Interesting... Sightings

1. I spotted my own car (driven by my wife) on D'sara highway yesterday. This isn't really an X20 sighting.


2. I saw this accent this morning while on the way to work. In cantonese, this is a very crude phrase. Sorry I dunno how to explain it.


3. My friend spotted this someone in PJ

Sightings - By my wife

I'm feeling better, thanks to my wife's care and the good doctor's medicine. My wife has some X20 sightings:

19/2 - Parked at section 8, PJ:


25/2 - Turning into LDP from 1 Utama:

I'm sick and tired...

I really am sick and tired:


At the clinic near office, temperature was 37.9, now its at 38.1. These are my symptoms doctor:
- tired. Yawning alot today, even though had 7 hours sleep
- pain in the headm especially when I cough/any action that impacts the head
- gassy tummy... my wife had to endure this one. I drank some super KAU ginger juice and ate prunes yesterday. *poot*poot*
- loss of appetite. ate very little lunch today
- joints pain
- muscle pain
- Intermittant running nose. NEVER prolonged.
- Loss of focus on using the laptop.Thats strange, coz I still can type this blog post out! Maybe its only for work related matters =D

The extra-ordinarily nice and professional lady doctor checked my temperature, tummy and blood pressure. The usual viral fever with active gas in the tummy. No anti-biotics, but a return visit is scheduled on Wednesday morning, coz of the rising cases in DENGUE. I won't be surprised, as mosquitoes have been busy invading our house for the last few weeks. Btw, I had a friedn who died of DENGUE when we were only 15. A moment of silence for Maurice Kok. You are fondly remembered.

---------
moment

of

*silence*
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Driving home was more difficult than normal. Engine died at the traffic light once (don't worry, this is the Kancil). Anyway, i'm home safe, and waiting for my wife to pamper me tonight.

Do have a read on DENGUE and CHIKUNGUNYA.

Anyone of you who says I'm sick coz of the DIY car wash, will be virtually shot dead. Virtual killing is not a crime.

Car Wash

Mr. Albert imparting alot of knowledge to the THM club members yesterday. Behind him are his tools of the detailling trade. Pic courtesy of Haremeow:


Today I was determined to wash, clay and polish/wax. However, the rain only stopped at 6pm, so only managed to wash. Here are some pics, courtesy of my wife:


The hand mit is such an amazing tool for car washes:


The result:


Next week: wash, clay, polish/wax!

One Eyed X20

Good bye PIAA, welcome Phillips.

One of my PIAA H7 extreme (4700k) bulbs blew. The filamen "sudah pecah", as described by the Eneos mechanic. I blew RM 280 on a Phillips Crystal Vision. Now I have ONE working PIAA bulb for spare.


At least the crystal vision comes with the mini lamp. So I can retire my single Mini LEDs, as they are too "white". It went well with my old HIDs, but did not suit the white light from the PIAA or phillips bulbs.

All I need now is to:
- get white lamps for the fogs / projector HIDs?!
- white high beams? maybe not...
- smoke head lamps with angel eyes... mmm...

On the way home, I spotted an X20 with angel eyes outside 1utama. It was DrD, who coincidentally is my 'A'-levels coursemate. Coincidence?


Sorry for the blur pic.

Its all in the details...

UPDATE:
- I ordered 2 drying cloths from Pro D here.
- While waiting for the drying cloth, I bought a microfibre chamois towel for drying.
- Got a blue microfibre glass towel, with cheap windscreen washer
- Dug up ol' rain-x and sonax tire shine foam spray


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I had a friend with a white civic (resprayed) who sent his car for detailling last year. He invested a bomb, and was initially very pleased with the results. The car came back with squeaky clean exterior, interior and engine bay. However, he wasn't good in maintaining its squeaky clean car. That was the closest I've ever got to detailling.

Yesterday evening, Team Hyundai Malaysia club member haremeow organized a TT at Pro Detailers, at Sunway D'sara. It was an informal workshop from 4.30 pm till 7.00pm of TRAINING on "Car wash 101" to "Hyundai vs. Honda paint compounds" with insider knowledge sharing and Q&A sessions. Our host was Mr. Albert Low (the owner of Pro Detailers), who has an outstanding portfolio, with too many years of experience (his hairline kinda gave it away...)

In summary, what I learned and caught today was worth paying a full day's fees in a training course. I think, if Meguiars were to have TRAININGS like these and selling their car wash packages after the event, they will be making EVEN more money in M'sia.

I've sent my car for VPS, but sadly, didn't have the discipline to continue keeping it clean with regular washes. But now, I'm inspired to start washing my car regularly.

These are some spoils from Eneos. Now all I need is the drying cloth... where am I gonna get that from? hmmm...


Pro Detailer
45-1, Jalan PJU 5/11,
Dataran Sunway,
Kota Damansara,
47391 Petaling Jaya

Albert Low <- This guy is a "detailing professional & professor"

Sightings!

Was going for lunch at Paris, SS2 on a Sunday afternoon, when my friends in another spotted two X20s at a SS2 traffic light. They commented that the X20 is a beautiful car. I'm not exaggerating.

After lunch, I saw this X20 parked near Paris:

The Orphaned Blog

Snippets:

- I started another blog about a month ago regarding some work related stuff. Initially, I was quite excited to get it going coz I envisioned that the blog would help educate Malaysians on my line of work. But some where along the lines, I just lost steam. Its true that you should blog about something you're passionate about. Am I still passionate about X20?

- There are no announced job cuts where I work. I don't think bonus or increment will be anything to look forward to. Although our industry should be relatively safe from the global economic slowdown, no one, especially the management are taking any chances. Cost saving and operational cuts are the buzz words now. I bet training funds will be slashed.

- I must admit, I've thought about selling the car if push comes to shove during the economic downturn. Especially if I have to stop working (resign, or get fired). However, that would be a move out of desperation, and a terribly sad decision.

- Petrol prices have been hovering below USD $40 per barrel. However, there are some 'reasons' why the pump prices will not be lowered. Paul Tan has a good write up on the Automatic Pricing Mechanism (APM), and this is the summary:



Some simple calculations for petrol prices in Peninsula M'sia:


Therefore, assuming crude oil price is USD$40, and the Mean Of Platts Singapore is at RM 1.00 (10% higher than crude oil), with the current pump pricing, our government is getting a sales tax of RM 0.48 per liter. So, should petrol price come down? Maybe...

- Potential Poisons:

(a) Airmaster bodykit (Website) - Below RM 2k?!


(b) Stromberg - Quadcore™ 10mm High Performance Plug Cable (Website)


(c) Denso Iridium Spark Plugs (another 8k mileage to go)


mmmm.... =D

I NEED TO BLOGGG >>>

With a new year comes new bad habits. Procrastinating. Well its not really a NEW bad habit, but its new for this blog.

So many things to update:
- Crude oil prices is going up. Would petrol prices be going up shortly?
- Lotsa sightings, most of them either have no/blur pictures. However, I must share about a black X20 jumping a red light at sect17 (while i was waiting at the red light). If you're reading this, I've got your number plate! Heh heh heh...
- My car is super dirty. The Car Wash & Polish package that I signed up 5 months ago has not even been used ONCE! And I'm too tired/lazy to wash myself... Shucks... looks like I need some Meguiars car wash coupons! *hint*hint*
- I can't wait for road tax renewal to claim the RM 625. However, road tax and insurance will be WAY MORE THAN RM 625.
- My third service was using Eneos Fully Synth oil again, however, the price went up by RM 30. Next service in 10,000 km.
- There seems to be a solution in the petrol smell in car cabin by sealing off an outlet where we pump petrol. To be tested in the next service.
- My mom wants to buy a new Viva. Why not another X20? Hehe...
- On the evening of 31st December, I was stuck in a massive traffic jam at the intersection of Jalan Ampang and Jalan Tun Razak. Was stuck in the yellow box for 20 minutes, due to an inconsiderate bus and an idiotic 'wira' driver. For the record, it wasn't my fault. If only I'm handy with Flash, then I'll draw a animated cartoon of the series of unfortunate events.

Petrol Calculations

Observation:
When crude oil was USD $140+, our petrol price was at RM 2.70 (30 cents subsidy by gomen)
Now crude oil around USD $40+, our petrol price is at RM 1.80 (gomen making "some" profit)

Some Calculations:
USD$140 to USD$40 is a discount of around 70%
RM 2.70 to RM 1.80 is a discount of around 33%

Explanations:
Crude oil can go down by 70%, but our petrol prices go down by 33% only. If we follow the crude oil 70% discount, we should be paying RM 0.90 for petrol.

Context:
To be fair, as revealed by the government, when the price was at RM 2.70, there was a RM 0.30 subsidy. Therefore, if we follow the 70% discount, we should be paying RM 1.20 per liter.

Conclusion:
Maybe it takes alot of money to convert crude oil into petrol
Maybe gomen is losing alot of money coz Malaysia is a net exporter of oil, therefore the "profits" of petrol price is to offset the "loss"
Maybe someone is siphoning the additional money made
Maybe gomen think m'sians dunno how to count
There isn't a conclusion on this one...

"Used" car dealers part II

I blogged on "New DBKL Clamping down on "Used" car dealers?" on 5th August 2008, where they demolished a few 'tents' at KL.

Yesterday, DBKL came around and demolished the office building too.

Before:


After:

Another X20 Owner Blogs

Welcome Mr. Kumar to the blogging world. Now we have another Silver X20 fella blogging! The more the merrier!

VISIT NOW @ http://elantra-x20.blogspot.com/

2 X20 Sightings

I spent the weekend at Bukit Tinggi. On the way, in a Toyota Altis, I saw a silver X20.



This morning, on the way to work, I saw another silver X20 coming out of the RM 2 toll from TTDI to Mont Kiara. When you see the alphabets "WSB", what is the first thing that comes to mind?


I thought of WASABI! Btw, my wife loves Jap food.

Sightings... poor guy

This silver X20 was spotted today filling up at an Esso station beside my office. Poor guy, probably had NO IDEA that the prices were going down this midnight. Anyway, if he filled up a FULL TANK of 55 liters, he would only save RM 5.50.

Thats enough for a... a... 2 hour car park in KL?

Petrol Prices Down Down Down

Petrol prices going down by 10 cents. An all time low of RM 1.90. I still remember the days when petrol was RM 1.92. Happy thoughts and feelings for my 2-liter engine car.

=D

Paul Tan link

MalaysiaKini link