[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

A quick word on Ride quality: It has indeed degraded, I could feel a lot more surface undulations and the potholes feel sharper(somewhat like 2015 Balenos on 16 inch rims, before suspension recall). For a people mover, it's surely not desirable to switch to 16s and retain stock suspension.

Originally Posted by Blow Horn Ok

May be the ride quality will improve post suspension upgrade and Maruti may have developed the new suspension keeping in mind the ride quality and lower profile of tyres.

Originally Posted by sierrabravo98

I know you will do your research before attempting anything but AFAIK, the 2022 XL6 (with the 16 inchers) has a slightly revised suspension (tweaked dampers and spring stiffness from what I could gather).

As I had promised, completed the suspension swap yesterday. Here is a quick update on it.

Issues I had with the stock suspension: This is my experience with stock suspension of pre facelift XL6 on stock as well as 195/65R15s. Ride was on the firmer side for sure, but on a recent highway trip, I noticed the ride at rear at 90kmph moving like ripples on water surface. It was a shock to me because with our Innova, I never knew that road to be of that kind. Also, at city speeds, I was not happy with the way it went over road reflectors where the cabin received a not so refined jolt, followed by vibrations everywhere. This is something I have been checking on almost all cars now, and found the same kind of reaction in older Kia Seltos too which was known to be stiff. In short, I felt the XL6 to struggle a bit when the bumps/undulations were small and sharp.

Also, I guess all XL6/Ertiga owners have experienced the violent sideways movement on potholed roads/roads with muddy humps at slow speeds. Driving dead slow was the only option we had.

When I set out to swap the wheels to 16s, I always had in mind to check the ride quality of the New XL6 beforehand. It's a common belief that swap to low profile rubber robs the ride quality, and thus any kind of degrade wasn't acceptable to me.

What happened was that I was blown away by the ride it had to offer, it no longer shivered on the sharper bumps and road reflectors at low speeds. There is a feel of underlying firmness but the way it handles the bump is far more composed and matured. Thus I ordered the Alloys, tyres and entire suspension setup of the new XL6.

Suspensions Swap: Did the suspension swap yesterday. While the front part was quick and easy, replacing out the rear springs was too time consuming with my limited tools. A two post lift is highly recommended.

Visually, the front strut looks identical. It's the rear suspension where changes can be appreciated even visually. The springs are longer, far more stiffer. The shock absorbers are slightly thicker and longer compared to the older model.

Front Shocks, new vs old:

Rear Springs, new vs old, notice the difference in height:

Rear shocks, the change in dimensions is evident:

Slight change in stance, the car is now jacked up by an inch approximately.

Gap in wheel well:

To get a better idea, I called in my brother whose Automatic XL6 just got a tyre swap to Yoko BluEarth AE51 195/65R15s. We drove our cars back to back over a rough patch at different speeds and could easily appreciate the magic Maruti has done with new suspension. Felt 10x more refined and composed. Yes, you can feel the firmness over sharper bumps, but it's far more civilized than the older one. New XL6 owners will surely not understand what I am speaking of, you guys are immensely lucky in that regard! To the older XL6 owners, this has to be the best upgrade Maruti has done on the New XL6, if you ask me. Highly recommended. Please drive the new XL6 with correct tyre pressures and observe the suspension compliance, I'm sure you'll fall in love.

I'm now heading out on a breakfast drive on the same highway to check out the "ripple motion when empty" phenomenon, hope it's fixed. Fingers crossed!

Compared to my brother's Automatic XL6 with 195/65R15s:

Regards,
Shashi

PS: This is a preliminary report and not the final comprehensive one with all details on the suspension and wheels change, so please don't worry.

[Blow Horn Ok]

Can this upgrade be done on earlier cars with 15 inchers? If yes, I guess it should be must do upgrade for a XL 6 owner. Changing the tyres and alloys altogether is a costly affair, but retaining the wheels and getting the suspension upgrade is very much doable.

Thanks for the wonderful updates. For XL 6 and Ertiga owners you are the guiding light.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

I'm now heading out on a breakfast drive on the same highway to check out the "ripple motion when empty" phenomenon, hope it's fixed. Fingers crossed!

Update on the wavy motion on one particular stretch: As I had mentioned earlier, whenever the car was lightly loaded earlier, it used to do a mild but consistent bobbing up and down motion on Ranchi-Jamshedpur highway. This used to flatten down with load. It was quite irritating and the car felt as if it will never settle down. Something like the Innova Crysta rides so flat on the same road that I never knew about this road surface imperfection.

Nevertheless, happy to inform that this grouse has been entirely fixed post suspension change. Headed out for a breakfast drive along with a friend who has been my co-passenger in my XL6 often, and thus is very well versed with it's behaviour. He too appreciated the stability and composed ride it now has. I was apprehensive of the handling due to slightly higher stance now, but I can surely say that it's become far more stable and confidence inspiring now. Maruti has done nothing short of a magic if you compare this suspension tune with older one.

Originally Posted by Blow Horn Ok

Can this upgrade be done on earlier cars with 15 inchers? If yes, I guess it should be must do upgrade for a XL 6 owner. Changing the tyres and alloys altogether is a costly affair, but retaining the wheels and getting the suspension upgrade is very much doable.

I'm not sure how the setup would work with 15 inches, may be I'll swap the wheels with my brother's car someday to check this out.

Reasons:

-185/65R15(119mm) or 195/65R15(127mm) have far more sidewall than 195/60R16s(117mm)

-185/65R15 on stock alloys weigh 17kg. It's 17.8kg with 195/65R15s and 18.5kg with 195/60R16s. This is my main doubt as how lesser unsprung weight(if wheels aren't changed) would behave with new suspension. Ideally, it should improve even further.

-With 15" wheels, the gap between wheel and arch will further increase by an inch or more, giving comic proportions.

Another option for chaps with 15" wheels is that you can test drive the New Ertiga and see if it has revised suspension. That can be swapped without much issue I believe.

A pic from today's Breakfast drive:

Regards,
Shashi

[simplysaj]

@leoshashi
Curious to know what was the odo reading before the suspension swap. You mentioned about deterioration in ride. Wondering in what mileage/odo this started and any thoughts on longevity of normal XL6 suspension. Thank you

[Catalyst_delhi]

This is a brilliant upgrade. I just acquired a 2022 Xl6 Alpha + and the ride quality is really good at low or high speeds. I really don't miss my Figo 2013 Diesel in this aspect. Only thing in the 2022 model that drove me nuts was the Android Auto but after a few trial and errors started working with a high quality cable. Everything else is silent and smooth. Great work with this thread, thoroughly read before my purchase.

[superchamp]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

As I had promised, completed the suspension swap yesterday. Here is a quick update on it.

Will this setup work on a 2013 Ertiga VXI? I am planning an overhaul as well. My Ertiga has run close to 100000 KM and the suspension is acting up and has been advised to replace it. It has stock Rims and the tyre is currently Ultramile.
Thanks

[dskumar]

Originally Posted by Catalyst_delhi

This is a brilliant upgrade. I just acquired a 2022 Xl6 Alpha + and the ride quality is really good at low or high speeds. I really don't miss my Figo 2013 Diesel in this aspect. Only thing in the 2022 model that drove me nuts was the Android Auto but after a few trial and errors started working with a high quality cable. Everything else is silent and smooth. Great work with this thread, thoroughly read before my purchase.

Congratulations.. I took delivery of my Alpha + a few days back. One thing which i couldn't figure out is how to change the settings from "kpa" to "psi" Even the showroom guys are clueless.

[RYP]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Update on the wavy motion on one particular stretch: As I had mentioned earlier, whenever the car was lightly loaded earlier, it used to do a mild but consistent bobbing up and down motion on Ranchi-Jamshedpur highway. This used to flatten down with load. It was quite irritating and the car felt as if it will never settle down.

This is great! I frequent my in-laws' 2017 Ertiga on highway runs between Bangalore - Salem, my daily drive is a 2018 Swift, so everytime i get behind the wheels of Ertiga it feels like i'm maneuvering a cow at speeds anything above 60. There's just too much body roll and the waviness on even minor undulations is not exactly confidence inspiring and borderline nerve wracking. It feels like we are stuck in this jungle of jumpiness and it is never going to end, especially on flyovers near a town's intersection. Even the well laid out NH44 is too much for the Ertiga's suspension and add to it the sleepy 1.5L NA Engine. Glad they fixed it on the new XL6. Excellent mod indeed!

[Catalyst_delhi]

Originally Posted by dskumar

Congratulations.. I took delivery of my Alpha + a few days back. One thing which i couldn't figure out is how to change the settings from "kpa" to "psi" Even the showroom guys are clueless.

I checked this with the Showroom as well, there is no way to change it. For now I know 200 KPa is 29 Psi which is recommended. Really not sure why they used KPa in the first place. Maybe a future update might have this option?

[dskumar]

Originally Posted by Catalyst_delhi

I checked this with the Showroom as well, there is no way to change it. For now I know 200 KPa is 29 Psi which is recommended. Really not sure why they used KPa in the first place. Maybe a future update might have this option?

I have asked my showroom guys also to check with their technical backend to find ways to change this. They said they will refer some documents and come back in a few days. Let us hope, we can get to standard way of reading things.

[TorqMaster]

Shashi-
Congratulations on getting the swap done. Thank you very much for the detailed information. Are the struts and springs the only changes in the new version when compared to “our” version of XL6?
Are there any other underpinnings such as steering rack, stabiliser bars, subframes, steering knuckles and other such parts which need to be changed or have those changed in the new XL6?

[rich_heart]

The whole engine block is shifting! Is this normal while changing from N to D or R? Service guy says engine bed rubber is broken. I don't have much faith in the Bimal guy. Shashi, others Please share your knowledge! Thank you.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by rich_heart

The whole engine block is shifting! Is this normal while changing from N to D or R? Service guy says engine bed rubber is broken. I don't have much faith in the Bimal guy. Shashi, others Please share your knowledge! Thank you.

RH engine mount in few cars were defective and were under service circular: Link (My first car: 2020 Maruti Suzuki XL6 Alpha MT Review)

Please check if it's the case.

[Leoshashi]

Update: The XL6 covered ~4,500 km, spread over 12 days and took us to places like Lucknow, Mathura, Delhi, Ujjain, Shirdi, Shani Shignapur, Pune, Nagpur and Sambhalpur. Drove on some fantastic roads like the Purvanchal, Lucknow-Agra, Yamuna and yet to be inaugurated Samruddhi Expressway. It was a memorable trip with parents, and the XL6 took us in supreme comfort and reliability. This post isn't a travelogue by any means.

Overall distance covered: 4493.3 km
Total Fuel consumed: 258.2L
Overall Efficiency: 17.4 kmpl
Cheapest Petrol: Rs. 96.43, NCR
Most Expensive Petrol: Rs. 119.96, Pune Shell Unleaded(always wished to try it once as we don't have Shell Bunks in North.
Toll paid: Rs. 6,233(including cash on the Sambhalpur-Ranchi section)

The new suspension setup proved to be a blessing and came at the right time. Also found the new Continental UC6s to be remarkable tyres and a perfect replacement for the much hyped Michelins. They are far quieter than the XM2s I replaced over cemented roads.

Some pics:

Near Dehri-on-Sone

First glimpse of the Purvanchal Eway, reached here via Ghazipur and not the usual Varanasi Sultanpur route:

Took a brief rest here:

The runway portion of the Expressway:

Getting on the Lucknow Agra Eway:

Refueling at the Reliance bunk, but avoided from here on since most of these Reliance stations weren't accepting online payment or cards:

This was mom's first experience with the Expressways and facilities on it, and she loved the food courts. Next to the King of MPVs:

Getting on the Yamuna Expressway:

At Vrindavan Hotel Parking:

With BHPian Baby-Antu's Ignis:

En-route Ujjain, entering Guna:

At Ujjain's Hotel Parking, Next to Honda's MPV:

Enjoyed such authentic dhabas enroute Pune:

At BPCL CoCo, post the Reliance debacle, always opted for CoCo pumps:

Tanking up at Shell Pune, always wished to try their fuel:

Shani Shignapur:

On Samruddhi Expressway:

At Sambhalpur, Next to it's current chief competitor:

Odo reading post the trip:

Regards,
Shashi

[ObsessedByFIAT]

Thanks for sharing your trip log! Had I known earlier that you were visiting Pune, would have loved to meet you!

Was Pune just a touch-and-go in your travel plan or you had a stop over?

Not sure if I mis-understood it - you drove down from Indore to Pune and then visited Shani Shingnapur on your return leg?