Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Michelin Primacy 4

Some months ago, my wife complain that the car are not comfortable for long distance driving. She don't have the same comfort as before so I told her that the car is almost 10 years old, noise and suspension, wheel, tire does age and not so good.
I know back in my mind that the current tire I am using is a affordable type which sound a bit loud in the highway, the rims also are bent due to harsh driving for the past few years. So I told her that I will change the tire to a premium one, get the wheel fix and let's try on next long drive on the feeling in the back.
I bought 4 Michelin Primacy which claimed to have better comfort and noise level and fix the bent wheel. Put in nitrogen, balance the wheel, done the alignment and bring my wife for a trip back hometown. I purposely didn't tell her the changes during the trip to gauge her response.
After that, I asked her on what her feeling on the changes of the car after I done up the tire and wheel. She claimed not much differences. Oh dear, she didn't notice much differences. A bit disappointed on my part, but I feel great driving new tire. The new tire brake well, good cornering as it doesn't flex much. Sound is a bit better from previous, but maybe it is due to the wheel balancing and alignment done.
I bought the tire online and went to a local store to install, the tire are delivered there from the online seller, the price include basic alignment and balancing, so I think this way is more comfortable than running around town asking for price from shop to shop. The price are stated clearly including the term and conditions.
If you can see from the photo, there are some hairline cracks on the wheels, is it still safe to drive with it ? Drop me a comments.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

B pillar door insulation

Have you seen one of these ? I saw them once before and it doesn't come cheap many years ago. Previously it was advertise manufacture by Korean but now the chinese produce them too, and it is cheap.
Hence I decided to buy one to try it on the car. Price is so affordable, but when I received it, it was a bit shorter than I think. 80cm for both strips instead of 80cm for 1 strip. However it is adequate for Isis. The sliding door on the Isis have good insulation on the left hand side panoramic door so the strips are good for 1 door.
I had install it on the car, 1 strip for the top and 2nd on the bottom, the curve on the middle part of the door seems trick to install as the strip doesn't bend well. After installing, there are a small gap of 1cm between both, but I am ok with it.


The cross section of the strip are as below. Inside is a metal clip to keep it in place on the door position. No glue or sticker are required, I prefer it that way.

Now what left is the road test to see will it block some wind noise. I will update soon on the result.
If you wanted to buy one, just search for B pillar insulation from any online store. Small sum for some easy DIY.