C0recollector

Can you provide a link to what you bought or recommended seller? Thanks,

I ordered the new intake tube on Monday and it came in today (Saturday). I captured a few screen shots of before and after sound using Sound Meter on my Galaxy S4. It subjectively sounds better but objectively I had a hard time correlating the meter graphs with apples to apples comparisons. I drove the same route and tried to capture the same scenarios, including idle and an "engine rev" while parked. Apparently you can get the engine to turn on on-demand if you depress the accelerator far enough while parked. It looks like the idle with the original intake was ~66dB as measured from inside the vehicle with the door closed. After wards it was ~65dB. Not sure if that is statistically significant. Subjectively the big difference comes with ICE under load when the lower grumble sounds are much less pronounced. With the original part I measured a max of 77dB with the ICE engine at the 3rd tick mark on the Empower screen (the kW white bar). With the new intake highest I see measured was 73dB. Again these weren't done under the exact same conditions - just my "best effort" attempts to measure something objectively. Take it for what its worth. I think I notice a difference and would recommend the upgrade to a friend.

No ideas from the genius folks in the forum? Are there any instructions on how to remove the panels in that area?

I always buy winter tires for my vehicles and had the winter tires put on the original rims. Bought these rims (Drag DR33) at Discount and had them put the original all seasons on those. I have a 2013 FFH SE with black exterior and black interior leather. I'd agree that black chrome would look fantastic but I already got some matte black tape which I'm going to use on on the chrome trim pieces around the windows. I'll post some before and after when I finish.

2013 FFH... I have a phone mount which attaches to the window. Right now I have a USB cable going from that mount to a USB charging adapter in the cigarette socket under the dash. The problem is the cable is hanging down loosely on the right hand side of the screen (my ford touch) and it looks sloppy, gets in the way of opening and closing the glove compartment and also passengers. I'd like to run that cable down through the dash somehow and then bring it out underneath. Any suggestions on the best way to do this? I was wondering if it could be routed down through the air vent that is right there in the middle. There is another air vent right underneath the dash but I have no idea if this is a good approach or not and if I would need to remove panels, etc. Thanks,

Exactly my thoughts. Any ideas on how to implement short of learning how to write a native Android app? I did find on Torque that the "PedalE(%)" option seems to measure the pedal position very accurately. Speed is also working great. I guess the best option to date is to ask one of the existing app developers to add an option to measure a different attribute than RPM for us hybrid owners or to find someone that could write a Torque plug-in.

Oh, sorry guys, I should have been a little more descriptive. My new rims are perfect as is (They are already all black). What I wanted to change are the chrome trim pieces around the windows. I would probably like to change the chrome text plates black as well if it wasn't too much trouble (and hopefully non permanent). Does that change your recommendations? I interpreted your comments as advise on how to change chrome accents on the wheels themselves. Thanks,

I just put on some new, all black, rims on my 2013 SE Hybrid. I'd like to remove some of the chrome accents on the car. I don't actually need to remove them if there is a good way to convert or cover them. Any recommendations on the best way to do this? I would like to weigh in cost, quality and I don't mind it being a DIY project. I've seen some people on youtube that show how to use plasti-dip. I've also seen others describe a vinyl plastic wrap that you stick on, trim and then heat up to cure it. Both I've read are safely removable without damaging the original surface. Is this true? Are these the best or only options? Anything else I should consider? Thanks

I got this bright idea (debateable, I know) to make my hybrid vehicle sound like a sports or muscle car. My thought was to use my bluetooth ODB2 adapter to grab the RPM data on my Android Torque app and find some way to send that to a bluetooth (or hardwired) speakers in the hood. Then I discovered several apps in the playstore that already seemed like they would do exactly this. But after trying them I see problems working with hybrids and I'm wondering if anyone here has any good ideas (or has already figured out a solution). Here are four apps I found: XLR8 - Uses only GPS and phone sensors. Reaction time is delayed. Engine sounds seem the best of the lot. Won't go to landscape mode. SoundRacer OBD2 - Uses OBD2 RPM sensor. Odd interface DragFX - Connected to OBD2 and read the RPM sensor correctly. Less than realistic sound. OBD2Engine Sound - Didn't try this one yet The problem is that all the apps that use OBD2 sensors turn off when in EV mode and that just defeats the purpose of emulating a real engine. None of them let you choose a different sensor (I'm not sure which one would actually work best). I looked at the Torque plugins but didn't see anything that would do this. Any other ideas?