[laluks]

Originally Posted by hiren.mistry

Stock size or did you upsize?
NCT5 were notorious for road noise, how do Excellence compare?

Stock Size, never felt the need to upsize.

Road noise better compared to NCT5. Noise was never a botheration to me as I always listen to music inside the car and never noticed them

Tyres are good - my choice was based on only two facts - Since I always tread on unknown terrains and not always on silky smooth tarmac I needed reliable and safe tyres which Excellence is.

[jatinpatel]

Hello,
I just got myself a preowned Civic V-A/T.
I also faced the same horn problem honda people told me the new assembly would cost 1100rs, but since the stock honda horn is not that effective I went for Bosch windtones they costed me around 700rs they simply excellent.

Also when i got the car it was having NCT5 OEM tires which were pathetic and were showing their age at 40k kms so replaced them with a new set of Michellin Primacy LC in stock size.The diffrence in ride quality and comfort is outstanding that tire is worth each and every penny spent.
Also did 40k service used Mobil1 5w-50 engine oil.
On this thread i have read that most of the owners are using 0w rating oil, is it safe to use 5w grade which i am using right now?
Will the current grade of oil harm the engine?

And one thing that I found from my own experience that I would like to share,
If the A.S.S guys tell you to replace the hydraulic engine mounting, before replacing advice them to re-torque all the mounts and check the A/C refrigerant(gas) pressure in the system sometimes due to this also you might face unusual vibrations in the car.

[sgiitk]

@jatinpatel; You should be Ok with 5W50. However, since Honda recommends both SAE30 and 40 I will switch to 0W30 or 0W40 at the next change. In principle SAE30 should be marginally more economical.

At the risk of repeating myself:

What is mmWnn oil? The base oil is SAEmm. SAE 0 is probably a misnomer and it may be SAE2 or 3 (like a Zero power bulb!). W stands for winter grade. In the 70's some unscrupulous oil firms in Europe were selling oil as mmnnW, which was primarily an mm oil which was thin enough to be nnW!

Any oil thins down when heated. So the oil has viscosity improvers which make sure that it is still SAEnn when hot.

mm should be low to permit rapid circulation of oil in a cold engine. nn should be high enough to prevent the oil film from breaking in a hot engine at speed. In principle a lower nn implies a lower friction in the engine, hence ....

[spadix]

Originally Posted by hiren.mistry

Seriously; 11 problems, 9 problems
What would they be?

I've described them in my ownership thread. The specific post is http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2139749. It talks about the stuff I've reported during the 1st and 2nd FS'. The list of issues for the 3rd FS is obviously still a work-in-progress so I'll post it later .

Regards,
spadix

[hiren.mistry]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

@hiren.mistry: I always feel that a good API-SL or higher (in fact SF or higher!) is good for 10,000km / 12 months. So you should be able to stretch your oil changes significantly. Once out of warranty this is what I will do and have been doing for the past 21 years or so. Never regretted it. This was in my Peugeot 205GL, 118NE, Esteem (carb), Zens (both carb), Accent, Alto VX and Santro AT.

My car will barely do 6-7K per year, the oil was changed in may this year. I will take your word and change the oil in May 2011.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by laluks

Stock Size, never felt the need to upsize.

Road noise better compared to NCT5. Noise was never a botheration to me as I always listen to music inside the car and never noticed them

Tyres are good - my choice was based on only two facts - Since I always tread on unknown terrains and not always on silky smooth tarmac I needed reliable and safe tyres which Excellence is.

Sounds good. Will keep a look out for your post regarding tires. My car will be 5 next year and I feel it would be a good time to change the tires then.

Originally Posted by jatinpatel

Hello,
I just got myself a preowned Civic V-A/T.
I also faced the same horn problem honda people told me the new assembly would cost 1100rs, but since the stock honda horn is not that effective I went for Bosch windtones they costed me around 700rs they simply excellent.

Congrats and welcome to the ever increasing club!
Was the Bosch horn a direct fit? I hope its not too loud.

Originally Posted by jatinpatel

Also when i got the car it was having NCT5 OEM tires which were pathetic and were showing their age at 40k kms so replaced them with a new set of Michellin Primacy LC in stock size.The diffrence in ride quality and comfort is outstanding that tire is worth each and every penny spent.

Those tires are quite good, I've only heard good things about them. Care to post some pics of your car?

Originally Posted by jatinpatel

And one thing that I found from my own experience that I would like to share,
If the A.S.S guys tell you to replace the hydraulic engine mounting, before replacing advice them to re-torque all the mounts and check the A/C refrigerant(gas) pressure in the system sometimes due to this also you might face unusual vibrations in the car.

Did you change the engine mounts? I feel a slight rocking sensation when I start the car at time. Perhaps my mounts are on the way out.
Will get this confirmed soon.

Originally Posted by spadix

I've described them in my ownership thread. The specific post is http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2139749. It talks about the stuff I've reported during the 1st and 2nd FS'. The list of issues for the 3rd FS is obviously still a work-in-progress so I'll post it later .

Regards,
spadix

Brilliant! Will over there now, see you there!

[spadix]

Originally Posted by hiren.mistry

Did you change the engine mounts? I feel a slight rocking sensation when I start the car at time. Perhaps my mounts are on the way out.
Will get this confirmed soon.

That is to be expected. There will be slight rocking when you crank the engine or when you switch it off. As they say, ab bachche ki jaan le loge kya?

You should only be worried if there's an undue amount of vibration at idle (or even on the move, in the case of Hondas ).

Regards,
spadix

[hiren.mistry]

Originally Posted by spadix

That is to be expected. There will be slight rocking when you crank the engine or when you switch it off. As they say, ab bachche ki jaan le loge kya?

You should only be worried if there's an undue amount of vibration at idle (or even on the move, in the case of Hondas ).

Regards,
spadix

Nicely put!
Apparently my 16 year old Esteem does not rock as much as the Civic and that got me wondering.

And both my cars have the same problem, soft suspension that bottoms out.

[laluks]

Did the 60K service at 63K today.
Car is fine, no issues reported for rectification.
Air filter, Engine Oil, Transmission Oil replaced.
Rear brake pads almost worn out at 63K, replaced.

More Miles to go now

[jatinpatel]

@hirenmistry

Horns-Nope the horns are just perfect according to me they are the perfect tool for irritating rickshaw n taxiwallas of our bombay traffic..with this horn even trucks give way to you.This is a must upgrade for any Civic Owner.No I did not had to get any additional relays as civics electrical system already has relays for twin horns.

Mountings-No I did not change them as after the A/c refrigerant refilling and retorqueing of the mounts the vibrations was gone and car became normal again tested this side by side with a brand new civic too. Slight rocking sensation on start up and engine shut down you will get thats absolutely normal

Oh and at 40k my rear brake pads were bit worn out they still had 2k kms life in them but i decided to replace them
Bought OEM Nissin Brake Pads-1600rs
Disc resurfacing was not required cause it didnt had runout or scratches or undulations and since i fitted the brake pads myself saved on labour too.
Nissin Brake Pads are the same brake pads used by Honda too confirmed by the Honda A.S.S.

[hiren.mistry]

Originally Posted by jatinpatel

@hirenmistry

Oh and at 40k my rear brake pads were bit worn out they still had 2k kms life in them but i decided to replace them
Bought OEM Nissin Brake Pads-1600rs
Disc resurfacing was not required cause it didnt had runout or scratches or undulations and since i fitted the brake pads myself saved on labour too.
Nissin Brake Pads are the same brake pads used by Honda too confirmed by the Honda A.S.S.

Jatin you car looks brilliant!
Wow you changed the brake pads yourself? Well done!
And from where'd you get the brake pads from? They are much cheaper than whats available at the authorised service outlets.

All the best and have fun.

[spadix]

@jatinpatel: Congratulations! That car could easily pass off as new. It definitely would compared to my 4-month old Black Queen (the black is really tough to maintain!) .

Good info regarding the horn and brake pads. I think the Civic's stock horn should be adequate but unfortunately 99% of our fellow road users don't think so :(. The 3rd or 4th long blast is usually when they display their act of meherbaani which is that long and exaggerated hand wave indicating you to pass and seemingly admonishing you for not passing through given a gap that even a Nano couldn't fit in. A horn upgrade that fixes this problem sounds sweet.

Regards,
spadix

[sgiitk]

@spadix: One reason for the perceived pathetic horn is the good sound insulation. Inside the volume is pretty low as compared to many cars.

[jatinpatel]

@hirenmistry
I got the brake pads from Shetty motors opera house I get all the parts for my all 3cars from there only.If you go there meet Mr.Ravi you can refer him my name.

@spadix
can understand your pain in maintaing a Black Car. I am using black cars since last 8 years and in big metros like mumbai and bangy its dam tough to keep it in showroom condition.
One piece of advice
see to it that you car cleaner guy uses proper washing techniques or else it can put up swirls in the paint work and also give a complete polish and wax treatment with a coat of teflon every year.I know there are lot of speculations on teflon coating but i have been using it since last 8 years on all of my cars and teflon+above mentioned technique have kept them in showroom condtion.
And all of my cars are used daily in hectic and idiotic mumbai traffic.
Oh and for the record my civic is june 07 model.

@sgiitk
Your point of excellent sound insulation is correct but the fact is the horn is really pathetic.
Honda should provide better horns for car which costs around 14ish lacs.

[spadix]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

@spadix: One reason for the perceived pathetic horn is the good sound insulation. Inside the volume is pretty low as compared to many cars.

That is true, Professor. What I was referring to was the impact of the horn on those who're blocking the way. The stock horn, albeit powerful, isn't powerful enough for them.

Originally Posted by jatinpatel

One piece of advice
see to it that you car cleaner guy uses proper washing techniques or else it can put up swirls in the paint work and also give a complete polish and wax treatment with a coat of teflon every year.I know there are lot of speculations on teflon coating but i have been using it since last 8 years on all of my cars and teflon+above mentioned technique have kept them in showroom condtion.

I'm my own car cleaner guy .

There are already lots of swirls. Honda is notorious for its soft paint. I use water (not bore water) and sponge and soft cotton rags to wash and wipe the car, but I just can't help it.

Yeah, complete polish + wax + detailing is on the cards every year. I'm just debating (internally) if I should push that interval down to 6 months because of the colour, and the fact that there's just an incredible amount of dust on the roads because the road surfaces keep breaking up/wearing down constantly and there's a lot of heavy traffic (trucks/buses) that kick up a lot of dust along my regular commute.

Regards,
spadix

[jatinpatel]

@spadix
In that case instead do a Teflon coat every 6months and after use of the vehicle in dusty environment just dust off the Dust..with a extremely soft duster.

For water cleaning first very very very throughly wet it with water then clean with soft hard of microfibre cloth I give this treatment to my black beauty lancer and she's still looks awsome.I know this is very time consuming but water was you can do twice a week and dusting whenever you feel that there Is a lot of dust.