It’s 09/09/09 today – a number that means different things for different people but in the context of the Malaysian motorist its MUFORS Road Safety day, part of the Malaysians United For Road Safety (MUFORS) project.

So when you’re rushing home to buka puasa from your office later please remember to drive safely. It’s going to be jammed for sure, but please stay patient. Have something light and refreshing to buka puasa in your car. Don’t jump queues and red lights.

Some of you have made your pledge earlier. Those who have made pledges are supposed to carry out their pledges today as a symbolic thing but in reality you should be practicing good road habits all the time and not only just today. My car is in the workshop so I won’t be doing any driving today – easiest way of carrying out my pledge I guess!

Of course other than a way to submit your pledges there is a also an online poll on the MUFORS site where Malaysian motorists can vote for their most annoying Malaysian road habits. Here are the top 5 results so far as of time of publishing:

• Drivers who don’t use their indicators – 11.7%
• Aggressive tail gating – 11.4%
• Mat Rempits – 9.1%
• Road hoggers – 8.6%
• Driving on emergency lanes – 6.9%

The MUFORS project is definitely timely as it’s Balik Kampung season soon and the volume of traffic on the highways will be high. Long journeys will take a toll on the driver (no reference to the actual tolls) so be sure to take breaks if you’re tired.

For those who are eagerly waiting to see if you’ve managed to win a fresh new set of Duraplus tyres from Goodyear, all entries have been sent to Goodyear Malaysia and they’re picking the winner now Good luck guys!

The government is currently having a 20% toll rebate scheme for those who register 80 toll transactions and above on a single Touch ‘n Go card. This scheme begins this month.

Kind of odd that the scheme is not based on amount of toll used per month but rather on frequency of use, but no matter, something is better than nothing I guess. The way the rules are currently, one who pays 50 sen for toll 80 times a month (RM40) enjoys a rebate while one who pays RM2.20 toll 60 times a month (RM132) will not.

From what I can gather, all you need to do is to continue using your Touch ‘n Go card as normal. Using it in a Smart TAG works as well. But just to be safe you might want to register your Touch ‘n Go card first at the Touch ‘n Go Frequent Travelers Programme website (here is a FAQ). UPDATE: From what I’ve been made understand, the registration is not required to be enrolled in the program. You only need to register if you want to keep track of how many transactions you’ve used. This will make it easier for you to see if you’ve hit 80 a month.

Claiming your rebate is not automatic. Each calendar month, you will have to bring your card to the Touch ‘n Go center at Faber Towers or KL Sentral, or selected highway sales centres. If you qualify for a rebate, the 20% rebate will be credited into your card on the spot. You can only start collecting your rebates beginning 5th October 2009.

Look after the jump to find a list of the selected centres.
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Most people who are not really into the details usually just specify a kind of “grade” of paint when they send their cars in for repainting. Most people who want their cars to look good usually specify “2K” paint, but many don’t really look at what exactly is being used to paint your car.

Nippon Paint is a big name when it comes to household paint. They’ve also been in the OEM car paint supply business for a really long time. If you’ve bought a car from Proton, Perodua, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, Naza or Kia, there’s a good chance that the paint on your car is also from Nippon Paint Malaysia. Now, they are going into the refinishing market, which means aftermarket auto refinish paint.

Marketed under the Nax Premila 2K brand, there are a full range of products under the brand ranging from putty, primer, basecoat and top coat. Nippon Paint says Nax Premila 2K has high tinting strength on colour tinters comparable with competitors’. The flexibility of a 1K or 2K basecoat system, the ability to mix 1K or 2K binder, and the ability to match more colours from the colour tinters range. There are currently about 500 colour formulations in the Nax Premila range and Nippon Paint Malaysia targets to roll out 1,000 colours by December this year.

Basically when you send your car in for a full re-spraying, there are a few steps involved. It is best to have any trim, decals, emblems and anything else similiar removed from the car body. The car will then have to be cleaned properly to remove any wax, grease or contaminants from the old coat of paint.

Of course please remember where the emblems were located so the car will be returned to its “original” state – there are way too many BMWs on the road with the car model on the left instead of the right hand side of the boot!

Damage like this are easily fixable as only the paint is damaged.

Your body panels will also have to be repaired. Fenders, rockers, quarter panels, joints, and other areas will have to be checked for rust. If there is rust, the rust will have to be removed.

Accident damage – a really bad dent and paint scraped off until the bare metal is exposed. It is better to replace the entire fender instead of repairing it.

Minor damage such as small dents can be fixed by pulling the dent out, but if a body panel has been really heavily damaged, it is better to just replace the panel rather than knock it back into shape as the repaired area may start to rust in the future, despite anti-rust treatment.

Other small imperfections in the surface of the body can then be filled with putty. Nippon Paint has two products for this – Nax Universal Putty and Nax Filling Putty, both of which are made from polyester. The Filling Putty is apparently of a better grade and provides excellent adhesion.

Next, we apply the primer. Nippon Paint has the Nax 2400 Urethane Primer. Urethane-based primers are quite common in 2K paint jobs. Primer essentially ensure your total paint system adhere firmly to your car (a binding layer) and has other benefits such as increasing entire paint durability, and adding extra protection for the car body. There’s also the Nax PP Primer which has good adhesion characteristics for PP materials such as your car bumpers and spoilers.

Then it is time to add the basecoat paint. Basecoat comes in Solid, Metallic, Pearl or Crystal colours. Last coat is the Nax 9600 2:1 2K Clearcoat. During the whole process from start to finish it is important to have a dust and dirt-free environment so that dirt or dust does not get trapped in the paint.

The various coats will be mixed according to the manufacturer’s specs with recommended thinners or hardeners. Sanding down after Primer coat is important to ensure a smooth finish and better adhesion. This step will help to give the paint a better appearance and also prevent defects such as orange peel.

If you are interested in giving Nippon Paint Nax Premila 2K Auto Refinish a try, you can check out a list of paint shops that deal with Nippon Paint after the jump. Remember to ask for Nippon Paint Nax Premila 2K Auto Refinish when you ask for a quote as they may have other brands in stock and most people usually only ask for colour.
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The J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2009 Malaysia Sales Satisfaction Index Study results have been released today, its 7th installment so far.

It tracks sales and delivery experience of most car brands in Malaysia and takes into account 7 key factors over a 1,000 point scale – delivery process; delivery timing; paperwork; dealer facility; salesperson; deal and sales initiation.

Publisher: J.D. Power Asia Pacific Source: J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2009 Malaysia Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) Study

The average SSI score is 3 points higher this year compared to last year. Car manufacturers may be putting extra effort to ensure their customers are satisfied, especially during these times of a lower Total Industry Volume.

The biggest increase in satisfaction is in the area of delivery timing. The “national” brands (Proton, Perodua, Naza and Inokom) have improved by an average of 6 points, however they still trail the non-national brand average by 16 points. This gap is closer compared to 2008 though, where it was a 29 point difference.

Look after the jump for the full JD Power report.
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