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![]() | #166 |
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Navi Mumbai
Posts: 2,079
Thanked: 2,390 Times
| Re: The Dark Knight has arrived-Pearl Black VW Vento TDi Highline Update-1st Service Drive : Vashi, Navi Mumbai To Aurangabad. How often do you cover 1000 kms in a span of 4 days? Well recently did a drive to Aurangabad to visit the world famous Ajanta & Ellora caves and other significant monuments, temples & shrines. Dates were finalized as 29 Sep to 2 Oct 2012, since we would only need to skip a days of work on 1 Oct and other days were basically weekends & national holidays. Made booking at the hotel "The Manor" and extracted the best deal possible. Put up hotel people against the internet based quotes available and you are sure to get the best deal. We were 5 and got 2 rooms with extra bed at Rs. 5000 per night. Not bad at all. A day before journey prepped up the car. A nice wash, QD(Quick Detail), fueled up with normal diesel and nitrogen checked up. One of the concern with VW Vento is how much tire pressure to keep? Well incidentally, it mentions 36 front and 39 rear when at full load with 5 pax & luggage. So decided to go with 36 at front and 39 rear. Was it over inflation nah. JK Vectra have a max limit of 51 psi so I was in safe limits. Car behaved superb on roads and never felt it was bouncy and it was just gliding over the road. So if at full load 36 F and 39 R seems the best choice. Facts : One way distance : 370 kms. Route taken : Gmap. Total distance covered : 1014 Kms Average : Didn't check, enjoying drive and wicked torque more important Hotel : The Manor, Aurangabad Any problems encountered : None GPS Navigation device : My Nokia E72 powered by Gmaps and Vodafone 3G. Didn't need to ask anyone for routes throughout the journey. Family believes I'm the best navigator for any journey. Places of interest : Ajanta and Ellora caves, Daulatabad Fort, Panchakki, Grishneshwar Temple, Tomb of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and Biwi Ka Maqbara. Day 1 : 29 Sep 2012. Early morning drive to Aurangabad. Started at 6:30 am from Vashi and reached Aurangabad at 12:30 pm. Quite fast for 370 kms indeed. Highways were all 4 Lane from Pune after E-Way, so no problems while overtaking which made the journey quicker. Checked into the hotel and had a delicious lunch. If food is good at a hotel, then the rooms would definitely be good. Had a good sleep after that and called it the day. Parents are not accustomed to long drives, so rest it was. Later in night, had dinner at hotels open to air BBQ and watched T20 matches on the widescreen projector setup. Day 2 : Visit to Ajanta caves. 30 Sep 2012. Distance one way : 100+ kms. Started at around 9:30 am and navigated again by Gmaps. Reached Ajanta caves in 2 hrs. Parked the car at parking lot and then you need to take the bus to the caves. AC bus charge 20 rupees one way per pax. We were lucky since we just had to wait 10 min only. Another 10 mins and we were at the caves. Tickets purchased, even for a camera and we were off for a visit to the caves. Some of the caves were closed due to ASI restoration works. Spent around 3 hrs visiting all the caves. Some tip: Do not hire guide from the base where the bus drops as these guides charge Rs. 750 for a guided tour for all caves of which some are closed. Instead go to each cave and you would find caretaker for each cave and he will impart the same knowledge for as less as Rs. 10. Not bad for 28 caves, Rs. 280 of which some are closed. Came back down and had lunch at MTDC restaurant, good food but prices were a a bit higher considering its a Govt. entity. Day 3 : Visit to Ellora caves, Grishneshwar temple, Daulatabad fort, Panchakki, Tomb of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and finally Biwi Ka Maqbara. 1 Oct 2012. Quite a lot of places to visit, but most of them fall in the 30 km distance one way. First up was Daulatabad Fort. One of the best forts I have seen. Must visit. Second, the Tomb of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Read a lot about him in history books, so also wanted to visit it. Aurangabad gets its name from Aurangzeb. Next was Grishneshwar temple which is just ahead of Ellora caves. Paid a quick visit to the temple. The we went to the Ellora caves. The best part about Ellora caves is that you can take your car all the way till caves unlike Ajanta caves. The best caves over there are Cave no 16, 29-34. Cave 16 is too good. A whole temple carved out of rocks. Mind blowing. After watching all the caves we were quite tired and bid adieu to Ellora and headed for alunch at Kailash Hotel. Good food but service not up to the mark. Now only two places were left, Panchakki and Biwi Ka Maqbara. Decided to cover them up too. Panchakki is about grinding flour using water power in earlier days to help common man. It has a big Banyan tree with a small man made water reservoir with many fishes. Finally the next stop Biwi Ka Maqbara also called "Taj Of Deccan" due to its close resemblance to Taj Mahal. Must visit. Day 4 : The day of return back to home sweet home. 2 Oct 2012 Had a quick breakfast at hotel and departed at 9:00 am. Stopped by in Pune to collect Amba Barfi from Chitle Bandhu in Aundh and decided to meet a bhpian only to find he is not well. Decided to have lunch in Aundh only to find all restaurant were flooded with people and long waiting. Not good. Last minute option was McD and we were off to E-Way. Reached home at 4:30 pm. Great trip all together. Vento didn't give any tantrums and behaved so well on highways. It just keeps going and going. Wish to do more such trips in future. Gir may be next. Total expenses : Toll : Rs. 664 Parking : Rs. 70 Ticket : Rs. 340 Since I'm not good at travelogues, so tried to sum it all up. Hope you all find it informative. Some pictures, off course : The steed ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Ellora Caves: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Last edited by el lobo 6061 : 7th October 2012 at 10:56. Reason: Spell check! |
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The following 3 BHPians Thank el lobo 6061 for this useful post: | nileshch, samarjitdhar, scopriobharath |
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![]() | #167 |
BHPian ![]() Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: mumbai
Posts: 29
Thanked: 7 Times
| Re: The Dark Knight has arrived-Pearl Black VW Vento TDi Highline Update-1st Service This stuff is very very encouraging, i had recently done mumbai - solpur on my vento and took the satara - pandharpur route, i must admit the headlights are a major let down. I spoke to the VW showroom guys and asked if they could upgrade my headlamps, but they would have none of it. I checked with a local accessory guy and he sounded that this was not a problem and the fittings would not void warranty. I am very sceptical about letting anyone touch the car for the fear of my murdering my warranty. How did you guys fare when the car went for servicing after making these upgrades, didn't this affect your warranty. I'm very very confused as I see many owners saying, they will follow suit and upgrade their headlamps. Either they are not worried about their warranties or the installation does not affect the warranty, please help my confused mind... |
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![]() | #168 |
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Navi Mumbai
Posts: 2,079
Thanked: 2,390 Times
| Re: The Dark Knight has arrived-Pearl Black VW Vento TDi Highline Update-1st Service Team-BHP's First Detailing Party Well I have been planing this for long, to have a detailing party where we bhpians come together share our inputs, get to use each others products and evaluate the results. The credits go to bhpian @basky for the inspiration. So after a lot of PM's, we were two bhpians who finally made it possible. 3 other bhpians couldn't make it due to other important commitments. But next time! @SAS & yours truly, finally decided to do it on 21 Oct'12. A big thank to SAS who drove all the way from Borivali to my place at Vashi. That's a very long distance just for a short 2.5 hrs of stay, since SAS had to go to a dentist. Speaks a lot about his passion. Started at 7:15 am in the morning. Setting up my Karcher K2.180 and raring to go. First started by washing the wheel wells of my car as they were quite dirty. Karcher is up to the task and cleans them pretty well. Next were the alloy wheels which were all dirty with 1500 kms of brake dust and dirt. Since SAS had to go back, we decided to wash his car. Karcher with Mothers Wash & wax and his car was all clean & gleaming new. Got to learn a lot from SAS. Got to use Megs PlastX which made my cars headlight & fog lights all new. Thanks SAS. Some pics of the Detailing Party: Used a bucket to source water to Karcher as it gives a tremendous back pressure and society's tap wasn't up to it. Frequent running to the tap for refills. Physical exercise, oh yeah. ![]() My Karcher K2.180 with Karcher Water Filter attached. ![]() 1500 Kms brake dust with dirt. You all be surprised by the after pic below. ![]() Dirty doors with same 1500 kms of duty. Yeah I don't wash my car so often. Save water. ![]() Rear LHS wheel well cleaned, all the gunk lays down. Clean alloy wheel too. ![]() The after pic of alloy. No that's not Karcher effect. Meguiars Wheel Brightener(WB) in 10:1(Water:WB) ratio with Mothers Wheel Brush, courtesy SAS. ![]() Next up SAS's car. Before and after shots. Karcher cleaning with Mothers Wash & wax. ![]() ![]() ![]() The Detailers Party Gang : SAS on right and yours truly. ![]() ![]() With that we had to bid adieu. So I was then back to my car, and did a pressure wash and then foam wash by Karcher. Some more pictures: Clean wheel well. Mighty impressed with Karcher. ![]() Next pics are of Meguiars Hyper Wash used with Karcher Foam Nozzle 300 ml with 150 ml water and 15 ml Hyper wash. It made the whole parking lot white like snow. ![]() ![]() ![]() Next up interiors. Before pic. ![]() After pic with Meguiars Natural Shine Protectant. Highly recommended product. Note the contrast in before and after. ![]() Closer shot elaborating, the fine natural matt finish. ![]() Next up tires. A clean car with plain jane tires look inappropriate. So.... ![]() Applied Meguiars All Season's Dressing. What a nice matt with slight shine. Just the way I like it. ![]() Oh yeah, it runs on JK and they are the best bet. ![]() Well after I was done all washing the car, strong winds started and heat was hitting hard & feeling quite tired. So did the interiors by vacuuming it and applied Meguiars Natural Shine Protectant on the plastic parts as shown in above pics. So at least I was done with washing & interiors. Exteriors had to wait a whole week to be done but only half. Did the exterior today with RHS & boot still remaining. Claying took a lot of time given the amount of dirt bonded to the paint surface on the doors given the torrential rains of 3.5 months. Before pics of my car. ![]() The rear all dusty. ![]() The break of dawn I hit the car with detailing it. ![]() The finish after, steps followed 1. Claying with Megs clay bar and Megs Quik Detailer as clay bar lubricant 2. Megs Ultimate compound, used by hands. It did a very good job. Mighty impressed. SwirlX just fails against it. Got rid of many fine scratches. Will upload some photo of scratches as they are mone on RHS which I would do soon. 3. BlackFire Gloss Enhancing Polish 4. BlackFire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint protection paint sealant. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() So in the end, LHS, roof, bonnet & front bumper given the above treatment and they are shinning like hell. No one can say my car is 1.5 yrs old. Its brand new. ![]() Will finish RHS soon and put up some more pictures. So all the detailers out there, have detailer party and pool in knowledge & your products and learn new things. Let me know if you all have any question. Note: I had received small quantity of samples from my friend for the following products. They are available in 1 Gallon quantity only. 1. Meguiars Wheel Brightener 2. Meguiars Hyper Wash 3. Meguiars All Season Dressing Till then... Last edited by el lobo 6061 : 28th October 2012 at 19:23. |
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The following 7 BHPians Thank el lobo 6061 for this useful post: | nileshch, planet_rocker, sagarpadaki, scopriobharath, speed kills, ThinkBig, TopSpeeder |
![]() | #169 |
BHPian ![]() | Re: The Dark Knight has arrived-Pearl Black VW Vento TDi Highline Update-1st Service ^^ Good Effort !!! Have You Tested Out The Sample Of Clay ??? |
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![]() | #170 | |
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Navi Mumbai
Posts: 2,079
Thanked: 2,390 Times
| Re: The Dark Knight has arrived-Pearl Black VW Vento TDi Highline Update-1st Service Quote:
Vento TDi is surely a highway touring car and enjoyed mostly on highways. The driving pleasure derived is too good and the big grin I have on my face when the 250 NM torque makes a push back into seat effect, great feeling. Your observation are very correct, Vento 60/55 headlights are very weak on unlit highways and warrant a change to 100/90W bulbs. First thing with 100/90 bulbs is that you need to have a relay installed before progressing further. Since 100/90W generate a lot of heat chances of damage to original wiring harness is always there. With the presence of a relay any damage is taken by relay and factory fitted harness remains safe. I had changed the bulbs on the car myself but I had got the relay installed previously from VW Workshop, good will gesture. Link to the install by me DIY. Regarding warranty. VW is very finiky, but it is also genuine concern. 100/90 is not recommended due to as it causes 1. Blacking of headlight casing, due to heat 2. Drawing more current 3. Damage to wiring harness(which is taken care by relay) You cannot claim warranty for the above factors, but I took my chances since I don't do much night driving, so the probability of above factors is less. Earlier I wasn't aware of wiring & working of relay, so once a fuse went out and didn't knew anything about it. So took the car to VW Workshop and first thing SA says after seeing relay & blue bulbs, "Warranty Void Sir". I say at least have the headlights checked. Head mechanic inspects and finds fuse to be slightly melted. Rubs it a bit and get the headlights to work. Later I replace the fuse and voila everything is fine. If in due course any problem arises due to headlight upgrade, VW will keep harping Warranty Void. What you could do is swap 100/90 relay & bulb back to stock 60/55 bulbs and head over to workshop. VW wont be able to find anything wrong. I do have 30A fuse going out in relay well in a months time and they cosy 5 bucks, no problem. 100/90 tremendous heat causes the fuses to go out, but nothing to worry. Takes just 3 min to swap new ones. Go through the link I have provided above and let me know for any queries. Lastly go either for Philips, Hella or last resort PMP relay. | |
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![]() | #171 | |
BHPian ![]() Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: mumbai
Posts: 29
Thanked: 7 Times
| Re: The Dark Knight has arrived-Pearl Black VW Vento TDi Highline Update-1st Service Quote:
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![]() | #172 |
Distinguished - BHPian ![]() ![]() Join Date: May 2010 Location: Bengaluru
Posts: 4,419
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| Re: The Dark Knight has arrived-Pearl Black VW Vento TDi Highline Update-1st Service Hi Rohaan. I went throught your post where you had changed the bulbs et all. You changed the number plate bulbs too. Wanted to know if the light output is blue or while. The W5W bulbs look blue in the packaging. Also how much is the cost of the parking bulb pair? Any idea? |
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![]() | #173 | |
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Navi Mumbai
Posts: 2,079
Thanked: 2,390 Times
| Re: The Dark Knight has arrived-Pearl Black VW Vento TDi Highline Update-1st Service Quote:
Let me know if you wish to know any other thing, happy to help. ![]() | |
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The following BHPian Thanks el lobo 6061 for this useful post: | sagarpadaki |
![]() | #174 |
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Navi Mumbai
Posts: 2,079
Thanked: 2,390 Times
| Re: The Dark Knight has arrived-Pearl Black VW Vento TDi Highline Update-1st Service A short update : Car recently completed 10,000 Kms last week in 1 yr 11 months. ![]() It's been a a very good experience with the car. Recently did two long drives. Car performed extremely well. Highway manner of Vento are indisputable. Only problem with the car till now are
Long Drive to Bhimashankar : Distance : 220 Kms. Place to visit : Bhimashankar Temple Navigation & Route taken : Gmaps Left Vashi early Sunday morning at 6:30 am and reached the place at 10:30 am with sedate driving. A quick visit to the temple. Lucky to find it less crowded. Still it took us 40 mins for darshan. Later when we came out, the line for darshan reached till the entrance steps. Since we left early morning, we were able to reach quicker & do the darshan with less crowd. If we would have been late by 1 hr, it would have been nearly impossible to do it. During return stopped at a nursery on old Mum-Pune E-way to pick some plants. During return, we had a major traffic jam as a trailer got stuck just before Lonavala exit. So it was 6 pm by the time we reached home. None the less 440 Kms in one day, has been our best. The steed basking in early morning Sun. ![]() Bhimashankar Temple entrance. ![]() Main Temple. ![]() ![]() ![]() Dhimbe Dam. ![]() ![]() A nice shot of Dark Knight. ![]() Long drive to Bhandardhara : Distance : 155 Kms. Place to visit : Wilson dam. Navigation & Route taken : Gmaps Bhandardhara was more of a getaway drive. Again a Sunday morning departed at around 10 am and reached the destination by 1 pm. Again sedate driving. ![]() Had lunch at MTDC Bhandardhara. Food was good and very economical considering its a Govt. owned. The resort is located just by the dam and has a very good view. Relaxed at the resort for an hour exploring. Then it was time to return. NH3 has changed a lot in a year, lots of eatery by the road side & more traffic too. Some pics again. MTDC just by the banks of dam. ![]() MTDC resort, a good place to unwind. ![]() Old school, village roads. ![]() Wilson Dam water discharge main gate. ![]() NH3 in all its glory. ![]() Place where we had tea & snacks. Very good ambiance & service. ![]() Thanks for reading. ![]() |
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![]() | #175 | |
BHPian ![]() Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Sydney/Kolkata
Posts: 973
Thanked: 494 Times
| Re: The Dark Knight has arrived-Pearl Black VW Vento TDi Highline Update-1st Service Quote:
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![]() | #176 | ||
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Navi Mumbai
Posts: 2,079
Thanked: 2,390 Times
| Re: The Dark Knight has arrived-Pearl Black VW Vento TDi Highline Update-1st Service Power for Long Drives : Capdase Pico Plus USB Car Charger Since the new phablets take a lot of juice while running GPS & other app, it had been a necessary. Even more getting a 2.1A power output one, since the other available off the shelf are mostly 1A. Samsung Note 2 & iPad 3 require a 2.1A for running them. Got it from Flipkart for Rs. 850. Very very small in size, nearly flush with the socket. ![]() Quote:
![]() Last year it was 4000 Kms and this year its about 7000 Kms. So quite an improvement. If I do Leh this year, then 8000 Kms in 21 days only. ![]() Quote:
It's been very long since you updated your thread. How about some pics from your latest trip to CH ? | ||
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![]() | #177 | |
BHPian | Quote:
How are you? Dont see you on the detailing thread these days. Just wanted a few clarifications regarding the above post. Finally Ive bought the K.3.500 after months of dilly dallying. You keep mentioning throughout that you used mothers wash and wax with Karcher. Did you attach it to the detergent inlet? If so did you dilute the soap then? How much detergent gets over by 1 wash? Is it safe to use wash solutions like ONR via the detergebt inlet? Also can we put ONR in the water bucket source? Or will that spoil the machine? Also Ive got some Hyperwash. Can you tell me if it does the work of the car shampoo itself? Or do I need to do foam wash with hyperwash and then do car shampoo wax? Also why havent you used Hyperwash in the 1:400 dilution? That itself foams a lot. Is 300ml enough to do a sedan or you need to refill again? Also any issues with the pressure washer till now? Whats your current frequency of use? Thanks. p.s Just realised the green ONR might stain the plastic trims. Maybe i need to dilute it more?? Last edited by Parthasarathig : 30th April 2013 at 07:03. | |
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![]() | #178 | |||||||||
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Navi Mumbai
Posts: 2,079
Thanked: 2,390 Times
| Re: The Dark Knight has arrived-Pearl Black VW Vento TDi Highline Update-1st Service Quote:
I'm doing great. Life has taken a complete turn now, new phase of life. Earlier being a student gave me more time to spend and detail my car, every weekend. But now that I have landed a job, the change from being a student to a professional, has made a lot of difference. None the less enjoying this phase of life. I have a lot to update like the second service of my Vento, renewing the insurance all on my own via e-commerce, but waiting for getting some parts to be changed of my Vento under warranty. Should be done by third week of May'13. Then I would get back to my hobby of detailing my "Dark Knight", taking it to a whole new level and prep her for the rains as well. That's when I did be back on the Superb car cleaning thread, but I do keep looking it up for updates and I'm mighty impressed to see so many bhpians taking so much interest in it. Well that's me in a short gist. Coming back to your question. Quote:
1. Karcher Water Filter For K2-K8. Price. Rs. 1008 This is one attachment, which is utmost necessary. Never ever run your Karcher without it unless you wish to wash with mineral water. ![]() 2. Karcher 0.3l Foam Nozzle For Pressure Washer Rs. 999 To create that perfect snow like foam. Quote:
I use either Amway Car Shampoo and now Meguiars Hyperwash. Waiting to finish Amway so that I can use Megs Hyperwash all the time, best shampoo I have come across. Leaves a good slick shine and foam remains till the end of car wash. No I haven't attached it to inlet pipe as I already have 0.3l foam nozzle with me. I used Karcher foam nozzle which basically has 300 ml capacity. Of which I added 15 ml hyperwash to 150 ml of water and my parking lot was all white. You too could use the same dilution level or even lower. The same 15 ml in foam wash could be used for in regular wash bucket. That is add 15 ml of hyperwash to a regular water bucket and you could wash 2 cars with it with foam there always. Quote:
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Dilution ratio: 1. Add 15 ml to 150 ml water for foam wash in Karcher 0.3l Foam Nozzle. You can create your own snow park with the foam it makes. 2. In a normal bucket add 15 ml of Hyperwash. Good to wash 2 cars. Quote:
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Its a very long post I have written in a while and you are welcome. Let me know if you have any further queries. ![]() | |||||||||
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The following 2 BHPians Thank el lobo 6061 for this useful post: | HighOctane, Parthasarathig |
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BHPian | Re: The Dark Knight has arrived-Pearl Black VW Vento TDi Highline Update-1st Service Quote:
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![]() | #180 | ||||||
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Navi Mumbai
Posts: 2,079
Thanked: 2,390 Times
| Re: The Dark Knight has arrived-Pearl Black VW Vento TDi Highline Update-1st Service
Thanks. Quote:
A DA would be a whole new level and I'm not prepared for it as yet. Pads are expensive and I wont be able to find time for using it. None the less I would surely be buying a DA, say in a year. Quote:
A gallon would last an eternity. I would suggest if you would have friends who could share it among themselves. Quote:
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The following BHPian Thanks el lobo 6061 for this useful post: | Parthasarathig |
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