[arjithin]

Completed a small mod over last few days. I platidipped all 4 wheels to matt black. There are many youtube videos on how to use plastidip, hence I am not repeating detailed instructions here. But here is a quick summary.

1. Cleaned the wheel multiple times. Used detergent, car wheel cleaner, car shampoo etc to remove as much dirt as possible. Here is the final cleaned wheel



2. Covered the brake disc in all 4 wheels.



3. Applied 4-5 coats and a coat of glossifier over a 2 hour window

5. Removed the excess by peeling


Here is the final look.

[benbsb29]

Plastidip on the wheels may not last long as opposed to the same on other parts, such as badges for example. Let us know how they hold up.

[arjithin]

Its been an year since I last updated this thread. Not much has happened in this year due to Covid and living in the words most locked down city. As a result the odometer stands at 43000 km (roughly 11000 km in one year).

I complained about engine vibrations at around 2500 rpm under heavy acceleration and dealership had performed an injector relearning procedure which solved the issue for first 1000km. Its not that bad to warrant a trip to dealership, so will raise again in next 45000 km service

Took family for their first taste of offroad in Jan 2021 - nothing major - 1.5 km of steep climb in low range over rocky terrain to the top of a hill. But that was enough to scare them

Few photos from that trip:






Another trip through the redwoods of Mt Donnabuang




Installed a set of roof racks, but quickly removed due to the excessive wind noise. Will Install when I have to carry a load on roof.



Attempted to build a removable 2 person sleeping platform inside the car and failed. Primarily due to the choice of materials and lack of tools. Will attempt it again soon with a better design.




This Pajero sport has a very good sound system with 8 speakers and an inbuilt amp from factory. I chose to add an active sub to the mix. Results were good, but not great, primarily due to the existing system being already good and using an under seat sub is not the best choice.



Experiments with lighting:

Stock headlights are very poor in lighting up the road outside city limits where speed limits are 80kmph+ and traffic is sparse.

I installed a set of aux lights late in 2020, but they were more flood type and wasnt covering enough distance. So I upgraded to a new set of lights which claims to give visibility of 1 km+. They were heavier, which meant I had to fabricate thicker brackets etc.




Note: These lights are better aligned since and are wired to highbeam trigger ( required as per law) and with a separate dashboard switch.

The white lights are very good, but caused excessive reflection from road side sign boards; so put a set of yellow color filter stickers and that solved the reflection problem to a large extend.


The fog light bulbs were upgraded to LED, and it provided some increase in light. There was an amazing deal on a set of bi xenon fog lamps during blackfriday and I ended up buying a set without doing enough research. Attempted to install them but realised that there is not enough space on one side due to wiper washer reservoir location. Have to fix that some time soon



Bought a plug and play UHF radio set

This can be installed/removed in 60 seconds and can be stored away when the car is doing mall/office duties.

<To be continued>

[arjithin]

I planned a getaway to victorian high country during xmas break 2021. The biggest concern for me was the OEM HT tyres. They had tread for another 30k km more, but wasnt giving confidence to reduce the pressures to 20-25 psi. So finally took the courage to discard them and bought a set of 265/65R18 Falken Wildpeaks AT tyres. The OEM size is 265/60R18, so this set gave roughly 10mm extra GC. They look good too and are reasonably quiet at highway speeds. They are heavier and as a result the fuel consumption goes up by 10-15%. I am very happy with them.





Below are some photos from our visit to Victorian high country. These locations are accessible only via proper 4x4 with low range.














Here is a dashcam video of few tracks we did

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx-LTG27B_0

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Plastidip on the wheels may not last long as opposed to the same on other parts, such as badges for example. Let us know how they hold up.

One year up and they are still holding up well. Few scratches from the tyre installation are there, plan to do a touch up after my next trip and 45k service

[arjithin]

We recently did Blue Rag range 4WD track of victorian high country. This track is one of the best scenic tracks across all of Australia. Amazing views is an understatement. It is at an altitude of 1400-1700m and driving along the ridges of mountains for around 8 km. The photos gives the perception of a very simple track, but in reality they are steep and with many wombat holes. Access to this track is via a dirt track of 50km from nearest town.


Track is generally covered in low range 1 or 2 , but there are few really steep loose rock climbs and two places we used rear lockers just to be on safer side.

I had 3 more vehicles to give company..except the Y61, rest are mostly stock. Mine and the new Patrol have ATs where as the Prado is factory stock. I did the track with a tyre pressure of 22psi.

Some videos from my dashcam

https://youtu.be/FUW_KC45LN0

https://youtu.be/ECGdDoD7e-U

https://youtu.be/B-2chPd044Y

Full playlist : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...ihePdwi2SeDrTE

Now some photos.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Plastidip on the wheels may not last long as opposed to the same on other parts, such as badges for example. Let us know how they hold up.

Here is the current condition photos after close to 3 years of regular road use and some real tough 4WD drives (Total ~42000 km)

They hold very well. The only place they came loose is on the tyre. This is because I played on softsand in my last trip. I will cut them off with a sharp blade.