[Dr.Naren]

ICE Upgrade at Galaxy Kochi:

What was done ?

1. Morel Tempo 6 Components - front
2. Gladen M Line 10 Subwoofer
3. Pioneer GM-D8704 4 Channel Amplifier
4. Front Doors Damping

Check out the below link for more details
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-e...-gm-d8704.html

EBC Ultimax-2 Front Brake Pads:

I have driven more than 2k Kms and happy with these pads. They perform better than OE. Initial bite is better and overall braking has improved. I need to change the brake fluid to Dot 5.1.

Current Odo & Overall FE after a 1000 Km trip:

[Dr.Naren]

Dents fixed and Painting done

Left rear door-linear dent



It was not possible to remove this by PDR. Full door painting had to be done.

Right rear door and quarter panel damages



Dents were fixed and full painting was done at Try Auto Gears, Udupi which is Mahindra first choice workshop. They did a decent job. Color matching was perfect, but I can nitpick on few areas and I can't expect factory level finish anyways. Pricing was very good. I paid around 10k for painting both rear doors and one quarter panel.

Let the picks talk

[Dr.Naren]

The gear knob had developed cracks and it used to get super sticky to touch after parking under sun.



Got a new knob from Boodmo



Tried removing the knob and ended up peeling out the entire covering haha



Rotated this part anti- clockwise and it came off. But it was not possible to remove the knob at all.



Took it to lab / kitchen and cut the knob with hot knife



New gear knob in

[Dr.Naren]

Updates:

The boot shocks were fully weak, had a near miss as it almost fell on my head. I got Motherson boot balancers from Boodmo. Hope the quality is better than MGP.



I had damaged the gear lever cover while trying to install the knob. It comes as a full panel from Maruti and costs less than 300 bucks.







Changed wiper blades to Bosch Eco. The quality is average, they make sound and leave behind water streaks. Better to stay away from Bosch for wiper blades.





I also put back the OE springs. Cobra lowering springs are good when driving without load. Dad didn't like it when he drives with passengers and said it's very bouncy. He would be using the car and ordered me to get rid of lowering springs



Bye bye lowered stance!!



I got all these fixed at Wagen Tunen, Mangalore. Good job as always



I also tried XP 95. It's only 4 bucks more than 91 RON. Throttle response is very sharp. I didn't find a big difference under WOT.



ODO is getting closer to 40,000 km. Need to change the tyres soon!!

[Dr.Naren]

Update:



I got new map from Wolf Moto customised for 95 RON fuel with revised revv limiter. Stock limiter is at 6200 RPM and it is 6500 RPM now.

There is good difference post 3500 RPM. Overall drivability is better with sharper throttle response.

The revised revv limiter is not really helping as power is dropped after 6200 rpm. But I can shift easily at 6200 rpm now without hitting the limiter

https://youtu.be/vDdn-I6nALQ

[Dr.Naren]

6 years / 42,000 km done!!

It's been 6 years and I still enjoy revving this sweet K12 engine. The engine can deliver amazing FE (24+ kmpl) if cruised below 100 kmph on highways. Good part is I get minimum 14-15 even if driven hard.

3200+ km road trip: Manipal -> Bangalore -> Hogenakkal -> Bangalore -> Kolhapur -> Mumbai -> Manipal

The trip was actually planned only for Bangalore. Mumbai was a last minute decision.

Manipal -> Bangalore -> Hogenakkal -> Bangalore

I took the scenic Charmadi ghats. Roads are in better condition compared to the Shiradi route. I had put back stock springs and the handling wasn't that sharp on ghats compared to lowering springs but nothing to worry about.

Charmadi







I took around 6 hours to reach my destination in Bangalore and picked up a friend for drive to Hogenekkal. We took the shorter route as suggested by Google map. Roads were ok , couldn't do higher speeds as I was passing through couple of small towns in Tamilnadu and reached the falls in 2.5 hours.

Coracle ride: one of the oldest modes of transportation



The beautiful Hogenakkal falls







It was a weekday and there wasn't much crowd. Time well spent at this scenic waterfalls.

We took a longer route (50 km more) on the way back to Bangalore, but it was NH 44 for most of the journey and it took us similar time as the shorter route.



I was supposed to drive back to Manipal the next day. But I ended up driving all the way to Mumbai (unexpected drive).

Bangalore to Panhala

I drove at night and covered 600+ km in 7 hours. Roads were good with minimal traffic after Tumkur and it was same all the way till Kolhapur. Enjoyed the night drive. I was tired to continue driving till Mumbai, so decided to relax at Panhala / Kolhapur for a day.

Stay at Panhala



View point at Panhala



The famous Kolhapur Thali







Panhala to Mumbai

I left to Mumbai the next day morning and it took me around 5.5 hours to reach Mumbai. I was excited to drive on Pune Mumbai E-way for the first time. Frankly I didn't enjoy the stretch much. I liked Tumkur to Kolhapur drive better.

Spent almost a week in Mumbai catching up with friends, BHPians, and S-Cross 1.6 owners. I also got the lights upgraded in Mumbai. It's a crime not to do anything to my car after driving all the way to Mumbai haha.

Marine drive





Sea link



Caught up with fellow enthusiasts





Mumbai to Manipal

It took me around 12 hours driving time. I had taken only 30 minutes break. I did encounter few bad stretches. Google map had even taken me on a 15 km strech where I had to literally hunt for roads. Anyways it was an adventure.

Express way



Entered Karnataka after a week in Mumbai







Trip Statistics



KM driven: 3240
Driver: Dr. Naren
Fuel Economy: 14.7 kmpl
Fuel cost: Rs. 25,500 (Oh Yes , it was before Diwali discount)
Tolls: Rs. ~2500

This is the first time I went on such a long trip in Baleno. I did miss my 200+ HP S-Cross 1.6 on empty highways. Baleno was fun too with audio upgrade and the revv happy K12 engine.

Additional points

1. Thanks to Parag bhai for the guidance on status of roads.

2. I got to test the new wolf map extensively. No issues whatsoever.

3. There was no checking at KA and TN border. No checking while I entered MH too. KA cops did ask me for RT-PCR when I entered from MH, but they let me go after showing doctor ID. This was on November 1.

4. Lights upgrade made a huge difference and the night drives are effortless now.

[Dr.Naren]

Insurance renewed: Acko



I got the policy renewed from Acko. Thanks to NCB protect I didn't lose anything as I had a claim last year. I got NCB protect again and it costs only 85 bucks

IDV: ~3 lakhs
Premium: Rs. 5468

[dean5545]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

Update:
I got new map from Wolf Moto customised for 95 RON fuel with revised revv limiter.

Hello Doc!
Glad to see that Wolf Moto Remap for the Baleno. Was curious to know whether they have anything for the XL6 as well? I thought NA engines and remaps don't go well.

I have an XL6 Auto which is primarily used by my brother but the times I have to use it I just keep cursing my purchase decision, it's that slow to respond to throttle inputs. I was thinking may be a remap may fix things. My daily drive is 4x4 Manual Fortuner.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by dean5545

Hello Doc!
Glad to see that Wolf Moto Remap for the Baleno. Was curious to know whether they have anything for the XL6 as well? I thought NA engines and remaps don't go well.

I haven't come across Wolf Moto remap for XL6. I believe it should be possible as the ECU is similar to Baleno. Thanks to VFM XP95 fuel, we can extract a bit more power with NA cars post remap.

[Dr.Naren]

Update on Wolf Remap:

I was happy with the last map update by Wolf. But, I got confused after driving a stock Baleno recently. That car felt like it had better mid range.

I visited Wolf Headquarters in Kochi to log the car and fine tune the map if necessary.



We logged injection timing, engine load, and RPM. I discussed with Rajiv about improving the mid range. Rajiv suggested to try stock map for sometime , not to forget I had never tried stock map with XP 95 before. The car was reverted to stock and it felt a lot better. Throttle response was slightly dull though. But on full throttle runs, performance was better in low and mid range without any significant compromise in top end. I have driven more than 1000 km now with stock map and XP 95 fuel, it is really nice . I am not saying Wolf tune is bad, majority of the customers are happy. But, I look for actual gains in power while going pedal to metal. I plan to add HPI filter and Borla / Magnafllow performance muffler, will decide about trying a new tune after these mods.

[Sachin V.W.]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

Update on Wolf Remap:

I was happy with the last map update by Wolf. But, I got confused after driving a stock Baleno recently. That car felt like it had better mid range.

Nice Sir.

I never driven any re-mapped car but I can say with 2 years experience with my Baleno that this car is really fun to drive especially with it's mid range in city and on highway. Though it has only 1.2 ltr engine but maybe the lesser weight of the car is what makes this package really easy to drive. I recently driven Duster 1.5 D manual on Nagpur - Amarawati and back route. It was terrific to drive hard on that lovely highway which is relatively empty with less traffic. Though there is no comparison at all, coming back to Baleno in Mumbai traffic was equally fun drive.

[Dr.Naren]

Update:

Ferodo brake pads installed



I find these pads super VFM (Rs.800). Good bite, low dust, and adequate fade resistance. I also changed the brake clips and caliper sliding pins. Engineering exponents did the job.

Continental UC6 195/55 R16 installed at rear



Got these tyres few months back during Amazon sale, around 6.2k per tyre. I have driven more than 1000 km . Good difference in comfort compared to OE Alnacs. Grip is better too. The front tyres are Yokohama BluEarth, good for another 10k km.

Antenna Rod







The old part was broken. Got the new one from Boodmo. Easy install.

Rear wiper blade



Maruti even sells the rubber strip as a part. I wasn't aware of it then.

Fog lamp bezels





There were minor cracks, super cheap to replace anyways.

Blaupunkt DH05 reverse camera



Bought it online from motorogue (Rs. 2500). Good pricing and super quick delivery too.

Video quality is good. I find it decent enough even at night.



Oh yes, that's a new HU from Alpine . I will post details on the new audio goodies soon.



Current ODO is 46,000+ km. Baleno is my daily drive now in Bangalore. I would be changing all the fluids and filters soon. Decat + resonator delete might be done too. It's good to have free revving NA petrol car in garage, K12 never disappoints and the stock map + XP 95 fuel is an amazing combination.

[Dr.Naren]

The car is doing good, no new updates to report. The pending report on Audio update has been posted now in the respective thread.

The car is currently in Kasaragod. Few exhaust related mods would be done once I get the car to Bangalore

[firingpistonz]

Where did you get the HU installed from? Also please suggest a good FNG, I have a 2009 Swift VDI. Need to replace the steering mechanism and change the suspension.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by firingpistonz

Where did you get the HU installed from?

Galaxy Kochi

Also please suggest a good FNG, I have a 2009 Swift VDI. Need to replace the steering mechanism and change the suspension.

You can visit Engineering Exponents.