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Added functional upgrades & enhancements to my 2nd gen Mahindra Thar

5th July 2022, 15:05 by Dev Shah

The Thar glides over bumps and broken roads like never before. Its composure is superlative after the suspension upgrade and this is truly confidence inspiring both on and off road.

BHPian shankar.balan recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Much has been said about the new Thar and there are plenty of reviews too so Im not wishing to add to any of these.

What I would like to share in this note, basis my own experience, are the following functional upgrades and enhancements:

Suspension upgrade (AVO adjustable dampers and coil springs) (from ARKA)
Full aluminum underbody protection plus mild steel Rear diff guard plus tubular steel side steps/ rock sliders. (ARKA)
Headlamp upgrade (stock bulbs upgrade - straight swap- to Philips H4 Extreme Vision G Force Halogen bulbs - 55W 12V) (Amazon)

I have done all of the above and now I find my Thar to be genuinely much improved overall.

Here are the details for anyone who may be interested:

AVO Suspension was researched, tuned, tested and introduced for the new Thar last year by Mr N Leelakrishnan’s ARKA MotorSport. AVO is a well known sports suspension tuning company from the UK. The suspension set comprises 2 adjustable dampers for the front and 2 adjustable dampers plus 2 specially tuned coil springs for the rear. These dampers can be softened or stiffened by means of a small knob located on each damper. The ideal settings as per my experience are ‘11’ in front and ‘12’ at rear.

The upgraded suspension is slightly stiff. The vehicle glides over bumps and broken roads like never before. Its composure is superlative after the suspension upgrade and this is truly confidence inspiring both on and off road. One can now take those sweeping highway curves while traveling at decent speeds without feeling jittery about the ability of the boxy Thar with its high centre of gravity, to hold its line through the curve.

Typically the Thar in its stock form is characterized by its continual swaying from side to side, jiggling over bumps and potholes and rumble strips and speed breakers, body roll, bobbing, pitching and nose diving during braking.

All this has completely vanished and the vehicle feels much more sure footed now.

Since this upgrade I have driven the Thar about 7000kms on virtually no roads, dirt roads, rocks, stones, ruts and mud and all sorts of broken roads and highways and in the city. Basis my experience this is a very sensible investment towards comfort, stability and overall handling and composure.

Underbody protection, diff guard and side steps: This comprises three aluminum armour plates and these cover the entire underbody of the Thar including the fuel tank and other sensitive bits. This set weighs about 18kgs. And they are fixed using existing mounting points and bolt holes. Zero drilling required. They help greatly in inspiring confidence when going off the road. One needn't worry much about typical hidden stones and rocks and tree stumps and roots etc any more. The diff guard is made of mild steel and like the underbody armour, is also fitted to protect the rear differential using the existing bolt holes. This weighs about 4kgs. The steel side steps are also mounted onto existing bolt holes by removing the OEM plastic side steps. These are very strong and help greatly if one is going rock crawling for example, by providing protection against possible dings and damage to the sides of the vehicle. These weigh about 20Kg the pair.

The Thar’s stock headlamps aren't very powerful. So I wanted to upgrade them. I find white light halogens very powerful and useful in the really dark places like hill stations etc especially in the misty and rainy season. Honestly I find Halogens much much better in such conditions, than the new fangled LEDs. I chose to go for Philips H4 - Extreme Vision G Force 55W 12V bulbs. These are a direct replacement swap for the OEM bulbs and it is a simple DIY fix.

Attached the photo of the Amazon page where the H4 Philips bulbs are shown.

(Please do note that I am just a regular fully paid up customer of Arka - I am not related to or associated with them in any way whatsoever)

Saying that, any auto enthusiast growing up in the 1980’s would have nothing but great respect for Mr N Leelakrishnan, the ace racer/ rallyist.

I hope other Thar owners on this forum find these inputs useful. Indeed this has benefited some other personal friends of mine who are also Thar owners and who also incidentally are members on the Forum so if they feel like they can add to what Ive said above.