(The Sound) Gone with The Wind

Mileage: 5513KM
Do It Yourself: Yes
Difficulty: Easy

Finally, I managed to sort out the knocking sound emitted from both of my front doors. The main culprit is this tiny little bugger...

The little bugger called "Door Lock Anchor (DLA)" (not sure the exact name, but DLA kinda appopriate)

I've spent almost an hour to do this DIY, I was in my mechanic workshop and try to kill time waiting for Friday prayer. Actually, the main intention was not to solve the sound issue, it was merely to adjust both of my front doors. The doors was not properly align to the car body since it rolled out from the factory. After aligning both doors, the knocking sound magically disappear. It maybe because of the incorrect alignment, the doors somehow vibrates especially when driving over yellow stripes.

I'm sorry caused I did not manage to snap any photos of the misaligned doors. However, if anyone wanted to do this DIY you'll need...

• Torx T-30 screw driver
• Marker pen
• A very sharp eyes

I need the marker pen to make guides for the DLA (as shown in above photo, notice the small black dot). The reason being because of I could not find any markings on my car.

To loosen and tighten the DLA is an easy task, but to align the door is the most time consuming. You have to repeat the same task all over again to get the door right and also countless time of opening and closing the doors. Another note, we need to use our biological precision tool which is "our eyes" to check the alignments. Bear in mind, the DLA can move up and down, in and out from the pillar. If you moved it too far up or down, there goes your door also.

Below are set of photos that can be used as tips to align the door.

To align the depth of the front door, use the rubber linings or door top edge line as the guide

We can do the same method to adjust the vertical alignment of the front door

Another view of the completed task

Note:

• Pay a careful attention regarding the depth. If the door closes too deep from the rear door, it will introduce wind noise when driving.
• After aligning the doors, you may feel a slight resistance when pulling the door handle and closing the door need a little bit of force to slam it. It is the trade off in either to have an easy opening and closing doors, or a properly align doors.

My Car was Stoned

Mileage: 5172KM
Do It Yourself: Yes
Difficulty: Easy

"Pada 22/5/2009, jam lebih kurang 3:30 petang. Saya memandu kereta bernombor WPA XXXX jenis Peugeot 206 aka Naza 206 Bestari dari Parit Sulong ke Pagoh melalui Jalan Dusun Damai. Tiba-tiba seketul batu telah melayang lalu mengenai cermin hadapan kereta saya.

Kereta saya bernombor WPA XXXX mengalami kerosakan seperti cermin hadapan dan lain-lain kerosakan yang belum tahu lagi."

Windshield picture taken by "Sarjan Bertugas"

Lets cut the craps. Actually, no police report lodged and the "Sarjan Bertugas" is a fictional character :)

Anyway, the event, time and location were real and the pictures taken in this post were snapped today when I'm ready to do the DIY. First time I accessed the damage was 2KM away from the accident scene since there was no place to stop the car (the roadside was to deep to pull over).

The car was hit by a stone at about golf ball size and since there is no crack or chip on the windshield, I just drove on but the unease feeling made me decide to have a brief stop and check the damage. The stone was flown from a lorry, I managed to see the stone coming before hitting the car but it was damn fast so I can't swerve it.

I'm considering myself lucky because...

• The stone hit exactly on the plastic moulding.
• If the stone is a bit to the left, I will have a crack windshield.
• If it hit to the right, I will have dented pillar.

Then, I just continued my journey to Kuala Lumpur. During my journey, I made a phone call to BB Glenmarie thru Peugeot Careline. Asked the sparepart department for the replacement plastic moulding and surprisingly they have the stock. (Just as I mentioned before, if you wanted to buy something from them, sure they have the stock. If for warranty claims.... you know what I mean).

Today, I went to BB and reached around 9:20AM. Lots of customer today, as usual, it is Saturday. Asked for the parts and they quoted me RM140.00 for the right hand side. Take note, the price for the left hand side is cheaper by RM10.00. Don't ask me why? I'm still puzzling, although both part are equally same, maybe they restock it on different day. I just bought the part and I'm not sure how much they will charge for the labour if you ever wanted to have it fix by them.

Below is the rest of the pictures...

Close up picture of the damage, the red circle is the scratch on the windshield. It is not a crack

Another close up from the side

To remove the roof plastic moulding, I need to unscrew the only screw that secure the plastic moulding to the roof. Another note, some of 206 Bestari will have push on clips, mine are screws.

The location of the screw

View without the roof plastic moulding

Make sure you do not loose the plastic cap on the rear roof (red circle)

View after the job done

If you look closely, you can see the scratch on the windshield from the picture above.

Somebody did mentioned to me (in my chat box) on how dirty and rough were my roof mouldings early this month and he even told me on how to clean it. I just replied that I was lazy enough to do it. Considering the efforts from him, I should praise and thank him for the notice hehehe. Gee..., If I'm following his advise, I might not have this accident. Anyway, the damage done. Instead of cost me less than RM10. Now I'm RM300 poorer (I bought both right and left hand side because of the heavy discoloration on one of the part (if not, instead of Alex, my car will be Martin, one stripe black the other faded to white)). Arghhh...., to whom it may concern, we should have TT someday. Page me.

Note:

• Alex and Martin are the characters from Madagascar animation film.
• Please forgive me if I'm taking someone else stock and SC tell him / her that there is no more stock if he / she claim for the warranty or the parts were meant for one of the warranty issues.

New Rubber Donuts

Mileage: 4202KM

Last Friday, I received a call from Blue Box Glenmarie. The SA informed me that one of my five warranty claims has approved which is the wobbly and harden tires. The sad news was... I've to come on Sunday at 10AM to replace all the donuts. I even called them twice to make sure weather it is Saturday or Sunday.

"No Sir, the appointment is at 10 on Sunday, today is Friday, tomorrow is Saturday. The day after that Sir."

"You mean, this coming Sunday?"

"Yes, are you ok?"....

Gee... too many tire claims made them open on Sunday just to entertain the demands.

Below is one of the donuts fitted on my car, guess the date of manufactured...

It was made on sixth week of 2007

The size of the original donuts (Goodyear NCT5)

Reached BB 5 minutes after 10AM. Met the SA and I was informed that the job will be completed in one and the half hour and they have to drive the car to another workshop around 1KM away.

There are also other 206 owners having the same agenda as mine today. I think around 10 owners showed up.

Well, 1 hour plus free time. Nothing much to see or do here (waiting lounge). Even the internet broadband connection was off. Junior busy with his PSP playing Ben10, wifey reading some newspapers and sometimes laid her eyes on the LCD TV, watching the TV programs.

Myself... be a bad kiddo... I've lots of free time to caress the 308 Turbo (NZLine Edition) and 407 (pre-facelift version). Spent a whole hour, in and out without anyone disturbing the mood. Hahahah

"Sir, you car is ready..." Cehhh, potong stim betul laa SA nie.

Manufactured on tenth week of 2009

The new size on Falken ZIEX ZE912

Well, my verdict. I felt the car has less acceleration compared with the old set. It may be psychological effect, but I've a silence ride now, not totally but better than the old donuts.

Thus, I've to postpone my rims upgrade project for at least two years. Anyway need to shift tender loving car budget to another ride.

Top Windscreen Weather Strip

Mileage: 3072KM
Do It Yourself: Yes
Difficulty: Easy

I was lucky that Naza Gurun did not "forget" to install my top windscreen weather strip. But I was unlucky because they installed it with an offset to the left thus, I have 1cm gap between the top weather strip and roof plastic moulding on the right. Thanks to them, I have 1cm of windscreen glass exposed.

And thank God there is no leak from the windscreen (touch wood, I need jati wood now, much stronger). Okay, need to fix it. No need tool for this task. Just pull it out from the edge of the windscreen all the way until it break away.

The top weather strip, pulled half way.

When I was reading a few articles about cars, I always stumble upon writing said that Audi cars was built by millimeters. Guess what, our Pug also been built by millimeters. The weather strip was just nicely measured, leaving no extra on both side. It only gives you at most 2mm on both side to be clamped by the roof plastic mouldings.

The 2mm left after adjustment, notice the water and dust marks, that was the original offset, 1cm underneath the roof plastic moulding.

Note: I'm not responsible for any top windscreen weather strip loses / stolen because of this guide. The weather strip is not glued to your windscreen or car chassis. It was merely clamped by the windscreen gap.

Arghhhh Gaps...

Mileage: 3072KM
Do It Yourself: Yes
Difficulty: Average

Actually, it does not matter much to me when I noticed about it but after comparing with other 206 Bestari, seems that my front grill have huge gaps on both side of it. Duh... what a %^&* about the CKD quality.

The gap on passenger side (LH)

The gap on driver side (RH)

Time to get my hand dirty again to fix those nasty gaps. Many of you might wondering why I need to fix it myself, just drive to SC and claim it under warranty. Well... the reasons are:

1. It only take roughly 20 minutes to solve it.
2. You can learn a lot when dismantling the front grill.
3. If you drive to SC, they will prepare the necessary documents (30 minutes) minus the waiting time (varies), then will refer to mechanics for early assessment (10 minutes), then to spare part department for the parts (20 minutes), then the job will commence (30 minutes).
4. If SC does not have the spare part, then you have to wait until God knows when for it and everything refer back to Gurun.

Now, we need to prepare the tools for this DIY. You need...

1. Torx T30 driver.
2. Torx T25 driver (optional, only use it if you wanted to do sub DIY in this posting).
3. Adhesive (super glues preferred, to fix those "oppsss, I break it again" thingy).
4. A very small and delicate hands (optional :) ).

The top part of the front grill.

We need to remove the top part of the front grill. Remove it by pulling out the centre pins of all the plugs (red circles).

The clips that hold the bottom part of the top grill.

Then, we need to release six clips that secure the bottom parts (three on each side). It is a bit hard thou... but it's doable.

If you have the tool no. 4 (please refer above), then it will be easier. You can release the clips through the rear section of the grill or in the gap between the grill and the bumper.

After all the clips are free, then you need a bit twist and turn to pull out the top part of the grill. The boot lock is giving a problem.

Using T30 driver, undo both screws (red circle).

The third screw is hidden behind the front emblem.

The lower part of the front grill is secured by three screws, two clips that are attached to the bottom of the both headlamps and four clips that secured the both side to the front fenders (two on each side).

Two of the four clips which are responsible for the gaps on my car, replaced all of them.

The clips cost me RM2.00 per piece and I sourced it from Glenmarie BB.

Sub DIY, to remove the front emblem, use T25 driver (angle driver preferred) and remove the screw, no need to remove the lower part of the grill thou, it is on top of the third screw.

Note: Make sure you have the plastic cover on top of passenger side (LH) headlamp. This is the part that prevent water from entering your air filter hose which is situated underneath it.

When finished replacing all the clips, the fixing steps are by reversing the above orders.

The driver side (RH).

The passenger side (LH).