Any recommeNd replacement for my tyre

once a honda, always a honda

hi guys, i do think driving Insight on highway is quite noisy, due to poor chassis insolation. anyone use STP silver or bomb?

more reason to change to HID... quoted from honda japan website (translated by google) 

the real challenge is how to make our car more OEM-look with current aftermarket part... 

Just sharing what I understand about how Insight starts its engine.

Under normal circumstances where your IMA battery is not completely exhausted (which very rarely would as the computer will try its best to keep it at least 20% soc or above unless you left the car parked for more than a month without start), the car engine would be crank started using the IMA motor instead of the normal starrter motor. IMA motor will spin up the engine before resuming the combustion cycle, it is kind of like we push-start a manual car with a dead battery.

Because this process does not involve the use to starter motor powered by the 12V battery, and the starting method is to spin up the entire engine to speed and resume the combustion cycle i.e. fuel injector, spark plugs and valve trains, the engine is kind of like 'resuming from hybernation' instead of starting from stop.

If you notice, starting Insight with this method is extremely fast and quiet when compared to cranking up any of the non-hybrid car using a regular 12v starter motor.

As other forumers had mentioned, this is actually a designed feature and definitely this revolutionary method of starting the car avoid those wear and tear produced by regular starter motor. This method also reduce a lot of polution and dirt builtup as the first cycle of fuel injected when starting engine will be completely burned (as engine already spinned up to speed using the IMA motor), while in regular starter vehicle, the few engine cycle during cranking up left behind unburned fuel, which turns to carbon deposit in combustion chamber and exhaust system.

Finally, starting the vehicle using the IMA instead of 12V system reduce stress to the 12V supply system, as you will not get power surge or sudden voltage drop during engine start, thus can help to prolong the lifespan of all 12V equipment and accessories from faulire caused by power fluction.

Just change my kembung tyres to 205/50 falken tyres, feel a lot better driving

I am using HID to replace the 2 low beam headlamp behind the standard projector lens housing. Been using it since I got the car Oct last year, lots of night drive, my mileage now is close to 15k.

This could be long and boring writeup for those who already DIY their HID or familiar with it, so bear with the long posting.

Type and brand. There are plenty in the market. Branded ones like Philips or PIAA easily cost you above RM500. There are also a lot of china and claimed-to-be taiwan made kits that cost below RM300. I am using those below RM300, no particular brand printed on the ballast or bulb (I think to avoid legal implication, probably they could have broken down those branded ones to copy their circuit and design).

For balast wise, there are regular size and slim size ballast. Honestly I do not see much different except for the size itself. Regular balast have the ignitor built into the balast thus bigger, but will have one less component dangling around, while slim balast type have an external ignitor. adding up, both design roughly take up almost similar amount of space to install. I am using the slim balast type. I tied the ignitor box using zip tie to the balast and make them into a single unit for neater installation.

For the bulbs, there are 2 things to choose. The wattage normally is 35 watt, and that already is roughly twice as bright when compared to a 5 watt halogen bulb. Some people opt for 55 watt hid system, which I do not recommend because apart from endangering other road users with excessive glare, you are attracting enforcement officers to flag you down for some chat, besides, there could be too much heat to the lamp housing. Second thing to look at is the colour temperature. Our normal halogen bulb is about 3300k in colour temperature. Typical HID bulb is 4300k, which is white but still slightly yellowish. 6000k bulb is very white with slight blue. 8000k and above is bluish to purplish. To avoid inviting trouble when passing roadblocks, try to keep it at 4300k. JPJ website says all HID modification is illegal unless from original car manufacturer. Insight have projector lens headlight, so the light beams are well focused and controlled. And you can point it further down using the level adjustment. My point is, when it is not excessively glaring, you are less likely to get into trouble with the law enforcement part.

Heat wise, actually, when using an IR thermometer to test both type of bulb (55 watt standard halogen vs 35 watt HID) that had been turned on for 30 minutes, HID bulb actually reads slightly lower temperature than halogen. This could be due to the low wattage of HID, and also HID are more efficient converting electricity to light while halogen waste a lot of energy producing heat. Halogen bulb also emits more IR than HID.

Now comes the most important part, installation. Some of the issue heard like meltdown of lamp housing, burnt wires or fuse, are normally due to improper installation (although some could be due to the defects from the ultra-cheap aftermarket kits).

The standard wiring that runs to the halogen bulb is quite thin, so if you are using the 35 watt HID kit, I would say it is quite safe to use the same wire to directly power the HID kit, otherwise, you will have to consider adding relay harness. Problem with my kit is that the power source wire only comes with two metal pins for you to slot them into the standard bulb connector for the HID to get power supply, making them stay in position and water proof is a bit of work. Loose pin may cause arching or even worst, shorting the entire lamp circuitary, so pay some extra attention here.

Second this is the bulb, never touch the glass surface of the bulb. When installing bulb to housing, the original bulb will give a click feeling when it is in position, but my aftermarket HID bulb does not do so, so after installation, do extra visual inspection and try pulling or twisting the bulb and see whether it could easily dislodge or not. A lot of cases of burnt housing is caused by bulb that are not properly installed, dislodged from the mounting when the car in motion and the hot bulb surface touching the plastic part of the housing thus melting it. This hardly happen to standard halogen bulb as I had mentioned earlier, it has a click to indicate proper installation so it rarely goes wrong.

As for the balast, bear in mind that the 12v power supply entering it would be converted to very high voltage to power the HID bulb, thus the wiring existing the balast would probably carries more than 20000 volts. Anyway, SOP for car wiring works, make sure none of the wires hanging freely or could potentially tangle into moving parts or hot area of the car, especially the engine belting, block etc., make sure none of the wires are under stress or being pressed against any metallic part that could damage its insulation. The balast do produce some heat and gets warm in operation, so best to mount it properly onto metal parts of the car body, if possible in places where would not get wet when driving in rain or through watery road.

is it ok to buy insight now?or should think abt facelift?

offered 3k...its ok to wait for facelift, but after i search for facelift model, i think i prefer nowadays model...booking already and ready to join u guys! really cant wait...but who know, LOANS!

i heard the new facelift and new Jazz Hybrid will be next month or on march! and no 1.5, thats what i heard la...and 1.3 spec there is no update as its name, facelift....new face...but if upgrade, can we just update or reset computer box?hehe!

Good reminder to find the Insight maintenance pricing from HM: http://www.honda.com.my/insight/extra/maintenance/

I have 15km service coming up this weekend.... 

Hi insight onwer, what is the best and worst fc u guts can get with this car?

How about the noise insulation? Better than city/civic of just the same? Thx

The fc is quite good. Thx for sharing
What are the main problems or cons of this car?

I'm using stock and add a under seat woofer so far so good for personal enjoyment

but u pay more in servicing every 5k km. in the end, the maintenance costs more than the petrol saved. not to mention about the time spent doing 5k km service.

if honda practice the 10k km interval, then it'll be much more economical and consumer friendly

i dont have insight, almost bought one, until i looked at the maintenance schedule.

Just realized that our alarm system has the beeping/buzzer function to signal arming and disarming alarm. Did some research and managed to successfully program mine with the buzzer function

HM purposely deactivated the function, not sure why, and SCs reluctant to activate it for me. Asked me to go to Cobra, to get it activated and they do not want to be involved if anything wrong were to happen. Went to Cobra Tmn Tun, but the technician forgot to asked me to bring the PIN number for the alarm, which is needed to program. So went back and did some research, got this dealer's manual and DIY it and it was successful.

Something to share with you guys
Directions to program our Cobra Bridge 4400 system:
http://www.m-sjoberg-ab.se/pdf/Manual/4400...l_06DE2399B.pdf

Take note : Pg 25 : List of Programmable Functions,
Pg: 28 : How to Program , Pg 29 : Functions Tables.

For those who are lazy to read, here are brief instructions to do it.
1) Disarm your car

2) open driver's door,

3) Click open your bonnet,

4) put in your key switch it to ON, wait 15 seconds,

5) Tricky Part: KEY IN PIN Number @ the control panel button next to your ignition switch (Cobra PIN provided by HM when they handed over the keys to you), On how to key in Pin, please refer to the PIN Card behind. IF SUCCESSFUL, you can see the INDICATOR LIGHTS blink once. Else if you do not see it, take out key and wait 5-10 seconds before repeating Part 4.

6) Once you see the INDICATOR LIGHTS blink, press the control panel button and hold it (Approx 3 Seconds) till you hear a BEEEEEP continuously. (ok now its activated). You can let go now.

7) To adjust the volume of the Buzzer function, press the control panel button again to adjust from volume 0 - volume 7 (being the loudest). Press once to upgrade from volume 1 to 2, press once again to 2-3 and so forth, once volume has reached volume 7, the next press would be silent, meaning its volume 0. Adjust to liking.

8) After adjusting, remove key. close door, close bonnet.

9) Test your alarm now.... !

I'm loving the buzzing function now, too bad our alarm does not have the auto lock function, else it definitely would be programable. Not too sure about the volumetric sensors too. According to Cobra technician, our exact alarm model is Cobra 4465 (not too sure if its the right model tho), perhaps do more research and see what can be done from there.

Here is the brochure for our alarm and its functions: Cobra Bridge 4400 Brochure

Technically, if HM is complaining bout warranty of the alarm if they hear the sound, we can just switch it off anytime we want when we send it to service or if we want to get something replaced.

another tip to try, make sure ur pin number is correct and never change before.
to test it out, arm ur alarm and open ur door with the key. then now is turn to key in ur pin number that attach to ur spare key.

if correct pin entered, the alarm will stop. this also a good change for u to test the timing but of cos noisy la...

i believe la...after turn the ignition ON (key position at II), u must wait 15sec or more before start to key in the pin numbers. take a stop watch with u

---

Added on February 13, 2012, 12:38 amI am now very interest to enable the "Activation of automatic system arming" feature. from the description it mean that
"This function enables the automatic arming of the system after the engine has been switched off and the door on the driver's side has been opened and closed within 30sec"

what we currently have now is when we disarm the car and never open any door, the alarm will auto lock back the car after certain of time.

what i worry is that chances the car key will be lock inside will be getting higher...

Switch ON means, till you can see all the lights on your dashboard, (yunno, the usual engine check, srs, oil check, etc etc).

If you did step 5, and didn't see BOTH your indicator/signal lights light up, then you've entered your PIN wrongly/or didn't pressed correctly on the digits.
Trick to do it is to do it with the flow, have a right tempo. Between digits, try not to hesitate on the number of clicks u need to do.

if the number is 4, u MUST see the control panel red light 4x while u pressing it (IF you didn't see 4x red light while pressing, reset it (by going back to step 4) and do again).
then pause to wait for a 1 second red light (that shows that the system has identified the digit),
then immediately go for the second digit. do the same , wait for the 1 second red light, then immediately go to the next digit.

Mine comes up starting at 80kmh until 110kmh++. Very loud and becomes very annoying. I have mentioned to SC earlier but the noise didn't come up during the 1k service. (5k didn't have time to check). Waiting for my 10k service and then ask for recheck.

Must be something design related as many are complaining about it.

One dude said that it was a missing nut or something and he said no more sound after he fixed it but as you said, the sound is coming from the front and top of the car which is the same as mine

I have no other problem with the car except for this annoying crap

OOooo the Sealant between the main screen is not enough... ask Honda to remove the main screen and re-apply sealant (Silicon) and fix it back... very messy work

no other option

I thought only local car manufacturer will do this type of mistake like designing a car windscreen installation without applying adequate sealant? Tak sangka orang Jepun also cut corner like that one ah? Thia car not CKD, it is fully imported. Hahaha. And since more and more people have similar problem, I don't think it is just bad luck of one or two cars, it could have something to do with the mass installation procedure over in Japan side. Or our weather too hot here, Jepun punya sealant all 'kecut'. Hahaha.