[madnish30]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

****trimmed due to size****

Edit:
Madnish do put up a ownership review of 530D if its fine with you as per your convenience. That's a diesel torque monster you got there.

Thank a lot for the reply!

Well I finally took the delivery - stock lighting is not good enough - I like my roads brightly lit up - especially so that I can see unmarked breakers as well as craters in the road don't want to hit either at high speeds!

Right now I'm considering two options -

1) 100/90W setup for better illumination and to upset VW A.S.S. Same setup as mine. The best of both worlds.

Headlights > Philips Essential Vision H4 100/90W Rs. 300 per pc
Fog Lamps > Philips Blue Vision 9006 55W 4000K Rs. 675 per set
Parking Light/Rear number plate > Philips Blue Vision W5W 4000K Rs. 100 per set.

2) Headlights> 55W HID Conversion Kit (upgraded version of Milkan's set up) with Ballasts - all branded stuff - probably P8/Philips/Osram. Around Rs. 8000 with Ballasts.
Fog Lamps > Philips Blue Vision 9006 55W 4000K Rs. 675 per set
Parking Light/Rear number plate > Philips Blue Vision W5W 4000K Rs. 100 per set.

I have a silver Vento (the black one was an older car gathering dust in the stockyard - so chose the silver - also 3 black cars would have been a pain, so one easy to maintain color!) so I think white light would still look decently good (not as good as it would on silver - so I prefer 4300k for Halogen and perhaps 6000k for HID.

What do you say? What would be the difference in the throw of HID v/s Halogens (your setup) will it be slight or huge? Till now have not driven at night - baring 5-6 kms and I'm very used to good projector HID illumination - so can not be on stock for long!

Also, got your service yet? Did the VW A$$ notice the change?

[el lobo 6061]

First of all congratulations on owning best drivers car on this side of 11 lac. Enjoy many miles on it and do upload your ownership thread for Vento & 530D too.

Originally Posted by madnish30

1) 100/90W setup for better illumination and to upset VW A.S.S. Same setup as mine. The best of both worlds.

Headlights > Philips Essential Vision H4 100/90W Rs. 300 per pc
Fog Lamps > Philips Blue Vision 9006 55W 4000K Rs. 675 per set
Parking Light/Rear number plate > Philips Blue Vision W5W 4000K Rs. 100 per set.

My preference would be 1st option because.

• You will get far better illumination than current setup.
• Going with just HID without projectors would be a waste of money.
• Without projectors, HID would scatter light everywhere and oncoming traffic would be cursing you.
• Halogen work our cheaper and are easy to work with. You can replace bulbs on your own, any day.

Even if you decide to go with HID, do put projectors otherwise the illumination would be worse than stock setup that you have in your car.

Originally Posted by madnish30

so I prefer 4300k for Halogen and perhaps 6000k for HID.

What do you say? What would be the difference in the throw of HID v/s Halogens (your setup) will it be slight or huge? Till now have not driven at night - baring 5-6 kms and I'm very used to good projector HID illumination - so can not be on stock for long!

Try to keep color temperature(K - Kelvin) under 4300K which is what Mercedes/BMW/Audi come with.

6000K is an overkill, the only thing you will get with it, is looks and no illumination whatsoever. Night driving would be very much affected. Not a good idea. Keep yourself limited to 4300K only.

Originally Posted by madnish30

Also, got your service yet? Did the VW A$$ notice the change?

During service they didn't notice any thing and didn't have any problems. Once when relay fuse went out and I though its the H/L switch without checking relay, I took the car to VW Workshop to have it inspected.

First thing SA tells me, wiring is tampered and we cannot do anything. Asked him to have the car checked at least and told him "If there's any problem will look in to it later for warranty reason." 5 min, H/L switch is fine, just the relay fuse slight melted. Rubbed it and plugged in, and H/L working fine still. Got to replace the fuse, for the want of time.

Lastly, if you go with HID, do it with projectors only. Else if you do 100/90W do it with Bosch/Hella relay.

[el lobo 6061]

Cleaning VW Vento DuPont Tyvek Cover.

Since I was not going to use the car for 3 weeks straight, it was a good idea to cover it as I was having the cover. So after a 3 week hiatus, now it was the time to remove it before The Dark Knight Rises again.

The dust condition at my place is very bad. Too much of wind coupled with dust. Now-a-days in every metro city dust condition is becoming more & more severe.

So finally decided to clean it before I store it back in the boot again. Used a bucket with normal water & a Eurow Micro Fiber and 45 mins, DuPont Tyvek cover was all gleaming like new.

Started the car after 3 weeks, still it felt as if it was used last night only. Dark Knight always surprises me & never lets me down.

Some Pictures.

Half cleaned.


Just see how dirty it gets, damn.


It took me 3 such buckets to clean the cover completely.


On a side note received VW Vento Short Stubby Antenna from United Customz in record 48 hrs of placing order. Would be installing it up tomorrow.

[joslicx]

hey el lobo did you disconnect your battery when you left your car for three weeks? My i10 would discharge once when I was out for 3 weeks! Had to call Hyundai service to get it jump started. They told me to disconnect battery every time car is not going to be used for more than a week.

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by joslicx

hey el lobo did you disconnect your battery when you left your car for three weeks?

No. It didn't drain out and car started with just one crank. No problems whatsoever. But if I disconnect the battery, it would disarm the central locking and motion detection sensor(Pre-Refreshed Vento).

My guess would be since Vento has dry battery not a normal water filled Exide. There are 2 probabilities if it goes kaput.

1. You need to either charge it.
2. Or replace it with new one which costs Rs 4000+ approx.

Earlier too I had not used car for 1 month, no problems again. Touch wood.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by joslicx

hey el lobo did you disconnect your battery when you left your car for three weeks? My i10 would discharge once when I was out for 3 weeks! Had to call Hyundai service to get it jump started. They told me to disconnect battery every time car is not going to be used for more than a week.

Don't think that is required. Have kept the car un-used for 2-3 weeks in the past. Had no issues. Wonder why your i10 battery got discharged? Just pondering, did you leave some light on by chance? Or the battery needed some tune-up/check-up since long? Bcoz I doubt if any of the modern cars would need this (dis-connect) for such a short period of 1 month non-usage.

[el lobo 6061]

Plans to use high pressure cleaner Karcher remained futile but...

Back in Feb'12 I had purchased Karcher K2.180 from Australia, had been waiting to use for long. But as usual, things don't happen right at once. Same been the case.

Obviously using these high pressure cleaner require electricity & constant water hose to work. Luckily both are available in my society & no one complains, which is more important.


Main purpose of purchasing Karcher is cleaning wheel wells by removing wheels. For which you need jack stands. So you require quite a few hardware & products to get everything working.

My List:
A Karcher K2.180
A pair of Torin Jack stands 3 Ton
Anchor extension cord 8 m.
Water pipe 15 m.
International socket converter.
Many essential things, etc.

First of all used jack stands on RHS to remove the wheels by using the jack provided by VW, which works very good. Has a good lifting range. Which took me 30 mins, obviously as I was doing it for the first time.

Next thing, setup Karcher. Power supply check. But....water hose, darn. Being a normal tap, inserted pipe over it and tied it using rope. Tap be opened.

Next thing, finally got to use Karcher. Start up the machine and press trigger gun. Water hose pipe comes off from tap within seconds. Again tied it up securely. But 1500 psi has a tremendous back pressure, which resulted in pipe coming out again & again.

Since it was 7:45 am, no hardware shop would be open, which could help me out. Packed up Karcher and put back the wheels on RHS.

End of story. No high pressure cleaning today. What now, there has be some way.


I had read on the Karcher packaging box, that it can even take water from bucket. Since in countries like England, Australia, etc have water restriction and you cannot use water hose. So bucket is the preferred choice during those restriction period.

Did some research on google and finally tried Karcher on my terrace using bucket. Its some bit technical how use it through bucket as it needs to build the pressure & you need to bleed the air inside it. At the end, my terrace looks all new. Woah. Dark Knight next.

Cut short, it works fine using a bucket. So then next week would try again & would definitely succeed in cleaning those wheel wells.

And its quite fun using it but you definitely require another person which was my younger brother. Single handed its very difficult to co-ordinate.


Pictures:

Few pictures which would give you all some perspective.

My Karcher with all it parts, out of the box.


All assembled up.


Torin 3 Ton Jack stands, purchased from Mumbai for Rs. 950 IIRC.


Jack stands in place.


Rear tyre up on jack stand.


Front wheel well with tyre removed. It's quite dirty.


Front tyre, so much brake dust.


Whats that? Nature making home inside wheel wells. That's so got to go.


Rear tyre removed.


For your eyes only.


Thanks for reading. Till then next week.

[madnish30]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

First of all congratulations on owning best drivers car on this side of 11 lac. Enjoy many miles on it and do upload your ownership thread for Vento & 530D too.


My preference would be 1st option because.

• You will get far better illumination than current setup.
• Going with just HID without projectors would be a waste of money.
• Without projectors, HID would scatter light everywhere and oncoming traffic would be cursing you.
• Halogen work our cheaper and are easy to work with. You can replace bulbs on your own, any day.

Even if you decide to go with HID, do put projectors otherwise the illumination would be worse than stock setup that you have in your car.


Try to keep color temperature(K - Kelvin) under 4300K which is what Mercedes/BMW/Audi come with.

6000K is an overkill, the only thing you will get with it, is looks and no illumination whatsoever. Night driving would be very much affected. Not a good idea. Keep yourself limited to 4300K only.


During service they didn't notice any thing and didn't have any problems. Once when relay fuse went out and I though its the H/L switch without checking relay, I took the car to VW Workshop to have it inspected.

First thing SA tells me, wiring is tampered and we cannot do anything. Asked him to have the car checked at least and told him "If there's any problem will look in to it later for warranty reason." 5 min, H/L switch is fine, just the relay fuse slight melted. Rubbed it and plugged in, and H/L working fine still. Got to replace the fuse, for the want of time.

Lastly, if you go with HID, do it with projectors only. Else if you do 100/90W do it with Bosch/Hella relay.

Thanks - I do certainly plan to upgrade fogs, parking and number plate bulbs to what you have (are the fogs more effective than the stock ones?).

About the headlamps - I feel I might go for better yellow light ones - Philips since Osram White Halogens in 60/55 don't seem to be effective - somehow not comfortable with relay etc - especially since I don't know a good shop in Delhi and don't have the expertise to DIY.

Also my seat belt not worn indicator/alarm doesn't seem to be working I read that was the case with quite a lot of Ventos - was it with yours?

Is it only supposed to be for drivers side - is it sound+light flashing or both?

Thanks!

[sohail99]

Yea! Pressure washers can work out of a bucket!

I use my Bosch aquatak with a bucket if I can't get a hose to it! Works like a charm! Also, I use filtered water in the bucket so it kinda gives me the choice over water quality!

With a hose, I use a miniature metal hose clamp to hold the pipe to the tap(the one used to hold the CAI pipes to throttle body in cars)

[thoma]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

used jack stands on RHS to remove the wheels by using the jack provided by VW, which works very good. Has a good lifting range. Which took me 30 mins, obviously as I was doing it for the first time.

Not nitpicking or intending to douse your enthusiasm, but I really wanted to let you to know that the threads on the wheel studs lasts less longer if you are regularly loosening / tightening the studs. The studs are one critical element in safety and the last thing one want is to see the wheels flying away while running. Under-tightening can cause the wheel to get loose in the long run and over-tightening can cause stud breakage and difficulty removing them the next time. This is why most service centers use a torque wrench to remove and fit wheels.

One momentary bad move with the wheel spanner and there is high chance that either the thread of the stud slips or the head gets broken. Even the most reputed tire service in my area once slipped the thread and I had to cut open and widen one hole on an alloy to remove the wheel

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by thoma

Not nitpicking or intending to douse your enthusiasm, but I really wanted to let you to know that the threads on the wheel studs lasts less longer if you are regularly loosening / tightening the studs.

That's a bummer. But thanks for letting me know. I plan to clean just twice in a year and once when it goes to servicing the workshop guys remove the wheels to clean the brakes.

So 3 times a year, shouldn't be a cause of concern. What do you say thoma?

[Y@SH]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Opera House

Hi el lobo! The mods you have done on your vento has inspired me to work on my car as well!

I have a Laura with Stock halogen projectors which emit yellowish light they are H7 bulbs and I wanted to change them to get a white color tone. Which bulbs do you recommend? I don't wish to cut any wires or anything just a simply change.

Thanks!

[thoma]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

So 3 times a year, shouldn't be a cause of concern. What do you say thoma?

3 times a year should not be a concern with respect to the threads. But the right torque is still a concern

We had always been to the service center, to double check the tightness of the bolts, right after changing the spare in a puncture.

[souravc]

Originally Posted by madnish30

Also my seat belt not worn indicator/alarm doesn't seem to be working I read that was the case with quite a lot of Ventos - was it with yours?

Is it only supposed to be for drivers side - is it sound+light flashing or both?

Thanks!

I am surprised that you read about "seat belt not worn" indicator not working in Ventos . The indicator does not even exist in Ventos so the question of the supposed indicator not working does not arise . Isn't it strange that drivers need to be reminded about wearing seat belts - do we need any reminders to wear our shirts or tees ?

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by Y@SH

I have a Laura with Stock halogen projectors which emit yellowish light they are H7 bulbs and I wanted to change them to get a white color tone. Which bulbs do you recommend? I don't wish to cut any wires or anything just a simply change.

Thanks for I could be inspiration to you for modding your car.

I would recommend Philips since they are easily available and cheaper than Osram.

Since you have H7 bulbs in your Laura, my recommendations would be following and you need to make choice on your requirement:

1. Philips DiamondVision H7 55W 5000K : They would be eye candy & looks to kill. But they would give very less illumination than your current stock bulbs. Main use for 5000K bulbs is just for show-off. Only if your car to be used in city, its fine but on highways you wouldn't like it a single bit.

2. Philips CrystalVison H7 55W 4300K : These would give you white light output the same as like in Mercedes/Audi/BMW. Certainly would give better illumination than DiamondVision.

3. Philips CrystalVison H7 55W 4000K : The light output would be white and illumination would be on par with stock bulbs. These will have less looks but illumination would be better than the above ones.

With different color temperatures(K - Kelvin), you have variety of choices but ultimately you need to decide on the usage of car & make a selection.

Since you are in Mumbai, I would suggest you to purchase Philips bulbs from R.K.Enterprises who are the Authorized dealer of Philips at Opera House & even I purchased from them.

Address: 307,V.P.Road Opera House - 400004
Phone: 91 22 23825818 23851021/23851022

Even change the parking lights & fogs to white to give complete effect.

Let me know if you have any other query.