Digital TV Tuner

Alvin was showing me this Digital TV Tuner from AVT. The model number is AVT DVB-T450.




Reception is suppose to be good even at 160 km/h. If only my car can go that fast.

Usual price: NT$7000
Promotion price: NT$4490

Available at www.bubueshop.com.tw

The question is...who knows how to install. The product obviously has warranty only in Taiwan.

Cheers,

oh... I still don't have a screen in my car. Perhaps should consider Boss Kenny's big, big one.

Exclusive X Emblems

Available in regular chrome or black chrome, but damn freaking expensive!! It replaces the rear or the front Toyota logo emblems.



Why get anything else when these unique emblems will truly make your ride stand out from the rest of the wannabes?

Tempting... tempting...

Cheers,

Tire Protection System

Anyone heard of Tire Protection System from Ride On? Seems like an interesting consideration for the car. No more worries about small punctures. I remember that BMW seems to have these self sealing tyres too. I saw it in the Hollywood movie featuring Queen Latifah as a NYC cab driver and the 4 gorgous, babelicious villians were driving these souped up Beemers.

http://www.ride-on.com

They now have a local agent here and there promotion price is only S$85 per car instead of the usual S$135. Free Nitrogen gas inflation too! The agent is Active Products and they can be contacted at 67268096. Their website is at www.activeproduct.biz.

Anyone interested?

Cheers,

Thomas' new wolf signature!

Thomas has a new signature for the wolf gang! Here's the JPG file. Just right click and save.



Altenratively, click here for the direct URL link.

Cheers,

Life sucks.

Not the best week. Car still in workshop. Insurance claim cannot waive excess. Horrible rain and traffic. Grandfather died and funeral in JB.

Sian.

Cheers,

Woah!! We didn't realise..

we also go I.C.E. expert amongst our group! Really "got eyes no know big mountain"...

Check out the setup!!!



And these cool subwoofer grills!!



Even the amplifers are integrated into the side panel!! Cool!



More pictures of the setup here!

Last but not least...the man himself!! With and without hair.



Cheers,

Spider Man!

It's Spider man!! I believe these cute seatbelt holders are also available in many other designs, including ultraman, Hello Kitty, Disney characters and Looney Tunes characters, etc, etc. And not to forget the staple offerings like TRD, Mugen, etc, etc.



More importantly, these seat belt holders address a design flaw that the Toyota Wish has - rattling from the seat belt buckles when the vehicle is in motion. Ah Lim did mention that it was very noisy when he was driving my car as I haven't got them. I wonder where can I get plain black ones so that I can embroider my prefered logos on it. Anyone has any ideas?

Cheers,

p.s. Perhaps I should change a new shirt. I think it's getting too small. Maybe it shrank when I washed it.

NTUC Income Insurance

NTUC Income insurance is so slow and inefficient. They are suppose to call me to discuss the insurance claim which they never did. My precious Toyota Wish was just left in IDAC reporting centre from last Wednesday till today. Goodness!!

In addition, they are so cheapskate. They tendered out the car so that they can get the absolute cheapest price to fix my car. The tender price is S$3400. So I have to pay a S$500 excess if I go to Bluwell as my prefered workshop. However, if I go to their prefered workshop, they'll waive the excess and are prepared to give me a S$50 daily allowance for up to 14 days, worth S$700. Where's the logic? Go figure.

I think I'm going to change an insurance company next year. Definitely.

Anyway, the car is back at Bluwell now and they are going to order parts. Looks like I'll never get my car before Christmas. Sob.. Sob...

Cheers,

TRD X WOLF

As they always say "It's the little things that makes the difference.."

Some here are some subtle details on the big black wolf that I noticed recently..

The cap on the fierce, fierce 18" rims have been changed to match the TRD engine oil cap. All carbon fibre style TRD.



And at the third row windscreen, a small, but distinctive TRD sticker. Outstanding!



Maybe the wolf needs a TRD keychain to hang from his keys to add that finishing touch.



Actually, there is talk about a big sticker project. I wonder when is that actually going to happen? Or is the wolf too chicken for that? Hee. Hee.

Cheers,

Extraordinary Aerosports

The recently converted Aerosports is now a reference showpiece. Here, you can see the add on Modellista front under lip spoiler. Very attractive!!




As can be seen, the under spoiler protrudes out and creates a distinct rim around the lip.



And then there is the Netz Sports add on side skirt diffuser. Very nice too! Sporty without being too aggressive.



Last but not least, the rear under spoiler to give a more complete look. Oh... and don't forget the cool looking black metal rear door garnish.



Incidentally, the inside is going to be as good as the outside. There are also plans to install this 9 inch LCD headrest monitor! Once completed, there will be no doubt who's the BOSS man!

Cheers,

Black Gold

John's shiny black ride with the fierce, fierce 18" Rays rims from Japan.



I can even see the blue skies with fluffy white clouds reflected on the car. What more can I say.....

Cheers,

Ah Lim's pretty angel eyes

It's a work of art. The finishing is good and the fit is nice. Coupled with the white finishing, it really makes the ride stand out.





Too bad the pictures doesn't do the angel eyes justice and it was raining when I was trying to get the pictures. Looks like we have to do a dedicated shoot another day. Cost of project is S$280, painting of headlight is another S$120 if I'm not wrong. Well worth the moolah!! However, the only gripe is that the re-sealing of the driver side headlight wasn't good and there was water seeping in. Seems to be fixed now and we'll have to recent crap weather to test it.

New facelift owners have to wait another month and we'll see what options are available.

Cheers,

Wet gathering!!

It was a wet day today, so the photoshoot didn't happen. Instead, the gathering adjourned to the multi-storey carpark behind the old Airport Road hawker center. Still, it was a huge turn out and several familiar faces turned up. As you can see, again all the cars in the lots were Toyota Wish and there were a lot more that were not in the photos.




This must be one of the most inspected car as it had an I.C.E. system powerful enough to throw a street party.



As you can see, there is no boot space. All taken up by the I.C.E. set up, with the amplifiers and woofers.



The rear door pillar was also converted to house the speakers that points backwards. Obviously, the intention is to blast music outside the back of the car.



Here's a customised A pillar, with a set of oversize mid range speakers. Looks really out of place.



Besides, the I.C.E. system, there were trays and customised console.



Racing gauges were mounted everywhere where there is space, including 2 at the door where the tweeters were suppose to be.



Impressive? Definitely!! Practical? Maybe.... Anyway, here are 3 pre face lift Toyota Wish with add on lip or diffuser. Nice. Wonder if Henry's look anything like this.





Cheers,

G Square Emblems

Saw these original G Square emblems on Michael's car at Audio Concepts.

This one goes on the front bonnet lip, just below the front radiator grill. Subtle, yet outstanding on a black vehicle.



This is a badge that most use on or above the front bonnet garnish. Somehow, the green doesn't work with all cars.



This is the larger logo and many will use to replace the front or rear Toyota logo. Not the best fit in my opinion, but nevertheless, an eye catching alternative.



All are available from G Square, Japan.

Cheers,

I. C. E. again

John is on the hunt for a better I.C.E. system and looks like Alvin might be tempted to upgrade too. Perhaps I'll upgrade to a 3 way and upsize the sub woofer. We'll see. Not a priority for me at the moment.

Justin installed a mid on his dashboard and I believe he is now running a 3 way set up. Here are some pictures.



For audio setups, the wires are concealed most of the time and more importantly, the position of the speakers need to be locked down so as to prevent the sonic sweet spot from be "knocked" out of position. With a flexible mount, the imaging/staging will be affected wheneven the speakers are adjusted. This will make it more difficult to tune the setup as you need to take care of the speaker position as well as the tune up setting. Then again, audio systems are a very personal thing. As long as the owner's requirements are met, then that's all that is to be said about it.

I've always like a 2 DIN head unit as it's a cleaner presentation. But the current set up is not ideal for me yet. However, most of the 2 DIN units cannot meet my requirements, we'll have to see what comes along. I saw something from LG that might work in the interim period. But it's only available in 2007. One interesting thing to take note about head units in Toyota Cars. It usually protrudes out as the slot is wider than most other cars and the with the adaptor in place, most installers don't recess the unit backwards.



For example, the Panasonic CQ-TX5500W actually has a plastic face plate that fits around the head unit so that it sits squarely into the extended Toyota slot. The head unit will then be flushed with the control panel, like the way it was originally meant to be. Lazy installers will just tell you that it's meant to be like that and clueless consumers wouldn't have realised the difference. Shame!

Anyway, John has posted up a series of interesting links which I added here for reference. Check out his links!

www.mobileaudio.com

FAQs on Battery & Cables:
www.motolite.com

Forums:
www.carsound.com
www.elitecaraudio.com
www.caraudio.com

Install Showcase:
www.mp3guy.net
www.damnloud.com
www.cardomain.com

Product Reviews:
www.carreview.com
www.caraudio.com Product Reviews

Cheers,

Rear Garnish Conversion

Big project today. Two black Toyota Wish just got even more beautiful. As you can see, they have replaced the rear door garnish with the more elegant option.



Justin's ride with the new chrome rear garnish! Nice! It was a DIY project as can be seen from the next two pictures.



Besides the chrome garnish, we also have a very, very rare, black metal finish rear door garnish. The difference can be seen in this comparison picture.



When view from a certain angle, it's very reflective, appearing to be very lightly smoked only.



At another angle, it appears to be almost blending with the black 209 color. Almost black. I think it will also look great on white colored cars.



And finally, the view from slightly further back. Very Black Mafia look. Smoked tail light, brake light, reflector and now, rear door garnish!! Again, it's a one and only program. At least for the time being... Hee Hee...



Sigh....back to my damaged and less than stock looking ride.

Cheers,