[the-rare-one]

Brought back the-new-one after accident repairs:

I got the delivery of the Liva from DSK on 9th July morning. Went there at 10:00am and checked the car thoroughly.

The tailgate and rear bumper replaced. These items were painted at the DSK paintshop.

The lock, tailgate inside padding and high mounted taillamp were not changed. Overall a good job.

There were 2 reasons for the delay (took 8 days in place of 4-5 days):

1. The parts did not arrive on time from Bangalore workshop even after placing the order on the same day of the accident/day when I took the car for repairs. Lead time is 2 days and it arrived only on day 4.

2. After completing the job of repairs on Saturday (day 5), the SA called and confirmed that he has initiated the process for cash less closure of the job and mostly would get the car on Monday. The insurance process (ICICI Lombard) got delayed by 1 day.

Customer service at DSK was deeply concerned and took my feedback on the delay positively. They have assured to rectify the logistics and insurance issues (even though it does not actually is under their control) to ensure lesser time for such work.

As always the DSK service lived up to its reputation. I rated them 10 for all services except the time taken to delivery as 8 which is treated as complaint in Toyota terms. (Even 9 means scope for improvement )

During the entire 8 days, the SA was promptly in touch with me and giving regular updates. To top that off, DSK customer service again gifted me with a Laptop Bag.

It feels good to have the car back. Again she is running absolutely fine and my grin is back too

[subratasenn]

Good to hear that your car is back in good shape. I have a question though. There were dent in your tailgate and the bumper. They could easily have been repaired and restored. Were the replacements really necessary? Or is it the normal practice with Toyota service?

[the-rare-one]

Toyota does not bother repair work. They replace :( I tried to convince the DSK Service people - no luck.

Recently a friend in Hyderabad had the same accident with his Wagon R. Maruti service there did the same.

There was option for me to go out and get the repairs done at almost 1/3rd the cost but the car is still under warranty and I did not want to loose my peace of mind.

[driving_smartly]

Originally Posted by the-rare-one

Toyota does not bother repair work. They replace :( I tried to convince the DSK Service people - no luck.

Sad to hear the accident but good to have your Liva Back in shape with you, any photos post tailgate and rear bumper replacement ?

I was just going through the below thread wherein the insurance guy made the Toyota dealership to destroy the parts and clicked before and after pictures which were damaged in accident. Did something like that happened with you ?

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post3455509

[the-rare-one]

the-new-one had 40k service 2 months back. I paid up 7k (1.5k discount for SMILE pack) for 2 services at 40k and 50k. Nothing to mention apart from below story :

I had mentioned about noise from rear left wheel at speeds lower than 20 km/hr (it was metal noise, like when rolling clunk, ting, thun). This use to come every single day in the mornings when I used to start from home.

This noise was not reproduced during test drive when I left the car for service. Still all the suspension was removed, bushes cut and refitted.

This work did not remove the noise. The service team at DSK Toyota could not reproduce it either.

The next day the noise came again when I started from home. I did not find time (travelling on job) until last week when I was able to give back the car for this noise issue again.

Even then in the test ride, the noise was not produced. DSK senior techs and service manager took the challenge and did multiple test drives after each of the following (not in order):
1. Refit tailgate (tie-up cables inside tailgate, lock setting etc)
2. Rear high mounted tail lamp refit
3. removed all material from wheel well (spare wheel, tools etc)

Beyond this even they were not sure whether there is really any noise coming out or not. They did internal drive in the service bay at low speed and voila, the noise made some noise

They measured the rear suspension travel (which they should have on the first go - after I stressing and pointing out REAR LEFT area) and found it was not right. Opened the rear left shock and found it weak and it was the culprit making that noise. This shocker was replace under warranty.

I picked up the car that evening (Paid Rs.40 for windscreen cleaner) and came back home. The next day woke up early to test it for all the noise again. The noise has vanished.

The car has been consistent and boring as well (touch wood - I wanted it that way). I have switched to SHELL diesel from last 4 months and getting consistent 720+ km / 38-39 lit (tank full). This is with 100% AC on and mixed drives in city and highway. On the regular Mumbai and Nasik drives, this improves by 2km/lit.

Oh BTW - I did upgrade the horn - got Minda (Skoda type) dual tone for Rs.750/- from my accessories guy. I had gone to him to replace the hooter which stopped working after a engine wash at the car wash near my place.

This is my first deviation from STOCK car since I got my Indica in 2005 !

Thank you for reading !

[the-rare-one]

44570 kms up on the Liva and it was time for tyre change. Did that on Saturday 6th June 2015.

Stock tyres - Goodyear Duraplus - 175/65 - R14
Upgraded to - Bridgestone B290 - 175/70 - R14

Where - Darshan Tyres, Sinhagad Road, Pune
Cost - Rs.4170/tyre
5 valves - Rs. 110/-
Balancing and Alignment - Rs. 500/-
Card payment charges - shared 2% - Rs. 260
Total - Rs. 21700/-

-> Reason for upgrade - gave me little more than an inch of ground clearance and cushioned ride.
-> The difference in circumference is 3% and I decided to live with it for the advantage
-> When I drive at 70 mph, it will actually be 72.1 mph

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by the-rare-one

44570 kms up on the Liva and it was time for tyre change. Did that on Saturday 6th June 2015.

Stock tyres - Goodyear Duraplus - 175/65 - R14
Upgraded to - Bridgestone B290 - 175/70 - R14

-> Reason for upgrade - gave me little more than an inch of ground clearance and cushioned ride.

Hi the-rare-one,
Good to have new shoes for your Liva.

The extra ground clearance will be 175 x (0.70-0.65) = 8.75 mm.
Even this is not negligible and it is welcome!

Did you notice any symptoms prompting for a tyre change? Were the tyres worn till the wear indicator?

[the-rare-one]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

Hi the-rare-one,
Good to have new shoes for your Liva.

The extra ground clearance will be 175 x (0.70-0.65) = 8.75 mm.
Even this is not negligible and it is welcome!

Did you notice any symptoms prompting for a tyre change? Were the tyres worn till the wear indicator?

Rahul, I did some checks. See the images for size comparison. (images are snapshot from http://tire-size-conversion.com/tyre-size-calculator/) The difference is little less than an inch in overall height of the tyre. 18mm.

-> The OEM Goodyear Duraplus were tad noisy and were hard compound as compared to the new Bridgestone B290.
-> Also had 8 punctures on 1 tyre in the first year itself and couple were on the sidewall. I used this as spare.
-> The ride kept getting worse (read hard, very less cushion effect) lately.
-> 1 tyre in the front developed bald patch in last 3-4 months.

All these were good enough reasons for me to change.

My older ride Indica was shod with Bridgestone for all its life (OEM + 2 set change - BS322 type) and Yokohama had stopped the scheme for free tyre inflator. So BS it was.

Just received the free Goggles (Flipkart shipment) from Bridgestone today.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by the-rare-one

Rahul, I did some checks. See the images for size comparison. (images are snapshot from http://tire-size-conversion.com/tyre-size-calculator/) The difference is little less than an inch in overall height of the tyre. 18mm.

Thanks for an elaborate reply.

Half of the increase in the outer diameter of the tyre ("overall height" as referred by you) gets added to the ground clearance. So increase in the GC will be 8.75 mm and even this is not so small. This will surely help you and this is welcome.

Originally Posted by the-rare-one

1 tyre in the front developed bald patch in last 3-4 months.

Periodic wheel alignment and tyre rotation will avoid such fast wear. There is good amount of information available on Team-BHP about this. The interval for this is also specified in the owner's manual.

Good to hear that the new tyres you chose are more silent and offer a better ride. Wish a good life for these tyres.

[the-rare-one]

Rahul:

The tyres were infact rotated and alignment done at every 5000 kms instead of 10k which is the mentioned interval as per Toyota in the manual.

I need to do some math to identify the correct height increase myself Thanks for clarifying that.

All:

I wonder though for 1 thing - there is absolutely no change in the ODO reading. My home to office distance is 25.x KM and it still is showing the same even after the tyre upgrade. How is that possible ?

I know for sure the speed shown is different than it actually is.