[abirnale]

Originally Posted by abirnale

50,000 Kms - Service Visit!
…
After the oil change, took #TheRedSparkle to Tyre Professionals for wheel alignment and balancing. Neat and quick work costing Rs. 2435! The weights cost about 450 Rs. The hunter system did not suggest any rotation of the tires too. Front Axle was pretty badly misaligned - needed to be corrected. other than not much of actions needed.
…
To go for A/T or H/T? What do you suggest and any options you think I should consider? I got another month or so before the decision must be made!

Quick update - I followed up with TP folks - found that they had inadvertently added more weight to bill (and not the tires!) than it was. And it being the sister concern of Madhu’s Tyre run but our DBhpian, they were expected to give some discount too. That did not happen. Finally after a quick chat with decision makers, they refunded excess weight and gave discount too.

Originally Posted by sridhar-v

What is this road force balancing? Is it something that uses a different type of machine form the regular balancing machines?

Hunter Road force is a modern equipment that simulates actual road running and balances the wheels. It also recommends which tire is better at which wheel so the rotation is auto-suggested.

On the Tire part - my research so far says that there are no A/T tires in the 7OO AX7 size - 235/60 R18. At least from the known brands. So I have to resort to either some Chinese brands or somewhat harder H/T tires. My research so far points me to Bridgestone Ecopia, Yokohama Geolander G055 as potential options. Primarily due to cost, tread pattern and they are V rated H/T with somewhat hard rubber compound compared to likes of Michelins and Continentals. Any other options getting close to Ecopia or G055?

[MayurS]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Quick update - I followed up with TP folks - found that they had inadvertently added more weight to bill (and not the tires!) than it was. And it being the sister concern of Madhu’s Tyre run but our DBhpian, they were expected to give some discount too. That did not happen. Finally after a quick chat with decision makers, they refunded excess weight and gave discount too.


Hunter Road force is a modern equipment that simulates actual road running and balances the wheels. It also recommends which tire is better at which wheel so the rotation is auto-suggested.

On the Tire part - my research so far says that there are no A/T tires in the 7OO AX7 size - 235/60 R18. At least from the known brands. So I have to resort to either some Chinese brands or somewhat harder H/T tires. My research so far points me to Bridgestone Ecopia, Yokohama Geolander G055 as potential options. Primarily due to cost, tread pattern and they are V rated H/T with somewhat hard rubber compound compared to likes of Michelins and Continentals. Any other options getting close to Ecopia or G055?

Bridgestone Ecopia is a very ordinary tire as compared to Michelin or Continental though it lasted me whopping 92000 Km on stock set. Road noise and grip levels are not up to the mark. I switched to the 255/55R18 after that as no decent options were available in 235/60R18.

[abirnale]

Summary of ownership for 50K Kms!

It’s been 19+ months with #TheRedSparkle and we just crossed over to 50,000 Kms mark. This actually the fastest 50K I ever clocked on any of my cars till date. This itself talks scores about the car and its usage! Although I want to say “my car is the best car”, you know that’s a plain lie! That’s right - just see it for yourself, the summary of my ASC visits that were documented in M&M WYH app officially: 24 visits in about 19 months! That’s more than one each month, almost one visit every 500Kms.

I would be again lying if I only stopped at above statements: my car never stayed in the workshop for more than 4 hours, except when we were investigating ESP blinking phenomenon (which actually is not an issue) in early days during which MRV folks and others did some drives and needed car for more than a day. I would also be not right if I don’t tell you that - 25% of these visits were essential visits and rest all could have been simply either avoided or clubbed with mandatory visits! Bunch of recalls/ service actions and proactive work was primary reason and software updates top this chart! I am glad that none of the visits to service stations were related to repairs initiated due to my usage or accidents or something similar: knock-on-wood!

In the hindsight, I want to make two important points here:

• What this brand new M&M product threw at me, ASCs covered for the nuisance. Chrome is a torch-bearer ideal ASC on how to treat customers and how perfectly carry out the work.
• M&M did a lot of proactive work on the car - didn’t wait for me to complain. Be it warranty replacements, updates, timely notifications or even arranging to explain why something is the way it is in the car! Kudos to them.

Having said above - M&M still has a long way to go! They are getting better with every passing day. I am not sure if I will own anything in M&M again - not because I am unhappy but because my wishes have grown out of their segment. I also feel that their focus on 7OO was much much more than they did 5OO. Much lesser niggles, much more refined package overall. When i bit the bullet to be one of the early customers, I had expected worst - and I am glad, it all turned out to be better.

Safety and VFM
The one prominent thing I want to state about this car and it’s ownership is: this car mechanically is near perfect for its value/ segment/ classification. Nothing comes closer to it. Talking only about VFM - this is first time I have experienced a car appreciated it’s value since it was purchased! I got current top-end variant at 29.05 laks on road in Bangalore. The same variant with some irritant things (like that hybrid start-stop feature) today costs almost 5 lakhs more! 7OO is less of a mechanical car and more of the electronics and M&M so far hasn’t given me a chance to blame them for their support, focus and general quality of this car. I read a lot of horror stories on 7OO and I am not sure how much of that is truth vs exaggeration, but I have seen a lot of accident cars in service center that had zero blood stains or fatality associated accidents: point I want to make is, this car is proven to be safe for many families for sure. (I have some videos of broken 7OOs in accidents but since I do not have permission to post them, leaving it here.)

About Tire Options:
While I am stating the obvious, there is one thing that is currently irritating me the most: lack of A/T tire options for 7OO - TheRedSparkle is an AWD, and I do not hesitate to collect scratches, venture on bad roads, gravel surfaces and terrain where grip is a must - I don’t have economic tires that suits this need. I hear people saying their car tires last for 60-70 K Kms and here I am with all care and caution, nothing lasts beyond 30-35K! Either I am doing something wrong or my choices about tires is wrong.

What could have been better?

• The brake pads have such a small life!
• The DEF availability outside ASC is an important need - we should be able to use DEF from the fuel station!
• The ICE is good but it isn’t the best! The Apple CarPlay is very poorly integrated. If you need to know whats the best - head to Jeep Compass ICE! If everyone else in the industry is able to make it trouble free, without issues, what makes M&M not do it? I have myself been a mobile apps and solution engineer for many decades - can’t digest this mediocrity.
• Missing niceties - they must have kept it for the facelift version but why not make them at least available to us as accessories? Be it auto-dimming IRVM or a functional and good looking roof carrier for those overlanding trips or a simple LED bulb in the boot!

To summarise, there are a lot of small things that M&M could consider for their upcoming AX9 or facelift versions that are missing from the current line-up. Now instead of looking at half glass being empty, I want to draw attention to the half portion of the glass that is filled! Every time you take this car out for a spin, there is a wicked smile on your face! I have driven this car in all possible manners (my skills are average and limited) and it has always exceeded my expectations. If I drive this car in the economy band (80-110kmph, less braking - in other words sane driving), it will put some of the hatchback makers to shame with its FE. A 2.2 ltr engine with 16-17 KMPL - how much more greedy you want to be? And hey - if the car is really running like a SUV should, what is it with those DEF issues people talk about? Haven’t seen a single issue with DEF on my car and I am almost certain that it will not happen with TheRedSparkle! This I am deduce after 1000km slow runs for three months in city alone! If it wasn’t for the forced rest I was made to take, TheRedSparkle would have easily piled up another 10K kms in July-Aug-Sept! By the way, I am just an average IT joe - none of my schedule/ work demands that I drive extensively. And I don’t drive my car as taxi too Everything that is driven so far is purely for fun, holidays, visiting parents and exploring around!

Now if you have survived this entire text and read through - you get the point I assume: My car is <NOT> the best car!

A clean and shining car looks great only in Garage: hoping to gather some muck from the drives!

I am resuming my drives and #TheRedSparkle travel stories will start flowing again! Thank you for reading and your best wishes/ inspiration for driving #TheRedSparkle more! Stay tuned for more fun stories and pictures.

[Amrit@wheels]

I know someone who switched to Michelin LTX force 265/65/17 on his XUV500 AWD and thoroughly enjoyed them for 40k+ km. AFAIK, they are not available in 18" size. But the LTX Trails are, which is a slightly tougher rubber.

[procrj]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Bridgestone Ecopia, Yokohama Geolander G055 as potential options.

Please do not consider Ecopia as they are very basic and are prone to sidewall tears. Yoko Geos are good, lots of TUV folks running Geos for 60k kms without issues. Also do consider Bridgestone Dueler if you can find the size.

[abirnale]

After three months of hiatus, #TheRedSparkle is now out on the road doing what we all love to do - tripping!

Two back to back weekends: one for participating in the Kodagu Monsoon Half Marathon race and another for the long weekend unwinding family work-cation to CKM.

Nothing extraordinary about our Kodagu drive - to Gonikoppal town. Beautiful rainy weather, best food and good run (for me as well as TheRedSparkle!). The uneventful ACC drive on BLR-MYS highway was revealing one! Set the speed to 99kmph and let the car do most work while you stay alert on the steering. The FE it returned is whopping 16kmpl! I am not used to seeing such numbers - I am unable to digest it still.

The current long weekend - we headed into the less frequented CKM side, closer to Mudigere. The chosen option to stay for us was https://beanaroma.com/ - a serene remote homestay without much connectivity, great food and plenty of hidden trails inside the coffee plantation. The trails to nearby waterfall, small hill-top required to have some guts to drive in the rains. Narrow trails, slushy path due to continuous rains, broken patchy trails also included some serious uphill and downhill. Almost all the time AWD lok was on while in the plantation/ trails. Other than the great food served by our host, the fun of driving in the plantation was an amazing experience. The cherry on the cake was the stories we heard from the host about his rally days, being part of official staff on the rallies that are conducted in India and most fun fact — he was also part of the team that set the endurance drive record on XUV7OO at MSPT for 24 hours! So technically he knew my car and what it could do - helped with specific rally style instructions on which trails to take and which ones to avoid.

We thoroughly enjoyed the stay - the car enjoyed the trails too. Just like the leeches in that area that stick onto you body, #TheRedSparkle kept us grounded all the time and not a single dramatic incidence! I never had such experience with car earlier. The only regret - being a solo family and no other support car, we missed a lot of good short videos of the trail, off-road and pictures! I did not think of asking my co-passengers to do such things in rain while i enjoy the driving. The lady of the house wont be comfortable I know - hence not much videos and “fun” moment captured on camera. The property has lot of flora and birds like minivets, hornbills frequenting to the place. It is a great place to unwind! (Picked up the cue from Dr.AD’s Dusty thread - he had visited this place recently!).

On the way back to home, we took a small diversion to buy rice from a local mill and ended up visiting the Gorun backwaters (Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple island). And then back home-run!

Here are some pictures to keep you entertained:

Some winged miracles: not very crisp pictures as the foggy weather and low light wasn’t ideal.

























And #TheRedSparkle and the rains - the combo of green and red is a treat to eyes to see and soul to drive!























Stay tuned for more fun and interesting updates! Keep revving!

[aeroabir]

Drive to Coorg, breakfast at A2B, lunch at Papera, stay at Kakkabe ... bliss!

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by aeroabir

Drive to Coorg, breakfast at A2B, lunch at Papera, stay at Kakkabe ... bliss!

Oh and driving to heart’s content via country roads through mist and drizzles along with a mug of black coffee and near ones for company! Life can be very fulfilling at times, isn’t it?

[mementodriver]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Installing a dashboard Camera

The installation was done at local accessory shop under my observation: ensuring the hardwiring is done without affecting any electronics/ wiring and or functionality. No cutting or splicing of any panels or wires or otherwise!

The fuse to be tapped from the inside cabin fusebox - I am not using parking recording since my parking place has my own CCTV setup as well as at work its secured.

Attachment 2447995

Without opening any panels, simply routed wires from the roof liner edge of the car roof inside. Using the plastic prying tools this is very easy and without even having any impact on the interiors.

Can you please help what fuse number switches are used to connect acc and vcc. I am planning to buy XUV 700 in upcoming months, and i would like to install the dashcam

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by mementodriver

Can you please help what fuse number switches are used to connect acc and vcc. I am planning to buy XUV 700 in upcoming months, and i would like to install the dashcam

I have used F5 for power source, F35 for IGN signal. You can also use F1, F4, F12, F13, F32, F45 for power - they are spare as per user manual.

[roaringfours]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Quick update - I followed up with TP folks - found that they had inadvertently added more weight to bill (and not the tires!) than it was. And it being the sister concern of Madhu’s Tyre run but our DBhpian, they were expected to give some discount too. That did not happen. Finally after a quick chat with decision makers, they refunded excess weight and gave discount too.


Hunter Road force is a modern equipment that simulates actual road running and balances the wheels. It also recommends which tire is better at which wheel so the rotation is auto-suggested.

On the Tire part - my research so far says that there are no A/T tires in the 7OO AX7 size - 235/60 R18. At least from the known brands. So I have to resort to either some Chinese brands or somewhat harder H/T tires. My research so far points me to Bridgestone Ecopia, Yokohama Geolander G055 as potential options. Primarily due to cost, tread pattern and they are V rated H/T with somewhat hard rubber compound compared to likes of Michelins and Continentals. Any other options getting close to Ecopia or G055?

My 7OO came with stock Goodyear Performance Efficientgrip tyres. Pretty noiseless and so far good. Have driven 10K km so far. One flat tyre a couple of months back owing to a big nail. Rest, it has been incident free.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by roaringfours

My 7OO came with stock Goodyear Performance Efficientgrip tyres.

That is 235/50 R18 right?

[roaringfours]

It’s 235/60 R18 Goodyear.My personal experience with Yokohama A/T was that they are a little too noisy.

[abirnale]

We got new shoes!

We run long distances - we need shoes and variety of them! #TheRedSparkle was due for its tire change especially because the set of continentals had almost gone bald and it isn't safe to drive with them anymore. I have been busy with things at work and home again and there was no ned to rush through the change anyway.

So I kept researching and here is what I concluded:

• An AWD may well use A/T tyres but unfortunately there is no stock size A/T available in market. The BFG can be procured in grey market with double the cost than normal tyres. It is not worth for a primarily highway mile muncher.
• In H/T tires, the V rated options with good cost are: BS Ecopia, Continental CrossConti, Goodyear, CEAT, Apollo Apterra HT2, Yokohama RV02 and Michelins. The cost ranges from 13K to 20K INR per tyre. Most of these tires are soft compounds (with some variety of groves and comparable to each other) and in general have similar life expectancy - though BS Ecopia is at the higher side of life!
• After having used Michelins, MRFs, Continentals, I was considering Apollo Aptera HT2 due to their groves and because they have comparatively more AWD friendly nature. Unfortunately, nowhere I could source these fresh tyres - including online, talking to customer care etc. So gave up.
• The options that were left in front of me, primarily due to the cost and nature of groves and some feedback I got from peers: BS Ecopia and Yokohama were the top contenders. I was told that Ecopia is prone to sidewall cuts - I was also told that its the same tires which has done numerous Ladakh circuits on a car that I know well.
• The old Yoko Geolander G055 are no more available - there is a newer variant in market now. Its called as BlueEarth RV02. When I visited the Madhu’s Tyre Center, I saw it in person and decided to go ahead - it has unconditional warranty including sidewall damage! And they costed around 15500Rs per tyre.
• The Continentals lasted for 30K kms approximately. The Yokos are expected to last similar distance - let’s see how it goes!

So here we are with new shoes: Yokohama BlueEarth RV02 in stock size for #TheRedSparkle:











Post this fitment, I had an opportunity to drive to Goa via broken Anmod section, some bad roads and some fantastic roads. My impression after driving for about 1300 Kms, they are super silent, grippy - comparable to Michelins, better than Continentals. They trap lesser stones/ gravel in groves, doesn’t show too much of air pressure change while driving (I use N2 and keep 35 PSI, it went max to 37 PSI). I seem to be loving it and not caring for bad roads as I do have unconditional warranty on them at least upto the life of 50% tread depth!

And now #TheRedSparkle has slowly inched further on the odometer too!



Stay tuned for more updates as we progress!

[buzzy_boy]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Stay tuned for more updates as we progress!

Your post couldn't have come at a better time! The stock Wanderers, on our AX-5 MT, are near end of life at 53,200 KMs. I think they have another 2-3 K in them.

The roads that we frequent have proven to be hazardous for the sidewalls of the 55 section tyers on our Innova Crysta. The Wanderers have been impeccable in this regard, and have super durable sidewalls.

Eagerly awaiting your inputs on the sidewall durability of your Yokohamas.