In February 2007, I sent my daughter’s Satria Neo, a seven month old car, over to Paint Shield Asia Pacific, the local importers and distributors of Diamondbrite, the paint protection system to get the car treated. The car looked very good when it was completed a couple of hours later.

According to the instructions from David Lancaster, the Mat Salleh who has moved here and set up the Diamondbrite office in Glenmarie here, the paint is protected for good, although the guarantee is for six years – however, once a month, after washing the car, I was supposed to do the final rinse with a watered down solution of ‘Conserver’ – this is a kind of booster that adds a microscopic layer on top of the protective Diamondbrite layer, and over time, make it some microns thicker, therefore increasing the protection. At the same time, it is supposed to ‘fill’ in the gaps caused by tiny scratches in the paint, and keep it shining.

The Satria looked quite good after one application of conserver after 40 months of neglect.

The fact of the matter is, I simply neglected to do this – my daughter studied away from home, initially 70 kilometres away, then 250 kilometres away, and now she works 145 kilometres away. Not very high up the food chain of employment, she does not have a driver to wash the car everyday, and neither does she have the time to wash it herself. To add more salt to the wound, her car is parked in the hot sun 24/7.

In the forty months that she has had the Diamondbrite on the car, it gets washed about once every four or five months, when it gets serviced. This year, it has been washed twice, both times when I visited her, and having nothing much to do, took the car out to one of those kampung car washes in the small town where she is stationed.

But there were stains and blemishes that couldn’t come off!

Well, the car came back and looking at the paint, I noted that the paint surface had some serious-looking blemishes and marks, and patches of faded paintwork that looked like it had been the resting place for some bird dung. In addition, there were marks that looked like remnants of dead insects permanently embedded into the front bumpers and the bonnet. There were also some deep scratches on the paintwork – these scratches looked like some animal (probably my dog) had tried to jump onto the bonnet or a cat had scratched clawed its way over the bonnet while trying to get away from my dog. I have no record of whether the cat survived, but the paintwork had come off the loser.

So what did I do? I dug up my bottle of ‘Conserver’, the very same bottle that David Lancaster had passed to me when I took the car 40 months ago, and after washing the car, diligently proceeded to do the final rinse with it. The end result was a Satria that looked quite decent, but the afore-mentioned marks, scratches and blemishes were still there. Hmmm! I wondered if I would need to send it to the paint shop for a once over, and then I had the ‘brilliant’ idea to ask David Lancaster to have a look at it, and see if he could do anything about it.

See the ultra-violet degradation from sitting in the sun 24/7

The first thing he said when he saw the car was, “ Hmmm, the paint still looks pretty good for a car that has been out in the sun for three and a half years. For a car of this dark colour, I would expect the paint to have started fading.” Looking at the Proton badge at the front and rear of the car, one could see the amount of ultra-violet degradation the poor car had been subjected to.

“Mr. Khong,” he went on, with his index finger waving left to right in a disapproving manner, “You know you have to use the conserver regularly, because that is what helps to keep the protective layer going.”

This is the result after the work. Note -only the bonnet and front bumper was reworked.

“Fortunately, the damage seems to be on the Diamondbrite layer – you see, the Diamondbrite is bonded to the top of the paintwork, and acts as a ‘sacrificial lamb’. It takes the brunt of the abuse – no problem – we can get your car looking as good as new!” said David with a beam in his eyes.

His guys went to work, with Sashi, his shop floor chief shaking his head and mumbling, “Aiya, you must use the conserver lah! Then you won’t get this problem one!”

Note the stains and blemishes on the bumper after 40 months of neglect

What he did was this – he washed the car, and then took a close look at the paint surfaces – this one is a scratch, maybe can get rid of, that one is a stone chip, too deep, so cannot save, these are stains, must be from bird sh-t that has remained on the paint for more than a day, maybe can save, etc, etc.

Then Sashi went to work –using Jewel Ultra Premier Cut – a very fine rubbing compound, he used a mechanical buffer with a soft pad attached (not sandpaper), and gently polished off a thin layer off the top. David explained, “ He is buffing down the top layer of the Diamondbrite layer to get rid of the stains and scratches, after which he will put on another layer of Stage 2 Diamondbrite layer to build up the layer of protection again. If you had used the conserver as specified, this would not happen.”

Taking the top layer of Diamondbrite off the bonnet and bumper

So what actually happened was some recovery work – take off the top layer of Diamondbrite, and add on another layer – and voila – the car was as good as new. As a point in passing, the recovery work was only done on the front bonnet and bumper. The bumper had some bad insect marks, and the bonnet had some bird dung stains.

At the end of a couple of hours, we stood back to admire the handiwork, and the good news is that I do not have to send it to the paint shop after all. In fact, it looks better than the day it came from the showroom. There are a few spots that cannot be repaired – a set of scratches as a result of going too close to and scraping a wall, and a couple of stone chips on the bonnet that were too deep to be fixed. The blemishes and stains were completely removed, and everybody was happy. David, because it proved the Diamondbrite still did its job despite my total neglect of the use of the Conserver, Sashi because he put the shine back on again (and he is very proud of his work, and me because I can almost picture the delight on my daughter’s face when she gets to see her car again when she comes back this Friday to collect her car!

Giving it a wash to clean the dust off before re-applying Stage 2

A fresh top layer is put on the bonnet and bumper – the rest of the car is untouched

Buffing with a micro-fibre cloth after curing for 40 minutes. No polishing required

She’s beautiful again!

Rear View -Still good after 40 months -in fact it is as good as new, if not better!

From now, it is Conserver once a month – it will keep on looking just as good for as long as I do it

YS Khong

One question our customer service officers in Tyrepac often ask our customers is, “What is your preference- quiet (comfort), or wet performance?”

There is unfortunately a trade off between wanting a quiet tyre, which generates minimal road noise, and tyres which gives good wet weather performance (generally noisier).

Directional design

As highlighted, tyres designed with grooves in a directional manner disperse water in the most effective manner. Outwards and away from the direction of travel to give you better wet weather performance. And in-order to ensure maximum volume of water dispersal, grooves have to be as wide as possible. However, this also generates road noise, particularly on dry road conditions, since air is trapped, compressed, and released – which results in “tyre noise”

Designs such as these cater to consumers who can tolerate road noise, and look for wet performance more than riding comfort.

There are exceptions in directional tyre design, which are meant for a quiet and comfortable ride. The way to judge would be to see how “wide” the grooves are.

Symmetrical design/ wave design, non-directional design

Symmetrical designed tyres have grooves arranged in a wave like manner, and usually have smaller lateral grooves cutting the tyre design, to further break up road noise.

Tyre designs such as these are quieter since priority is not in wet weather performance, but rather providing a quiet ride. There are again exceptions, when wider grooves are built-in to cater to wet weather.

Asymmetrical design

Asymmetrically designed tyres are a combination of comfort and wet weather performance- by having tyres designed combining the principles of wet weather, and principles of comfort. Half the surface of the tyre tread is designed for wet performance, while the other half is for comfort.

Asymmetrical design tyres have gradually grown in popularity in recent years, and are now readily available, but with a small premium in price.

The next time you need a set of tyres, don’t just accept what you are told. And to the many lady drivers who commonly have to “ask my boyfriend/ husband”, you now can instead educate him about the basics of tyre designs.

Happy motoring!

Ler Hwee Tiong
Tyrepac

See also: Autoworld Blog >> Blog Archive >> The Tyre-Shoe Analogy

Givi Asia, who recently won the Best Brand in Motorcycle Accessories award at the BrandLaureate Awards 2009/2010, has added a new item into its product range – the facelifted E26X motorcycle box.

For increased customization options, the E26X is equipped with an interchangeable top cover, fastened in place with only four screws, available in five different colours – metallic white, metallic silver, metallic black, metallic blue, or metallic red. Customers have the further option of specifying their box with their own deco colour choice.

According to Givi, the bright metallic colours available, besides serving aesthetic value, also contribute to safety by increasing the visibility of motorcyclists using the box to other road users especially in dark and rainy conditions.

Price of the box starts at RM170. However, we recommend that you fork out an extra RM30, which gets you a built-in brake light.

KON

Naza has announced the release of a specialized tuning kit for the Honda CBR1000 RR superbike from Two Brothers Racing of the United States. Elements of the kit, which have a combined worth of RM3,564,  consist of a light-weight carbon fibre exhaust system, an electronic fuel controller, and graphics.

The light-weight carbon fibre exhaust, which weighs in at 10 lbs (4.5kg) is claimed to provide a 2hp increase in output. In this kit, it is mated to the Juice Box fuel controller, a system developed by Two Brothers Racing themselves.

The system is said to be plug and play with the CBR1000’s electronics, allowing for quick and easy adjustments without the need to fiddle with complex electronic mapping systems. It interfaces with the bike’s standard ECU via direct connection with the OEM wiring harnesses. This is claimed to allow for precise control of the engine fuel management system.

As a special offer for customers, Naza is now packaging the Two Brothers kit into the purchase of the CBR1000 RR bike from Naza World without extra cost.

KON

Pictures: Official Naza release

Official Press Release from Takashimaya Group Malaysia

Takashimaya Sales & Services Sdn Bhd (TKSSS) and Takashimaya Marketing Sdn Bhd, are the sales and distributors of Car Protection Systems. The “TKS” brand is a leading brand in Car Security and Anti Theft Systems under the care of Takashimaya Group Malaysia.

Statistics show that in Malaysia, a car is stolen every 11 seconds. Popular brands among thieves include Proton, Honda, Toyota and Perodua. This has led to an increasing number of concerned vehicle owners upgrading from their factory-fitted car alarm systems to TKS immobilizers to protect their vehicles

The TKS model range includes Zeus, Horus, Titan, and Hector immobilizers, which are suitable for a diverse range of vehicle brands.

TKS Zeus is a high-tech immobilizer that uses the latest transponder technology to protect vehicles from intrusion. Once installed, the immobilizer disarms automatically and requires no action on the part of the driver.

Prices of TKS Car Immobilzers range between RM 1098 and RM 4998. Customers can opt to purchase these systems with easy payment plans up to 36 months.

There are two TKS Specialist Centres in the Klang Valley handling sales, installation and servicing of TKS Car Alarm Systems

1. Lot G-65, Giant Hypermarket Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya.
Tel: 03- 6142 2071 / 03- 6142 2072
2. Lot G-24, Giant Hypermarket Putra Height, Subang.
Tel: 03- 5191 3509 / 03- 5192 5509

TKSSS also have 15 branches that functions as the sales and marketing of the TKS Car Alarm Systems throughout Malaysia.
1. Klang, Selangor (03- 3323 3915)
2. Seremban, Negeri Sembilan (06- 767 9601)
3. Ayer Keroh, Melaka (06- 231 1203)
4. Batu Pahat, Johor (07- 432 6743)
5. Skudai, Johor (07- 554 0693)
6. Ipoh, Perak (05- 545 5101)
7. Teluk Intan, Perak (05- 622 2166)
8. Kuala Terengganu (09- 624 9633)
9. Kota Bahru, Kelantan (09- 744 6105)
10. Kuantan, Pahang (09- 566 5198)
11. Sungai Petani, Kedah (04- 425 0104)
12. Kuching, Sarawak (082- 234 562)
13. Miri, Sarawak (085- 429 312)
14. Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (088- 486 368)

For further information and enquiries, please call TKS at toll free 1-800-88-2811 or Headquarters 03- 9059 3788.

GN Netcom, specialist in headset solutions, has unveiled two new Bluetooth headsets for the Malaysian market – the Jabra Stone and the Jabra Extreme. With recommended retail prices at RM499 and RM319 for the Stone and Extreme respectively, the new Jabra headsets are targeted at the upper range of the Bluetooth handsfree market.

The more expensive Jabra Stone is notabe for its eye-catching design, which is markedly different from offerings available in the market. It wraps behind the user’s ear, eliminating the standard on-face microphone. It also comes with a palm-fitting wireless portable charger, which doubles as a compact carrying case.

The Jabra Extreme, meanwhile, is claimed to have ‘outstanding noise cancellation coupled with completely natural voice acoustics’, making it the ‘most advanced’ Bluetooth headset in the market. For a comfortable wearing experience, the headset comes with a specially developed Ultimate-fit Eargels™ which moulds to any ear shape.

The Extreme is also capable of automatic volume adjustments to suit the surrounding environment and incoming voice, with Acoustic Shock Protection featured to protect the wearer from a sudden blast of noise. It can also simultaneously connect to two devices at any one time.

Key features and specifications of the Jabra STONE:

• Ground-breaking headset design and shape
• Portable Jabra STONE Charger enables charging on the go and serves as a holder and charger in down time
• Cutting edge technology including Noise Blackout^TM Extreme
• Bluetooth technology – easy pairing with Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR & eSCO
• Up to 8 hours talk time and 12 days standby time with the Jabra STONE Charger
• Jabra StatusDisplay^TM makes it easy to check battery level and Bluetooth connectivity at a glance
• Effortlessly connect two Bluetooth enabled devices at the same time with MultiuseTM capabilities
• Features touch volume control, answer/end button, voice dialing (depending on the phone used), and streams music from A2DP enabled mobile phones
• Lightweight – weighs only 7g (0.25 ounces)
• Dimensions for headset in charger – H 58 x W 50.7 x D24.7mm (H 2.3 x W 2 x D 1 inches)
• Charging plug: USB Micro-B, 5-pin

Key features and specifications of the Jabra EXTREME:

• Bluetooth® 2.1 including EDR and eSCO
• Noise Blackout™ Extreme with dual microphones
• Multiuse™ – connects to 2 devices at the same time
• Transmits music (A2DP)
• Adjusts volume automatically
• Acoustic Shock Protection
• Dedicated on/off slider
• Dual wearing style = Ultimate-Fit Eargels™ and flexible ear hooks
• Talktime = 5.5 hours
• Standby time = 10.5 days
• Dimensions = 47 x 18.5 x 27.5 mm
• Weight = 10 grams
• Charger = Car, USB and A/C

KON

Recently, the German Automobile Club Inc (ADAC) conducted a field test of twelve different car windshield wipers and found that the Bosch Aerotwin to be the clear winner in all relevant disciplines. It was the only wiper blade that managed to secure a ‘very good’ rating.

The wipers were tested with an emphasis on wiping quality in summer-type conditions (+20°C). Evaluated criteria include wear test durability, and exposure to artificial sunlight. In the Malaysian context, Bosch claims that this victory proves that the Aerotwin wipers are ideal for the country’s tropical climate.

“We are very proud of our products and these test results from ADAC show that not only do our wiper blades offer superior wiping performance, but it clearly shows that they are durable enough to withstand the harsh weather conditions that we face in Malaysia. When buying wipers, it is well worth paying a little more for a good quality product.  The high-quality and slightly more expensive products performed better in the tests than the inexpensive ones. Drivers should also choose a modern planer wiper, which will retain a higher level of wiping performance for longer period,” said Mr. Woon Kim Hwa, General Manager of Bosch Automotive Aftermarket, Robert Bosch Sdn Bhd.

Other contributing factors to the Aerotwin’s performance in the test included its long service life and its user friendly wiper arm fastening mechanism dubbed the multi-clip univeral adapter. Bosch claims that this adapter is suitable for different wiper arms of various passenger cars.

ADAC reported better overall results for the newer generation of non-jointed, or better known as bone-less, wipers compared to conventional bowed wipers. Nevertheless, Bosch’s own Twin Spoiler bowed wiper managed to achieve a third place finish, being name the best bowed wiper.

KON

As the rakyat comes to terms with introduction of RON95 petrol at pumps nationwide, the debate rages on whether which car can or cannot take the new grade of petrol. It has become a hotly discussed topic in our forum, as evidenced by the thread I’ve setup to chronicle our ongoing comparison of RON95 against RON97. Since it was started last week, the thread has attracted 121 replies and more than 12,000 views.

RON95 compatible

Last week, Honda Malaysia released an official statement assuring owners can their cars can accept RON95 without any issues. Now, UMW Toyota has released a similar statement saying that all of their petrol-powered Toyota and Lexus models can accept RON95 petrol without negative side effects such as engine damage or performance loss.

Owners wishing to double confirm this fact are advised to refer to specification section in their owner’s manuals.

KON

Note: Official press release from UMW Toyota posted in our forum here.

Following up on the release of their TRI-O GPS system, upcoming Malaysian GPS maker Gophers is now stepping up their game with the introduction of a new model called the QUATR-O. Not to be confused with products from Audi, the Gophers QUATR-O is available in two variants – DRIVE and PLUS. The back of the QUATR-O may be stamped with “Made in China” stickers, but rest assured, this is as good as being a local product. It is designed in Malaysia, by Malaysians, for Malaysians.

The QUATR-O DRIVE retails for RM738, with an additional RM60 charged for Singapore maps. It comes complete with a windscreen mounting cradle, battery charging cables (3-pin socket and in-car both given), and a 1Gb SD card for storage of data. The QUATR-O PLUS, meanwhile, costs RM1,298, with Singapore maps set to cost a premium of RM100. The additional money paid for the PLUS also gets you a wireless reverse camera thrown in.

We were given a unit of the QUATR-O DRIVE for an extended review. However, as the DRIVE does not come with a reverse camera, Gophers helped us secure a Proton Exora from a customer who fitted the PLUS to his car for us to briefly test this feature. In addition, our recent demo unit of the Chevrolet Captiva was also equipped with a unit of the QUATR-O PLUS customized specifically for Chevrolet. As such, we were able to get closely acquainted with both variants of the QUATR-O.

Reverse camera of the QUATR-O PLUS mounted on a Proton Exora(left). In the Captiva, it’s mounted through a hole drilled through the bumper.

Setting up the QUATR-O for the first time in your car would take a few minutes. You need to click the cradle and windscreen mount together, and stick the resulting assembly onto the windscreen by means of suction. The tricky part is to snap the GPS unit (or as Gophers calls it, Personal Navigation Device) into the cradle. In order to make the QUATR-O durable in our hot and humid weather, Gophers has specified some pretty tough plastics to manufacture the cradle. To the uninitiated, the solidness of the cradle makes it difficult to get the PND snapped into it.

All the things accompanying your Gophers QUATR-O GPS unit.

Otherwise, the cradle is actually a well thought-of design. It completely encapsulates the PND inside its maw, protecting it from mild shocks in the process. The top part of the cradle has a hood-like feature to prevent sunlight glare on the screen. To enable easy snapping and unsnapping of the PND into and out of the cradle, the hood feature should be pushed upwards by both thumbs with the unit slowly eased in or out of place. Uniquely, the stylus for the PND’s touchscreen is actually mounted in the cradle rather than the PND itself. Getting it out also proved tricky until we realized that it needs to be pushed out from behind.

The unit mounts solidly on the windscreen. Cradle designed to block glare from sunlight as well.

As far hardware is concerned, the QUATR-O loses marks initially for being a little unintuitive to assemble, but claws back the deficit with the overall sturdiness and solidity of the unit. Those who opt for the QUATR-O PLUS will need to have the reverse camera installed either professionally or by themselves. In addition, cars with strong tints will require an externally mounted antenna worth RM80 due to interference of the satellite signals generated by the tints themselves.

Setting up the QUATR-O in your car.

On to the software. Like the TRI-O before it, the QUATR-O uses maps programmed by MapKing and Malsingmaps, which are claimed to give good coverage of both Malaysia and Singapore.  Like all GPS systems out there right now, the maps are a continuous work in progress receiving constant updates from various contributors. We did not have time to fully test the comprehensiveness of their map’s coverages, but we have yet to travel on a road that’s not in its database. We have, however, come across landmarks (for example, our office Wisma Jobstreet) that have yet to be programmed into it, or so we initially thought.

In order to search for a specific location, you need to first determine which category that it belongs to in the database, and also narrow down its location to the right state. So, while determining which category that Maybank or Petronas belongs to is easy, how do you determine which category does the Sepang F1 Circuit belong to? Building? Leisure? Transportation? The trick here is to just use the “Find POI” function, with POI standing for Points Of Interest, for an across-the-category search. The routine, select “Find POI”, and then type out the name of the building you wish to go to. It turns out that Wisma Jobstreet.Com is there after all.

The QUATR-O in action in downtown KL. Central mounting did not adversely affect visibility.

Speaking of name typing, here comes a big issue with the MapKing’s search function. For example, if you want to find where is Kampung Baru, typing “Kampung Baru” into the search will lead you nowhere if the place you’re looking for is spelt “Kg Baru” in the system. Worse is when you attempt to find numbered roads of housing estates, where the system cannot see that “SS 3/6″ and “SS3/6″ could actually mean the same road. You’re better off typing just “3/6″ and then filter out all the “PJU3/6″, “13/6A”, “3/66″ etc and then filtering them out one-by-one.

On the move, the QUATR-O was able to tell us our speed and location with remarkably good precision. Its digital speedometer tallied well with my car’s speedo throughout the time, while the indicated position on the map is reflective of our actual position. There are times that the system gets confused, though. One of them is when driving on one of two parallel roads that are too close to each other. Another is when just moments after switching the device on, it still thinks it is at the previous position where the device was switched off. It usually reorients itself once you get on the move.

The device proved remarkably accurate when we hammered our Captiva test car at the corners on the winding roads of Balik Pulau, Penang. Although we did not use it to find our way to our destination, it helped us anticipate upcoming corners, and we were able to better execute our braking and gear changes with its guidance. Think of it as a real-life version of the radar function of arcade racing games.

Ever played Need for Speed? In real life?

On its core business of actually getting you places, the QUATR-O/Mapking does a reasonably good job. Information displayed on the screen is comprehensible and not too cluttered, unlike its interface. The map itself auto-zooms in or out, depending on the junction you are coming on to. On the top left corner, the distance from which you make your next turn is displayed, giving you ample time to prepare with your lane changes.

The effectiveness of its guidance depends on how well-programmed is the section of the map you are travelling on. Hence, you’re best advised not to follow its instructions too rigidly. Should you miss its suggested turns (intentionally or not) the GPS would quickly recalculate an alternative route for you, so you’d still reach your destination. Only problem is that when you intentionally skip a suggested turn, the system would guide you back to the road you purposely missed and so that you can continue from there.

Besides its GPS function, the QUATR-O is packed with a variety of other features such as audio/video playbacks, dictionaries, and a digital speedometer to keep the gadget freak occupied. For us, the ones that we found most useful were the bluetooth handsfree function and the reverse camera available in the PLUS. The reverse camera is a wireless unit which transmits its signal to the PND. It is wired to the circuitry of your car’s reverse lights, meaning that it self-activates the moment you engage reverse gear. In the Exora loaned to us, the camera transmitted reasonably good quality images to the PND, but occasionally gets undone by mysterious interference. These rare moments aside, however, it is adept even in less-than-bright multi-storey carparks.

Reverse camera makes life easy reversing the Exora.

Works well in the dark too!

As a product, the Gophers QUATR-O GPS still has plenty of room to improve, but it is competent and reasonably priced. Its weakness actually lies mainly with the poor interface of the MapKing software itself, which we know are also used by several other GPS systems out there in the market. The QUATR-O wins back points in the overall solidness of its build quality and also the extra features thrown into it.

KON

Specifications: Gophers QUATR-O DRIVE GPS (taken from Gophers’ official website)

Price: RM738.00 (add RM60 for Singapore maps)

Description: 4.3″ widescreen, Bluetooth Handsfree. Plays multi-format Audio and Video including MP3 and MP4, Preloaded with Mapking maps of Peninsular Malaysia AND MalsingMaps of Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah, Sarawak.

Product Specifications
* OS Microsoft Windows CE 5.0
* SiRF Atlas III 400mHz GPS receiver
* Memory: Flash 64MB, SDRAM 64MB
* ready for external TMC receiver
* Bluetooth handsfree phone connection
* USB 2.0
* Built-in high sensitivity GPS antenna
* Jack for external GPS antenna
* 1100mAh built-in rechargeable Li-Polymer battery
* Built-in high volume speaker
* Size 188mm x 152mm x 17mm
* Weight approx 180g without mountings

Navigation Features
* MapKing R12 customised program
* voice : English, Malay, Mandarin, Cantonese
* Interface : English, Malay, Mandarin
* Automatic day and night display
* Automatic zoom display
* Search by road names, locations, POIs, favourites
* Trip computer
* 2D and 3D map display
* Multiple route options

Package contains:
* Gophers QUATR-O Drive
* 1G SD Card with preloaded software, My maps
* Windscreen mount, sunshade/cradle, stylus pen
* In-car charger
* AC charger
* USB cable
* CD and User’s Manual

Optional Accessories available for this model (purchase from ‘accessories’ page)
* External GPS antenna

(+): Maps have comprehensive coverage. Sturdy build. Reverse camera (QUATR-O PLUS only) and bluetooth headset very useful additions.
(-): Interface lacking in user-friendliness – Gophers and MapKing must improve this in order to seriously compete with the market leaders.

Verdict: A competent unit on the whole, but has plenty of room to improve. Interface is its biggest Achilles’ heel.

Car buffs like us are no strangers to reading spec-sheets from the manufacturers and magazines. Some of us can even write them too. There are people out there with an encyclopedic knowledge of the torque and horsepower figure of almost every car you can think of. I have seen car spec-sheets with more numbers written on it than balance sheets – top speed, 0-100, displacement, fuel consumption, gear ratios et. al.

These numbers provide us with a useful means to rate and compare the abilities of different cars. The performance oriented freaks will examine the power ratings, the torque output, the top speed and the 0-100 times. Those with fuel economy in mind will look at consumption figures. Those who specifically buy cars based on size will examine the dimensions, but these are rare. Usually, the figures that matter most to people are all the drivetrain related figures.

However, there is a little inconvenient reality to all this. For one, manufacturers often quote figures with different units. How do you compare the power output of a car whose manufacturer quoted 100kW against another quoted at 139bhp? How do you see which car uses less fuel? 7.6l/100km or 27mpg? The other question is, what really is the meaning behind all these figures? It’s all good to know that your BMW M5 produces 500bhp, but what is a brake-horsepower?

Let’s look at a shortened spec-sheet of the Peugeot 407 and see what each of these figures mean.

Displacement, Bore & Stroke.

Or engine capacity, as some would prefer. This is the total volume of that’s being swept by the pistons as they move from their top dead centre position to bottom dead centre. To obtain this figure, one needs to calculate the volume swept by the piston of one cylinder, and then multiply that figure by the number of cylinders. As such, we have

But, how do you calculate the volume swept by a cylinder? That’s where the next set of figures, the bore and stroke come in. The bore is quite simply the diameter of the combustion chamber, hence it’s usual measurement in terms of the millimetre. The stroke meanwhile, is the length of the straight-line distance between the piston’s top dead centre and bottom dead centre positions as illustrated below.

Going back to Form 5 mathematics, the volume of a cylinder is pi multiplied by the square of its radius(r) multplied by its height(h). In the context of our combustion chamber, the radius of the cylinder is half the bore, while the height is the stroke, allowing us to calculate the volume of one combustion chamber with the following formula:

As such (pardon the maths lesson), working all the algebraic thingamagics, we have,

As you can see from the formula, the cylinder’s bore contributes a square term to the equation, and as such, reboring your cylinder by even half a millimetre each can lead to a significant increase in engine capacity compared to an equivalent amount of restroking.

Taking the figures of the 4-cylinder 407 with its 85mm bore and 88mm stroke, you will arrive at a figure of 1,997,425mm³, which is not a figure used by anyone on this planet to measure engine capacity. I am sure you all know that everyone measures engine capacity by way of cc or litres. How much is one cc? How much is one litre? First, cc stands for cubic centimetre, and if you want to follow the SI way of writing it should be cm³.

So, in order to get the 1,997cc figure in the brochure, all you have to do is to convert your bore and stroke figures to cm, and you’ll get your answer. Then, we all know the conversion from cc to litres is just dividing the former number by 1,000. Of course, we always see people mixing these units up and telling us their Proton Wira’s engine is 1.5cc.

There is another unit used to measure engine capacity, but only in America, which is the cubic inch (abbreviated cu. in.) and it’s obtained (obviously) when you calculate your displacement using the bore and stroke values measured in inches. An inch is about 2.54cm, so a cubic inch is roughly equivalent to 16.4cc. The diagram below should help your conversions.

So, going back to our example of the 407, the bore, stroke and displacement figures in the various units are listed below.

As noted earlier most American cars quote their engine displacement using the cubic inch unit. It was a great nuisance to me when I first started out reading about their muscle cars being so used to comparing in terms of either cc or litres, the cubic inch unit was completely meaningless to me. Now, knowing the 2.0-litre 407 displaces a mere 122 cu. in., it puts the size of motors like the 426 cu. in. Hemi nicely into perspective.

Power

The most basic definition of the term power is the rate of work done, but that’s a definition used by physicists, and while it’s also a correct definition in relation to our cars, it’s not a very useful one for us to understand in too much detail. Suffice for us to understand that higher power output would roughly translate to a higher top speed.

The most commonly used unit to measure power in our part of the world is the horsepower, which although popular, isn’t actually the best unit of choice. This is because the term horsepower alone consists of several definitions and measurement methods. Relevant to us petrolheads are the metric and mechanical horsepowers. The mechanical horsepower was the original definition of the horsepower unit, as coined by James Watt, and roughly equals 0.746kW

The Germans introduced the metric horsepower in the 19th century and it is defined as being equivalent to 0.735kW, roughly 98.6% of the mechanical horsepower. The metric horsepower is often indicated using the abbreviation PS, which stands for pferdestarke, the German word for horsepower. The unit brake-horsepower (bhp) meanwhile, simply indicates that the figure is the engine’s horsepower on crank.

Among my very first car reading materials was the owner’s manual of my parents’ Proton Wira, which quotes power output in terms of kilowatts (kW), making the kilowatt the first unit of power that I was familiar with. I also know for a fact that Australian publications all use kilowatts in their specs sheets. Honda and Nissan prefers to use PS, while everyone else here favours horsepower.

The presence two different, but yet very close horsepower units creates quite a bit of confusion among readers. As a personal rule, for all my future writings, hp and bhp will refer to mechanical horsepower, while PS while refer to the metric horsepower. Personally, with the ambiguities surrounding the horsepower unit, I am in favour of using the kilowatt although it doesn’t sound as cool saying, ”My car produces 220kW” compared to “I’ve got 300 horses under the hood.”

Once again, using the 407 as an example..

Torque

Going into the definition of torque given by the physicists will leave most in a daze, so suffice to summarize it laymen’s terms that torque is equivalent to what you would call a twisting force. Where a force causes an object to accelerate in a straight line, torque would twist it about a certain axis. In the case of cars, the torque from the engine, transmitted via the gearbox and driveshafts, would twist the wheels about the axles.

The quantity torque is obtained as a product of force multiplied by distance, hence the units to measure torque would consist of a force unit multiplied by a distance unit. Three units are commonly used: Newton-metre (Nm), kilogram(force)-metre (kg.m), and pound-foot (lb.ft). My personal preference, along with most car manufacturers here, is to quote torque figures in Nm.

It must be said that the unit kilogram(force)-metre unit to measure torque isn’t a fully acceptable one, as in this case, the force term is measured by kilograms, which is a measurement of mass, rather than by Newtons, the universally accepted unit to measure force. Some manufacturers also quote in this unit using the abbreviation kgf.m, but they are exactly the same. Fortunately, the conversion from this unit to Nm is a simple matter of multiplying with 9.81, the value of the acceleration due to gravity.

A more complicated one is the pound-foot unit preferred by the Americans and the Brits. If done manually, you need to consider two seperate conversion factors, one to convert the force term, another to convert the distance term. Converting from imperial to metric units was never straight forward to begin with, and to convert a product of two quantities is quite a headache. Factoring in both conversions, 1 lb.ft is roughly equivalent to 1.36Nm.

As far as this writer is concerned, all of my personal future writings will quote torque figures using Nm without exception. Once again, bringing out the 407…

Speed

I am sure we all know what speed is – it’s the rate of covering distance. Quite simply put saying your car is travelling at 100km/h is saying that ‘if we maintain this speed indefinitely, the car would travel 100km every 1 hour.’ Some writers, me include, also like to use the abbreviation kph to denote the same unit. It’s not a scientifically acceptable abbreviation, mind you, but it is understood.

The other speed unit commonly used of course, is miles per hour (mph). This unit is another one favoured by the Americans and the Brits, while the rest of the world talk in terms of kilometres per hour. The conversion between these two units is straightforward, though not necessarily accurate. One kilometre is roughly equal to 0.621 miles, and the conversion between kph and mph would follow the same factor.

The 407’s top speed of 206km/h would translate to 128mph, and in case if you’re wondering, the DeLorean needs to hit 142km/h in order to activate its flux capacitor.

Fuel consumption

For the purposes of this article, consumption in terms of money per unit distance will be ignored, but even then, there’s still quite a bit to talk about, as not only are there several different units, some are quoted as volume of fuel per distance travelled, and some are quoted as distance travelled per volume of fuel.

My personal spreadsheet to monitor my own car’s consumption has four columns quoting FCs at different units: RM/km, l/km, km/l, and km/60l. For my personal use, the most useful number is actually the km/60l figure which gives me the full range for one tank in my Waja’s 60l tank.

In Malaysia, the commonly used unit is litres per 100km travelled. The reason for using this in opposed to just litre/km is probably to shift the numbers to the 5-15 range, which is more useful for our visualisation purposes. Equally popular in this part of the world is the reverse kilometres per litre unit.

There is also the famous miles per gallon (mpg), and here’s where you need to be careful, as the US and UK gallons differ by 20%. The mpg is actually of no consequence to us, but since many of us here watch shows like Top Gear and Fifth Gear, and not to mention read magazines with Top Gear Malaysia, Autocar Asean and Evo with British roots, a passing familiarity with this unit might be useful.

Our good old friend, the 407, has the following consumption figures:

Tyre Size

To the uninitiated, the tyre size code can be an incomprehensible series of numbers. The important dimensions in a tyre are the width of the tyre, the thickness of the sidewall, and the diameter of the rim that will fit in it. There is one number denoting each of these dimensions, and they are all of different units, as illustrated below.

So, for the last time, using the 407 as an example, the 407 comes in tyres that measure 215mm in width. The tyre sidewall thickness, is 55% of 215mm, which is 118.25mm. Then finally, in the middle is a rim that measures 17″ in diameter. It is fortunate that the industry has managed to adopt a single system worldwide to codify tyre dimensions, or it would be quite a riot trying to understand each system.

Finally

This post was written as an attempt on my part to make some sense of all the myriad of units out there you’ll find when reading car materials. It’s especially confusing sometimes when some parties decide to use SI units, and some want to stick with the old Imperial units. I personally prefer to use SI units as much as possible, being educated in them. Also, converting units in SI is a far simpler affair as all multiplications and divisions are done by factors of 10.

The most important use for all these numbers, as far as us plain simple motorists are concerned, are simply to provide a means to compare the abilities of various cars side-by-side. It would be good if everyone in the industry agree on the same common set of units, but until that happens, we’ll need to know how to convert between them.