BLKRLA

I think you would be better of with an after market system. The Sportivo Muffler is very restrictive as are most standard Mufflers.

Graheme, seriously, with 2 Sportivos in the garage why do you need another car? Surely you're not getting rid of one :(

Anyone like to buy a 2004 Sportivo?

Hey Guys, is there anyone out there who can let me know if there is anything I should look out for when buying a AE112R model of Corolla. I have found a 99' with about 120k on the clock. Appears to be in good condition but I don't know anything about this model. Any advise would be appreciated.

My recommendation is NOT to use any special wheel cleaner. Just use the left over water from washing your car with either a sponge or mitt dedicated for cleaning the wheels only. If you clean your wheels regularly you shouldn't need anything else. If you have a build up then Meguiars Hot wheels will help remove some of the excess but there really shouldn't been much need for this as Corolla's dont typically put out too much brake dust. I guess it depends on how often you wash you car.

I've used a lot of car cleaning products & I find the "NXT Generation" range form Meguiars to be very good. The Tech Wax Liquid is excellent for wet looking shine on your paintwork & is quite easy to apply & remove.

congrats to you & your wife Craig & to Sunny & his Girl as well. :D :D :D

My boy is 3 weeks old today & so far its been great. Very tiring but very rewarding. I love it when they grab hold of your finger & hold it as tight as they can, it certainly makes you feel on top of the world. :D :D :D

Everytime I try to post a picture I keep getting the message below. does anyone know what I'm doing wrong

"The requested file upload failed because suitable permissions have not been enabled on the 'uploads' directory. Please contact the board administrator and inform them of this error."

He was only a little fella at 5.5 pounds but he's very healthy. I would post some pic's but for some reason it's not working

To all the Sydney boys who I haven't seen for while I would like to let you all know that my wife gave birth to a baby boy of the 24th April who we have named William. :D :D :D

He also donated 20 Million to the Salvation Army not long ago

Out of curiosity did you see if the grille fitted before you had it painted?

The reason why I ask is that because its plastic it can warp in the baking process as what happened to my eyelids.

When I first got my eyelids the painter forgot to put any metallic flake through the paint so they had to be re-painted & as a result they had to be baked twice which caused one of them to warp.

Unforunately this does not help your problem but the lesson is, for me anyway to show the painter the fit of the product before they paint it so if any warping does occur I can blame them.

Also as far as colour matching goes, unless you car is faded by the sun then the colour match should be almost spot on. If it isn't it is because the painter didn't mix the paint correctly.

Spray painting is an art, some people are very good at it some people aren't.

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Why???

To Azza,

The petrol tank in the 1z is 55L where the 2z is 60L

90c/L x 55L = $49.50

1.29c/l x 55L = $70.95

This an increase of $20 a week or $1040 per year. This may be fine for you but when you have a mortage & kids I'm sure your opinion will change.

This is fine if the only expense you have is fuel but unfortunatley I have other expense's that are affected by fuel prices, such as food. One thing you may want to note is that the price of Deisel has gone through the roof. Were it used to be a cheap alternative to Petrol it is now considerably more expensive which is driving transportation cost up. Also something else you might like to think about is that not everyone gets a pay rise of $30 dollars a week every year & you may not always get one either & not everyone drives a Corolla as once again when you have kids you'll realise the Corolla aint quite big enough, so imagine if that increase was more like $40 or $50 dollars a week.

To Redliner,

The average wage may be $1029 a week but this is not the Median & therefore is not a true figure to represent what most Australians earn.

Also the dollar is actually stronger at the moment that it has been for many years.

Maybe you should try moving out of Mum & Dad's place & see how expensive life really is as I can assure you that petrol pricing does make a difference to my budget.

For all those peolpe who do less than 50kms a day driving to & from work you should think yourselves lucky as I know a lot of people in Sydney do alot more k's than that & a lot of it is spent idling in traffic. Also you cannot compare prices of fuel in Europe to Australia as the people in these regions generally do not do as many km's as Australians on a day to day basis.

Firslty to BLKRLA

May I start by saying that I do a 60km round trip to work each day as I live in the outer suburbs of Brisbane and drive to Herston (CBD) each day. I feel this is average for this city and indicative of an average road commute.

I earn a GROSS (Pre-Tax) take home pay of approx $1600.00 per fortnight. This equates to a little over $40K per year. I too feel that this is more an average.

Do I have children? No.

Do I have a mortgage? No

Do we live with parents/In-Laws/Family/Friends? No

Are we trying to save for a home while paying rent? YES

Are we also trying to save to buy a business? YES

My point is that I have a range of other commitments in my life, and fuel costs is one of them. As has been pointed out on many occasions in this thread, we can not do anything about the price going down. This will never happen. Also, we are one of the lowest fuel pricing nations in the world.

So when you mention that you have a mortgage, children and a long distance to drive to work each day and a fuel bill is a major impact on your weekly budget, I have one word - CHOICE! YOU chose to have children, YOU chose to have a mortgage, YOU chose to either take a job that involved a fair commute to work or move further away from it and YOU are the one that will choose to buy a bigger vehicle when the Corolla is not small enough.

Let's not turn this into a bitching session or a pi*ss*ing comp to see who is the most hardest done by, because no one will ever win.

I will say though however, again, the only method I believe in keeping petrol pricing down is to not submit to the scaremongering and tactics by the fuel companies.

I follow one method, I buy fuel when I need to. Not when the newspaper tells me that pricing is going up, or when the fuel companies feel like discounting it, but when my fuel tank gets low.

In my belief if everybody bought fuel like this, then the fuel companies will eventually realise that there is no specific demand for petrol on pay/pension days. Eventually you should see changes.

It may not change the world, but at least I can say that I have tried to do something about it.

I think the point people are making is that things could be much worse than they are, that's all. Besides, we can moan and groan all we want, the media can blow it up all they want, but its not going to change anything, because no-one in a position of power is prepared to help, whether it be for financial or political reasons (excuses).

The reason my wife and I bought our wagon is because we were making a long-term decision and we know that petrol never reduces in price, so we needed something spacious that wouldn't break the bank at fill-up time. I know not everyone wants to drive a wagon, but it gives us all the benefits of a regular Corolla, with plenty of space for a family. And for a wagon, the Corolla isn't a bad-looking vehicle, to us at least!

Just one rebuttal for you, though ... you don't think that people in London, Paris or any other big European centre wouldn't travel as much as your average Sydney or Melbourne resident? I know that not everyone has a lot of respect for most of what car magazines have to say, but I can't help but notice how often some of the Euro-based journos comment when they return to Australia and cruise around in a Falcon or Commodore for far less money than the little buzz box they drive when they're OS!

I just wish I could afford a Prius ...

You are always wise one my fellow round bellied friend :P

I have recently started a new job and i drive 220kms PER DAY. I live in Shellharbour and now work in Liverpool. It costs me $150 PER WEEK for petrol thats $600 per month! Plus maintenace costs etc it really stacks up!! Most people think i am nuts but i had to do this for the sake of my career.

However in the Illawarra region, recent statistics show 15,000 people commuting by car to Sydney to work each day so i am sure i am not alone.

I totally believe our government and the corporate leaders are rorting us of our hard earned money. I am an avergae income earner (for those that don't know i am a Registered Nurse) so i tell you i definitely can feel the pinch when petrol prices rises like that. It is not just petrol prices i am very sussed about, it is inflation with the costs of all our basic neccessities rising like food, insurance etc etc.. and just to let yous know Nurses' salaries have only risen approx 12% in the last 10years thanks to our union's vigorous fight, but compare to housing prices, petrol prices and inflation, they have all risen by approx 100%!!

I think i have the right to ask for a change of government which i have been trying for the past 2 elections. John Howard's kids are not the ones working their a.s.s.e.s off in our hospitals, they are not the ones fighting "terrorists" in Iraq, their government don't give a rat's a.s.s. about low-average income earners, so long as he keeps corporate leaders and overseas investors happy. It's a sad downside of capitalism unfortnately.

But i think we should count ourselves lucky having John Howard, its a blessing compared to the yanks having a sickening idiot like George Bush <_<

Zee, I work in a hospital and see what Nurses put up with and do so I take my hat off to you.

I removed my post beacuse as you say I didn't want to get into Bitching Session. Everyone is entitled to a point of view & I'm aloud to winge & complain about petrol prices if I like especially when the people in charge don't even pay for there own fuel, probably the same people you see driving 4WD's & other large luxury vehciles. Believe me though I do have an understanding of how fuel pricing is dertermined & I do believe it is unfair. Too many greedy people with their fingers in the pot.

MRGEN3, I'm not having a go at you here, but 5kg for a 19inch rim is a little of a mark. The lightest of the light 16inch rims are around 5kg. I'd believe a 19 would be closer to 10kg. But I'm welcome to be proven wrong, cos if its 5kg for a 19inch then I'd love to get it in a 16.

well you better beleive it

unless i had 3 different sales men from 3 different shops tell me the same lie

as for your comment negatron get a life

we dont need bling to pull woman in, but you obviously do AHAHAHAHAHA LOL (just playing with you)

thats why performance is way more important to me than bling LOL

Hey MRGEN3

I'd have to agree with Superdave, 5kg for 19" seems at bit strange, what brand are these rims you speak of.

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32PSI gives a softer ride as the side wall can compress more

36PSI doesn't allow as much compression so the ride will be slightly harder but your turn in response will improve dramtacially as well as other improvements.

Give it a go & see for yourself

I ran my stock tyres at 38PSI cold, and 41PSI hot, dependant upon if I checked the pressures after driving around. But I do mainly highway driving. The original owner of my car ran the recommended pressures, hooray for shoulder wear! My new (205/4? 16) tyres run at 40PSI cold.

I have always run tyres on all my cars with high pressure, the car feels so much better to drive, better economy and wear is more even for me.

I run my tyres normally at 38PSI for exactly the reason you have stated, HEAPS BETTER TYRE WEAR. Funny thing is everytime I take my car somewhere for Mechaincal work of any kind whoever works on the car reduces them to 32PSI & then they dont tell me they have made a change. One time I asked why they do this & the answer was

"YOU WILL GET BETTER TYRE WEAR"

The funny things is that My Brother has a Sportivo that he runs the same tyres on but he leaves them at 32PSI. His tyres are showing considerable wear on the outside edges at the 10k mark where mine are 30k old & show far less wear & I drive a lot harder than what my brother does.

Im my opinon its better to have higher pressure.

32PSI for Comfort

36PSI for Control

Do not go any bigger than 2"

Do not worry about Mandrel bending, this is for premium systems

You only need Mild Steel Not Stainless

Go to any budget exhaust shop, E.G Carline, Midas

Shouldn't cost anymore than $300 dollars & the shop should be able to custom fabricate in 2 - 3 hours.

here's the topic|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|Here's the current discussion

<_<

This seems to happen alot lately

I noted in the forums that a number of people are knocking Tempe tyres with regards to:

* Quality of the rims (manufacturing quality)

* Dodgy tires included in packages

Without bad-mouthing any suppliers, does anyone know really (or even scientifically) what differs between Tempe wheel to, say an Osaka, Enkei/Advanti, Auscar wheels?

If we can do a comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of each wheel brand and have it as pinned on the Wheels and Tyres thread, that would help a number of newcomers to understand better what is inferred by quality and performance.

Tires can always be replaced easily but wheels are expensive and Tempe seems to have very good looking range of wheels than most places.

Hello Heatwave.

First things first, Enkei rims are manufactured in Japan to highest standards & are probably one of the best "CAST" rims you can buy They are incredibly strong & light weight. They are the used by formuala 1 teams & come standard issue on EVO's. The quality of these rims will be reflected in the price.

Advanti are an Autralian made rim. I owned a set of Shadow Chrome Stalkers for 3 years & found them to be very good wheel, although they are heavy.

I don't know anything about Osaka rims but AUSCAR is made in China for Bob Janes Budget line.

Tempe Tye rims are a Chinese knock offs. For everyday use there is nothing wrong with there rims except for there Chrome range. Everyone who I know who has purchased Chrome wheels through Tempe Tyres has had issues, such as Chrome flaking off or rim cracking. I would only suggest Tempe Tyres if you are on a tight budget. Another thing I found with Tempe Tyres is that there service sucks.

Just remember that like most things you get what you pay for & when it comes to wheels & tyres I suggest a no compromise attitude, meaning buy the best quality you can afford.

Pulling away from a GTR, yeah right. let us know how you go when you race your "mates" Ferrari :P

Ssssee Yaaaaa!!!!

Spotted BLKRLA Bankstown

Really like the twin tip Remus Exhaust.

Clean looking car

Thanks Mate :)

I don't want to change the green lights just as yet, because I don't know what color will look nice on it.

this is the result

Please explain how you did this, it looks mad. :D

I'm sure you will find what you are looking plus much more in the link below. :)

http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/inde...?showtopic=5503

If you had black rims & a CF bonnet I reckon it would look good. :)