WarpSpeed

It's to stop the grit accumulating and then scratching the windscreen when the wipers are inadvertently switched on when dry. In many countries the wipers are removed completely during the dry season.

"In many countries"? Like where? I'd never remove the wiper blades even a bit of grit is better then inadvertently turning on a wiper without a blade on it, that's a certain damaged windshield, not to mention maybe besides the Mojave or Sahara desserts where else does it stay absolutely dry for months on end without a trace of rain or some other reason to have to use your wipers like cleaning the windshield? And I'd hate to be caught with no wipers in the case of an unexpected storm.

Having lived in far hotter climates where locals do not raise their wipers with zero ill-effect, I would have to say those that do this are clueless or mis-informed... Probably believe in ghosts too...

I'm sorry, get your facts straight, they do not believe in ghosts they believe in phees ... Hotter climbs? Me too, never seen a single wiper blade lifted, but thinking not too many here really care they just buy a new set when necessary, mostly just before the rainy season.

Factually there was a Top Gear episode a while back which demonstrated this exact scenario where they were trying to make a Renault Avantime faster than an EVO and I can't find the episode on YouTube to save my life, but the first thing they did was to put on larger brakes and then the rims and tires didn't fit so they had to upsize them which cost them a bunch more but guess what? The car went slower not faster by like 2 seconds, then they went to Jeremy's preferred fall back and gave it more power, still not much improvement. So they went to more aero with a plywood (?) splitter courtesy of Jeremy's engineering degree and a nonsensical F1 rear wing and that was even worse. So in the end they realized they could dump a bunch of money vainly attempting to improve performance and not really improve the manufacturers engineered performance by a significant amount instead it just complicated things more.

Red-white = No parking.

Black-white = Parking.

Yellow-white = Taxi stand.

Except the yellow has a more broad purpose that stands for temporary loading zone.

Your arguing with yourself, no one said there was anything wrong with having better if you can afford to, except that unlike just wearing cheaper tennis shoes, usually upgrades end up causing other issues with other components not made to handle the upgrades performance. Everything the manufacturer does is ENGINEERED to work with everything else at the same stress and performance levels including drive line clearances or tolerances and suspension geometry which is why so many people in racing end up causing themselves more problems for less performance trying to out engineer the big companies who are far better at it then they are. Bottom line is, is the gain going to be worth the extra cost/trouble and will the extra upgrades cause other parts to fail prematurely or is the OEM standard capable even with the same upgrades?

Well like most animals they'll eventually go for the easiest and closest which in this case is your car, a this point he hasn't discovered that there is food closer by, they obviously have a nest somewhere close by, it's not just going there to leave scat because he doesn't like your choice of interior color. A rodents sense of smell is incredible, there's no doubt it'll discover it in short order.

Same reason as they don't switch their diesel engines off when parked for a meal enroute to a far distant destination - They say it's to "cool the motor" even though there is no air flow to do the cooling!!! ... or smear white stuff over their cars at Songkran time to protect the paintwork from all that water!!

Strange ideas almost akin to Thai superstitions is my answer... nothing to do with rationality. Maybe its the Buddha's take on car care.

Ermm don't know where you heard about the "white stuff" at Songkran but it's a blessing, part of the celebration, has nothing to do with protecting paint from water. And running a motor to cool down does have it's purposes too as it is still pumping water through the jackets and reducing hot spots and heat soaking through the engine and it is getting air from the fan while doing so. The wipers idea has some merits too I just don't see it being a real increase in savings or wiper life versus the PITA to constantly lift them and then sometimes forget to put back down as well.

OEM brakes are almost always over-engineered to do more then required

Except the VP commodore wagon I use to have, by the time i got to the last corner on the way home, the pedal was to the floor.

Each 20,000 km, front and rear pad changes and front discs were changed.

So not all OEM brakes are perfect, they ended up putting the VS brakes in my car before releasing the VS Commodore, they were a lot better, but wore out quicker with no fade.

Good so we agree then. "almost always" Not "always"... T/A makes a good point too, what you're describing sounds more like brake fade due to boiling the fluid and that's what needed to be upgraded to handle the extra heat, the fluid lost it's viscosity and the system gained air, the pads too may have been generating too much heat contributing to the problem, a fluid change to a higher heat tolerance and problem solved and that is also an often over looked upgrade simple enough to do. But you're describing pad (wrong compound for the driving purpose) and or fluid failure, not the brakes themselves, sounds like they're working just fine.

A larger diameter wheel / tire combination will exert more torque - so it will need more brake force to stop at the same rate.

For the same reason that it is hard to get 750 lb/ft from a one foot torque wrench, but easy for a four foot wrench.

The question is if the stock calipers are adequate

Yes, that is what I said too, and the answer is 'yes' in 95% of the applications so then all that is needed is an upgraded pad with more gripping force. Honestly never yet seen an actual OEM caliper fail to be able to handle an upgraded tire and rim combination by actually not stopping a vehicle or being seriously premature in it's stopping capacity. That's not to say an upgrade won't be better, but still isn't "necessary".

my rats do not like peanut butter !

anything else worth trying ?

I have a couple of the metal cages to catch them alive but that is not working with peanut butter

and I can here them at night laughing at me

The peanut butter was just approach, there are other baits like has been mentioned maybe bread, cheese, nuts are usually good too, some fruits or veggies, I also used the cat food believe it or not and that worked quite well too, a bit of mockery going on there me thinks, but there are many other possibilities, rats aren't known for being too picky in terms of diet.

Is your name Richard by any chance?

Try camphor balls around the fresh air intake where the A/C vents are. Short of that the glue traps is the next best answer though it may end up badly if the rat is able to carry it anywhere while being stuck as some I've caught before have done. Be sure to bait them and not just place them empty, peanut butter is a good bait, a dab in the center.

I have lived here---(quite a few years) & my Thai is woeful , on a good day its enough to make people collapse with laughter. I have traveled the world a lot, & not had many problems with other languages, but I just can not seem to get my head around Passa Thai. I also brought a Honda car, traveled down to BKK to buy it thinking (hoping) that the showrooms there would have an English speaker. No-- So now I realize, that I just can not survive out there without my "Long Haired Dictionary"

Sorry, strongly disagree. Want to live in a country, learn to speak the language.

But that would be for a different discussion.

Easier said then done for some. I can't coach EVERY driver to see the track and traffic the same way anymore then every person can learn to speak any given language, that doesn't mean one shouldn't live somewhere just because they can't speak the language fluently.

As I said, "Want to live in a country, learn to speak the language. But that would be for a different discussion." You're the only one who mentioned 'fluently' BTW, I don't think that is necessary to ask for a lighter.

Good for you not for everyone.. Lighters are not a commonly asked for item in most languages so fluently would apply. My missus who does speak fluent Thai still has lot of difficulty with some off the norm words and phrases especially in automotive terms which she has not had a lot of experience with previously. Thai's also tend to make up a lot words for items better left as they're named by the manufacturers.

Why?? Would they spec brakes to only carry the actual vehicle weight unloaded and at minimal speeds and minimal stress given how necessary they are? They package cars for a range of size and features they don't make wholesale changes to the entire specs of the given vehicle to accommodate changes within a given range of modifications. I know this will hit a nerve on some again but too bad, I refer again to racing in the stock prepared classed where brakes are stock with the only changes allowed being pad material and brakes are plenty adequate for the highest stresses and durations from 20 minutes to 24 hours. Tires are often slightly over stock in width and diameter and being stressed to the max multiple times per lap from speeds up to 170mph down to 20 without any failures and plenty of stopping power.

Learn some basic Thai if you want to live here, prevents a lot of problems.

I have lived here---(quite a few years) & my Thai is woeful , on a good day its enough to make people collapse with laughter. I have traveled the world a lot, & not had many problems with other languages, but I just can not seem to get my head around Passa Thai. I also brought a Honda car, traveled down to BKK to buy it thinking (hoping) that the showrooms there would have an English speaker. No-- So now I realize, that I just can not survive out there without my "Long Haired Dictionary"

Sorry, strongly disagree. Want to live in a country, learn to speak the language.

But that would be for a different discussion.

Easier said then done for some. I can't coach EVERY driver to see the track and traffic the same way anymore then every person can learn to speak any given language, that doesn't mean one shouldn't live somewhere just because they can't speak the language fluently.

Looks like a soft top crz hybrid

Maybe some different angles will give a different perspective

Honda S2000 knock off.

It's a nice looking car, just needs more power.

LOL!

Still not sure about that - I reckon it's a definitely an MX-5 knock off though

Yeh, Mazda was first to the finish line over Honda, the S2000 is knock off the Mx5 to be more accurate. Nice looking but if I couldn't get that in a manual there is no way I'd pay anything close to those prices anyway, but that'd definitely nix it for me.

OEM brakes are almost always over-engineered to do more then required, especially on a pick up or SUV which is designed to carry loads. Changing rims size should not have a noticeably detrimental effect, especially with ABS. The rolling resistance may offer a slightly different feel but nothing so drastic as changing the entire brake system to new calipers, even an upgrade in brake material would be plenty sufficient.

TiT... Now some will come on and say that is a broad statement but regardless it's quite accurate.

And you continue, I understand more than you ever will...........................Clearly..

The personification of modesty.

Whats to be modest about Spooners when people challenge your knowledge?

Wrong person Warty. I've been posting since long before Spoonman was allegedly removed, if, indeed, he was.

"I understand more than you ever will..", demonstrably not the case!

You don't seem to have the nouse to realise that your "knowledge" is not being challenged, it's your bull-headed arrogance that gets the kicking it deserves whilst you successfully head topics in the direction of being closed with your attempts to always have the last word.

By the way, transam is right.

No he isn't but kind of have to agree though even Spooners had more to contribute and was less a vile troll then you are. Do you have something besides instigation and trolling to contribute to the topic? Thought not, toddle off then..

And you continue, I understand more than you ever will...........................Clearly..

The personification of modesty.

Whats to be modest about Spooners when people challenge your knowledge?

That's it's lifespan, not it's cleaning schedule!! Are those K&N cleaning kits put out by K&N or not? WHY in the F would they offer a cleaning kit that provides multiple cleanings per kit if they didn't intend for it to be cleaned regularly? Never mind, rhetorical question..

YOU haven't read the link have you..........

The K&N filter has a 1,000,000 MILE warranty.....

.CLEANING, 50,000 MILES or up to 100,000 MILES if oversized filter...............

Speaking of links, did you read this one offered up by Jitar? I mean don't just take my word for it, in fact besides that link there are 4 or 5 other people here trying to get the same point across to you..

http://http://www.nicoclub....oem-filter.html

Yes my race cars were also street legal (required by rules) and a lot closer to stock then your straight liner so what's your point?

Yes so why did you bring your straight line T/A into the topic? That nonsense is what began this whole debate..Sadly I fear you've entered dementia stage, terrible thing that too, I just had that with my mother, she just passed a couple of weeks ago but it was a God send she never entered full dementia, it was bad enough ..

Done.... Flippin idiot is all I can say. FYI I don't need to read your f'ing link, I'm well versed on K&N ever since they began to get popular which they did mostly through motorsports thank you very much. Never got more then 2 race weekends out of one before needing cleaning, that's about a total of 3 hours driving in most cases, the rubber build up, the track dirt, the sand that gets thrown up from other vehicles, no way would they run even close to that distance without a serious performance drop or filter damage.

That's it's lifespan, not it's cleaning schedule!! Are those K&N cleaning kits put out by K&N or not? WHY in the F would they offer a cleaning kit that provides multiple cleanings per kit if they didn't intend for it to be cleaned regularly? Never mind, rhetorical question.. Regardless, you're now trying to do your usual T/A tap dance and flipping your position, your original post stated that you only cleaned your K&N once in 20 years and there was no difference in your performance clean or dirty, that being the case it shouts volumes about your knowledge on the topic and nothing else need be said..