[Neil Roy]

Hi all, I got a 2016 All new Cruze LT manual and am really happy to note that I am not alone in my obsession with Cruze. Till date, no car comes close to the power/pricing/performance of Cruze for the money that we pay.
My subtle and not so subtle mods/accessories.
1. Dual headlamps (now removed)
2. Dashcam recorder (amazon)
3. Pioneer touch screen Video player with blaupunkt speakers
4. 3D rubber mats. (Flipkart)
5. Chevy keychain (Amazon)
6. Silicone rubber protector for Keyfob(Amazon - A must have in my opinion)
7. K&N 33-2966 Air filter for Cruze.
8. Alltech high performance HEPA cabin filter. (Amazon).
9. First set of tyres were Continental MC5 215/60 - R16
10. Second set of tyres are Pirelli Centuro 215/60-R16
11. TRW shock absorbers and Studs (Industrybuying)

Vehicle has clocked 51000 kms and always makes me happy

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

I have bought an after market bumper from Autopsyche and the car will go for a facelift soon.

Pramod

Are these aftermarket bumpers are available in Chennai? Such a wonderful thread that I almost missed. Anyways, glad to connect with fellow Cruze aficionados and hope to see more pics of your rides soon.

[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by Neil Roy

Are these aftermarket bumpers are available in Chennai? Such a wonderful thread that I almost missed. Anyways, glad to connect with fellow Cruze aficionados and hope to see more pics of your rides soon.

They are aftermarket, got them from autopsyche. Glad that you liked my car. It has a lot of personalisations, including some performance mods.

Pramod

[superutp]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

There has been some updates on mine, Here is mine painted in Bentley beluga Black.


http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...ml#post4397167


Pramod

Looks sweet! thats a custom pain job correct?
some more pics of your cruze pls- interior mods?

[eapen]

Originally Posted by Neil Roy

Till date, no car comes close to the power/pricing/performance of Cruze for the money that we pay.
My subtle and not so subtle mods/accessories.
1. Dual headlamps (now removed)

11. TRW shock absorbers and Studs (Industrybuying)

Vehicle has clocked 51000 kms and always makes me happy

Neil,
What was your reason for removing the dual headlamps ? (lot of types available for Cruze both old & new gen through aliexpress) Wiring issues ?

Did your OE GM shocks give up in less than 50k kms to switch to TRW?


My observations:
The OE 205/60/R16 JK Vectra tyres are a death spell for the such a torquey 2L car. These tyres are poorly made with the unevenness evident while rotating in a wheel balancing machine & moreover difficult to balance on Road Force. On higher speeds if the road is slightly slippery, on hard braking it immediately looses traction despite the ABS which is outright dangerous. Yesterday at 16k kms I had a sidewall cut hence changed the front 2x tyres to 205/60/R16 Yokohoma Earth.

The manual OE ECU mapping is very sedate, the car taking its own sweet time to go from 0-60kmph. I have used the first gen Hyundai Verna diesel for 5 years so I have something to compare. In city traffic there's no challenge for the overtaking smaller cars. However on highways, once it reaches 100kmph there's no stopping. The low-end torque is less & on stop-go/slow speeds one can easily stall the car in 2nd gear. Only a good remap (200hp claimed) can release the true potential of the engine.

Boot\Trunk open issue:
I had a peculiar problem with my car. My office is located directly above the basement parking. Every week 2-3 times my office colleagues or security personnel informed me that the car boot\trunk was open. This happened only in my office & not at my apartment parking where I reside is far > 200m. The reason when thought was Cruze's boot open button in the key FOB is quite huge & easily gets pressed while in pant pocket running up the stairs or sitting down.

The solution according to US Chevrolet Cruze forum http://www.cruzetalk.com was to replace the OE boot relay with a 2-shot / 2 -press relay
http://www.casperselectronics.com/ca...product_id=869
Casper's Electronics
Product Code: 108185
Replaces GM# 191166267
It's available in ebay.com for 40USD. https://www.ebay.com/itm/TWO-SHOT-TR...gAAOSwYIxX4uLY

No information was available whether it's compatible with our India-made Cruze. Took a chance ordered it & my sister in US shipped it to me.
The fuse & relay holder is located next to the glovebox compartment. The boot\trunk relay is the black one first one from the left (attached pic). When the relay was removed I had was apprehensive whether it will work since the OE was 5-pin whereas the aftermarket 2-shot relay was 4-pin. Anyway connected & voila ! two presses on the remote with a seconds gap opens the boot ! Same goes for the rear boot open button located above the rear number plate.

[Neil Roy]

Originally Posted by eapen

Neil,
What was your reason for removing the dual headlamps ? (lot of types available for Cruze both old & new gen through aliexpress) Wiring issues ?

Did your OE GM shocks give up in less than 50k kms to switch to TRW?

........

The solution according to US Chevrolet Cruze forum http://www.cruzetalk.com was to replace the OE boot relay with a 2-shot / 2 -press relay
http://www.casperselectronics.com/ca...product_id=869
Casper's Electronics
Product Code: 108185
Replaces GM# 191166267
It's available in ebay.com for 40USD. https://www.ebay.com/itm/TWO-SHOT-TR...gAAOSwYIxX4uLY

.... Anyway connected & voila ! two presses on the remote with a seconds gap opens the boot ! Same goes for the rear boot open button located above the rear number plate.

Hi Eapen,
Your boot lid two step open/lock is a God send. My issue is with my 2 year old son who always plays with the key fob. Many a time I have come to the parking lot to see the boot open. Your suggestion is on my next to do list.
Regarding the TRW shocks, I wanted to go for Bilsteins but the price was ridiculously high and GM folded in India. Hence I settled for TRW and I must say the ride feels more planted now. Mind you, Iam riding on 215/60 rubber and the ground clearance is higher. The ride was very twitchy earlier but now it is definitely more stable.
I used the dual headlamp with the high beams being 100W halogen with relay and the low beams as Xenon OSRAM. Unfortunately, the high beam power melted the reflectors and hence had to revert to OE.
Hope this helps.

[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by superutp

Looks sweet! thats a custom pain job correct?

Yes that's right, its finished in the Bentley Beluga Black shade.

Originally Posted by superutp

some more pics of your cruze pls- interior mods?

No Mods on the interiors yet, however I have planned to get the seat and door pad colours changed to tan.

installed bumper skirt this weekend



Pramod

[jetsetgo08]

Now, that GM has shut shop. May I know how the spares are being sourced? And where are the cars being serviced?

[eapen]

Since GM has worldwide distribution getting spares for Cruze would not be very difficult. The only issue is since dealers have closed, inventory holding is minimal, major spares on order have to come directly from Pune which takes an additional 7-10 days by transport.
In Bangalore, Trident Chevrolet & KHT Chevrolet A.S.S are still operational with vehicles being serviced every day.

Few months back I upgraded the rear speakers to older Polk Audio DB651. Since Cruze uses custom speaker mounts I got Chevrolet adapter rings & wiring connectors from aliexpress. So no drilling or cutting needed - plug & play. Got it installed at Glamour Cars Accessories, Koramangala. Inserted pieces of dampmat on the periphery while tightening.

The bass of these speakers were muffled in the beginning compared to the stock front speakers making me disappointed in the beginning. However after 200 hours of listening it has opened up giving deep bass probably due the stiffer speaker suspension becoming freer. One of the few 6.5" speakers which can go down to 35Hz.

[eapen]

Initially when I got the vehicle wanted to try a different airfilter than OE. Was against K&N or free-flow oiled types considering the dust levels in Bangalore. I have used K&N & Green Cotton oiled filters before on other cars - not happy with long term filtering.

OE airfilter is made in Germany 'MANN'. Glanced upon made in India 'Purolator Mahle'. MANN (left) has a fragile plastic mesh on top of the filter whereas Purolator has a steel one(right) which is stonger. The Purolator filter media flows better & I am getting better fuel efficiency. I have done back to back tests using OE MANN & aftermarket Purolator in intervals of 2000kms.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by eapen

Initially when I got the vehicle wanted to try a different airfilter than OE. Was against K&N or free-flow oiled types considering the dust levels in Bangalore. I have used K&N & Green Cotton oiled filters before on other cars - not happy with long term filtering.

OE airfilter is made in Germany 'MANN'. Glanced upon made in India 'Purolator Mahle'. MANN (left) has a fragile plastic mesh on top of the filter whereas Purolator has a steel one(right) which is stonger. The Purolator filter media flows better & I am getting better fuel efficiency. I have done back to back tests using OE MANN & aftermarket Purolator in intervals of 2000kms.

Mahle is also German technology. Large MNC HQ'd in Stuttgart. https://www.mahle.com/

Purolator is their Indian partner. I haven't gone wrong with their aftermarket air and oil filters for any of my vehicles so far.

[eapen]

Thanks for the info. To monitor the ECU values constantly realtime I had a Scangauge II fitted. I also have Android Torque OBD but preferred the latter due to 'fit it forget it' feature.

By default the Fuel Rail Pressure (FRP) values were not being displayed. Hence messaged Scangauge support for a solution. They asked me to program a custom X-gauge to output FRP Hexadecimal values. After programming send them a video with realtime values & in-turn they send a X-gauge code to display FRP. After inserting the code, the FRP in kpsi (1000s of psi) is being displayed correctly as kFP (see below).

Was trying to understand why this car is a bit sluggish on 0-100kph whereas after 100kph it pulls well. Observed the boost values. It is very conservative restricting average boost in 1800-3000rpm to 12psi in 1st gear, 15psi in 2nd gear & 18psi in 3rd gear. From 4th onwards it boosts well at 21psi.

The reasons could be:
1)to protect the Clutch & DMF (dual mass flywheel) &
2)adhere to Bharat stage (Euro stage) IV pollution norms.

Unlike the older Cruze engine Z20DMH(150Ps) this engine Z20D1(166Ps) produces minimal visible smoke. Will go in for a remap shortly.

One of reasons going for a manual was the engine-gearbox combo can handle 500Nm+ (Stock 380Nm) torque whereas its risky in an automatic. Also the manual 6th gear is taller than the automatic.

Yes, on the flipside in city traffic where 80% of my usage is, sometimes with an aching left knee I miss the convenience of an auto box. My city average speed is <15kph as displayed by the ECU !

[eapen]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

Yes that's right, its finished in the Bentley Beluga Black shade. installed bumper skirt this weekend

Pramod

Nice colour. Pramod is the custom bumper you installed made in fiberglass or ABS plastic ?

To spruce up the car I ordered a rear diffuser for Chevrolet Cruze which is an add-on fitment to rear bumper from autoglam.in -
https://www.autoglam.in/add-glam/rea...umper-diffuser

It is advertised as made of ABS plastic & chromed. Imported from Taiwan. After ordering (Order #2227) surprised to find the item i received is a low-quality local fiberglass replica. It's not made of abs plastic as advertised. Instead of chrome its just silver stickers on the fake exhaust tips. The tips are mis-aligned due to improper hand-moulding. Though its not evident in the picture one tip juts out few mm than the other.

There is higher quality nylon-net type fiberglass which is lighter than traditional glass fiber. This is the cheaper version with the uneven spirals evident from the inside finishing.

Decided not to install it because it's heavier than the rear bumper itself ! Talk about misrepresentation of facts & moreover seller is an abusive mode after pointing out the discrepancies.

[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by eapen

Nice colour. Pramod is the custom bumper you installed made in fiberglass or ABS plastic ?

Its fiber glass, its also pretty heavy

Originally Posted by eapen

Decided not to install it because it's heavier than the rear bumper itself ! Talk about misrepresentation of facts & moreover seller is an abusive mode after pointing out the discrepancies.

Typical karol bagh Sellers. its available on aliexpress for little over 5k Shipped.

Pramod

[eapen]

My mistake. One of the worst online experiences I had with Autoglam . No more parts from Karol Bagh for me.

The reason why I chose that is because India model 2012 & before has a different bumper lower cutout from 2013 & after - attached pictures. Aliexpress sellers mostly sell 2012 model bumper diffuser for Gen 1 Cruze.

Could find only sellers from Korea selling 2013+ design : https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Rear-Bu...e/271237443000

[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by eapen

I got Chevrolet adapter rings & wiring connectors from aliexpress.

Could you share the details, like the product listing?

Lowered my car




Pramod