What Did You Do With Your Kizashi Today?

[SamirD]

But I did look into them just to see how ugly they were and I actually found an OEM one from Suzuki Australia:

http://www.ahg.com.au/wa/wangara-suzuki ... ccessories

And the DashMat velour one:

http://minkara.carview.co.jp/en/userid/ ... parts.aspx

lol! Crazy little girl right there.

They're not as bad as I thought they'd be, although the dashmat one doesn't have a cutout for the front center channel speaker.

[KuroNekko]

What's amazing is all the Suzuki Marine parts places seem to carry it.

That's because the same Suzuki oil filter is used on Suzuki engines ranging from the Kizashi's J24B to some of their marine boat engines.

Would sunglasses work for you?

Nope The issue is the reflection of the dashboard on the windshield

Try polarized sunglasses. They work wonders in eliminating glare ranging from the sun on seawater to dashboard glare on a windshield. Normal sunglasses don't cut out glare like polarized lenses do. The setback to polarized lenses is with looking at screens. It's hard to view a phone screen with them on, but they are superior in everything else IMO. I see right through most glare with my polarized sunglasses on, especially when dealing with windshield glare. You'll also notice how well you can see inside of cars through the windows from the outside.

[bootymac]

Hmm... Didn't think polarized sunglasses would help. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

[KuroNekko]

Hmm... Didn't think polarized sunglasses would help. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

Yeah, they help BIG TIME with this kind of glare. If you had a polarized camera lens filter, you'd see that glare pretty much disappear from that photo.
Do you own a pair of polarized sunglasses? It's hard to appreciate the difference they make with glare until you try them. I own a pair of Ray Bans and a pair of Dragons. The Dragons are polarized and are much better for glare reduction.

Below are photos that depict the difference they make. As you can see, they are very effective in everything from window to water glare reduction. It's also why many fishermen wear polarized sunglasses.

[bootymac]

Well shit, looks like I'll be getting polarized lens in the near future. Thanks for the tip!

[KuroNekko]

Well shit, looks like I'll be getting polarized lens in the near future. Thanks for the tip!

No problem.
I know very well how much glare the Kizashi's dash gives off, especially when cleaned with a product like Armor All. The reason why I haven't really complained about it is because my sunglasses reduce the glare. The polarized one pretty much makes it disappear.

[SamirD]

That's because the same Suzuki oil filter is used on Suzuki engines ranging from the Kizashi's J24B to some of their marine boat engines.

Yep. They have a filter for a v6 outboard that's almost identical to the 16510-61av1 I took to compare. I forgot the model number though. It did say Tokyo Roki on it while mine is black and only says 'Made in Japan' along with instructions in Japanese, English, and Spanish.

It seems that Suzuki has the same stellar reputation in the marine market that they do in the motorcycle market. They are a top-tier manufacturer and the place I bought the wrench from is the second oldest Suzuki Marine parts house in the US. They even had a Suzuki branded fuel injection cleaner. It wasn't cheap, but I'm thinking it must really be some good stuff.

The original cap wrench part number from the service manual, 09915-47341, has been superceeded by 09915-40611. I made sure that this superseded tool fit snugly as I'm sure my filter is going to be a bear to take off. It's very well made, and at $5.98 (inc tax!), it's far superior to any cap wrench I've seen at auto parts stores. The socket plug also features a 17mm nut shape so you can simply put a 17mm socket on your torque wrench and have enough clearance to torque the filter to spec. Well worth the money.

[KuroNekko]

Yeah, Suzuki makes good products, but their cars have always been overshadowed. Their motorcycles and boat engines are highly reputable as you stated. When it comes to cars, Suzuki is best known globally for subcompacts and micro/kei-cars. Given the US market isn't into these, Suzuki has been largely ignored as a serious brand. While Suzukis were small and low-power vehicles in the US market, their durability and reliability was on par with other Japanese brands, in my opinion. My experiences with my two Suzukis are similar to the two Subarus I've owned. Yet, most Americans would say Suzukis are trash and Subarus are stellar cars.

[SamirD]

Yeah, Suzuki makes good products, but their cars have always been overshadowed. Their motorcycles and boat engines are highly reputable as you stated. When it comes to cars, Suzuki is best known globally for subcompacts and micro/kei-cars. Given the US market isn't into these, Suzuki has been largely ignored as a serious brand. While Suzukis were small and low-power vehicles in the US market, their durability and reliability was on par with other Japanese brands, in my opinion. My experiences with my two Suzukis are similar to the two Subarus I've owned. Yet, most Americans would say Suzukis are trash and Subarus are stellar cars.

I know! And the area around that parts place must have a strong Suzuki following--I saw three sx4s (two crossovers) within 10 minutes. At least around there they understand how solid those cars are. And those crossovers look pretty cool. If we didn't find the Kizashi, I would have been all about one. My wife...not so much, lol.

[sx4rocious]

OK, ragarding the polorized sunglasses, I'd get a pair even if they don't help with the glare. They work wonders on eyes as old as mine. It reduces a lot of the strain associated with UV light and such. I HIGHLY recommend them.

I think I MAAAAAAY have a solution worth looking into. My wife recently embarked on an interesting new career journey with a company that sells extremely high end window treatments for residential and commercial buildings. At a recent vendor convention, a company there introduced a new "film" that covers window glass much like tint does that is 100% invisibly in any way. It contains no coloration of any kind (although you can order it tinted or colored if you would like) and basically renders the window indestructable when applied. The vendor demonstraited by applying it to a window and hitting it several times with a sharp pointed rock hammer which left nary a mark no matter how hard it was hit.

One of the much more benificial and exciting aspects of the film is that it is not only polarized, but UV filtering, GLARE REDUCING, scratch-proof, water repeling and coverd by a 100% lifetime warranty. She brought home a sample after instantly thinking about us (that why I love her!) and our cars. She will be speaking with the vendor again over the next 2 weeks and will be getting us some information about pricing and whether the film's warranty will still apply if the film is aplied to automotive applications.

I placed the small sample (about 10" square) to my windshield and found it to almost completely remove the glare much like in the photos above, yet it "dissappeared" agains the glass, so to my knowledge, (Kurro might have a better idea) would not be considered "tint" in the eyes of the law, as most police wouldn't even know it was there. It would completely eliminate rock chips and the dreaded spider-crack, reduce glare, and it appears it would act like a permanent "RainX" coating to assist in inclimate weather. It's actually rather exciting stuff and I'm rather excited to see what answers she'll have when she gets back.