[ashis89]

Last weekend, I drove down to Rameswaram. With 4 adults, 1 kid and bootful of luggage, it was brisk trip - 9 hours each way including breakfast and lunch breaks.

Coyote performed well, no complaints. Especially making overtakes on the undivided Madurai Rameswaram highway was a cake walk. My brother drives a Honda City VTEC and we have taken either of our cars on numerous long trips in the past 12 months. In this particular stretch, he was driving and was quick to note how effortless the overtakes were when compared to the constant downshifts that his City demands.

It was a very hot day yesterday (until Dharmapuri) but the AC didn't disappoint one bit. Even after being parked under the sun for an hour, the cabin cooled down with minutes and I had to reduce the blowers and cooling after 30 mins as it was chilly.

Got torrential rains just after Dharmapuri but I was able to make good progress comfortably. All the earlier complaints about brakes, seepage are gone but wiper judder at high speed still remains. I have informed my Service advisor to get a new wiper arm.

Here are few clicks from the trip:

At A2B Dharmapuri. Also tanked up here which lasted till Madurai on the return leg


Pamban bridge before we headed to the hotel


Dhanushkodi




Tea break at A2B once again. Note the dark clouds ready to welcome us!


Closing note


Since the temple was closed, we could visit few beaches only. It might not be ideal for full fledged travelogue but I have some good pics which I can in separate post later (mini travelogue)

Also here's a clip of the last leg of Dhanushkodi. Towards the end, you can see the shooting going on for next movie of actor Arun Vijay. The actor was there when we crossed the spot

https://youtu.be/YxmUCjoBlrQ

[ashis89]

Monsoons and trips to the coasts have one common things - soiled interiors. Even when I am most careful to brush myself thoroughly after coming from the beach, I still manage to get sand into the car (and into the hotel room).

A quick trip to Ozone car wash was enough to clean up Coyote.



I could have cleaned the exteriors myself at home (and since Murphy has the last say, Coyote would be soiled again in no time!). But cleaning interiors are tricky, especially in my apartment with a dark basement and no power sockets nearby.

We don't have a vacuum cleaner and as such, in the current setup, it would be useless. While buying the tyre inflator, I had seen the new wireless vacuum cleaner. Since we don't need it for full-fledged cleaning, it can be used at times to clean our home and the car. So got this.



Tried it at home and it fits our purpose. Coyote is not due for another vacuum yet but this should work fine.

On a different note, one of the HIDs flickered and switched off momentarily a couple of days ago. This occurred after I hit a small bump. MID showed an error too asking me to check the LHS headlight. Once I switched it off and switched on, it worked fine for the rest of the day.

I spoke to Anton who asked me to come for a checkup ASAP. Went yesterday and his team looked into the lights. The culprit was a loose holder which they fixed and checked thoroughly. I have been asked to observe for a few days if it recurs.

[ashis89]

30000 kms up!

Utilized the long weekend and went to have peek at Kodachadri peak. I had cleaned up Coyote the day before, topped up the tyre pressure to 33 PSI all around and had a tankful of diesel.

Friday morning, started by 7AM from Bellandur and all 5 of us were on our way. Since we couldn't find any preferred restaurants on the way to stop, we had breakfast at home and were carrying home cooked lunch with us. As expected, the road was pretty busy until you cross Tumkur.



Lunch spot!


We were expecting to take the Bangalore - Hiriyur - Tarikere - Tirthahalli - Nagara - Nittur route. On the way, Google suggested Chitradurga - Channagiri - Shimoga - Nagara - Nittur and we took this route instead.

On the way, stopped at Nagara fort, Savehaklu dam and Chakra dam, before retiring for the day. Next day, after breakfast, we took a jeep ride to the Kodachadri hills. Spent couple of hours and then returned to the resort for a late lunch. Since it was raining throughout the day, we decided to stay indoors and rest.







Yesterday, we checked out around 10AM. Plan was to visit the Nittur rope bridge before driving back, have lunch at Tarikere and reach home by 8PM. A sane plan for the day. Who would have thought we would ditch in a whim!

While exploring the rope bridge, one of us exclaimed that the Kodi beach is just 60 kms away. Another mentioned the tasty Chicken Ghee Roast available at Shetty's Lunch Home. It would be a shame to come this close and miss a chance to sit on the beach. So instead of traveling east towards Bangalore, at 11AM, we started towards the coast.



Chose Maravante beach as it is on the highway. Lunch at Shetty's (although Chicken Ghee Roast was sold out). Return via Kundapura - Haikady - Ardi - Agumbe - Hariharapura - Aldur - Gullanpete - Singapura - Belur - Hassan - Bangalore. The never ending ghat roads until Belur was exhausting towards the end. Twisting roads and frequent potholes took some toll on my right shoulder and left leg

As expected, we encountered one of the worst traffic post Belur. And ALL the restaurants before and after Kunigal were overflowing with people (and cars!). Between Kunigal and Yeswantpur, I saw 9 crashes where speeding cars had failed to brake in time and crashed into each other. All minor accidents without any injuries.

To avoid this crowd, we chose not to stop anywhere and ordered the dinner to be delivered at home instead. Reached home by 11:30PM.

FE throughout the trip was 15.3 kmpl. Never drove sedately throughout the trip and the car was left idling a lot of time when we waited for the rain to subside at the sight-seeing spots.

ODO crossed 30k kms yesterday. No complaints except for the dead engine when starting from standstill at a steep spot.

Releasing the clutch, pressing the accelerator, releasing the handbrake and the car would manage to go at 2-3 kmph barely. To be fair, the spot was little too steep and the car was loaded with 4 adults + 1 kid and luggage. Even the handbrake wasn't able to hold the car steady at that spot .

Beyond that black gate downhill, is the main road. When we reached the resort, the gate was closed. One of us had to get down to open it and I could drive in. After that I had to launch from that gate up towards the resort and I could feel the lack of power

[ashis89]

Wife clicked this when she had got down to click some ghat pics



While I was waiting, I checked up the tyres out of curiosity. Front ones are little more worn out than the rear ones.

Thin groove between the thick ones is hardly visible on the front left


That line is slightly visible here on the front right one


Line is clearly visible here on the rear left one


These have run 30k and should last another 20k kms probably. But the car definitely begs for better tyres.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by ashis89

While I was waiting, I checked up the tyres out of curiosity. Front ones are little more worn out than the rear ones.

Hope you get the tyres rotated periodically, once every 10k atleast is a good practice.

Since I have all the required tools at home, I do it every 5k km for my cars and that has helped all 5 of them to wear evenly.

Regards,
Shashi

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Hope you get the tyres rotated periodically, once every 10k atleast is a good practice.

Yes, tyres are rotated during every service, which is every 7.5-8.5k kms.

The car has seen thousands of KMs on the winding ghat roads. That should explain the slightly higher wear of tyres.

Since I have all the required tools at home, I do it every 5k km for my cars and that has helped all 5 of them to wear evenly.

Regards,
Shashi

I used to do this on my WagonR (5k tyre rotation) which I maintained at the FNG. Somehow the tyres didn't last more than 35-40k kms on it. Maybe the tyres don't love me

[ashis89]

Over the weekend, I drove down alone to Vijayawada. The day before, I simply washed Coyote with a couple of buckets of water to clean up all the dust. Fearing Murphy's blessing, I avoided any wax or sprays. Bad part - Murphy decided not to strike and the car remained almost clean by the end of the trip. Wax could have helped further. Good part - the wipers don't judder anymore and give a smooth wipe.

It had been a month since the last long trip and hence, I checked the pressure on all the tyres. All of them had retained the correct pressure except the front left one which had lost about 7 PSi in these 30 days. Topped it with the inflator and will get the slow leak checked some time soon.

Started around 8AM and reached my destination within Vijayawada by 5:45PM. The usual route Bangalore - Chittoor - Tirupati - Naidupeta - Vijayawada is in great shape. Even the Renigutta - Naidupeta undivided road is in good condition and traffic wasn't a pain.

The beautiful stretch from Chittoor to Tirupati




Random breaks as I was carrying my food and beverage with me








Sun kissed green fields!




With ~200 kms covered within purely city and ~500kms on the highway, the last tankful returned 16.3 kmpl.

Aquaplaning!
About 30 kms before Ongole, I witnessed a strong bout of rain. I avoided the puddles and stuck to the middle lane as much as possible. Traffic was scarce on the 6 lane road and I maintained steady speeds. At one point, on a very gradual descent of a flyover, I experienced a scary aquaplaning moment!

A truck was on the right most lane and a little ahead, another truck was on the left most lane. A small stream of water was flowing across the road. Probably, when the truck passed over it, it pushed some more water into my lane and I aquaplaned when I went over it. On instinct, I braked slightly and corrected the steering to move back into my lane. On the hindsight, I should have shed some more speed when I was crossing those trucks.

Aquaplaning can be seen around 00:34 mark.

https://youtu.be/FNxCakM0w6E

[ajaiD]

Change the tyres asap, I had to do the same at 25k since I drive mainly in HP and had a similar aquaplaning but after the change its all great.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by ajaiD

Change the tyres asap, I had to do the same at 25k since I drive mainly in HP and had a similar aquaplaning but after the change its all great.

What tyres are you using now? Did you upsize?

My tyres have been doing a 'decent' job so far. Multiple trips to the Western ghats every other month and they have done the job without fail. This is the first time I noticed aquaplaning which, I believe, can happen to any decent tyre.

[ajaiD]

Originally Posted by ashis89

What tyres are you using now? Did you upsize?

My tyres have been doing a 'decent' job so far. Multiple trips to the Western ghats every other month and they have done the job without fail. This is the first time I noticed aquaplaning which, I believe, can happen to any decent tyre.

Yea I did upsize to a 215/65 R16 Michelin LTX Force from a 205/65 R16 Goodyear's. I had tried Continental Conti Cross but they screwed up the alignment several times and the tyre guy told me it's because of the hard rubber the Conti's had.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by ajaiD

Yea I did upsize to a 215/65 R16 Michelin LTX Force from a 205/65 R16 Goodyear's. I had tried Continental Conti Cross but they screwed up the alignment several times and the tyre guy told me it's because of the hard rubber the Conti's had.

That's an interesting option. Whenever you get a chance, can you please share couple of pics how they look after they've been mounted?

215/65 R16 size is very rare and has barely any option available.

Originally Posted by ajaiD

Not difficult to get the size I have also gotten sensairy "Internal" installed which I recommend.

I mean 215/65 R16 is a typical SUV size and hence, SUV tyres are available. One doesn't get good performance tyre options which are more suited to a crossover like Seltos.

[ajaiD]

Originally Posted by ashis89

That's an interesting option. Whenever you get a chance, can you please share couple of pics how they look after they've been mounted?

215/65 R16 size is very rare and has barely any option available.

Not difficult to get the size I have also gotten sensairy "Internal" installed which I recommend.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by ashis89

What tyres are you using now? Did you upsize?

My tyres have been doing a 'decent' job so far. Multiple trips to the Western ghats every other month and they have done the job without fail. This is the first time I noticed aquaplaning which, I believe, can happen to any decent tyre.

This can happen even in fresher tyres in my opinion.
In such torrential rain, one can either drive slow, or use a quattro.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by abhishek46

This can happen even in fresher tyres in my opinion.
In such torrential rain, one can either drive slow, or use a quattro.

Ah, the famous Quattro! How I wish I had one or even a full time AWD.

Anyway, like I mentioned in my post earlier, I should have been slower. Even that might not save from aquaplaning but will make it easier to control the car due to lesser momentum.

[ashis89]

On occasion of Dusshera and being a holiday, spent some time cleaning up Coyote. Due to a well lit parking lot, looked under the bonnet and gave it a wipe too. 6k kms since the last service and all the vitals looked good.

The 2nd anniversary is closing in and so is the insurance renewal.