Information on the tyre wall

The car tyre is marked with various information on its wall, including the tyre size, load rating, speed limit, place of manufacture, time of manufacture, etc.

For example, the tyres originally come with Toyota Avanza 1.5 has the designation of 185/65R15 88S. This denotes the tire has:

• section width of 185mm
• aspect ratio of 65, which is calculated by its (height/width)
• "R" for radial construction
• rim diameter of 15 inches
• load rating of 88, which can carry maximum weight of 560kg
• speed rating "S", which the maximum safe speed is 180km/h

There is also a 4-digit batch number, or a code longer than 4-digit and the last 4 digits are numeric. The first two digits are the week of manufacture, and the last two digits are the year of manufacture. For example, a batch number of "1007" indicates the tyre was manufactured on the 10th week of year 2007.

The rubber of the tyre will degrade over time no matter it is being used or not. It is recommended to change tyres at most 6 years from their manufacture time. When you purchase new tyres, ensure that the tyres are manufactured less than 1 year so that you can use them for a longer time.

Toyota Avanza enhancement - cargo net

The boot space of Toyota Avanza is flexible. It could be just enough to store small things when the 3rd row seat is locked in place, and it could be very spacious when the 3rd row seat is folded forward.

To prevent things from falling out of the boot space when the door is opened, you can install a cargo net like this.



This cargo net is made with extensible Nylon ropes, and is slung to 4 hooks attached at each corner. It is easily detachable when not in use. The hooks can be attached to the car body with 3M double-sided tape, or optionally can be firmly secured with screw.

I could hardly find this cargo net in most car accessories shops, and finally found and purchased it with Eneos at 1-Utama.

Toyota Avanza enhancement - wing mirrors with LED signal lamp

The original wing mirrors of Toyota Avanza does not come with LED signal lamp. Recently, this wing mirrors with LED signal lamp is made available as an optional accessory by UMW Toyota.



Similar products are also available in car accessories shops such as Brothers, JE Automart, etc.

Car compass on dashboard

I sticked this car compass on the dashboard of my car as a useful tool for navigating the direction, especially when driving in a new area.



Its liquid filled compass ball will rotate automatically to indicate the facing direction. It is a handy poor-man's navigator when GPS system is not available.

I rely to it quite a lot of time when driving inside housing area which I've never been before. By remembering the direction of the main road, I can always return back to the main road from the housing area later.

Toyota Avanza enhancement - rear bumper step guard

The rear bumper step guard for Toyota Avanza is an essential shield against unseemly scratches and scuffs from frequent loading and unloading. This blackie step guard also enhances the overall outlook of the car's rear view.



You can get this rear bumper step guard from most car accessories shops, including Brothers, JE Automart, etc. Now, it is also available in UMW Toyota under the item named as "rear bumper protector".

Toyota Avanza enhancement - D-pillar reflector

To further accentuated the rear profile of your Toyota Avanza, you can install reflector onto its D-pillars.



This will make the car's high body become even more visible, especially at night or in the rain. It will make the rear view of the car looks even nicer, as well as able to increase the safety factor from being accidentally "kissed" by the car behind.

You can get these D-pillar reflectors from car accessories shops, such as Brothers, JE Automart, etc. Now, it is available in UMW Toyota too.

Toyota Avanza enhancement - seat locking system

The Toyota Avanza 1.5 provides versatile seat configuration. Both its 2nd row seats are foldable, and of course, its 3rd row seat is also foldable.

It is found that once you fold down the seat, you need to slam it pretty hard to lock the seat back in place. If the seat is not locked back to the car floor properly, it might flip up when you step on the break of the car later.

A simple modification to the seat lock position can enable the car seat to hook back easily to its place. Now, instead of slamming the car seat to lock it in place, you just need to gentlely push it downwards, and it will hook back firmly with a "click" sound.

The trick is to lift the rod of the locking system a little bit higher with washers. You'll need 2 washers to lift each side of the rod. As there are altogether 3 foldable seats, you'll need a total of 6 washers for this modification.



Just unlock and remove the rod from the car floor, put the washer in, put back the rod, and fasten the nut. Then, test the position by locking the car seat.

Toyota Avanza enhancement - rubber door seals

If you ever sit in a Toyota Avanza with original specs, you might have noticed that its noise insulation is very poor. Noise from outside is pretty loud, especially when motocycles pass by. The feeling is as if the car window is not closed, although it is.

This problem is due to a gap of about 10 mm found between the door and the car body when the door is closed. All Toyota Avanza doors with the original grey colour seal will suffer with this problem, because that grey door seal does not have a ring part to fill up the 10 mm gap when the door is closed.

It is found that all the 4 doors of Toyota Avanza 1.3 model are using that grey door seal; whereas the 2 front doors of the 1.5 model are using another black colour rubber door seal which comes with the ring, while its 2 rear doors are still using the grey door seal. This means the 1.5 model already addressed and fixed half of the problem.

The solution:

• For 1.3 model, replace all the 4 grey door seals with the black rubber door seal with ring.


• For 1.5 model, replace the 2 grey door seals with the black rubber door seal with ring.

You can get the solution from AOCM at the cost of less than RM50 only (for 4 doors). The rubber door seals are also available in most car accessories shops. Once the rubber door seals are installed, the noise level in the Avanza cabin will be about the same as in other car makes.



You can get even better noise insulation by applying special insulating material inside the doors, but that will be another story.

Toyota Avanza enhancement - lights on alert

Have you ever experienced draining out your car battery due to forgetting to switch off your car headlights?

Today, many newer car models already come with a light on alert buzzer, which will sound and alert you whenever you turn off your car engine and trying to get out of the car with the headlights still turned on. With this, you will never forget to switch off the headlights and later having trouble to start the car engine with drained battery again.

Unfortunately, this light on alert is not found in the original factory make of both Toyota Avanza 1.3 and 1.5 models. Owners of Toyota Avanza need not be worried, because the solution can be found in AOCM and the total installation cost is less than RM50 only.

This light on alert modification requires a 12v DC 2-pole Type-A relay, a buzzer, some flat cable lugs, some wire cables, and PVC tape, and the same way of installation is applicable to both the Toyota Avanza 1.3 and 1.5 models. For the schematic diagram and more details, please refer to the AOCM forum.

Please beware that any modification done to the car has the tendency to void certain parts of the 3-years warranty from UMW Toyota.

Your camera handphone is handy in the car park

Most handphone comes with camera feature nowadays. You can make use of it to snap a picture of the location where you've parked your car in the car park, like these:



This will help you to remember the parking bay location of your car in the car park, especially in those big shopping malls. Now, you don't have to memorize the pillar number anymore, and shouldn't have trouble finding for your car in those big car parks again.

Check your driving license expiry date online

The Malaysian Road Transport Department aka Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan (JPJ) provides an online service for us to check for our driving license expiry date with their web portal.

To my surprise, that website has a domain name of portal.jpj.gov.my but it doesn't work, so we have to access it using its IP address of 202.190.64.96. Pretty weird.

Here is the complete URL for you to check for your driving license expiry online:
http://202.190.64.96/v5/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=74

It is pretty simple and straightforward to use. Most importantly, its data is pretty up-to-date.

Check for blacklist status with PDRM and JPJ

If you haven't settled the fines in traffic offence summons issued by Polis DiRaja Malaysia (PDRM) after a specific period of time, you might not be able to renew the road tax of your vehicle until you removed yourself from the blacklist by settling the fines.

Here is the website that you can check for the blacklist status of yourself or your vehicle with PDRM or JPJ:

http://www.jpj.gov.my/blacklist/

Click on the PDRM crest to check in the PDRM's blacklist system, and click on the JPJ crest to check in JPJ's system. They should be linked up, so the result should be the same.

Tint film with safety and security features

Most people in Malaysia has installed tint film for their car to battle against the hot sun. My car is installed with Armorcoat security tint film for RM1xxx by the Tint Shop.



This tint film is comparable to V-Kool standard in terms of heat repellent, also comes with 5 years warranty, and is quite transparent to also meets the JPJ's light penetration requirement.

If you are considering tinting your car, it is wise to consider for the additional safety and security feature too. With the security tint film, people can only break the window in certain way using certain type of device. Your windows will be pretty robust and unbreakable by helmet, hammer, throwing stone, etc. And with its safety feature, even if the window glass is broken, the pieces will remain sticking on the film, instead of scattering all over and might injure people sitting in the car.

The minimum acceptable robustness of car security film is 4 mil (100 micron). An 8 mil (200 micron) security film can withstand most kind of impacts. If it is 20 mil and above, your windows can be bulletproof.

How you disconnect and reconnect car battery terminals?

Have you ever bother about the right sequence to disconnect and reconnect the battery in your car? We need to do this when changing battery, installing gadgets such as voltage stabilizer, grounding cables, etc.

The right sequence to disconnect the cable from the battery terminals is:
1. Disconnect the -ve terminal first
2. Disconnect the +ve terminal then

To reconnect the cable to the battery terminals:
3. Reconnect the +ve terminal first
4. Reconnect the -ve terminal last

If it is done in wrong sequence, there is a chance of short circuit when the disconnected terminal accidentally touches the metal part of the car body, and there is possibility that sensitive electronic equipments in the car could be damaged.

There exist something called a "memory keeper" to be plugged into lighter socket, which will help you to keep the setting of radio, clock, etc. for a short period of time, while the battery is temporary disconnected.

Tracking your Touch 'n Go usage online

Using the Touch 'n Go card is convenient when passing the tolls, you don't have to prepare for the cash, and it supposed to be faster than manual transaction too. But using Touch 'n Go does not produce receipt at the toll.

In fact, you can track for your Touch 'n Go usage online. From the online statement, you can know about the transactions and amount you have paid to the tolls, location of the tolls you passed through, the reload transactions, and your balance in the card.

If your company accepts the print-out from this Touch 'n Go online statement as alternative to toll receipts for you to claim for travelling reimbursement, you can then use the Touch 'n Go lane of the tolls even while travelling for business.

You can click here to go to Touch 'n Go e-Statement page.

AOCM - A friendly and resourceful automotive club for Toyota Avanza owners

Before I made the booking and then purchased my Toyota Avanza 1.5G last year, I did quite a lot of researches about the goods and bads of the car. It is this Avanza Owners' Club Malaysia or AOCM which helped me made up my mind for the final decision.

For the price of around RM70k, which is close to RM10k cheaper than Toyota Vios 1.5 and Honda City 1.5, this car has a lot of impressive features. So far the Toyota Avanza assembled in Perodua's plant is still the cheapest 7-seater MPV in Malaysia. Its seating position gives a good clearance view of the road. It has versatile seat configuration. It's 3SZ-VE DOHC VVT-i engine performs well when carrying 7 adults with luggages. Its 3rd row seat can really sit in 2 adults or 3 children pretty comfortably. It has dedicated air-cond blowers for 2nd and 3rd row seats. During my time of purchase, it come with a free Sony 32" LCD TV or free Aerokit too. In short, it is valued for money.

However, we all aware that this car has some shortcomings too. People find it bouncy, noise insulation is poor, etc. For all those shortcomings, AOCM always has good workaround solution.

If you plan to buy an Avanza, or you are already Avanza owner, and you are not AOCM member yet, do pay a visit to http://www.avanzamalaysia.com/. You can join in free of charge. We have regular technical talks (TT) meetup session every month. This club is really resourceful with knowledgeable sifu, and the members are always ready to help up each other.

I'll tell you what I have learned from the sifu in AOCM and the practical improvements made to my Avanza in the upcoming posts.