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Loyale 2.7 Turbo

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Everything posted by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

  1. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    So, I obtained this one, best bang for the buck: Rockville 12" Comes with a wired volume control remote But it was one inch too tall for the Space that the "KiaStein" has, in the trunk.
  2. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    Nevertheless, I really disliked the way that the internal equalizer manages the sound, mainly the Bass sounds; so by turning off the internal equalizer, I can use a "Bass" and a "Trebble" old fashioned controls that lets out a better sound but still, lacking of enough bass. Well, this is some sort of amplified tablet, that maybe is already doing too much for little money; so, I decided to do the same that I did on my beloved Subaru "BubleBeast" years ago: to install a self-amplified Sub Woofer in the Trunk, as the sound is really clear only lacking enough bass, in my own humble opinion.
  3. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    The Head unit performs Great, everything promised works as it should, plays .mp3 and .wma songs from the micro SD card, also movies in various formats including matroska .mkv and many different compressors of .mp4 videos so, it is astonishing; the rear view camera works Flawlessly everythime the transmission lever is moved to reverse, idependently from whatever the head unit is doing or if it is off, the Screen shows the rear of the car in 1080P sheamessly.
  4. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    This is how the installed Camera looks on the "KiaStein" I had to splice a wire from the car harness to add the Backing sensor for the Camera: Next, to hide the new wires among the stock wiring on the Trunk
  5. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    To install the reaer view camera properly and safely, I removed the Plastic frame that the "KiaStein" has on the trunk's cover, for the Licence Plate; it is made of thick ABS plastic, so is safe to drill a couple of tiny holes for the two 3/16" screws that I wanted to use, as they're the thicker that fits on the camera base, with little help. I used this screws' Set with locking nuts: This is how the installed nuts looks, they'll be hiding inside the trunk's metal, there is plenty of space. The under side:
  6. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
  7. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    For some weird reason, Kia made that a Double Din sized unit, fits nice and perfect on the Dashboard, But the unit does not sit flat as it should; the space and provided screws' base, is intended to let the Head Unit face inclined to the up side a little, instead; so, I had to cut a little line from the upper plastic at the Dashboard's cover opening, in order to let see completely the head unit. I reinforced the back of the plastic, using a tiny metal wire, covered with strong JB Weld epoxy compound.
  8. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    At first I removed the Wiring Harness from the Plug on the car... ...and modified it with my soldering Gun, to fit the new Head Unit.
  9. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    This is the New Head Unit that I obtained for the "KiaStein"
  10. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    This was the previous Head Unit that the KiaStein had: A simple USB player with FM radio
  11. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
  12. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    After improving the outside... ...I got to improve the interior of this car, a little; I wanted to install a rear view camera to aid when backing, especially due to the tiny space we have at home, for parking two cars on the garage; there is only an inch left of space between them, also between the "KiaStein" and the Garage's Gate, as you can see in the following video:
  13. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    it also needed new underbumper lamps, I decided to go LED instead of Halogens, but keeping the low budget, I purchased a set of cheapo chinese lamps made with glass instead of plastic, and changed their regular H1 Halogen bulbs with a set of H1 LED that illuminates in yellow light, in order to use them as Fog Lights. I smeared the Lamps with transparent silicone to weather proof them.
  14. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    A fresh paint wasn't enogh to bring back life to the "KiaStein" as the old HeadLamps were yellowish and lost their transparency beyond all repairs, if fact I polished the old ones several time but they looked plain Ugly with the fresh paint, so, that was time for a New Set of aftermarket Headlamps. Powered by a Great LED Retrofitting Kit, whose size match the Halogen bulb's size: Also the mere illumination points match the Halogen ones, so this LED keeps Low and High Beam as Factory intended.
  15. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    Update: we've traveled several hundreds of miles with this Modified Sorento and it really feels and drives better than New, never was so confortable, yet smooth and Safe. Everything is working Flawlessly, thanks to God. Now is time to pamper it, so I'll change the Power Steerin' Fluid, Cooling system Fluid, oil and Sparkplugs, as it still has been running with the factory Sparkplugs, it is time for a fresh set. Kind Regards.
  16. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    That day I drove in unpaved roads for a total of 120 miles round trip. During the next days we used this car as Grocery Getter and then the next weekend we did a 376 miles round trip on paved roads and highways with the family. This sorento Definitively outperforms any other of these models on the Road. Suspension feeling now went from Hell to Heaven, to the Point that we don't feel like it is the same car anymore. The very only regret that I have with this Suspension Coil Springs' Swap, is why the heck I didn't done this before; especially before many very long travels that we did, such like the one to Costa Rica some time ago, before the horrid pandemic times. Before the Coil Springs' Swap, this Sorento felt unconfortable, not only by the rock solid chairs it has, but the pretty short suspension travel which felt like if the seats were installed on a planck with wheels for sure. The change on the Sorento is unbelievable, somehow; as the pretty long suspension travel and the firmier sporty response, has changed the overal vehicle's feeling, to the point that doesn't feel like a regular Sorento anymore... except for the hard chairs; but that is, another subject. Now the Sorento feels Taller too, but without loosing stability, it is Amazing how a car could change its feeling and confort, just by a simple coil springs' Swap, now feels like a Luxury European or American SUV feels, confortable and the Passengers are now isolated from road hits and bumps. Greetings from Honduras, Kind Regards.
  17. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    I've went to test drive the Lifted Sorento, with some offroading at first... ...here are some images of the Rural area where I live... ...Wanna see more images from the Rural Honduras, Click ~► Here and enjoy a little travel with us.
  18. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    Prior to do the coil springs' Swap, the Rear suspension travel on the Sorento II unloaded, measured on a flat surface terrain, was less than an inch; So, after the four coil springs were Swapped, I drove the unloaded Sorento to the same flat terrain and measured the suspension travel again. The suspension travel on the rear with the special Eibach lift coil springs, went up beyond the three and a half inches of total travel, nearly four inches maybe, as they stretch the Shock Absorbers almost fully up, gaining a Wonderfully outstanding suspension travel, beyond factory specs, as they adds more tallness over the original factory stock coil springs' size. Also they adds more load capability. Just about the same increase of tallness happened on the Front suspension travel. Eibach claims a gain of 30 milimeters (equals to 1.20 inches) over the two inches that the original stock suspension had, meaning having a total travel of 3.20 inches, however, I measured a suspension travel of three and a half inches, maybe because this set was enginered for the Hyundai Santa Fe III instead of the Kia Sorento II, whose body might be a little heavier than the Sorento is. Going from having an actual suspension travel of less than one inch to having more than three and a half, is really Beyond Awesome, in fact the car Feels Pretty Tall but Solid, despite of being running on Downsized Tyres, as I explained before. Remember: underlined words are links to web pages with further information about the underlined subject.
  19. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    Comparing the Rear coil springs: one image worth 1,000 words. stock coil spring on the Left and Eibach lift coil spring on the Right: These are not scientifically accurate measurements, but you can see that the difference, is Notorious. The same happens among the Front ones, but those are bigger.
  20. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    The Rear suspension has the Shock Absorbers appart from the Coil Springs, there are suspension travel stops on the inner side of each Coil, They has a dampening Rubber at their Bottom, and as you can see, it was Crushed:
  21. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    Here, one of the front Struts, out Strut = the Shock Absorber plus Coil Spring assembly, MacPherson Style.
  22. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    So, that weekend came and on early morning right after taking a breakfast, I started to do the Swap job, you know, removing the old coil springs out and install the new ones in, one by one. Some surprises appeared on the way, such like finding the Notorious difference between the Stock Coil Springs and the Eibach new ones; basically talking, the new ones are Thicker, Stronger, much Heavier and got a protective silver Powdercoating. Furthermore, the Eibach coil springs has almost two more turns than the stock ones. Another surprise was to find that the stock coil springs were so wear out, especially the rear ones, that the rubber dampening travel stops, were crushed and crumbling away from the continuos hits... ...in my own personal opinion, the relative use of these cars mainly as grocery getters / by one person only, in certain markets, made Kia to decide to install weak (cheaper) coil springs, mainly on the rear, as these cars almost never gets heavy loads, so they get wear faster than other car models and thus explains why all these Sorentos II XM tend to look taller in the front, with age... and they're around a decade old by these dates.
  23. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    Here it is on the Sorento's trunk.
  24. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    Even our Golden Cocker Spaniel, Mr. Honey was Happy of receiving this Set at home.
  25. Loyale 2.7 Turbo
    I kindly suggest you all, to take a moment and Read this article, it is very plenty and illustrative regarding Suspension on cars, specially about the Rear suspension: ~► How to check what gives rigidity in the suspension; Soft suspension for your car: is it worth it? - Rear spring problems Remember: You can not simply get the Suspension too Weak / soft, nor too Stiff / strong, as it might lead to loose Control of the Vehicle which is very Dangerous, you know... This is why, instead of trying by myself many different coil springs' options from other similar vehicles from a junk yard, until finding the right ones, as I did on the past with other many cars including mines; this time I chose this lift coil springs' Set as it was already built, tested on and off road, proven in Germany by professionals, for the Hyundai Santa Fe III / Kia Sorento II which shares same plattform. Obligatory Disclaimer: Despite I really hope, that the information, experiences and images which I freely share, would be Helpful for other Sorento II owners who might need to correct the Bottoming of the rear suspension issue and the harsh Suspension of these models; I am not telling nor suggesting you to do what I did, so, be aware that you will use all the information and images that I share, solely at your very own Risk. Furthermore, I kindly suggest you to take your Sorento to a certified mechanic to do any repair, especially related with suspension, because working with coil springs might be dangerous to your health, if you don't know what you're doing and / or not having the appropriated tools and experience to do so.
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