[CJ0010]

That’s a really well written review

I recently got a diesel manual hard top Thar and during one of my recent drives I realised the visibility is really compromised when it rains at night. The rear view mirrors have water droplets all over them and the same with the windows. Have you had the same difficulties? Is it worth getting the rear view mirrors coated with some hydrophobic coating? Has anyone had any luck with a headlight modification that has the combination of DRL + LED and good throw?


Note from Support: Spacing, typos fixed.

[rpmmachine]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

Never Ask A Man's Wage, A Woman's Age, or A Thar's Mileage

With all these in mind, and being 90% highway usage, the final stats shows a mileage of 11.50 KMPL, with Rs. 6.87 as the cost per KM.

Well Written, One suggestion:
If you can ad the cost of AD-BLUE in this "Google Sheets based tracker" of yours to get the actual cost per KM that would be nice.
It would be great to know how much ad-blue Thar is sipping and the overall cost (Even if it's minimal/negligible compared to the fuel).

[ph03n!x]

Idle Mind. Devil's Workshop.

Or so the adage goes. My Thar had clocked 10,430 KM in April - when we were forced indoors by the second wave of Wuhan CoronaVirus. A jeep parked in roads not traveled is a pretty sight. A jeep stuck and being rescued looks good too - but not so much if it is stuck in a concrete jungle due to lockdown.

Not even remotely!

The beast was sulking for days and weeks together. And I, I was sulking along with it in my home office couple of floors above - so much that I got real passive. Talk about first world problems.



So what can Lucifer Morningstar's workshop do in a lockdown? I stuck to a couple of subtle experiments. Read on!

Let there be light!

As with almost all H4 reflector headlamps, the Thar will not illuminate the low beam when you switch to highs. It is a good thing - high-beam abusers will have poorer lighting! But what if there is a genuine need, like pitch dark streets in remote villages in odd hours? You will have to make do with the fog lamp's help.

My research across our automotive lighting thread and Google led me to think about getting a LED bulb for the stock reflectors - I did not want to change the stock looks. So I learnt about COB, CSP, SMD, and Cree, Osram, Philips et all. And there are some good recommendations in our automotive lighting thread too. Great, so what are you waiting for? Two things.

AliExpress does not deliver to India anymore.

And I want 4300K lights - cannot stand the flashy white 6000K in these new "cars".

Most sources I looked up in India only has 6000K LEDs. DHGate is one of the few alternatives to AliExpress that still ships to India, and I wanted to see how they fare. So I ordered the cheapest 4300K LED bulbs that I could find - this bulb also had the most sale, btw. I had ordered it on the 5th of April and it reached by first week of May.

BHPian Umang Dutt pointed me to www.uglare.com, but I had placed a trial order by then.I will try them out for my future orders, meanwhile let me know if anyone else has had experience with them.

So here is what I got for about Rs. 1000, incl. shipping -

This is a COB H4 4300K bulb, and the edges are pretty rough - you can get a cut if you are not careful. The wires looked good, but the H4 male plugs looked like they can break if I stared at it for too long. Oh well, you get what you pay for, right?

So I decided to make an evening out of it, marked the cut-off for the stock halogens on the wall opposite my parking, and installed the LED. I realigned the focus of the LED to match (as much as I can) the stock halogens. And I was not impressed with the outcome (pics coming up a little later in the post), but hey - it's not like I can drive. So I left it at it, decided to see how it is when I finally get to take the jeep out on the roads.

In the meantime, I had also ordered Osram Night Breakers as a stand-in, just in case.

So how do they fare?

When we were allowed to take our steads out within the district, I had a chance to try the LEDs in lit, poorly lit and unlit roads. And I switched to the Night Breakers because the LEDs were not any good. Here is a comparison -

The LEDs were scattering light in low beam, and the cut-off was not as defined as it is in either of the halogens. The low beams of Night Breakers definitely looks closer to 4300K, and the high beams definitely warmer.

So what next? I will now experiment with LED, but then I do not want to order stuff online only to find the low beam scattering light, or not having the desired intensity.

Of Mileage and Milestones

After staying stuck at 10,400-odd KM from March to June, my Thar finally saw roads/ trails again on July 10th. I took the jeep for a spin from Coimbatore - Madras - Mahabalipuram - Madras - Pondicherry - Coimbatore, a good long drive to stretch the legs.

The Night Breakers performed pretty well, but the deficiency of lows not lighting up when flashing the high beam remains - my quest continues...

It was during a Madras - Mahabs jaunt that I tanked up at Shell in Injambakkam. East Coast Road was truly scenic on Sunday, with a quite a few people having a picnic by the shore. I got to about 70 KMPH, set it to cruise - and this ODO reading said hi -

Yes, the MID went up to 19.6 when I was holding it in cruise for ~25 KM. While I did not do an interim tank-up to check the mileage, I drove back to Coimbatore via ECR, took Dindivanam and then Ulundurpet - Salem. When I tanked up at Reliance in Attur, the true mileage showed 13.25 KMPL, the best I have clocked till now. I was doing low 80s in ECR till Dindivanam, and low 90s till Attur. The MID reading was an optimistic 15.4 KMPL.

Here are few of the Thar itself - these are by the banks of Odiyur Lake

By the way, there other "subtle experiment" I spoke about while starting this post - debadging. My Thar is now completely debadged, though I am thinking of putting the 4x4 logo back on.

There a few more off and on-road travels coming up, and I will keep this story going right here!

Originally Posted by Satskum

I completely agree on the no of times that Thar is repeated. I personally hate Chrome and that's the reason I went the DIY way. I was jobless on the weekend. I have Black on Black badging on the Bonnie too and everyone goes "wow!!" on seeing it.

"LEDs in action" is there in the Dashcam. I will need to pull them out and post. Promise I will do it during the weekend. They are unbelievable for the size/price/performance.

Please put up the LED in action! And some links on the product itself please!!

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

The Bushranger mats from Mahindra are excellent and is an import from Australia.
12,000 or more is what the dealer may be quoting you. You can buy the mats online from the official Mahindra website and they are about 8200 for front and rear.
These were imported in 2020 when the new Thar was launched. Unfortunately there was a shortage in 2020 as imports from Australia stopped.

You will be surprised to know that I had the auto furnish 7D ones for my Ford Endeavour. Yes Ford Endeavour. And these were pretty useless for me during off roading in wet conditions. Dirt and muck get stuck in between and is difficult to take out. Besides it has to be pressure washed to take off the dirt.
Now I have got rid of the top mats, kept the bottom of the autofurnish and on top I have put the Bushranger. The quality is top notch and heavy duty. A typical Australian make.

Link: https://www.m2all.com/catalogsearch/.../?q=Bushranger

I agree - Bushrangers are probably the best for the Thar, especially when going offroad. I will get them, but will let the AutoFurnish ones wear a bit for now.

Originally Posted by CJ0010

That’s a really well written review

I recently got a diesel manual hard top Thar and during one of my recent drives I realised the visibility is really compromised when it rains at night. The rear view mirrors have water droplets all over them and the same with the windows. Have you had the same difficulties? Is it worth getting the rear view mirrors coated with some hydrophobic coating? Has anyone had any luck with a headlight modification that has the combination of DRL + LED and good throw?

Thank you mate! I didn't have much of an issue with the ORVM or the window glasses yet, but will look out for this. I have kept a bottle of Waxpol Rain Repellent ready, just in case.

Originally Posted by rpmmachine

Well Written, One suggestion:
If you can ad the cost of AD-BLUE in this "Google Sheets based tracker" of yours to get the actual cost per KM that would be nice.
It would be great to know how much ad-blue Thar is sipping and the overall cost (Even if it's minimal/negligible compared to the fuel).

Thanks mate! The Adblue costs are negligible! When I did my first service at ~9,250 KM, my service guys topped up the DEF tank with 8 liters of fluid for Rs. 596 incl. taxes - that is a consumption of a liter for every ~1150 KM, at a cost of Rs. 74.50 per liter.

Now, my driving has been primarily on highways so far, with a wee bit of offroading and a bit of hills/ ghats. I am not sure how much of an impact the driving conditions have on how much Adblue gets guzzled...

[ph03n!x]

Bro, what's wrong with these two guys? Why have they brought us here?

I don't know man. Kinda feeling puppy shamed, being shined and polished like we're some cars.

Before you judge the surroundings, this is @Capt.Arun's Stalion getting itself a PPF blanket, while my Phoenix (Hawk?!) came in for a wash after a dirty, bug-splattered highway run.

Here's the Captain composing his view -

Both jeeps will be off to the hills, and create some tracks on roads hardly traveled next weekend - until then, adios!

[Capt.Arun]

Once you go black, you can never go back!

It's been exactly a week since the baby brute got home and boy, what a treat it has been

So the boys in black met for the second time today and it was a photo op which couldn't be missed at any cost

Here's the baby brute through phoenix's rear view camera:


And here's the big brother pulling out of 3m:


So the tale of two thars begin.

Capt.Arun

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by Capt.Arun

...
...
So the tale of two thars begin.

Capt.Arun

Bro, you should post the mod on the logos, a la @Satskum's! They look killer!!

[PrasannaDhana]

Beautiful pics mate!

Nice to know the update on the fuel efficiency. I find a pattern with Fuel Efficiency fluctuations with tall SUVs like yours and mine. There is a considerable decrease in fuel efficiency once you hit 100 kmph and beyond. I guess it is the aerodynamic disadvantage of the designs. The sweet spot has always been 90 kmph. Even if we assume the MID is over optimistic by 2 kmpl, your Thar has returned an excellent 17 kmpl over the 25 km stretch with cruise set at 70 kmph (I got 18 kmpl at same conditions, but over 340km drive)

While it's quite boring to drive these machines in that way, it's also nice to know that these SUVs can still return hatchback FE figures if we are careful.

PS: The odo starts to look more classy with every time I see it.

[Pancham]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

The Bushranger mats from Mahindra are excellent and is an import from Australia.
12,000 or more is what the dealer may be quoting you. You can buy the mats online from the official Mahindra website and they are about 8200 for front and rear.
These were imported in 2020 when the new Thar was launched. Unfortunately there was a shortage in 2020 as imports from Australia stopped.
Now I have got rid of the top mats, kept the bottom of the autofurnish and on top I have put the Bushranger. The quality is top notch and heavy duty. A typical Australian make.

Link: https://www.m2all.com/catalogsearch/.../?q=Bushranger

Hi. Could you post a few pictures of the Bushranger mats in the Thar? Will be helpful. There seems to be 2 different variants of Bushranger. Which one re you referring to?

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

Beautiful pics mate!

Nice to know the update on the fuel efficiency. I find a pattern with Fuel Efficiency fluctuations with tall SUVs like yours and mine. There is a considerable decrease in fuel efficiency once you hit 100 kmph and beyond. I guess it is the aerodynamic disadvantage of the designs. The sweet spot has always been 90 kmph. Even if we assume the MID is over optimistic by 2 kmpl, your Thar has returned an excellent 17 kmpl over the 25 km stretch with cruise set at 70 kmph (I got 18 kmpl at same conditions, but over 340km drive)
...
...

As this was a no timeline, no agenda drive, I did most of the first half of the lap on country roads/ state highways. This gave me a chance to not only stop and enjoy nature, get the kids a couple of lotus flowers fresh from a pond, etc., but also see how a lazily run Thar behaves.

While 90 is indeed the sweet spot on highways, the jeep is most efficient in 5th gear between 65 and 70! Yeah, you're right - it has the aerodynamics of a brick, and faster we go, higher the drag.

But I guess 11 to 13 KMPL is par for the course, I'm not too bothered about the mileage - it's an outcome rather than a target !

[Kolambifly]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

Its needs two taps - a regular fuse (I tapped the cabin lamp fuse (F36) for this), and ACC power fuse (I tapped the MBFM ACC (F64) for this.

Did you reloaded the stock fuse in these fuse taps? Did you compensate the difference in the load for the fuse added?

Also is it fine to use the fuse taps in the hardwire kit which doesn't have a option to add the second fuse?

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by Kolambifly

Did you reloaded the stock fuse in these fuse taps? Did you compensate the difference in the load for the fuse added?

Also is it fine to use the fuse taps in the hardwire kit which doesn't have a option to add the second fuse?

Yes, the fuse tap needs the stock fuse too to be loaded in it, doesn't replace it.

Not sure what is compensating for the load difference, but I picked a low load fuse - I think the cabin lamp's, that had 5amps rated fuse (been a while, may have to check which fuse I tapped).

As long as the combined load of both the loads are well within the range of the fuse, should be fine - also picking something that's not critical (like the cabin light's fuse) should help.

[Kolambifly]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

Yes, the fuse tap needs the stock fuse too to be loaded in it, doesn't replace it.

Got it, the local guys here fixed the fuse taps with inbuilt fuse instead of the piggy bag ones.And has flipped the connections.

The Nexdigitron guys were very helpfull, after discussion with them I changed the F36( cabin lamp) to red wire and F63 (power socket) for the yellow.
Now the parking surveillance mode is working fine.

The inbuilt fuse in these taps are 10A rated, so might need to change them to a appropirate ones later.

[dr_TJ]

As per as LED headlights for Reflector housings are concerned, Morimoto H4 LED is by far the best or Osram also have H4 LED Headlights. The LED pattern should be able to mimic the Halogen filament. ZES leds being the best out there. COB being the worst.
You can watch the youtube channel Headlight Revolution for more info.

I have installed ZES LED H4 Headlights on my Celerio (Bought from Aliexpress) and they are a good improvement over my Halogens. I shall do the same for my Thar when it gets delivered but this time, I am on a search for Morimoto 2 stroke H4 LED Headlights.

Here is my installation and light output video

https://youtu.be/0KnambW9WTs

The final Light output image is at 2:30 mark.
It was projecting at a distance of about 20-25 meters

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by dr_TJ

...
...
I have installed ZES LED H4 Headlights on my Celerio (Bought from Aliexpress) and they are a good improvement over my Halogens. I shall do the same for my Thar when it gets delivered but this time, I am on a search for Morimoto 2 stroke H4 LED Headlights.

Here is my installation and light output video
https://Youtu.be/0KnambW9WTs
The final Light output image is at 2:30 mark.
It was projecting at a distance of about 20-25 meters

Hey, thanks for the video! What's this LED's temperature, is it 6000K?

[dr_TJ]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

Hey, thanks for the video! What's this LED's temperature, is it 6000K?

Its 5500K as per Aliexpress but I think its 6000K, no Bluish tint observed, and the low beam cutoff is very precise so oncoming traffic does not get blinded. I have used it in Night driving with Fog and in the monsoons of Assam. It worked well. Low beams are powerful enough. And I don't have fog lamps on my Celerio.

But since Aliexpress is no longer a option now
So Osram H4 LED Headlights would be a great option. Orelse try sourcing some Morimoto 2 stroke H4 LED Headlights. These Aliexpress ones costed me around Rs 2000, so we could buy 2 pairs (1 as a backup) and even if the light goes kaput after 1 year or so, its not a bad deal in my honest opinion (If used regularly).

Do watch Headlight Revolution youtube channel, they suggest LEDs with ZES type LEDs as well as one with a fan and heatsink with a separate driver like the ballast in HID bulbs although much smaller.