DJKOR

Unless you get it more than once after starting the engine and driving off, it's your ABS self test. I have found that temperature can affect how the clunk sounds as well as how much you were applying your brakes prior to driving off. It can also sound like it is coming from either on of the wheels or just from the engine bay. It varies. If you think that sounds bad, from an engine start, try accelerating in reverse (sometimes I do this reversing out of my driveway) then when the speed starts to pick up, apply the brakes lightly. This results in a clunk that sounds like your brakes are going to fall off or something. Of course it does. I would be concerned if it didn't.

My stupid question time again. Now before I ask it, I don't need the whole speeding talk, that's not what I'm here for. I'm only here to ask a question and hope someone can provide some assistance. Okay... so with police LIDAR, what exactly do they try to aim at on your car when trying to read your speed? On two occasions over the last couple of weeks (one being just earlier today), I have approached a speed trap set up in a 60 zone at between 80-85km/h on my speedo (GPS said about 80km/h). Just for reference, the first occasion was at the bottom of a hill and I didn't bother to use my brakes, and the second occasion was on a highway where the speed limit is usually 100km/h but has been reduced to 60km/h due to 'roadwork' which is far from the highway making the speed limit pointless. Anyways, on the first occasion it was three cops in the same spot all with their LIDAR's out and the one today was with one cop. On both these occasions, by the time I could see them (at about 100-150 metres due to visibility conditions) I've hit the brakes to slow down gradually but quickly to the speed limit and did not get pulled over. I'm sure that by the time that I reacted, the speed of the LIDAR would mean that they could have gotten a speed reading right? Obviously this could have been by sheer luck that they weren't targeting my car but it just seems hard to imagine because I was in their direct line of sight. So as asked, does anyone know what they try to aim at firstly and is there anything in particular may have made it harder for them to lock onto my car? Or could they have just had a bad aim.

Damn Gab. Those first two photos are definitely making me happy in my pants.

To determine the tire size from your tires themselves, follow this guide: You will only really need to look at the width, aspect ratio, and diameter since given the car you have, most tires of the same size as yours would meet or exceed the load/speed ratings. The explanation of the 15/16 inch tires being more expensive due to rarity can be true depending on the size themselves. There are tire sizes that aren't as common as others and as a result, can cost more than usual. As well, usually as the profile of the tire gets smaller, the price of the tire goes up.

For a car of that age, I'd definitely be doing it myself. For a new car under warranty, I'd let a mechanic take care of the major services, and I'd do the minor services (eg. mid major service oil change) myself.

You will find that the stock head unit does not come with any RCA pre-outs for connection to an amp. Most OEM head units don't come with such outputs. I am yet to hear of one that does (though someone may already know of one). As you predicted, to connect an external amp, you will need a high-to-low converter (commonly referred to as a line out converter) and connect your amp that way.

You'd be quite surprised. Hyundai have picked up their game quite a bit. I've been around a few of the newer Hyundai's and noticed that they seem to be built stronger than before. I'm kind of with you there though... it IS still a Hyundai. i have to agree there, the cerato koup does look good. Hyundai or KIA... which is the lesser of two evils. Hard to say no that KIA is owned by Hyundai. I guess it comes down to which brand sounds better

I wouldn't mind having one. If we had them here and I was in the market for a new car, I definitely wouldn't cross this off my list. Seems to have some specs to back it up. I see they got some design cues from Audi with the front end. +1. Gone are the days of the Excel with it's tin-plate soft body. Decent interior as well. Bit plasticy but for the price, it's alright:

He's got a 2007 Aurion Touring.

Make sure to keep up with the 25mL maintenance treatments every fill ;) I prefer the Italian tuneup method :P I do both :P

Make sure to keep up with the 25mL maintenance treatments every fill ;)

Which is what you get when you make the engine think the intake air is cold. But when you don't have the extra air to help burn the fuel, all you are doing is wasting fuel.

Damn I like this pic. So envious. I want photos now

Personally I would find somewhere else to get a balance/alignment. A specialist shop can usually do a more superior balance/alignment than a Toyota service department. This is just personal opinion though. As well, I wouldn't expect that it would completely correct the pull to the left issue. You will notice a slight difference at first, but that quickly wears off. They tried to pull that wheel alignment excuse on me once before.

If your head unit only has the one RCA out, chances are it is a subwoofer output. This is all well and good if you only have the intention of running a sub with your amp. In this case, you just connect the single RCA from your head unit to the white RCA (left channel) on your amplifier. It is common practise to use the white RCA for mono. It appears you amp has black instead of white (which is fine), so connect to the black if this is the case. If you plan on driving speakers with your amplifier, you will have to go and purchase a line out converter (also referred to as a high to low converter) to enable you to drive your amp from your current speaker outputs.

Hey Peter. No actual cruising unless it's just 'one of those days'. Mainly it's just a meet up to chat etc. Details of the meeting place are on the first page of this thread. I'll definitely be there next Thursday the 7th for the first meet of 2010.

^ Very nice work there JC. Good to see a projector retrofit to help get rid of that glare. Stylish and courteous to other road users.

I don't see why not. I will have some time free before I have to start travelling again so this sounds like a possibility. I still have to fit your suspension stuff too, so let me know when you are available.

Good question. I don't have one in my hands to pull apart. All I can say is that there is definitely a resistor in there.

If your battery has definitely carked it and you are getting a new one, I'd recommend a Bosch battery. They are reasonably priced and do the job well. Had one on my old Camry and never had an issue with it. This can be said by quite a few brands of batteries out there, so realistically it comes down to you budget. I would stick with a common known brand out of preference though. Such brands like Century and Exide etc.

Most head units will be able to power most car speakers. You don't need to worry about not being able to get decent sound out of your speakers just because you are running them off the head unit. It just won't power the speakers to their full potential. Adding an amplifier is a question you need to ask yourself. You can easily go by without an amplifier, but to get full value out of your speakers, running them off an amp will be ideal.

sounds interesting... go on... Too slow mate:

For quite some time I had always wondered how my old in-dash 6 CD stacker actually worked. What made me curious was the fact that the actual CD player and changer component is about the height of a CD-ROM drive meaning that there wouldn't appear to be much room for it to all work inside. What was even more intriguing is that even after inserting a full 6 discs that stack up on top of each other, you can still select any disc you want and eject it. I had always wondered how this was possible. So while I had my head unit out of storage this morning, I took the top end off it and recorded what goes on inside. In the video, you can see I insert 3 discs, then eject the 2nd disc, followed by the 1st and then the 3rd: Please wait a few seconds for Video to Load!

How about thinking with your head for a second to realise that tinting head and/or tail lights reduces the light transmission and therefore affecting the ADR's.

I was only specifying the amplifier in it. I didn't actually mention the 35W as being RMS. And yeah, I do know the difference between maximum power and RMS. Just I don't think clearly when I haven't had much sleep. Thanks for adding that in though. At the time of the morning that I actually pulled it apart and made the post, I wasn't really thinking to add those figures to my post.