations will hinder the far sight in rear view and sometime it might surprise them when the car in rear is only visible when its few meters behind.

Same goes with bull guards for bumpers in modern cars. Some jut out so away from body or bumper that I stay safe distance away from them when riding in two wheeler. To me they are like hooks ready to get into our motorcycle front wheel rim and pull us along.

Absolutely crazy stuff in country where we do bumper to bumper travel no matter the time of the day.

But as they say, Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. No matter what we say, they will still not heed.

[prithm]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

They are placed at the exact strategic point on each of the 4 doors at their widest portion, which is the place that is most likely to "ding" with someone else's car OR the wall OR similar obstacle.

I have a slightly different opinion.

Why not put a silicone tube (just like a edge guard for child safe furniture's) along the edges of doors, so that even if you bang the door on your neighbors car it wouldn't leave that annoying dent mark.

I am victim of same dent mark, so venting my disappointment here.