[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Guys,

The trip is not finalised. Need your suggestions and help for the same.

Why this trip?
My friend is planning to get his alloys+ tyres changed. And i need to buy a new camera (Probably canon S3IS or S5IS). While camera grey market prices are less in bangalore, not sure whether to head to bangalore or coimbatore to get a good deal on tyres+alloys.

Time schedule.
3 day trip (Max). Next weekend during the Puja holidays.

Car
Hyundai Accent CRDi.

Here comes the questions part.
1. Will there be any considerable savings on tyres+alloys in places like bangalore/coimbatore compared to trivandrum.
2. If so, which place to head to? Bangalore/Coimbatore?

3. Can anybody give the distances involved? Tvm- bangalore, tvm- coimbatore and also tvm-coimbatore- bangalore.
4. Any recommended tyre shops?

5. Please suggest a good shop in bangalore to buy the camera. And directions to get to the same. (Have been in bangalore only twice. So, please give detailed directions). Camera prices should be reasonable and stuff should be reliable.
6. How to plan the trip? Are road conditions good for night travel? If so, Friday night travel+2 days+ sunday afternoon return is ok?

EDIT: Three more guys will join. So car expenses are shared, with me and my friend having to take the major share.

[hvkumar]

Route and distances as follows:

Bangalore-Coimbatore 330 kms
Coimbatore-Palakkad-Trissur-Kochi-Alapuzha-Kollam-Trivandrum, 400 kms

What should be a 6 + 7 hour drive is now a nightmare thanks to extremely bad roads in the Coimbatore-Kochi sector. I believe that the route is a "must-avoid" at the moment.

In case you must go to Trivandrum, maybe it is better to take the longer route through TN:

Coimbatore-Palani 100 kms-Madurai 110 kms-Tirunelveli 150-Nagercoil 80-Trivandrum 70, totalling 510 kms, almost 100 kms more. But the roads are good on this route and you should reach the same time or maybe even faster than in the short direct route via Kochi.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

6. How to plan the trip? Are road conditions good for night travel? If so, Friday night travel+2 days+ sunday afternoon return is ok?

Driving through the night from Bangalore to Coimbatore is Ok except that there are soem bad roads between Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri.

This means you arrive at Coimbatore on Saturday morning.

Reaching Trivandrum will take you another day - earlier, when the Kerala roads are good, you could do it very fast - I have left Coimbatore at 130 am and recahed Trivandrum by 730 am, and there was another occasion when I left Trivandrum and reached Coimbatore at 800 am, but that meant betaing teh dense Kerala day traffic and good roads, the latter not to your advantage now.

[kpzen]

Here comes the questions part.
1. Will there be any considerable savings on tyres+alloys in places like bangalore/coimbatore compared to trivandrum.

Not sure about the saving part but i'm sure u'll get more options for tyres/alloys in bangalore than in Trivandrum.
Why dont u try the JBL store in Cochin which also stocks the biggest collection of alloys i've ever seen.


2. If so, which place to head to? Bangalore/Coimbatore?

Depends on what tyres n rims u are planning to buy.
U can go to Hercules tyres.Sheshadiripuram or Shiva tyres New Bel road or Sai Iyengar CMH road

3. Can anybody give the distances involved? Tvm- bangalore, tvm- coimbatore and also tvm-coimbatore- bangalore.

TVM- CBE -420kms and TVM-BLR-750kms

4. Any recommended tyre shops?

What spec wheels are planning to get and budget??

5. Please suggest a good shop in bangalore to buy the camera. And directions to get to the same. (Have been in bangalore only twice. So,
please give detailed directions). Camera prices should be reasonable and stuff should be reliable.

National market i guess. Others will help u on this

6. How to plan the trip? Are road conditions good for night travel? If so, Friday night travel+2 days+ sunday afternoon return is ok?

Road condition- Horrible. Night driving not advisable

[Jaggu]

TVM-BLR is 721 kms via comby bypass so plan for a up n down 1700 km trip with all the runnin around in CBE and BLR.

Roads are messed up from Angamaly till Walayar but now being repaired (news i heard last weekend). Try getting to Palghat via state highways since Palghat-TCR is the worst stretch.

[Dhanasekaran]

I have a suggestion on the stretch from Bangalore to Coimbatore

Try this route:

Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Thoppur (Check Post)-Mecheri-Mettur-Andhiyur-Gobi-Sathyamangalam-Mettupalayam-Coimbatore

This is the best route and I frequently travel. Route from Salem till Avinashi end is being constructed for 4 lanes and it is heavily damaged.

60 Kms distance from Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Thoppur Check post is on bad patches. Rest of the route is Drivers Paradise.

Try and let me know your feedback.

[hemanthisgreat]

Please suggest a good shop in bangalore to buy the camera. And directions to get to the same. (Have been in bangalore only twice. So,
please give detailed directions). Camera prices should be reasonable and stuff should be reliable.

buy the camera at national market. national market is in the gandhinagar area.

thats the majestic bus stop area. at national market. a reliable and

reasonable shop will be misrimal shop. to go there you need to go the

shops in the basement. you need to take the lane to the left. and the

shop is on the right. for alloys you can go to mission road. here you will

find lot of shops. i found car trendz to be quite reasonable, work out a deal

including all fittings, wheel balancing, alignment and fitting.he will give you

a good deal on tires also, if not you can buy them alternatively on jc road

where there are lot of tyre shops.

O.T the sony cybershot dsc h 7 is also a good camera. take a look at it.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Route and distances as follows:
Bangalore-Coimbatore 330 kms
Coimbatore-Palakkad-Trissur-Kochi-Alapuzha-Kollam-Trivandrum, 400 kms.

Thanks. Thats something i needed badly.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

In case you must go to Trivandrum, maybe it is better to take the longer route through TN

Its actually other way around. We live in trivandrum, and trip is to bangalore.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Kerala day traffic and good roads, the latter not to your advantage now.

Ya. Roads are really bad. Had a trip to alleppey few weeks back and condition was horrible to say the least!

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by hemanthisgreat

buy the camera at national market.

Yes national market is the place, if you are looking for grey market stuff. But, I'd recommend you to check out the prices in Beema Palli before you come here. If the difference is not that much, its better to get the cam from there itself (Read easier service if something goes wrong).

The last time I checked (around 5 months back), the price of S3IS was 16-20k in the grey market. Though, the prices would have dropped considerably now with the arrival of S5IS.

- Jag

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by kpzen

Why dont u try the JBL store in Cochin which also stocks the biggest collection of alloys i've ever seen.

Point noted. But wondering how to arrange the trip if we are to visit the shop. Any idea what time the shop opens?
Planning to start thursday evening (after college) and come back by sunday evening. Or start early morning on friday to visit JBL shop on the way.

Originally Posted by kpzen

Depends on what tyres n rims u are planning to buy.
U can go to Hercules tyres.Sheshadiripuram or Shiva tyres New Bel road or Sai Iyengar CMH road

Was hoping to get your suggestion on that.
Anyways, going for 14' alloys. The driver is not particular with better handling. So, no need of increasing width by much. Does 175/65- 14 or 185/60- 14 makes more sense?

Also- which tyres to go for? Given a choice, i will guide him towards the Energy XM1s. However, if he says its too expensive, which one to try? (decent mix of comfort/performance)

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Try getting to Palghat via state highways since Palghat-TCR is the worst stretch.

Yes. Will defenitly remember that. Hope it wont be a problem connecting various places through the state highways at night (In case night driving comes).

[Jaggu]

beema palli cams wont get you any service cover, unless you have absolute great relation with the shop and they offer you a replacement.

both are grey market, so it all depends on the price. yes check in tvm before you strike a deal out here in bangy.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Dhanasekaran

Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Thoppur (Check Post)-Mecheri-Mettur-Andhiyur-Gobi-Sathyamangalam-Mettupalayam-Coimbatore
Try and let me know your feedback.

No idea about the places. Will defenitly try and check out though.

Originally Posted by hemanthisgreat

buy the camera at national market. at national market a reliable and reasonable shop will be misrimal shop

Asked same question in the digital camera thread. They also suggested national market/ Jayesh. Will check out both!
Misrimal shop itself is the name of the shop?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

But, I'd recommend you to check out the prices in Beema Palli before you come here. If the difference is not that much, its better to get the cam from there itself (Read easier service if something goes wrong).
The last time I checked (around 5 months back), the price of S3IS was 16-20k in the grey market. Though, the prices would have dropped considerably now with the arrival of S5IS.
- Jag

Originally Posted by Jaggu

beema palli cams wont get you any service cover, unless you have absolute great relation with the shop and they offer you a replacement.
both are grey market, so it all depends on the price. yes check in tvm before you strike a deal out here in bangy.

Seems S3 IS is available for 13k while S5 IS is for 16-17k in bangalore.

Have no contacts with any of the shops in beemapalli. Also went to check out there once. Although they gave decent prices on smaller end cams, they had no idea about S3IS, S5IS and likes.

[kpzen]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Was hoping to get your suggestion on that.
Anyways, going for 14' alloys. The driver is not particular with better handling. So, no need of increasing width by much. Does 175/65- 14 or 185/60- 14 makes more sense?

Also- which tyres to go for? Given a choice, i will guide him towards the Energy XM1s. However, if he says its too expensive, which one to try? (decent mix of comfort/performance)
.

Yokohama Aspec A300 or Apollo Acceleres in 185/60-14
Both of them should cost u around 3k per tyre.

[csentil]

Originally Posted by Dhanasekaran

I have a suggestion on the stretch from Bangalore to Coimbatore

Try this route:

Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Thoppur (Check Post)-Mecheri-Mettur-Andhiyur-Gobi-Sathyamangalam-Mettupalayam-Coimbatore

This is the best route and I frequently travel. Route from Salem till Avinashi end is being constructed for 4 lanes and it is heavily damaged.

60 Kms distance from Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-Thoppur Check post is on bad patches. Rest of the route is Drivers Paradise.

Try and let me know your feedback.

Everything's fine but that's too much of a roundabout to get to Coimbatore. Why do you want to go to Mettupalayam from Sathy to get to Coimbatore. You can go to Cbe directly from Sathy. Excellent road and lesser traffic.

For nice daytime driving please take the Coimbatore->Sathy->Bannari->Thimbam -> Chamrajnagar->Nanjangud ->Mysore -> Bangalore route. Shorter by 40kms and goes through some very scenic places. Check out my thread on this.

Or you can take

Coimbatore ->Sathy-> Athani ->Andiyur ->Ammapet ->Mettur ->Dharmapuri ->Krishnagiri ->Bangalore.