[turboNath]

This is great ! Loved to see so many Thars in their natural habitat. I would love to join future sessions with you all.

[robimahanta]

Thar Update:

Got retro style Hella 7 inch sealed beam reflectors for the headlights. I am using Osram Nightbreaker laser bulbs with stock power rating in them. The reflectors with Austrian lens costs 500₹ a piece. Thanks to BHPian Jaguar for the contact.



The Hella sealed beam reflector


The stock reflector


Note the air intake behind the left headlamp. Always good to know the location for water wading.


A good friend got some goodies from Australia.

The ARB flip up number plate frame for the winch




A warn and saber soft shackles (both rated above 16,000kgs)


ARB air deflator

[Gypsian]

I envy your garage mate Your collection is a blend of practicality and enjoyability. I don’t subscribe to garage queen exotic cars which are analogous to a museum piece. Continue having great time Robi. Once again, a very tasteful collection and fastidious modifications.

[Sk8r]

Couldn't resist stealing your photo, it's definitely wallpaper material

[Kapany]

Sir, the mods look really nice. I had one question, what would be the advantage of the Hella reflectors over the stock reflectors?

[robimahanta]

Originally Posted by Kapany

Sir, the mods look really nice. I had one question, what would be the advantage of the Hella reflectors over the stock reflectors?

Hi! I have found the sealed beam spread to be much better than stock. For the price it is a decent upgrade. I wanted something functional and most of the led options were ornamental. The moment it rained, led lights suffer a lot.

[Yogi..Reeturaj]

Nice and functional upgrades. These Hellas in particular are actually good. The seals hold up well. Have experience on my Gurkha.

[robimahanta]

Had an amazing weekend off-road trail drive during the independence day weekend. Thanks to the "Thar Bengaluru" group, I had the opportunity of doing Kodachadri climb and Kyatanamakki trail on the same day. It was meticulously planned by the group and all 23 Thars (new gen) had a great time.

Brilliant weather and an energetic group of Thar owners made it a memorable experience. I was so engrossed in driving that there are hardly any pictures that do justice to the trip.

Kodachadri climb was always in the bucket list but over the years I guess it has become quite simple and is more about managing traffic (local jeepers) than actual off-roading. Kyatanamakki on the other hand is extremely scenic and I personally would rate it as a tougher trail than Kodachadri especially during this time of the year.

Quite impressed with the Thar's prowess as usual, it is an SUV which you can drive with all the creature comforts on proper highways and do a fair bit of off roading too. I did close to 1000kms in less than two days and wasn't really feeling exhausted.

Thar may falter in competition level or extreme off roading but for a regular joe it is indeed a perfect blend. Most of the time, the hardcore off road vehicles tire you out on smooth highways but this is not the case with the new Thar. One can maintain triple digit speeds on 4 lanes highways all day long in the new Thar.

Some images from the drive:

Regroup near Kodachadri


About to start the Kodachadri climb


A hairpin bend during the climb


Near the Kodachadri peak, you can see the backwaters in the background


Ready for descent after spending some time at the peak


Enroute to Kyatanamakki along beautiful western ghat roads


Beautiful views all around






Bunching up at the homestay


Return from the homestay


Multiple small stream crossings




Winch was in action multiple times, even rescued a local Bolero Camper


Saw quite a few old school jeeps


Finally parked at home after a satisfying drive



Thar is now due for its 10k service. Hopefully it is all smooth and easy.

[Gypsian]

Originally Posted by robimahanta

Kodachadri climb was always in the bucket list but over the years I guess it has become quite simple and is more about managing traffic (local jeepers) than actual off-roading. Kyatanamakki on the other hand is extremely scenic and I personally would rate it as a tougher trail than Kodachadri especially during this time of the year.

It appears like you had an adventurous drive in the lap of western ghats. Has the Kodachadri trail been modified to make it easy ? Like has it been made easy by the local jeepers? Since most of them drive two wheel drive jeeps.
As I wanted to do visit once again next month, would you recommend it as an off road destination at the current juncture?

[ashish22]

What an amazing thread! Really love the collection of cars you've got and in a way we share similar garage and similar approach to buying cars and i fully agree with your viewpoint of no single car does it all and different cars are suitable for different purposes BUT those cars have to be one of the best performing in their respective segments!

Also a brilliant idea to cover all cars in a single thread. It's just so much more convenient and efficient to summarize everything and i wish i had time or the patience to do likewise. Will keep coming back to your thread!

[robimahanta]

Originally Posted by Gypsian

Has the Kodachadri trail been modified to make it easy ? Like has it been made easy by the local jeepers? Since most of them drive two wheel drive jeeps.
As I wanted to do visit once again next month, would you recommend it as an off road destination at the current juncture?

Thanks. I don’t the think the trail has been modified much but with the large number of local jeeps (mostly 2wd) and the deep permanent ruts, it is not challenging as such. It is a nice drive up the hill as a one time thing but not exactly an off-road drive. I am sure you can do it next month and will love it if you haven’t done it before.

[robimahanta]

M340i Update : Drive and tyres!

Had a wonderful drive to Wayanad with Dr.AD last weekend. However, following Dr.AD with his recent tyre damage, I too had a side wall damage in the left front in the 340i somewhere near Maddur on Mysore road. I am usually extremely careful but somehow missed this pothole and left front crashed into it. It wasn't a large pothole but was quite deep. Pulled over to see that the outer wall of the the tyre had torn but there was no air loss. The TPMS display seemed fine too. I drove around 40 kms to join AD at our breakfast place to decide the next plan of action.

I do have a space saver and since we were hardly 15 odd kms away from Mysore, I decided to carry on slowly towards Mysore (keeping an constant eye on the tpms). Our friend and tbhpian Nikhilb2008 helped a lot with his contacts to arrange everything possible in the morning at his tyre store in Mysore to get me back on the road. After removing the tyre from the alloy, the inner wall seemed intact (hence no air loss). It was mutually decided that a heat patch and some reinforcement from the inside will hold up well as a stop gap measure till I reach Bangalore after the trip to change the tyre. Incase of absolute emergency, I had the space saver too.

The image shows the tear, the inner aspect and the tear once the tyre was removed from the alloy (it is a 225/40 R19 Pirelli P Zero RFT)



The tyre after the heat patch and reinforcement



Thanks to Nikhil and his team for helping me out in the best way possible with the resources at hand (Mysore didn't have any stock of 19 inch tyres which would fit the 8J front alloy of the M340i)



I continued driving cautiously towards Wayanad, being extra careful of not causing any further major impact on the patched tyre. Stopped a couple of times in between to check the tyre and kept an eye on the tpms.

Somewhere after the Bandipur forest area



Finally, after around 130kms, I joined AD at the lovely resort in Wayanad. The pressures were normal and the visually the tyre seemed fine.



Parked for the night



Let's not make this post only about the tyres.

The resort was a lovely one and we had a great time with awesome Kerala food and nice walks.

Near the Karapuzzha dam



Views from the dam



Walking around the Pookode lake



From the resort at night



Drove back to Bangalore and the patch held up well again for a total of around 500kms in all. Thankfully, BMW Bangalore had the tyre in stock and I got it replaced the next morning.

New P Zero installed



My rear brake pads were due for replacement in 400kms as per the service notification in the iDrive. So I got them replaced as well.

Pic showing the used pads with less than 3mm and the new one with 11mm (along with the part number and pricing). Have to bed the pads in over the next 200 odd kms.



Overall it was an eventful drive. The discussion about RFT vs Tubeless has been done to death across many threads and I have had experience with both. In this incident, there was no air loss and I didn't have to swap to the space saver. I have changed many tyres in the past but changing large wheels on the roadside especially in the rains is quite an effort. Also even at BMW, the technicians struggled to loosen the wheel lugs at the rear for the pads as they were too tight. I do have a breaker bar (extension spanner) and I know the effort required to loosen jammed lugs. If this was a tubeless, I am sure I would have had to change the tyre immediately.

The other argument maybe that if it were a tubeless, maybe the tyre wouldn't have given up or maybe it would have been just a side wall bulge. We can never be sure. So it it extremely difficult to choose a clear winner. Maybe the solution is the Thar for our conditions


Thar Update: Tyres again

A good friend had upgraded from AX steel rims in his Thar to alloys. He had painted them black with a blue rim (good quality heat resistant paint). I always wanted a set of M/T (mud terrain) tyres in 16 for the events and monsoon trails around Bangalore. So it seemed like a win win deal. I picked up his steel rims and got four Maxxis Bighorn 764 M/T tyres installed (stock AX variant size of 245/75 R16)

The tyres getting installed



Fixed the tyre at front to check that it didn't touch anywhere upon lock to lock and also the brake caliper has decent clearance.



I am not going to use these tyres on a daily basis and they are heavy, noisy and obviously not meant for tarmac use.

I weighed the stock 18 alloy with Ceat Czar A/T and the Maxxis BH 764 M/T with the Thar AX 16 inch steel rim. The stock weighed 29kgs while it was 38kgs for the Maxxis.





A lot of people are using BF Goodrich K02 265/60 R18 in the Thar, so weighed that tyre for kicks too. It was 25.2Kgs without the alloy.



Be very careful with tyre upsize in the Thar. Stock sizing comparison of AX and LX Thar variants.



Finally, all the four mounted M/T tyres fit in the back of my Thar along with the extra steel rim (5th). I am so glad I did the rear seat fold modification.



Looking forward to trying out these M/T on some trails soon.

GTI Update : Nothing as such

With both the M340i and the Thar getting attention, it may seem the GTI is being neglected but the GTI is quietly doing its city job (work commute) and has clocked over 47k kms without a fuss in the last 4.5 years. It is on its second set of Michelin PS4 205/50 R16 tyres. It is still under extended warranty and service package.


Cheers! Until the next one

[itwasntme]

Thoroughly tired me out!

Upside is that the alloy rim was mercifully spared. Good that BMW had stocks of the tyre. Did they charge at MRP or added any further charges?

We also want to see how and where you're storing your tyres

[robimahanta]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Did they charge at MRP or added any further charges?

We also want to see how and where you're storing your tyres

They did charge MRP and some 2k extra (BMW premium) for installation and balancing.

Currently storing the M/T’s in the basement and the BMW tyres in the balcony 😂

[Venom_rider]

Originally Posted by robimahanta

Bunching up at the homestay
Attachment 2346792

Return from the homestay
Attachment 2346791

Hey Robi, quick question: Do you think an Endeavour would do these trails? Also can you please share the details of the homestay at Kyatanamakki?

Cheers!