Hotbits Coilover

I've been saving for quite some time for this stuff. My initial intention was to get my ride height a bit higher than now. Well, I could get a set of non-short stroked absorber for that which is much cheaper, but at the same time, I also hate high ride height, especially on Satrias. The easiest way is to get a set of coil over. At first I was quite tempted to get those cheap coil over set. But considering that I always have this high expectation behaviour in term of durability, comfort and handling (of course), I've decided to go for this Hotbits coil over. Please be warned, whatever the seller convinced or promised you, this type of suspension is ALWAYS going to be stiffer than the average absorber. I found it's a bit funny when people change to coil over or adjustable (much more common word nowadays) and expect it to perform as good as stock suspension in term of ride comfort.

Installation wouldn't take much time but setting the ride height is a really pain-in-the-ass. My mech took around 3 times to set the height at each corner of the car. Even that, I still think that the ride height at the back was a bit higher than what I wanted. So, back at home, I did it myself. Put swearing and sweating aside, I managed it in 1 hour plus. At first, the comfort level was shockingly terrible. It was so freaking hard la wey. Then, after riding around 300km, the comfort level began to improve. Now, after more than 800km of traveling, the comfort is in acceptable level, well, at least in my book.

7th Year Facelift

To be frank, I'm bored with the same look of the car after owning it for merely 7 years. While Mirage Cyborg R bumper may looks decent, the current price of it is really pain in the ass. Plus, I try not to give an opportunity to those boys in blue to get an extra income from me, if you know what I mean. So, the cheaper option is to get Wira/Satria SE front bumper, together with grill and lip. This bumper isn't an OEM from Proton so the build quality is so-so, but definitely far better than fibre-based bumper that you can find at car accessories shop.

I always had this skeptical feeling when buying thing such like emblem from accessories shop. I always thought that they are selling ripoff item at a cost of arms and legs. For an instance, the front non-genuine emblem from one shop at my place cost RM25 and I found the genuine one at MUCH MUCH cheaper price at Proton Parts. Who said genuine part is always expensive? Must be those taukehs.

I've sprayed the centre grill of the bumper to flat black. It's much a trend nowadays. Eventually, this tend to give fresher fierce look, well, at least in my perspective though. It's hard to have a impressive facelift without churning out hefty amount of money. After sticking a few old newspapers and a few of paint layers, everything is done. Yeah, it does look very common but what the hell. Those so-called rare JDM bumpers also can be found almost everywhere on the road.

Broken Clutch Pump

My gear shift quality was degrading as the car gets older. At first I thought the synchro condition is getting worse but to my finding, it was the leaked clutch pump that make my gear crunches all the time especially when cold. There was no oil left in the resevoir. Shit, I've saw some oil stain at the lower part of the pump and some on the firewall but it never crossed to me that the pump has fucked.. i mean, spoilt. Silly me. And belief it or not, I've never change my clutch oil since swapping to this engine. Pity the pump never get the same pampered attention like the engine gets.

But after taking off the pump, it clearly looked like the pump has already past its' peak for quite some time. The rubber bush has went hard and swelled. Even if I took care the clutch oil, this pump eventually will fail one day, but a bit later I guess. Since it is almost impossible to get a brand new Made In Japan part with reasonable price tag for this car nowadays, an OEM clutch pump from 4G92 Wira will do the trick. Beside, the pump looks exactly the same.

The mech had a hard time to fit the new pump. Later it was discovered that the new pump was for Proton Waja. It seems like the spare part guys when asleep while searching for the pump. Soon after the designated pump arrived, the installation was quite fast. Now, the gear shift is much better. The gear grinding is still there and I'm thinking of using a lighter weight of gear oil. Redline 70W-80 again? Maybe...

When Anime and Oil Collides

As you may know, Japanese always came out with crazy ideas be it a television program, fashion or even, in this case, a girlish motor oil. Featuring 3 underage hot looking chicks wearing short skirts on the label, this Lucky Star Eco Engine Oil came with peach smelling fragrance(!). It came in two grades, either 0W-30 or 5W-40 (which most probably are synthetics) and were tagged at ¥2,520/L. Both are API SM rated. Ok, while the oil spec may look decent, the label on the package failed tremendously. I mean, people may get confused between this oil and kid's shampoo. Some more, it's going to look weird when you see some dude that you know which owned such a bad ass car queuing at the counter to pay for this oil which pretty much look like Sailor-moon kinda-like personal lubricant. This oil might be a direct competitor for the famous Ultraman Oil. As you may know, 3 chicks is always gonna win when competing with a man in tight whitish spandex with blinking light on his chest.

A Little Too Busy

Spark Plug Cable @ Ignition Spark Wire

Ignition wire or spark plug cable is a cable composed of one or more electric conductors and covered by insulation. In short, those wires are nothing other than conductors. Although most new ignition wires will perform the function of conducting coil output to the spark plug, what is important is EMI (Electro Magnetic Interference) suppression. All electronic devices can be effected by EMI emitted from ignition wires. As production vehicles age, engine management sensors and wiring deteriorate and become more susceptible to EMI radiating from improperly suppressed ignition wires. To be truly effective, ignition wires need to be EMI suppressed for a reasonable time, while having the ability to maintain good conductance without overloading other ignition system components.

I been using NGK Power Cable for quite some time since it came when I bought the engine. I keep on wondering how old exactly that cables were since I've been using it for 4+ years and I have no idea how long it has served the last owner back in Japan. The trademark blue coloured cables were already turned to black. So when I opted to change those cables, I saw an advert in local car forums selling this new Quadcore 10mm cables for 4G92 MIVEC at a fraction of the price of the new NGK Power Cable. Pardon the name of the new cable. It really reminds me of Intel's Quadcore family processors. It was given that particular name since it has 4 inner core wires. Yea, but still...

When I pull out the NGKs, one of the rubbery boot plug was badly hardened and inside it, a small part of the metal tip was chirped off. A quick inspection later reveals that all the remaining wires were still acceptable in condition. This is one of the reason why big names put big tags on their product. The brand brings quality assurance. The new Quacore cables didn't snugged into the plug hole as perfect fit as the NGKs.The boot plug also look less durable. But these new cables did perform the task well. The car starts on every first crank. Power and fuel consumption did remain the same though.

Teflon-based Shift Knob

I bought this knob on the same day with the coil buffer. I was tempted to get my hands on Ralliart knobs but since it's pretty hard to differentiate the fake one with the genuine, so I went for this much cheaper shift knob. It is made from teflon which is considered to be the most slippery substance that exists. Once cured, teflon-based plastic is very durable and since it wasn't made from steel, I won't burn my palm when trying to shift into gear in our globally warmed hot afternoon.

I don't know why, but I totally very was into the awesome white colour knob but somehow or rather end up with the black one. Compared with the OEM shift knob, the new knob is slightly smaller and way lighter. Removing the OEM knob was just a matter of turning it counter-clock-wise. The new knob fits perfectly. It comes with several sized inner thread to fit almost any shift lever.

The smaller and lighter gear knob has a little bit improved the shifting at some level. Unfortunately the notchy on 2nd gear hasn't been toned down. This is not strictly a 'performance' upgrade for the car though but after using the old knob for merely 7 years, I think it's about time for some changes.

Coil Spring Buffer : The Poor Man's Choice

Since my car is too low and I don't feel like replacing the still-in-mint-condition shock or the spring to make it higher, I've decided to give this spring buffer a try. There are a few sizes to choose from as it covers quite a number of cars from different manufacturer. It was claimed that this spring buffer helps restore spring tension and extend lifespan to sagging coil spring. Is this quite true though as the thick rubber will fill the gab between the spring clearance, that particular area will hardly absorb any load or tension. This eventually will make the spring stiffer and the "restore spring tension" claim is somewhere eligible when applied to an old and sagged spring. Since this buffer is in its prime selling time, you'll be suprise the price that has been tagged on it. It can be anywhere from RM55 to RM120 per pair. Lucky me I've found this one at $60, including installation of course.

Installing the buffer isn't a hard job. Jack the front part of the car and wallahh.. this will enough space between the coil to slit the buffer in. The buffer is made from hard silicon rubber so improper installation may produce an annoyingsqueaking sound; you have been warned.

The outcome?? Ok, here we go. First of all, the tire and fender clearance increase roughly almost an inch. Not much but better than nada. Secondly, the car feels harsher as the coil is now stiffen. Handling feels a bit better as the front part wobble a bit lesser than before, but I still manage to hit the tire with the fender when driving over on certain flyovers on MRR2 (thanks to Uncle Sammy's brilliant road projects).

Why Octane Booster Is A No No

Since the government is going to officially introduce RON 95 into the market on Sept 1st and float the price of RON 97, we can actually see the RON-related or octane topic is increasing as every local forum in the internet is eagerly to discuss about this matter (well, I'm afraid I'm also included into the statistic). Some 'self-claimed experts' among the forumers even stated boldly that RON 95 will eventually destroy their pimped twin cam rides and suggested to use octane booster to rectify the additional octane requirement. But wtf is octane anyway? Octane numbers are something we see every day and probably take for granted before this. It is a rating means to measure a fuels resistance to pre-ignition. Let's first assume you have a car that runs well on 95 octane. What could you gain by altering the fuel you fill up with? By going down to 92 octane you might achieve better mileage (due to no ethanol which commonly used to raise octane in fuels) but could risk detonation depending on your cars engine. By going up to 97 octane you might allow your car to advance the timing gaining horsepower (but some cars didn't benefit the higher octane at all). Due to lower BTU (British Thermal Unit - unit of energy) per liter you will give up a few miles per liter. So right off you can see that it is a balancing act.

Looking closer at this, you notice that the extra horsepower comes from the ability of the car to advance timing and not the fuel itself. Higher octane fuel has less BTUs, but still nets power due to the timing advance and higher boost (in turbocharged application) it can achieve. In modern vehicles with knock sensors the ignition timing is constantly varied to achieve the best balance between performance and economy. Because this adjustment takes time, simply switch to higher octane at the track is not good enough. The fuel needs to be run in advance to allow the ecu to compensate for it. So using 92 all he time and then going to the track and filling up with 95 is not going to help your track times. You will have a faster car on the ride home though.

The other end of the spectrum is less octane. The down side here is the risk or pre-ignition and high EGTs (Exhaust Gas Temp). Both of these can lead to melted or bend pistons. Valves and the head are also at risk. If you have a modern vehicle it will detect this and retard timing to prevent damage. This timing modification is easy to detect with an OBDII scanner and it an easy to diagnose too fuel with too little octane.

Because of the above reasons, a lot of people turn to the boosters as a way of having both good fuel commonly and good performance at the track. The problem with them is most do not work as advertised. If you do find one what works, adding it to your tank a day before you go to the track can be beneficial. Despite the benefit, use boosters sparingly as most rely on MMT (Methyl cyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl - what a freaking kind of name though..) or Toulene as a means of boosting the octane. While MMT is a pretty good octane booster but it leaves combustion chamber deposits very quickly. These deposits lead to pre-ignition and knock so people will evually add more octane booster which leads to more deposits, more knock ... you can see where this is going. MMT based boosters also quickly reach a point of diminishing returns i.e. the more you add the less it helps. And how much this booster cost in the market?? Much more than you actually pay for your fuel.

Toluene has the advantage of being relatively cheap, and fairly effective at raising the octane even in fairly high percentages. Plus it has good resistance to pre-ignition which is an important consideration in a high compression engine; in this case such as 4G92 MIVEC. The downside is as you raise the percentage of Toluene, the throttle response quickly becomes flat and mushy. So the engine won't knock, but it probably won't run any better either.

Commercial octane boosters are a scam. They are simply as bogus as those loan sharks. For example, if one says it'll raise your octane by 7 points, this is what they meant:

92 Octane + 7 Point Octane Boost = 92.7 Octane and NOT 99.

Most of addtive says "up to 5 points", "up to 10 points", or "up to 20 points". What does that mean? It means it goes up anywhere from 0 to 20 points, so you might get only 1 point after all. Who knows? 1 point is still within the number range to 20 and you can't sue them for misadvertising though.

92 Octane + 0.1 = 92.1 Octane = pathetic

By now you are probably confused again by what all of this means. To sum it up, if your car has no changes to compression, no raised RPM limiter or lots of boost, you should probably fine using the fuel without any booster added. If you have a beefy race built motor, stick to premium or race fuel that meets the need of your engine. If you have a lightly tuned engine and enjoy the occasional track day, regular fuel is already adequate. Don't touch octane boosters at all cost.

extracted from Octane Boosters and the Truth Behind Them ezine

Beneath 69 - old MIVEC Resurrected

Since early 2000, there was no replacement or additional model in the valve-lifting MIVEC family. Most of the model that carries the word MIVEC only features the variable valve timing and there weren't any valve lifting. Clearly Mitsu spoilt their rep by naming all of their new line pussy engine with the MIVEC name but without the mighty cam engaging feature. They should have came with another abbreviations instead of MIVEC. Maybe something like MVVT (Mitsubishi Variable Valve Timing) or MCVT (Mitsubishi Continuos Valve Timing) or p-MIVEC (pussy-Mitsubishi Innovative Variable bla bla thingy). So, after so many years, Mitsu came out with a new 2.4 litre, four-cylinder, SOHC engine which utilized the old MIVEC feature. Even though this engine is far from being considered a woww and more to an auwww, this could be an early step for Mitsu to get their ass back to produce more cam engaging engine like they used to before. Enter the 4G69.

Cam profiles switching occurs at an engine speed of 3500 min (the speed at which the torque curve yielded by the low-speed-mode cams intersects with the torque curve yielded by the high-speed-mode cam). The 4G69 large-displacement four-cylinder engine has a long-stroke design for compactness. With this design, valve-diameter size is limited as imposed by the bore. This flawed actually will make the flow velocity of the intake air is extremely high. When combined with MIVEC extra lift feature, this will create a strong scavenging effect thus increasing air intake volume significantly. The result according to Mitsu is much better output than the previous high compression ratio of Mitsu's GDI engines.

This engine will never up to par with Honda's K20A nor the Toyota's 2ZZ-GE motors despite the massive displacement it has. This engine (sadly) is more intended to use as global purpose which mainly will offer good driving capabilities, reduced fuel consumption and its quietness. We hope those white-coated people at the 3-diamond star will come out something spectacular incorporating the awesome valve-lifting MIVEC technology they had before. Imagine a 2.4L DOHC 16-valve MIVEC-MD engine with 6-speed close-ratio gearbox. Owhh, that would be freaking nice.

content was extracted from the technical datasheet of Mit 4G69

Ass Lifted - Changing Rear Light

After owning the car more than 6 years, I'm looking for something that can freshen up some bit; or in simpler word, change some parts to have a different look. This PROMOTE rear light design was back from early 2000, only this one the inner frame has been blackened to give that ganas look. Although more recently most aftermarket lights has a growing range of LED style rear lights for cars but unfortunately this light still utilizing conventional bulbs. I guess there isn't much choice specifically for Satria until now.


Installation is easy, in fact a lot easier than I thought. A day before I purchased this light, I was helping my colleague to replace the rear light on the '08 Vios; and that wasn't any easy. Everything seems too tight to open, too small to grip and too expensive to fool around. Maybe that's an advantage when dealing with cheaper and older Protons. Somehow we tend to not feel 'guilty' to mess around compared when dealing with other 'superior' brand car. There were 4 bolts holding the lamp base to the body frame and unbolting them took less than 2 minutes.

Installing the new lamps were also as easy as dismantling the old one. All wiring sockets are snap-fit with each other. The best part is, the lamps came complete with bulbs. Since I've got my car ass-lifted, maybe to get those BMW-wannabe eagle eye should be next on my list. Or maybe, just the plain blackened frame headlamp; like those Wira's/Satria's SE. Or maybe, just get some decent fog lights and blast a 6000k HID kit through it. Or maybe (the list goes on .. and on..)

Flowless Victory : OEM vs K&N

For decades, the aftermarket hot rod, racing and tuning communities have relied on oiled-media filters (namely the infamous K&N) to free up that extra few horsepower. In fact, it's often one of the FIRST modifications many automotive enthusiasts do to their car. With the marketing tag line such as "Better airflow" or "more airflow", this mod is the first path for any modder, racer or even ricer will take. But how much is "better" or "more" of the airflow the filter gonna give? In the mean time, how much dirt or fine particle this filter able to trap since it was design to deliver "more" airflow? As dirt suspended in air, it's logical to say that as more air the filter flows, the more dirt the engine will ingested. This is pretty much make sense such as any turbocharged engine will have shorter service interval compared to its' N/A counterparts. The reason? One of it is more air flow hence more dirt.

Common sense is needed here. Although manufacturer main objectives are to produce car as cheap as possible and to sell it as much as it can. But one thing must one must remember. They also want their car to last long. No one is going to buy a car that will rot in few years. So, without proper filteration, engine wear will be off the chart and parts may fail prematurely. Those self-claimed performance filters only focusing on performance (if there's any increment noticed) and the easiness of filter servicing (for the washable type). It's just amazing that the most popular washable high flow air filter on the planet isn't used for standard equipment in any performance car. Take an Italian exotic car for an instance. This kind of car is built purely for performance and building cost isn't a factor at all. Yet those car were never fitted with any kind of this so-called high flow air filter. Ever heard a Lamborghini owner praising about how good the K&N filter on their car? Ever tired listening to Wira and Satria owner worshiping this filter in their car?

The filter build quality is also quite arguable. This picture is me comparing my previous K&N air filter vs OEM air filter. Don't get me wrong. I was a K&N fan. I think I am still. But I don't know whether it is just me or what, somehow the life time filter rubber frame doesn't seems to hold its' shape for long. It shrunk and some areas (mostly at the edge) were broken and chipped off. If an USA brand of filter isn't able to last long, you can kick your Taiwanese filter down in to garbage truck where it probably belong. Get real, you want more power than go internals or get some blower complete with cooler. The bolt-on stuff, especially air filter won't do much better than what's the factory has fitted your car with. The engineers who designed your car aren't fools. They know how much air it can move when in stock configuration, and would be negligent to supply less than that. This is especially true from this point of view for all 4G9X owners; if the OEM filter can't efficiently handle passing enough air to make 110-170hp to keep rolling along the highway, how is it ever going to flow enough air to make 260hp on force-fed 4G63 EVO III at all?

P/S : Mit Lancer Evo I - III 4G63 shares the same filter with 1st gen 4G9x and 4G1X.

I've been using the K&N panel filter for 5 years. After I've ditched the K&N and switched to the old OEM paper filter (roughly 15,000km mileage on it) which I kept for in case of emergency, believe it or not, I couldn't feel any degration of power as what people said. I might have lost some ooommpppphhhh at higher rpms but without dyno-chart, that claim could be bogus because, I didn't experienced any power degration over switching to paper filter that already had 15000km on it nor my fuel comsumption sky rocketing as what those marketing people at K&N would suggest.

I would suggest you to visit http://www.nicoclub.com/articles.php?id=180100 for detail info solely on this matter. They even proofed that most performance air filter isn't a real performer.

Cold Rev Cut

You might heard it plenty of time people says, "Don't drive hard while the engine is still cold". This is because it can cause high friction wear on the cylinder walls, piston rings, pistons and all of the bearings. It also can cause excess gas to go into the exhaust and ignite in your catalytic converter (if you still had one p/s: pun intended). This is why manufacturer put this cold rev cut safety feature to prevent a possible premature damage to the engine done by an immature driver.

The video above shows the cold rev cut comes into play. The secondary cams were engaged but the rev is limited to ard 6500rpm. Big thanks to some fella at youtube for posting this.

Digital Voltmeter

A dash mounted volt meter will be used to monitor electrical system voltage as you drive. The car battery tends to dampen system voltage swings, generally well within a range of 8 to 16 volts (for the common 12 volt system). So to have the best meter reading you would want a dash mounted volt meter with dial range of 8 to 16 volts, or simply by using digital voltmeter. I've bought this DVM at LYN.net quite reasonable compared to other DVM on the market. It is made from cheap plastic and thin wires; but was neatly designed, compact in size coupled with bright LED reading and most importantly, it works.

Open circuit voltage for a fully charged "12 volt" lead acid battery is actually 12.6 volts (2.1 volts per cell). When viewing the volt meter, a reading less than 12.6 volts would indicate either a somewhat discharged battery or a discharging condition (power being taken out of the battery). A reading greater than 12.6 volts would indicate a charging condition (power being put into the battery). If the battery happens to be significantly discharged, then the volt meter could read a little less than 12 volts even when charging. The main reason why I bought this thing is because my battery indicator was busted (you can see there's no batt light on the cluster). It wasn't a burnt bulb as I've replaced it several times. It is either my alternator internal circuit part is frying to death or the wire connected to the cluster went bad. So this DVM makes me able to sleep well at night knowing the health condition of the alternator is still good.

content derived from http://www.mgaguru.com/mgtech/electric

Trim Down Those NVH

As you drive down along the road surface, the impact of the rough surface is transferred from the tyres, through the suspension and shocks and finally into the body of the vehicle which will cause vibration. As the car motion continues, so does the energy to make the car body resonate, creating a noise floor that quickly rises to anannoying drone. A door mounted mid range speaker can cause theouter skin of the door to vibrate, which in turn causes another part of the door (inner door panel) to also resonate so on and so forth. So the best idea is to apply a sound damping material.

Research from the suppliers of these materials indicates that the single biggest reduction in noise is achieved by dampening the cars floor-pan then followes by the front firewall between the passenger and engine compartments, then the inside of the wheel arches, the door skins, the rear side body panels and finally the boot area including the lid. One should bare in mind that anything thicker than 6mm is going to make the door panel almost impossible to fit onto the door frame (at least on this car). And the after effect isn't that pronounce either.

Home Breed Kayaba Racing Shocks

Sport shocks are meant for spirited driving. It's pointless to use sport shocks if you prefer cruising in comfort or you're driving a 3-tonne lorry. Kayaba's infamous RS-1 shocks are one of the option you can get in the market for the sport type. It's a short-stroke and the lowest shocks in the market. By default, RS-1 series are stiffer than average gas-charged absorber, but not to the extend of racing/track usage as the manufacturer's sticker suggested. RS-1 still deliver the bit of comfort which is opposite to the 'real' racing shock characteristic. But, there are few things one should know before buying this shock.

First of all, make sure you are not using anything bigger than 15" wheel with 50-series tyre. Even the seller/retailer didn't notice about this. The spring plate or base or whatever you may call it sits way low, infact it almost touches the tyre. I had to give away my 55-series front tyre because of this. Not a pleasant surprise if you asked me. Another thing is the shock was 'designed' to be paired with OEM spring or else you're going to have trouble with tyre clearance issues. You call this Racing Shocks? Overall, I rated this shocks at 3.5/5. It's kinda overated as well. If you drive your car 'like-you-stole-it', this shocks isn't up to that par. You better of with other brand or get a decent coil over suspension.

Ice Cool Fluid

Generally, coolant is a half-and-half mixture of a form of glycol and water. The glycol represents the antifreeze element of the mix, guaranteeing that the fluid doesn't turn into ice under extreme cold environment and also prevents the coolant from reaching the boiling point in hot-as-hell-alike area. Interestingly, pure water actually transfers heat better than coolant (that's why you'll see or hear some bogus mechanic say use only water). However, coolant/antifreeze includes additional additives that prevent rust and corrosion in the radiator and engine. That's why you will see the water is like teh tarik-when draining from a coolant-less radiator.

Coolant also isn't a lifetime performer. You need to change it roughly once around two or three years max. Almost like engine oil, draining out the coolant removes dirt and rust particles that can clog up the cooling system. You really don't want that kinda of crap keeps messing inside your cooling system. Keep in mind: Antifreeze particularly ethylene glycol has a sweet aroma and taste, which pets and sometime people find it particularly appealing. As little as a half teaspoon of the stuff can kill an average-size cat, and a cup of it might kill an adult. So, please be extra carefull when draining/pouring coolant fluid. Keep it away from pets and retards.

Usually manufacturer recommended a 50/50 ratio of water/coolant. You may go lower to a 70/30 of water/coolant or a higher 30/70 of water/coolant mixture BUT don't go any lower or exceed that ratios. Anything less, the coolant effectiveness is just as bad running straight water and too much of it, the heat transfer for the cooling system isn't efficient at all. General of thumb, if your system required 6-liters of fluid, than use 3-liters coolant with 3-liters of water for a 50/50 mix ratio.

Don't forget to burb the system to eliminate the air pockets that might trapped inside the radiator. Basically, run the engine while the cap is off until the thermostat has opened (the fan will start spinning). Air pockets can cause overheating because it will block coolant fluid in the cooling system from transfering heat; as air isn't a good heat conductor. Check for any visible leak. It took me around 40 minutes to drain, flushed with water, drain the flushed water and put in some coolant with water. It also saved me the ridiculous labour cost nowadays.

Check for any rising temperature issues everytime
after coolant replacement

Achtung Alarm

­It crossed to me from HowStuffWorks, the first documented case of car theft was in 1896, only a decade after gas-powered cars were first introduced. Can you imagine those crappy cars with wooden wheels which travels at jogging-pace got the interest of the thieves; imagine the car nowadays. Fully air conditioned, more ergonomic, systematic, aerodynamic with sportish mimic and so on, those thieves able to speed off your car faster than what they used to 100 years ago. Since I did the engine convertion 4 years ago, I'm was using the same and lame factory alarm; which actually went 'dead' last year. So I've opted for a new basic car alarm system which I hope able to discourage thieves from breaking or stealing my car.

I rated this China made alarm as 'better-than-none'. It has the function of arm/disarm, mute arm/disarm, trunk releaser (but need extra gadget for that), shock sensor, auto central door lock/unlock, rather complicated but not so functioning Code Hopping/PIN feature for the transmitter and some other else. Owh, it also came with Voice Command. Enable it and you'll get some lady voice saying "Arm" or "Disarm" kinda thing. Kinda cool if they come with a louder siren as it is quite slow or rather not loud at all. Installtion took almost 3 hours and the installer did a good job indeed.

The Downfall Hazard

Switching hazard lights on while raining. It ain't new thing though. Some say it's dangerous because it may confuse and mislead the other driver and some stated that they actually gives good visibility to the others. I stand under the againts-hazard-lights-when-it's-rain camp. In my opinion, when you think the rain pours heavily, instead of switching on the hazard lights and keep on driving, why don't you just stop at the roadside? You're still able to hold your "Downfall Hazard" philosophy intact :P and not bugging the other driver. After all, you shouldn't drive when the visibility is poor. Below are several posts I've gathered from the net concerning this matter.

________________________________________________________________________

• Hazard lights suppose to be used for stopped vehicle, this is the standard. But Malaysian road user practice is to turn on the hazard light in the rain BUT still moving vehicle. So now cannot tell the difference between stopped vehicle and moving vehicle. So wat happens when someone car stall in the middle of the road in heavy rain. Hazard light is ON, but because many malaysian think hazard light turn on normal in heavy rain, someone gonna get bang from behind.

• I think that many motorists who switch on their hazard lights while in motion believe that, as you suggest, their car will be more obvious in the bad visibility. Secondly, they may also feel that the presence of hazard lights means that everyone should exercise more caution. In fact, when a motorist sees hazard lights at any time, he should already be decelerating and ready to stop if necessary because there must be some hazard ahead.

• It is not that people hate it. You are posing a danger to other people by turning on your hazard lights. There is a reason why it is called a HAZARD light. Look up the dictionary to find out what it means if you don't know.

• The problem is, that car was moving for the past few miles with the hazard light on.......so you begin to assume there is no hazard and will then start to ignore it. What I am saying is, you should not use the hazard light too liberally. And having it on and driving for miles is one of the no-no, even in heavy rain UNLESS it’s a REAL emergency like stalling on the road.

• Pure stupidity and inconsiderate to use hazard light but still moving. The powers that maybe must catch the blokes and have their driving licences impounded for many years. They must be banned from driving whatever vehicle. Period!

• What is wrong is that some drivers switch on the hazard lights driving in the rain from Ipoh all the way back to KL and give you that "hey stupid, why isn't your hazards on?"-look when you pass them. It is wrong to use the hazard lights continuosly. They are to be switched on when a car or an object pose a hazard to other road-users. Its applicable wherever you drive.

• Regarding when to use the hazard lights, what is JPJ doing about this? I am surprised it's always the rakyat having to depend on each other to come up with solutions and answers, what is the role of JPJ? Surely after all this years issues like use of hazard lights, right of way for pedestrian / zebra crossings should have been taught and examined during driving test. Still got kopi duit issue meh? Now I know the meaning of bolehland....anything goes!

• Just a thought... what if you are sending your pregnant wife (about to deliver) to the hospital or some form of medical emergency... is it ok to drive with the hazard light on? I think some horning and flashing of lights come in play here as well... :p...and how would you give signal when turning in to the hospital ??ooops, totally forgot, this is not neccessary :p - those tiny yellow lights on each corner of the car are made for rainy day only :D
  
  

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Content were derived from usj.com.my, motortrader.com.my & lowyat.net