Recently changed all four of my 'FrankenBenz' tyres to a more pocket friendly brand... Quite frankly I've never heard of this particular brand before... It was recommended by the tyre shop owner saying that this tyre is very good as the price is cheap and the performance is above average...  All these while, I only used top brand tyres as I believe a good tyre is really important as it is the only contact you have with the road...  Unfortunately, my wallet is complaining about the high prices that the branded tyre command!!! So I got no choice but to try out the cheaper alternative...

The tyre that I've changed to this time is call 'N3000' and it is from 'Roadstone' (never heard of it!!!)... Upon a closer inspection, only I realized that this brand is actually a 'Nexen' tyre which is from 'Korea' (and I've heard of it!!!)... Frankly speaking it does boost my confidence up a little bit when I know that the tyres are actually from 'Nexen'... 

The tyres are really cheap and I save around RM800++ for all four tyres... Each tyre is around RM200++ cheaper compare to my previous 'Dunlop' (which is not the most expensive in the market!!!)... So looking at the price, I did not have very high expectation from the tyres... 

After using the tyres for a while, I'm beginning to like it a lot!!! The ride felt more pliant and road noise is definitely lower compare to the 'Dunlop'!!! Turn in is about the same and I don't really feel any difference in out right grip right now as I don't really push my car hard!!! So sometimes it is kind of waste to use high performance tyres!!!  The 'N3000' is doing a really good job currently keeping my car on the road... So the next test will be a round up 'Genting'!!!  That's all for now and I will do an update on the tyres when I found something be it pros or cons...  Till then...

To be continue...

I'm very sure almost everyone knows about the iconic 'Mini' of the past... Fast forward a few years (quite a number of years in fact!!!), we have the new 'Mini' which won a lot of praises due to it's go kart like handling characteristic...

Recently, I'm privileged enough to test drive a supercharged version of the 'Mini Cooper S' (older version of the 'Cooper S') and I'm really ecstatic about it!!! There are a lot of first time for me so I'm really looking forward to it... This will be my first time driving a new 'Mini Cooper S'... Also my first time driving a supercharged car and not forgetting my first time driving a six speed manual gearbox (always wanted to try this!!!)...

So how's it like??? The handling is just superb... Steering is very direct without any lag and not forgetting the short wheelbase contributing to the agile feel to it... Damping is also spot on if you ask me... Corner almost flat and the suspension still manages to iron out almost all irregularities!!! Quite magical... The suspension never crashes and is pliant enough for everyday driving...

The supercharged engine is a gem as well... No lag at all unlike my 'FrankenBenz' (which is already quite lag free!!!)... Just point the steering and step on the accelerator and the 'Mini' sped off quite dramatically... If compare to our 'Pug', the 'Cooper S' is way more powerful!!! The gear changes is not something that I like... The throw is on the long side and the gear knob is just too BIG for my liking!!! The shift is too notchy if you ask me... No matter how bad is the shifting quality, I will still opt for a manual gearbox over any auto/twin clutch/CVT gearboxes!!! I'm a purist if you must know...

But sad to say, no matter how good is the 'Mini' I will never buy one as I don't really see the point in it... The car is small but it comes with a BIG price tag!!! And you know what is the BIGGEST problem??? I always believe the 'Mini' is a girl's car!!! So no you won't see me driving one as my daily drive... A short test drive yes, but not my everyday car!!!

Some update on our beloved 'Pug'... Two days ago, our 'Pug' is officially out of warranty coverage!!! Isn't it fast that our 'Pug' is already three years old... And it is officially not a virgin anymore when it comes to 'Genting'!!! I drove it up this morning but too bad the condition is not ideal as it was raining cats and dogs... So I tone down my driving a little bit but I'm really impressed at the grip that it produced (tyres play an important role as well)... Really confident with the way it handles... Definitely much more powerful when compared to my ex-daily driver which is none other than my trustee 'Proton Gen2 MME Edition'... Although much more powerful, the thrill or driving it compare to my 'Gen2' is like night and day difference!!! 'Gen2' is so much nicer in terms of handling!!! So what about comparing it to 'FrankenBenz'??? Frankly the 'Pug' feels super slow now!!! The last time I drove 'FrankenBenz' up 'Genting', I'm using only one gear... Gear three all the way up!!! Although much more powerful, I don't find it entertaining as well as 'FrankenBenz' is way too heavy for this kind of driving... 

Since the warranty coverage is over, I must take extra care on our 'Pug' starting from now... And you know what, it decided to give me a heart attack moment this morning when I drove it up 'Genting'... I'm using the tiptronic all the way up changing gears manually... When I was about to reach 'Genting', the gearbox decided to go in neutral but the display says that it was in gear three!!! Step on the accelerator and the car's not moving... Shifted it back to auto and still it won't move until I heard a loud 'clunk' sound (my heart almost stop moving), and 'Pug' was moving again!!! I can't imagine what might happen if I really abuse it this morning... Luckily it was raining and hopefully no damages done to the gearbox!!!

The sound of this beast is just awesome!!! You need to heard it to believe it...

Saw this insane 'Nissan GTR' at 'GT Auto' the other day... So what is so special about this particular car... It looks ordinary enough just like any other 'GTR' on the road... You can spot some visual difference such as the carbon fiber spoiler and different tail pipe... Nothing more... But I was told that this car is having a full engine built from 'AMS Performance' which is famous for tuning 'GTR' to insane power... This particular car is fitted with the 'Alpha 10' package which enable it to have more than 1000whp!!! When I was there, they are running in the engine and it was putting out more than 600whp...

And now the car is ready and it churns out an official power of 1070whp!!! Crazy!!! And what is the cost of this??? According to 'AMS Performance' site, it cost from USD64,000 for this conversion... A lot of money for sure but much less compare to buying a 'Ferrari/Lamborghini' but you can smoke them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even supper... Another crazy thing is this car spot a 'Thai' registration plate and they send it all the way from 'Thailand' just to get it mod and tune!!! 

After fixing the alternator and long shaft problem, 'FrankenBenz' has another problem waiting for me to tackle!!! Radiator giving me problem again even though I've just change to a new aluminium one!!! Luckily I have the habit of checking the water level almost everyday cause I'm shocked to see the water level on that day... Almost half of the tank empty and when I poured water in, I realized there was a pin hole leak from the bottom of the radiator!!! I got no choice but to drive it around as the leak was still okay for short distance driving... Just need to top up the water after every drive... Drove around searching for a radiator repairer that can fix aluminium one but it seems like it was not something easy... Searched the net and forum and this product caught my attention...

'Bar's Leak - Radiator Stop Leak'!!! You don't have to guess the purpose of this as it was written all over it!!! At first I was a bit sceptical trying out something like this as I got mix reviewed from the net... Some claiming wonders while some advise to stay away from it... I was sceptical because this product will stick to the radiator and block the leak... So if it can stick to the radiator, can you imagine where else can it stick to!!! A lot of places I'm afraid... But still I bought it and pour half bottle in my radiator... From the instruction, pour half a bottle in if your car is a four cylinders one and whole bottle if your car is six cylinders or more... Although 'FrankenBenz' is six cylinders, I decided to pour just half bottle as I don't want it to mess with my system... Start the car and let it idle for 15 minutes or more and you know what, it works!!! 

Next morning before starting my car, I did my routine job of checking the radiator for water and to my horror the water level was low again!!! In my mind I was thinking of $$$ flying off again as I might need to replace the whole radiator... Since I got nothing to lose, I took the remaining half bottle of 'Bar's Leak - Radiator Stop Leak' and poured it in my radiator... Top up the water and let it idle... Obviously, the leak stopped after a while... 

Fast forward a few weeks later, I believe the stuff works as my radiator is working fine now... No more leak... So if your radiator has a small leak, you might wanna give this product a try but make sure to pour the whole bottle in if you're driving a six cylinders car!!! 

I believe I'm really unfortunate when it comes to motoring life as I'm always plagued with different kind of problems... This was definitely not the first time I've experienced a cracked windscreen... In fact, this would be my fourth time since I started driving...

It started with a tiny spot right beside the 'AMD' sticker... My darling don't really remember when she got hit on the windscreen but we decided to get it repair after having breakfast... And you know what happened after our breakfast???

It started to cracked almost half the length of the windscreen!!! We got a shocked of our life when we saw it... So off we go searching for a windscreen repairer urgently... We managed to find one called 'Dr Cermin' located in 'Setapak'... When they saw our windscreen, their first thing they told us was the windscreen need to be replace... No point repairing it as the cracked was way too long...

But we decided to repair anyway as our insurance coverage was not enough to replace a third party one let alone original... Third party one cost around RM1200 and original one cost around RM3000!!! We were going to wait till we renew our windscreen insurance and pay more premium for the windscreen so that we are able to change to a original one... That was the plan...

They obliged to our request but they won't guaranteed that it would work as the cracked was really too long to begin with... We decided to gamble with it and give the go ahead...

They started by drilling a tiny hole at the end of the crack... The reason they did this was because they were going to inject the sealant in through the tiny hole so that the sealant will flow along the crack and seal it... That's the objective...

 Applying sealant...

 The tools for making this work... 

After applying the sealant, the crack area was covered with a thin piece of plastic and drying process began...

 After a while, they started peeling off the plastic cover...

The end result!!! Still managed to see the crack nearer to the 'A pillar' but those nearer to the center was gone!!! Definitely better than before...

This was done before 'Chinese New Year' and you  know what happened two months later??? It begin to crack again... No choice but to replace the whole windscreen as the crack span more than half the length of the windscreen!!! So based on my experience, if your crack is small/short, faster get it done and you can basically forget about repairing those crack which is longer than four inches long!!! Not worth the money spend because most probably it will start cracking again just like what is happening to us!!! And now I know why I usually don't win when I gamble, cause I sucks at it!!!