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Friday, February 17, 2012

Multitronics full year 2011 statistics


This data gathered by Multitronics VG1031GPL (reminder, now on sale for few hundred NIS) since I installed it in later April till December 2011.

Overall stats
280 hours
12,000+ kilometers
average consumption 7.1 liters/100 km
average speed 41 km/h
827 liters of fuel

In traffic stats (when speed is below 20 km/h)
104 hours (4 days :-)
445 kilometers
average consumption 30.6 liters/100 km
average speed 4 km/h (like pedestrian)
136 liters of fuel wasted (3 full tanks or 1,000 NIS)

See also other expenses post for 2011.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Depreciation loss

Skoda Fabia Depreciation Loss
If you know (or don't, but should :-) as you drove from your dealer in a new car, in that same moment, your car value dropped. Now it's not a new car anymore, it's used. If you plan to have this car for a long period it shouldn't be a problem, but for short period is not a good way to invest money. Value loss in first 2-3 years is most dramatic.

I will maintain this chart over time as I get new data. This chart was build on Levi Itzhak price list, model 676153 as showed in insurance policy. Do not use my chart as master reference, as it just my calculations from what I found in his price list and I'm not car expert.

Also available as GDoc table.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Shinearama order


I looked where to order wheels care kit and somebody at forum advised for Shinearama. The nice thing about them was if your order below 2.5 kg, the FedEx 2-4 b.days delivery will cost you £10. But I totally missed customs fee that can be applied, but later about it.

So I ordered 2 brushes, sealant for rims and dressing gel for tyres. I looked for cleaner too but most of them increased package weight above 2.5 kg limit. Finally, I found one that for some reason didn't add too much. Here are order items:
1. Mothers Wheel Brush (single)
2. Poorboy's Wheel Sealant (8oz)
3. Poorboy's Bold N Bright Tyre Dressing Gel (473ml)
4. EZ Detail Mini Brush (single)
5. Scholl Concepts RIM7 Wheel Cleaner Gel (500ml)

This is PayPal payment: total £60.47 converted to 368.31 NIS. Looks cool.

It came to Israel really fast, you can check FedEx travel history.

But now customs come into play. On 5th of Feb I got a call from FedEx agent telling me that I need to fill "Declaration of Personal Import of Goods" (blank 130, PDF). And I did trying to minimize items cost :-)

And after 2 days delivery guy came home with my package. Also they told me before that I need to add extra 145 NIS... At customs they added VAT 31 NIS and customs fee 103 NIS and also some storage fee.

The following papers were found in package plastic pocket

Overall, I paid 515 NIS for this order :-(
Now from sad and black'n'white part here coming fun and color!

Packaging, left side was opened at customs and sealed back with tape
Mothers Wheel Brush
Poorboy's Wheel Sealant
Poorboy's Bold N Bright Tyre Dressing Gel  - smells so fucking good  like delicious dessert :-)
EZ Detail Mini Brush
Scholl Concepts RIM7 Wheel Cleaner Gel - front
Scholl Concepts RIM7 Wheel Cleaner Gel - back

Now I waiting for Saturday to try this products, hope will not be raining.

Also, I found another american site Detailed Image. I liked so much their detailing guides - I think next week I'll place new order for engine bay cleaning stuff with something else ;-) Stay tuned!

Update (2012-02-25)
After two usages here is what I think.

Brushes are must have accessories for wheel cleaning, a lot easier and fun to clean than foam or wash mitt. Just on moment... You should wear safety glasses and maybe gloves to protect yourself. Take a look on my glasses and pure white t-shirt after job done (black dots are brake dust):
3M safety glasses after wheel cleaning with brushes
T-shirt after wheel cleaning with brushes
T-shirt sleeve (zoom) after wheel cleaning with brushes

Poorboy's Wheel Sealant is... useless. I really can't feel any difference. Just waste of time applying it and cleaning wheels anyway with brushes. But I will give it another chance.

Scholl Concepts RIM7 Wheel Cleaner is good. It no so helpful to me as I wash every week or two, but it do its job well. I will use it more on tyres swapping. It will help to clean calipers and inner disk. Btw, it smells so bad, you better use it outside.

Poorboy's Bold N Bright Tyre Dressing Gel is cool but I expected more shine :-) Really protects, you can see as is repels water. And lasts long, I guess, once a month or more is enough.

Regarding before/after pictures. I usually end up with wheels (the last thing) when it's dark already, so nothing to show yet.