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My Maruti XL6 gets suspension upgrades, new 16-inch wheels & more

2nd September 2022, 15:36 by Rahul Nagaraj

The car's stance has now changed, it's taller and looks more SUV than MUV.

BHPian jalex77 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Finally, all the parts have arrived. The alloys came two at a time and in a gap of two weeks due to short supply.

The rear shock came at the MASS last Monday.

I took the tyres and alloys to my friend's tyre shop and got them fitted and balanced. Will get the alignment done after the suspension upgrade is over.

Then I couldn't wait to see how it looks on the car and so fitted the new wheels on myself today. Ground clearance has surely increased and this I noticed while jacking the car up during the swap. The car looks taller too.

The suspension upgrade is now remaining and I'm hoping to get done this Saturday at the nearby MASS.

My car is turning a year on September 14th and has to get it serviced. I was hoping to get a PM 2.5 Aircon cabin filter fitted but they have no clue about it at the dealer service. Do you have the part number for it? I think it's there on Boodmo but the description says it's for the Type 1 Brezza, Type 1 Ertiga, etc. XL6 is not mentioned there. So I haven't placed an order yet.

I have ordered the 16-inch tyre placard at the MASS. Also wondering if getting the VVT badges for the fenders like on your car. Looks nice.

Will post more pictures after all the work is complete.

Update: The pictures I posted last of the car are with the original suspension the car came with and 16-inch wheels. I drove 5 km to the MASS to get the work completed and could easily feel and hear the reflectors on the lane markers loud and harsh whenever the car rode over them. Tyre pressure was set to 30 PSI on all tyres then.

The suspension swap was fast and they completed it and gave me back the car in an hour and a half. (The old 15-inch alloys, the workshop manager bought for 15k from me. Ecopias I'm hoping to sell around ₹4k a piece.)

After all the work was done I drove it 10 km to the alignment centre. I could feel a very slight drop in pick-up due to the larger diameter wheels. This was only felt at a particular initial range and once the pace caught up it's not noticeable.

The new suspension setup has definitely improved the ride a lot from the stock setup before. I'm running 33 PSI Nitrogen mixed air on all tyres now. Over lane marker reflectors it's now very damped and composed. The new tyres have increased road grip. Even through stretches with standing water, it's more reassuring and the tyres channel out water better. Also, feel confident to take the car on broken roads with loose gravel and inclines due to the Continental UC6's wider contact and better tyre tread pattern compared to the narrower Ecopias.

Ground clearance to has gone up by a great margin and this is very beneficial over broken roads. Pretty sure I don't have to worry much about scraping the bottom when I'm using the shortcut forest route to the high ranges next time. Higher ground clearance also helps me wash the underbody with more ease while using a 90-degree nozzle on the pressure washer gun.

The car's stance has now changed, it's taller and looks more SUV than MUV. I feel like I've got a new car while driving or even when merely looking at it. My biggest turn-off on the XL6 was its puny 15-inch wheels. You know, I had waited for the XL6's launch without buying till 2021 believing rumours that an XL7 will be launched with larger wheels and a seat more.

Regarding the cabin filter, I hunted for old posts here and got it from Boodmo. It will fit it after the monsoons and when the atmosphere turns dusty here.

Then my next plan for the car is to upgrade the fogs as you did. It's too inadequate in the weather here.

I'll post more pics soon. Was raining crazy here and couldn't get any good photos.