Since I like my black Ascends.....

[curtis]

....look what I did to my 4Runner......

http://changpics.smugmug.com/photos/39732017-S.jpg
http://changpics.smugmug.com/photos/39747168-S.jpg
http://changpics.smugmug.com/photos/39747172-S.jpg

Actually, I went back and forth between chrome and black....and decided to be a little different. I wanted to upgrade the wheels and tires, found a good deal on used rims with tires I wanted as well....tires were only two weeks old, then I took the rims to get powder coated black. Came out great!

[Kurt C.]

Very Stealth. I like it.

[BradJudy]

Nice look. Why no driver window tint?

[curtis]

Thanks guys.


Nice look. Why no driver window tint?
There is some tint on the driver window.....but obviously not nearly as dark as the rear windows. In California, the law is the front driver and passenger windows have to let at least 70% of the light in....the rear windows can be as dark as you want.

In Colorado, I believe you are allowed down to 27%.

I have gotten a ticket before for having too dark of tint on the front windows. A huge hassle to get the tint off and take the car to the police department to get OK'd...on top of the fine.

The tint on the 4Runner now is all stock....just like it came from the factory. I have thought about getting the fronts tinted to allow 70%...maybe before next summer.

[curtis]

So....driving home Friday from work, minding my own business, I hear this loud and sudden "CRACK!" from the windshield.

Looks like the car ahead of me kicked up a pebble and it put a nice dime size crack in my windshield. Yeah...I was pissed.

An aftermarket windshield installed at the dealer was $200, actual Toyota windshield would be a little over $300. The Toyota glass has some kind of coating to help shed water easier...kind of like built-in Rain-X.

What I ended up doing was researching a bit and had the windshield repaired by Safelite. What they do is drill a small hole to access the crack, pull the air out of the crack(which is what causes the crack to be visible) and then inject the crack with resin. Looks pretty good....you can still see the defect, but it is much less noticeable. The cost was $60 with a lifetime guarantee.

The guy came to my house to do the repair..only took 10 minutes or so...nice little business.

More research and I found DIY kits to do the repair as well.

Anyways, I am very pleased with the outcome.

[tjennings]

Yep, Safelite made that same repair on our car perhaps 4 years ago... still no problems with it! Knock on wood...

[Lou-the-dog]

NICE rig Curtis! I really like it.

My insurance company will fully cover a windshield repair as you described (no deductible). If I were to have the windshield replaced then the deductible kicks in. Check it out if you haven't done so already... maybe they'll pick up the tab.

Randy

[sensibull]

Must be something about California roadways and SUVs. When we lived in the East Bay our old Cherokee's windshield got rocked twice in one week, just days after replacing it. Later that year my neighbor weed whacked his lawn for the first time in months and kicked up another UFO that took out our driver-side window. Of course it poured that night. Guy was Brazilian, lived with about a dozen family members, and spoke absolutely zero English. Long story short, I ended up in their living room, watching futbol, trying to explain myself in my feeble Spanish (I knew they spoke Portuguese, but it was the best I could do), while their incredibly gracious matriach stuffed my face with delicious empanadas. In the end, he peels a hundred dollar bill from a roll and hands it over, we shake, all is well.

Boy I miss California. Things like that just don't happen to you in Connecticut...

[bikeman]

Boy I miss California. Things like that just don't happen to you in Connecticut...
Oh, please. How can a bunch of Brazilians compete with Martha? :D

David

[curtis]

Nobody has ever given me empanadas and a $100 bill.

Mmmmm....empanadas!!

I'll call my insurance company tomorrow morning. $60 will get me some empanadas. :)

[curtis]

Quick update......my insurance did not cover the $60 repair....way below my deductable.

[bikeman]

Quick update......my insurance did not cover the $60 repair....way below my deductable.
Just as an fyi. Some insurance companies will cover this work independent of any deductible. It saves them a bunch of money. Windshield replacement is expensive and some insurers will head this expense off by covering the $50. to $60. for this procedure. I'm surprised they all don't do it.

David

[curtis]

My deductable is $500.....so it wouldn't even cover a new windshield. :(

[Dave Nelms]

Hey Curtis the rims look great. Sorry to hear about your windshield. I hear about these type of incidents alot. Too many in fact. The feedback I have always received is that the insurance company will not cover it unless it is above your deductable. Also, it can be considered a traffic collsion and a report can be taken but when a law enforcement agency in Ca. takes a traffic accident report it will appear on your DMV record, so you are zapped by the insurance companies again.

To comment on an earlier post regarding window tint. Here in California unfortunately you cannot put any (ANY!) film onto the front roll up windows. Even if the film is what is called 'Safety Glazing Material' you cannot have tint on the front windows. However if you have side/rear view windows on both sides of your vehicle, you can tint the rear windows as dark as you would like.

Any other questions while I have my thinking cap on?

[bikeman]

Any other questions while I have my thinking cap on?
Just one. What will the winning numbers be in the quarter billion dollar "mega millions" jackpot on Tuesday evening? There's a 10% finders fee for the correct information. :rolleyes:

Thanks,
David

[curtis]

To comment on an earlier post regarding window tint. Here in California unfortunately you cannot put any (ANY!) film onto the front roll up windows. Even if the film is what is called 'Safety Glazing Material' you cannot have tint on the front windows. However if you have side/rear view windows on both sides of your vehicle, you can tint the rear windows as dark as you would like.

Any other questions while I have my thinking cap on?
No other questions...thanks...and thanks for the compliment.

I was just at a car audio shope yesterday getting new speakers installed in the car, and one of the workers was trying to get me to tint the front windows...I said "no thanks, I don't need one of those tickets".


Just one. What will the winning numbers be in the quarter billion dollar "mega millions" jackpot on Tuesday evening? There's a 10% finders fee for the correct information.
Cool! Nobody won? I forgot to buy a ticket on Friday....I still got a chance! :)

[curtis]

In case anybody is interested(I have had a few inquiries), this is what my car audio system contains:

Pioneer Head unit
Boston Acoustic speakers
JL Audio Sub
JL Audio amplifier powering the speakers and sub.

The idea was to get good sound and not break the budget I set for myself, as well as feel comfortable with the people installing it. I got it, but still does not compare to what is in my livingroom. I am in the car an 1.5 to 2 hours a day in commuter traffic here in LA, so being able to hear quality audio is a big plus.

The JL Audio sub is a fully contained passive unit designed by JL Audio. I wanted quality bass and not the thumping many of us hear from cars going by, and it didn't need to reach super low since I am not doing HT in my car. This unit sounds great.

You know I am a fan of Hsu subwoofers, and they make a car audio subwoofer driver. I am tempted to purchase the driver and a sealed box to give it a try.

Oh....and I got my lottery tickets today!

[gr1m]

curtis, which JL did u go for? tell me it's the W7....or W6? W3?

[curtis]

curtis, which JL did u go for? tell me it's the W7....or W6? W3?
This system:
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_enclosures.php?menu=7&prod_id=311

[metalaaron]

nice sub. i have a 10w3 dual 2 ohm as well. (sealed enclosure) ;)

now, you should get a big chrome necklace with a spinning wheel on it. ;)

[curtis]

hahahahaha

For kicks, I just purchased a sub enclosure on eBay after confirming with Hsu to make sure it would work well with their car sub driver. Then I ordered the driver. For 2/3rd's the cost of the JL Audio solution, I figured it was worth a shot. I can return the JL Audio sub or easily sell it if the Hsu setup works better.

[curtis]

OK....I got the Hsu sub into the enclosure and have done some listening...impressive thus far. Here are some pics. You can see the the footprint of the two subs is not that different (the JL sub is not pushed all the way back in the pictures because the amp is in the way). Sorry for the sun spots....it is a very nice day here today! :)

http://changpics.smugmug.com/photos/44060423-S.jpg
http://changpics.smugmug.com/photos/44060419-S.jpg
http://changpics.smugmug.com/photos/44060416-S.jpg
http://changpics.smugmug.com/photos/44060431-S.jpg
http://changpics.smugmug.com/photos/44060428-S.jpg

Oh...Veterans Day....since I work for a school, I have it off. That's why I have time to do this today.

[Mag_Neato]

Curtis, it looks like the Hsu driver is larger than the JL. The enclosure for the Hsu also looks to have more volume. I'd imagine you are getting deeper extension at louder levels with the Hsu?

[curtis]

oops...sorry...I left that info out.

Yes..the JL Audio driver is 10" the Hsu car sub driver is 12". The enclosure I used for the Hsu is bigger overall than the JL Audio....but in terms of floorspace it is about the same.

From the limited listening I have done so far, you are absolutely correct, the Hsu setup does have more extension and is louder.

I don't need the louder part unless I want to try and out "boom, boom" a kid at a stoplight. :)

The JL enclosure is very nice though.

[Lou-the-dog]

Oh...Veterans Day....since I work for a school, I have it off. That's why I have time to do this today.

I'm going to guess that you are a technology coordinator...possibly????

Randy

[curtis]

I'm going to guess that you are a technology coordinator...possibly????

Randy
Close...project manager at UCLA Medical Center.

[vent mode on] Only a 16 mile commute, but takes 45 minutes in the morning and about an hour in the evening to get home.[vent mode off] So having good sound in the car is a huge bonus. I have also been getting into podcasts.

[bikeman]

[vent mode on] Only a 16 mile commute, but takes 45 minutes in the morning and about an hour in the evening to get home.[vent mode off]
I'm a veteran and work at a University (guess which one) but I was a little jealous because we didn't get the day off.
My work commute takes me six minutes by bike or twenty minutes on foot. I haven't driven to a job in well over a decade. I live in a very nice home on a tree lined street that cost less than a falling down garage in Curtis's neighborhood. And I owe this good fortune to the 10 to 16 feet of snow we get during the winter. For some reason, folk prefer to live where it's sunny and warm all the time instead of where you get to shovel snow morning, noon and night for a few months. There's no accounting for how some folks think. :rolleyes: ;)

David

[BGHD]

Since you're on the topic of autosound, any interest in setting-up a hi-res system in your car? I recently heard an Acura TL's DVD-audio system & it was fairly decent.

[curtis]

Dave..you guys didn't have Veterans Day off? Interesting.

As for hi-rez in the car, I have thought about that and read about other's experiences with the Acura system. I wonder how much I could really enjoy it with road noise. To add to that....does someone make an aftermarket headunit that supports it? Then I would also need a way to add a center channel.

[BGHD]

Yeah, ctr channel's the tricky part. The TL had separate trim level controls for the center and SW channels. It appears the ctr channel reflects off the windshield. Since many of my hi-res discs are not dual or hybrids, just thinking of ways to get the most out of them.

[curtis]

Today...the commute was almost enjoyable with the music in the car....also the traffic was not terrible.

We'll see what it is like on a bad traffic day.

[curtis]

Just an update:
A couple of nights ago I sold the JL Audio sub for just about the amount I spent on the Hsu setup.

Before I sold it though, I had a custom enclosure made for my Hsu:
http://changpics.smugmug.com/photos/48630606-S.jpg
http://changpics.smugmug.com/photos/48829902-S.jpg

[Quinn]

Nice!

[Lou-the-dog]

Great! Is that enclosure fiberglass? Who made it?

Randy

[curtis]

It is fiberglass and MDF.

I found some kid off of eBay that makes the enclosures and the price seemed reasonable.

http://fishercustoms.com/

Also, he was late on getting the box finished, so he gave me a $15 discount.