[prashant_dv]

Originally Posted by Sunsh!nes

Would you mind posting the pics of your Car, I would like to see the pic of the wheels. I am looking for a wheel upsize to similar profile or 205/60/15 or 205/50/15. Can you advise which one is better option. I am currently running 195/60/14.

Hi Sunsh!nes
Edit: Got the pictures of my car from on old trip which i had sent to a friend of mine. This was taken en-route to mullayangiri near chikmaglur.

Those are old Yokohama S-drives which were almost End-of-Life.

I have changed them and they look much better and black now and drives better than the worn out old ones.

Cheers

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by Sunsh!nes

Yeah, till 2005 Balenos had 91 BHP. 2006 and 2007 models have 94 BHP.

It's the other way round (guess a typo from your side) - Before 2005, the Baleno used to come with 94hp. But 2005 onwards, the power dropped to 91bhp.

[Sunsh!nes]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

It's the other way round (guess a typo from your side) - Before 2005, the Baleno used to come with 94hp. But 2005 onwards, the power dropped to 91bhp.

http://autos.maxabout.com/cars/marut...007/baleno-vxi

http://www.carwale.com/marutisuzuki-.../vxibsiii-259/

http://www.topspeed.in/cars/maruti-s...-ar120758.html

All these sites say otherwise... am confused now. Anyway, 3 BHP doesnt matter so much

Originally Posted by prashant_dv

Hi Sunsh!nes
Edit: Got the pictures of my car from on old trip which i had sent to a friend of mine. This was taken en-route to mullayangiri near chikmaglur.

Those are old Yokohama S-drives which were almost End-of-Life.

I have changed them and they look much better and black now and drives better than the worn out old ones.

Cheers

Thanks for the pics. Looks good. What profile are these ? do you remember? 15" looks really good on Baleno.

[prashant_dv]

Originally Posted by Sunsh!nes

Thanks for the pics. Looks good. What profile are these ? do you remember? 15" looks really good on Baleno.

Sunsh!nes,

They are 195/50/R15 Yokohama S drives. The only caveat with upsizing to 15" is that everytime your car is fully loaded you would have the hind wheels hitting the wheeel well and scraping. Off late, when i have to do airport runs, ( usually there would be a MUV taxi along with us) i offload the baggage to the bigger vehicle and passengers only in my car.

Otherwise, for two people even with full luggage in the boot there is no issue as scraping.

Cheers

[Mr.Boss]

Thank you all for the compliments and wishes

Originally Posted by james

Just a few points on your headlamp-
* Your headlamps are beyond repair. Get a pair of basic ones from J.C. road and swap the reflector and lens into your existing HL. The basic ones don't have a very strong housing nor does it have a motor to level out the HL.
*Do not go over a 100/90 bulb kit. Make sure you use proper wiring and relay.
* Do not put in a HID kit. Thanks to the lens, the output wont be great and its very annoying to oncoming traffic.

Even I'm against the HID without projector set up and regular Halogens beyond 100W. Let me check if I could get the HL assembly from GP road - Chennai, if not I may need your help

Originally Posted by bhuvan_prasad

I would agree with Zahin on this one. If the headlamps have not been changed on the car so far, get a new pair, around 3.2k/each from GP road, Chennai.

Bhuvan, please let me know if you have some reliable source from GP Road who deal with HL and Projectors?

Originally Posted by Sunsh!nes

Its not good to have different profile tyres and different profiles running the same car. Handling will not be good though suffice to drive around. Very strange to see a car with different profiles in front and rear. It would be good to stick with same profile for all 4.

195/60/14 is a perfect balance between ride, comfort and performance

Agreed. I will be soon upgrading the Wheels & Tires.
PS: Different profile / Spec tires on Front & Rear are acceptable than on the LH & RH (which will affect the dynamics badly)

Isn't 195/60R14 under sized (in terms of overall diameter) when compared to the stock spec (165/80 R13)?

Originally Posted by prashant_dv

Got the pictures of my car from on old trip which i had sent to a friend of mine. This was taken en-route to mullayangiri near chikmaglur.

Those are old Yokohama S-drives which were almost End-of-Life.

She look good with those Alloys Congrats Prashant.

[bhuvan_prasad]

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

Bhuvan, please let me know if you have some reliable source from GP Road who deal with HL and Projectors?

I got a left headlamp for a friend's Baleno from Rishab Auto, 1st floor, Hameeda Complex, GP road. It is on the left side of the road. Cost around 3.3k, 6 to 8 months ago. He is very happy with the performance, was a Depo brand make headlamp.

[Sunsh!nes]

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

Thank you all for the compliments and wishes


Even I'm against the HID without projector set up and regular Halogens beyond 100W. Let me check if I could get the HL assembly from GP road - Chennai, if not I may need your help


Bhuvan, please let me know if you have some reliable source from GP Road who deal with HL and Projectors?


Agreed. I will be soon upgrading the Wheels & Tires.
PS: Different profile / Spec tires on Front & Rear are acceptable than on the LH & RH (which will affect the dynamics badly)

Isn't 195/60R14 under sized (in terms of overall diameter) when compared to the stock spec (165/80 R13)?


She look good with those Alloys Congrats Prashant.

Headlights:
Buy an aftermarket Depo HL assembly for less than 5K and get projector setup done in them with 4500K HIDs and you get mini Projectors for Fog lights too. That should really meet your needs irrespective of where you are driving your car.

For VXI the stock profile is 185/65/14, I have upgraded that to 195/60/14 and it does feel lot better. The higher profile you go for the lower the profile of tyres, lower the comfort and suspension gets affected. If you still need more bigger tyres then in 15" you can go for 195/55/15 or 205/60/15 for better ride quality, comfort and
performance.

Anyways, experts are here to guide you much better than me and lots of Wheel thread for better insight and knowledge.

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by Sunsh!nes

For VXI the stock profile is 185/65/14, I have upgraded that to 195/60/14 and it does feel lot better. The higher profile you go for the lower the profile of tyres, lower the comfort and suspension gets affected. If you still need more bigger tyres then in 15" you can go for 195/55/15 or 205/60/15 for better ride quality, comfort and
performance.

After riding my friend's Old Honda City with 195/55 R15 I'm reconsidering to switch to 195/60 R14 for better Ride comfort.
PS: 205/60R15 will be out of spec for Baleno IMO.

[racerdabba]

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

Attachment 1398074

Attachment 1398497

Little Background:
To put it simple, I'm using my Sunny here in Chennai and badly wanted a second car to use at hometown (Coimbatore) for 2 reasons
- Parent’s travel frequency increased in recent days
- No other car available here at hometown, I should always take Sunny from Chennai to Coimbatore, even if I’m traveling alone
So we decided to buy a second car for home.

Criteria:
Budget : 1.5L
Used / New : Used (without a second choice for this budget)
Segment : Sedan
Make : Any Japanese
Special Requirement : Rear Independent Suspension (long time desire) and little Fun to Drive
Monthly Usage : <1000km, 50:50 City & highway drive (50% Chauffeur driven)
Fuel : Petrol preferred, LPG/Diesel accepted
Fuel Economy : Anything on 2 digits
Maintenance : Average or a little above average

Cars Considered:
Below cars were the only choices available to match my criteria
- Honda City Type 2
- Suzuki Baleno
- Maruti Suzuki Esteem
- Mitsubishi Lancer

The Hunt:
Actual search started from July 1st week and for over 2 weeks I was looking around for various cars in Chennai & Coimbatore. Came across few City and Lancers which were over 1.2L km and more than 2 owners. Few Diesel Lancers were available within my budget, but the condition was very much pathetic. Few other Esteems & Balenos were ruled out for various reasons.

On 18th July I made an appointment with the owner of Subject car to have a TD in the morning, then it got postponed to evening as I got hold of other commitments and finally managed to see the car in person around 8:30pm.

Test Drive Experience:
Had a short TD in various roads and I’m very much satisfied with the performance of the car. Few observations during TD
- Car looked neat inside out
- No abnormal noise / vibration during TD
- Rattle noise from Doors when driven over potholes
- Engine is very much responsive at every rpm range
- Gear shifting was smooth except for the 5th Gear
- Clutch is better when compared with the other vehicles I had a TD
- Owner is so kind and transparent

Finally we decided to meet the next morning to understand the vehicle condition more in detail under bright light. In the meantime, I confirmed the service history through my known sources and got satisfied with the history. As planned we (myself and parents) reached his residence around 11:00am, had a thorough inspection and my parents were also very much satisfied with the vehicle and seating position. Finalized the deal for 1.55L and promised to take the delivery by 23rd July. I left to Chennai and my parents had taken the delivery of car as planned.

Congratulations for the beauty.

Im exactly at the place you are, got a Baleno, cleared mechanical gremlins, and next is alloys and tyres.

Spares arent an issue, you can get pretty much everything in mass or OE manufacturers. Mass couldnt get me the front windscreen( had a hairline crack when i bought it. But AIS had it in stock.

The power systems are reliable and anything slow or unresponsive needs some overhauling and some CRC or any other electrical desludge & lubricant spray. I got my power mirrors to work using CRC. The last owner had the car in a bad shape, and had pasted a plane mirror cut to size on the cover
Some overhauling got the motors working, and snapdeal had replacement mirror with frame for 400 bucks. All it took was half a Sunday and saved a good 7k bucks. Mass quoted 6.5k for mirror assembly and 1100 for the switch, even though its the last gen WagonR switch, it sells for 600 for waggy & 110 for baleno.

This car is a keeper, and i know you would have known that by the time you're reading this.

The way it clears corners is remarkable to say the least.

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by racerdabba

Congratulations for the beauty.

Im exactly at the place you are, got a Baleno, cleared mechanical gremlins, and next is alloys and tyres

Thanks dear.
Have you finalized the tire & alloy spec? Please do post the snap of your car as well.

Originally Posted by racerdabba

Mass couldnt get me the front windscreen( had a hairline crack when i bought it. But AIS had it in stock.

Do you mind sharing the cost?

[mycarhasablower]

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

Thank you dear.
I'm looking to install HIDs with Projectors. I hope this must give some better result than the OE reflectors.

The 100W bulbs are a bad idea! remove them asap. They generate twice the heat and as a result your plastic headlamp assemblies will fade and yellow the way they do on soo many cars. 100w bulbs are best for older cars with glass headlamps. Once your assemblies fade, youll realise how expensive baleno parts are cuz they cost upwards of 10k to replace.

Best is to look abroad for aftermarket solutions. I am sure if you look up international forums youll find an intelligent solution. In the meanwhile get the headlamp beam adjusted right(considering the front end has probably been messed with by mechanics during the repaint).

Also congrats on the great car, i had one till 2009 when it was totalled in an accident.Although 1.5l is way too much for a baleno. But chennai and bangalore probably aways have been unreasonably expensive.

A similar condition baleno in delhi wouldve cost no more than 70k just because the spares are astronomically priced.

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by mycarhasablower

1.5l is way too much for a baleno. But chennai and bangalore probably aways have been unreasonably expensive.

A similar condition baleno in delhi wouldve cost no more than 70k just because the spares are astronomically priced.

Used vehicles fetch a good resale value / higher price here in South. For 70k we can get a 2000 model Baleno in 'just running condition'

[Mr.Boss]

Few updates on the spares and accessories.

Brake Pads
MASS around Tambaram / Chengalpet don't stock any spares for Baleno, including the Brake Pads. Parts will be available in couple of weeks once the order is placed. Brake pads in my car is almost nearing it's end of life and need immediate replacement. Got a set of Bosch brake pads from Aditya Automobiles - Coimbatore (675 INR)


Headlamp
Spent few hours in GP Road and Pudupet for the Headlamp. Cheap alternatives were available for around 2k per pair (without headlamp leveler), but the plastic quality & finishing were horrible.

Remote Lock
Came across Autucop, Xenos, Piranha & RD but not satisfied with any of them. I'm looking for a remote without any chrome, but the market is just other way round. I'm trying to get the flip key type remote lock from Right Click (rclick.co.uk) which I had used in my Honda City.

Speakers
Got these JBL 6x9 speakers for another project.

Tried them on my car (replacing the current Pioneer) but doesn't make any much difference, so rolled back to the Pioneer speakers.

[mycarhasablower]

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

Few updates on the spares and accessories.

Brake Pads
MASS around Tambaram / Chengalpet don't stock any spares for Baleno, including the Brake Pads. Parts will be available in couple of weeks once the order is placed. Brake pads in my car is almost nearing it's end of life and need immediate replacement. Got a set of Bosch brake pads from Aditya Automobiles - Coimbatore (675 INR)
Attachment 1401907

Hey where exactly do you stay, would love to check out your ride. Been a baleno lover since it came out. I live near chegalpet and working at MRV so im guessing you are nearby. PM me your location.

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by mycarhasablower

Hey where exactly do you stay, would love to check out your ride. Been a baleno lover since it came out. I live near chegalpet and working at MRV so im guessing you are nearby. PM me your location.

You are always welcome buddy.
Sent you a PM. Please check