[avk]

Originally Posted by ashis89

I opt for normal wash which includes a round of basic vacuuming - seats, carpets, boot and parcel tray. This is followed by foam wash after hoisting on a lift and some basic polish.

I was on the lookout for a good car wash near me. I am going to try this one out next time for the seltos. Can you share the rate for this normal wash?

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by avk

I was on the lookout for a good car wash near me. I am going to try this one out next time for the seltos. Can you share the rate for this normal wash?

It was 600 rupees until my last visit, ~5 months ago.

[ashis89]

Got the car washed today. I had ordered a cover from Coverwell which arrived last week. Will put it to use tomorrow, after finishing my errands for the weekend.

Car went from this


To this...a relief!

Originally Posted by srvm

Just a small query. I see that you visit Ozone car spa to keep Coyote clean. Considering them for giving my car for a thorough cleaning. Do they clean roof liner too? My car is 6 years old and the roof liner can do with a good cleaning. Thanks in advance.

Yes, they do interior deep cleaning and the roof liner too. Roof liner cleaning costs Rs.500 for the Zest.

He showed me this Duster which had come for interior cleaning. I clicked these pictures in a hurry.

Originally Posted by avk

I was on the lookout for a good car wash near me. I am going to try this one out next time for the seltos. Can you share the rate for this normal wash?

Normal wash costs 600 bucks as of today.

[ashis89]

I couldn't find any thread for Ozone Car Spa so have to share it here.

I have been visiting their place since 2019 when I was residing nearby. Their service levels were good and so, when I relocated to a different place, I still visit them for my car wash needs. Their staff is courteous and do a good job of cleaning the car inside out. If I had to nitpick, it would be the lack of space inside their workshop and outside, parking your car can be tricky.

After all this months, I had my first bad experience - not with the quality of work but their customer interactions. Today was the first time I met the 'owner' (or he seemed to be) and that didn't go well.

Every time I had been there, after they were done cleaning the car, I used to pay and drive out myself. Today was no different. When I was about to get in my car and drive out, this owner popped out from somewhere and insisted that his staff would take my car out and then I can drive away. I was curious and asked him what changed today since I always prefer driving my car. Now his first response took me back - "If you don't like us driving your car then don't visit us anymore".

I prodded further as to what changed after these many visits. He said that he was responsible for safety of other customers' cars and hence, he can't let me drive out myself. While this made sense but I still can't digest his first sentence, maybe he could have explained himself first then asked me to my business elsewhere.

My interactions with the other staffs were very good, before and after this incident. But after this overall sour experience, maybe I should listen to his advice and look for a different car wash next time.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by ashis89

HID
Just before reaching Tirupati, the sky was overcast and ready to rain. I switched on the headlight and got an error on the MID to check the RHS light. I knew it was a loose connection again. Since I was a long way from Bangalore already, I called up Anton and told him about my predicament. He suggested as soon as I reach the nearest city, I take the car to any good accessory shop and get the connection inspected. If any component is faulty, he will ship me the part at my address. Fair enough.

After the loose connection issue, I tried my hands at it. After reaching Bhubaneswar, I fixed couple of zip ties to hold the connector in place and that has worked fine these 3 months.

Yesterday I found some time, took an appointment from Anton and went for a check-up. Explained the issue and they promptly replaced the connector and blaster.


It has been 7 weeks since I checked the tyre pressure on the Coyote. Today, I checked them and found 3 psi lost in all this time, uniform across all the tyres. While the ride is soft with this lower pressure, I topped them up before an upcoming drive. I have to change the tyres before the monsoon kick in.


While cleaning the car, I found some vandalism.


I had ordered a new cover from Coverwell. Having used it for 2 weeks now, it is better than the outgoing one. BUT, it is heavy and cumbersome to use.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by ashis89

While cleaning the car, I found some vandalism.

These will go very easily with some polishing, don't worry, they are very minor.

Regards,
Shashi

[ashis89]

Used the Holi long weekend to make a short but sweet trip to Hyderabad and catch up with my friends.

Started around 8AM from Bellandur and reached Kokapet by 4:30PM, with a lunch break at Food Pyramid (Kothakota). Drove briskly on this leg as we wanted to reach early.

On the return leg, started around 8:45AM and reached by 7PM, with a lunch break at Kritunga restaurant on the outskirts of Kurnool. This was relaxed driving for most of the trip.





The highlight of the trip was the new driver in the house, my wife. While she knew some basic driving, she didn't have a license and as such, I never gave her the car. Last winter, she enrolled in a driving institute, passed the test, got a DL and also practiced some more on my FIL's Freestyle.

I was very clear - being a newbie, I will allow her to drive on relatively free highway for the next few months at least. No wonder she was excited about this Hyderabad trip. She drove ~200 kms on each leg of this trip while I kept on giving my inputs for areas of improvement.

She could go till 5th gear only (that too with some practice!)



On the onward trip, I noticed two things - she was speeding up to triple digit speeds and second, downshifting whenever she applied even slight brakes. When I questioned, she explained she is unable to gauge the speeds as the car is masking it so well and noise is low. She also said that Freestyle demands downshift whenever you slow down while the Seltos is a lot more driveable (I shared similar observation in 2020 after driving these cars back to back). Anyhow, she learned the characteristics of Coyote and consciously drove slower on the return leg. Good part is with her driving, the FE was higher than what I manage with my heavy foot.


Removed from my throne, I started clicking some pics


And the windmills near the KIA factory




I looked up the AP and TS websites for any pending challans but the search came up blank.

It was a hot day


But we got a brief spell of rain yesterday while nearing Chikkaballapur


Crossed 39000 km mark while wife was at the helm of the steering. The current odo stands at 396xx kms.

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

These will go very easily with some polishing, don't worry, they are very minor.

Regards,
Shashi

I am not going to lose my sleep over this. Will try some DIY or hand it over for some detailing which the car needs now. It has been 2.5 years of self cleaning + quarterly pressure washes but no special care so far and I can see swirl marks in a lot of places.

[ashis89]

One discussion led to another and suddenly, I thought of changing the tyres over the weekend. Made a few calls, asked for prices, checked all reviews and finally went with Continental CrossContact LX2 with one upsize - 215/65 R16.

Tyre prices seem to have increased a lot and this brand+size isn't available easily. I went with Tyre Empire as it is near for me and had a reasonable quote. Paid 43.5k for 4 tyres, including everything. Yoko G055 would have been much cheaper but Conti had better reviews. Michelin Primary has been out of supply for more than 2 years ago.


Good part of the day - tyres seem very good.
Bad part of the day - the staff discovered a slight bend on one of the rims.


I have driven more than 60 kms throughout the day today on these new shoes. Tyres seem quieter and softer than the outgoing ones. I need to play with the tyre pressure to see if it can become even softer. Coyote has gained some extra mm of ground clearance now and has a better stance too!


I reached Tyre Empire by 10:30 and was out by 12:30.


The outgoing OEM tyres had done 40k




This alloy has a slight bend on the inner edge. Outer edge seems unaffected. I haven't noticed any difference while driving and the car remains composed even at triple digit speeds




New tyres are manufactured between 47th and 52nd week of 2021, about 3 months old.


Alignment going on


Slight bulge of the wider tyres on stock rims


And some miscellaneous pics of

The stock rim


Front right brake pad


Rear right pad


Rear left pad


Front left pad


Glimpse of the front suspension


And the rear one


And the odo is nearing 40k

[ashis89]

Coyote crossed the 40k mark today.

Today was also the first long run for the new tyres. I had topped up all the wheels to 33 psi last night. My thoughts:

+ Super silent. The engine sounds loud now

+ Excellent dry grip

+ Ride quality has improved a lot

+ Looks chunky on the wheels and also improves the stance of the car

- Body roll has increased a lot. Especially while braking mid corner or changing lanes, I noticed a significant dip in confidence/control

Let's see how they fare on the hills today.

I had filled till the brim 2 weeks ago. Since then I have covered 330 kms including 200 in city and hours of idling. Needle stays at F






2 hours of cleaning yesterday and I got good results

[MT_Hyderabad]

Originally Posted by ashis89

+ Excellent dry grip

+ Ride quality has improved a lot

+ Looks chunky on the wheels and also improves the stance of the car

- Body roll has increased a lot. Especially while braking mid corner or changing lanes, I noticed a significant dip in confidence/control

Let's see how they fare on the hills today.

Be careful, your ride is now ~6 cm higher with these new tyres. Body roll is bound to increase.

Speedometer and Odometer will also be slightly off the mark due to this.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by MT_Hyderabad

Be careful, your ride is now ~6 cm higher with these new tyres. Body roll is bound to increase.

Speedometer and Odometer will also be slightly off the mark due to this.

6mm higher.

Speedo and odo would be pessimistic by 1.9%.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by ashis89

Let's see how they fare on the hills today.

The last time I was in Munnar, was in 2018. The roads were narrow and I was driving my RoadRunner. Exactly 4 years later, roads are super wide (at the cost of significant green cover!) and I have Coyote.

I carved some fast corners on dry days and even on a wet one. Must say it was fun on these new tyres and I never felt reaching the limit at any time (maybe I am already used to the increased body roll). That and smothering bad roads due to the new found cushioned ride.

Driving up and down the these is addictive. I took most of hair-pins in the 3rd gear, a handful in 2nd and couple of rare ones in 1st. Tight handling, sufficient power and good brakes meant I looked forward to each drive.

I have several hundred kms before my trip ends but I thought of sharing a short review of the new tyres and the Coyote on the hills.

The tyre

Climbing up from Theni

Among the floating clouds

Had stopped at the very same spot back in 2018





After a long day of sight seeing, we felt like relaxing and hence, just stopped by the tea estates



Parked for the night

[ashis89]

Back from the 1350 km trip to the mountains, the car performed very well. Maybe I am used to the body roll now, I was fine chucking the car on the return leg - ghats or highways alike.

Two more cons of the wider tyres, that I could notice - car feels a wee bit sluggish while accelerating and, spray from the tyres on the side body.



I plan to write a travelogue and hence, won't post pictures of Meghamalai here.





FE was 18.1 kmpl on the highway (full time AC) and 15.2 kmpl on the mountains (90% AC). Overall FE till date, for the car has been 16.2 kmpl, with AC always on.

Odo breached 41k yesterday. Almost a month since Mrs.A had tried her hands on the Coyote. So the Dindigul to Salem was rather perfect for her to practice her driving and to bump up the FE on MID.

[ashis89]

After 2.5 years and 41k kms, the car might be having its first parts failure.

Today, I discovered the one-touch roll-up doesn't work on the driver side window. While the one touch down works fine, I have to hold the up button to roll-up the windows. Tried a few times but the results were the same.

It is 7k kms since the last service. I was planning to drive another thousand odd kms before I go for the next service but I will prepone it now.

[QuadraticAmoeba]

Originally Posted by ashis89

After 2.5 years and 41k kms, the car might be having its first parts failure.
Today, I discovered the one-touch roll-up doesn't work on the driver side window.

At this point, are you still in warranty? If not, you might want to consider going to a trusted FNG.