lateralus

i think we should be getting mod approval on this and get them!

just saw the pics from the annual meet, and dare i say that is one DAMN sexy aurion

personally, i wouldn't give my car to a professional detailer not willing to have a go at a black car. imo, shows they don't have the proper skills in the first place. using high quality products and a lot of patience and eblow grease (and maybe a whole weekend) you will be able to get the car looking pretty good yourself.

after i had my exhaust done, i developed a distinct metallic rattle that wasn't consistent at any particular rev range from day to day. when i got underneath the car i had a poke around, and discovered that where the resonator is, theres a metal strip that goes across the gap in the actual body of the car. as the exhaust pipe was fatter, it reduced the clearance between the pipe and this strip to about 2-3 mm. when the engine was under load it would move the exhaust pipe, causing it to occasionally hit and rattle on this strip. i just took it off, bent it slightly, filed larger holes in it for the mounting bolts and put it back on, and the clearance is just under an inch now. no issues since! maybe check that? the strip is painted black, so if it is the pipe vibrating against this strip, the paint will be scratched where it makes contact.

regardless of however you interpret the nitty gritty legislative bull****, at the end of the day i think that if its a "standard" feature on your car you should be able to use it without penalty. aftermarket, misaligned, ****ty quality foggies from the super cheap auto weekend sale installed in a boggle-eyed fashion on a vr commonwhore is a different matter entirely. either that or the mcg-floodlamp style foggies on the older imprezas.

not to start (yet) another debate on foggies, but i still fail to see how it is "blinding". distracting, maybe, but "blinding" is just a horrible exaggeration. foggies FTW!

i worked as an apprentice landscaper for a bit, and everyone i met in that trade wore either tan or green. i think chippes wear navy blue, mechanical trades (automotive, fitt and turner, etc) wear light blue, sparkies wear tan, painters wear white, plumbers wear navy blue also.

i think for the whole kit, including pipe, brackets, fittings and k&n pod filter, it was $512 plus postage. but thats single unit price, group buy would involve discounts im assuming

i was looking to order one within the next couple of weeks. i remember seeing in another thread a few people were planning a group buy for it.

watch this once and it will be stuck in your head for a week! amazing horse

looking purty sexy there, andrew. at first, i personally didn't think you were going to do all of this. but i'm glad you did :) fkn awesome camry!

sorry to burst your bubble mate, but the dealer is bang on. the light flashes to indicate the seat belt pretensiors are correctly primed and ready to go. the 36 series camry in australia doesn't have the seatbelt switch or beeping until they're buckled in.

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Previous ride: October 2005 Toyota Corolla Sportivo A pic of her before she went New ride: August 2011 build Subaru Impreza WRX hatchback

FYI, you may find this thread helpful TRD CAI Install

another thing to also take into consideration is the weight of the engine between cars. for example, between the 2az and 1mz there's from memory around 50kg different in the engine itself, let along the drivetrain. i kept my tyre pressures at 37psi on the front and 35psi on the rear (thats in an 05 v6 sportivo with 205/60/16s), which i found quite comfortable. anything lower on the front, the weight of the engine on the front wheels made the tyres look like squashed marshmallows.

i guess the next option could be stiffening the body of the car. the stiffer the suspension is, the more the body will tend to flex. maybe invest in coilovers as well.

I agree that the stock speakers are pretty good. I replaced the speakers in my sportivo with Pioneer's and to be honest, I actually didn't notice the difference so it was a bit of a waste of money. Unless youre going to redo the whole sound system, with a good quality headunit, amps, subbies, speakers, etc. I wouldn't worry about the speakers alone.

i think you're a bit late now...

you also need to make sure you discharge all the air in the system after refilling it. if you're doing it yourself, are you planning on flushing the heater core as well? personally, i wouldn't trust midas with my car...

personally, in the camry's tyre size, i'd go for the bridgestone ER300's. while the dunlop sp 300e's arent bad in dry conditions, they do leave a bit to be desired in the wet. i had dunlop sp300e's on my car since i bought it in 2007 (with new tyres), and only changed them 2 weeks ago, and its been around 60,000km. they were still looking good with no uneven wear, and still had reasonable grip for the tread depth. however, now with the er300's on, theres a drastic change in the cars handling and ride quality. my 2 cents.

its more fuel efficient to drive with overdrive on. reason being is the transmission will naturally find the lowest ratio gear so there is less load on the engine at lower revs. however, it does depend on what sort of driving you do. going through very hilly areas its more efficient to drive with o/d off, as theres less gear changes and youre not working the engine as hard to carry the same load (eg. throttle 1/2 way down in 3rd gear at 2500rpm puts more load on the engine, as compared to throttle 1/4 way down in 2nd gear at 3500 rpm). but obviously on the highway at 100km/h on a flat road, its more efficient to have o/d on. and also, with some lower speed suburban driving (eg. 50km/h and lower) there isnt much difference as the car will rarely select the lowest gear ratio, and will usually stay in 3rd or so (assuming its a 4spd transmission)

of course you can put an extra aerial on, the problem is mounting it and running it correctly. i'm not entirely sure on it, but you can buy ones that wedge into the gap between the boot lid and rear quarter panel, and probably run it off the main antenna wiring. maybe then it would double the signal receiver strength?? meh...

this sometimes happens with the drivers side headlight. i first happened about 2 years ago and i just took the bulbs out to ventilate it and left the car in the sun for a couple of hours. it recently returned about 3 weeks and is gone again only really happens after it rains for a while (which at the moment isnt often)

i had 18's (7.5 wide) with 40 profile tyres on my gen 5 with no rubbing. standard sportivo ride height too, and it didnt look like a 4wd i think that depends on the styling of the rim, as with some styles it would stand out more. but anyway, as other have mentioned, thats a funny size for 20's. i reckon 19's would look sweet, and roadworthy.