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Retrofits including ADAS done to my Ford Ecosport S

2nd March 2022, 17:38 by Ananth Iyer

I have tried my best to provide information about cost, sellers, and part numbers wherever I can. These mods were made over a period of 2.5 years and there are time gaps in between different mods.

BHPian nightraven recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello BHPians. Before I get into the various modifications I did, I would like to introduce myself as this is my first real post on team-bhp. I am from Hyderabad, currently based out of Frankfurt and by qualification a Chemical engineer. I was that geek in school working on science fairs building stuff, sorting out friend's electronics, software installs, helping dad servicing his Vespa, RE Bullet, CBZ, HM Ambassador, Indica V2. Dad was in the car travels business, and I loved accompanying him to the FNGs to see them taken apart. My comic books were Autocar magazines that dad used to get from his office. I was infected with this auto-bug early on and so have been a silent reader on team-bhp forums for years going through various travelogues, reviews, DIYs etc.

Fast forward, I bought my first car with my savings, a Ford EcoSport as a gift to my dad on Father’s Day in June 2019 before my planned move to Germany 3 months later. Reason for choosing an EcoSport was that we had a significant exposure to Fiesta and my dad loved driving it more than any other car. EcoSport seemed like the spiritual successor and an upgrade up the Ford ladder. It's not really a surprise that Ford cars are well known for their handling and steering dynamics. Everyone I knew recommended to either get a Brezza or Creta or Nexon, but I had made up my mind to choose Function (driving pleasure) over Form.

Delivery day

'Ghost' Ready to fly

Somehow many had this huge misconception that Ford service costs an arm and a leg while it's the lowest in the segment and in all probability lower than cars from other manufacturers in lower segments.

At peace with my brothers 2016 Verna 1.6 SX

I have made many visual and functional mods and accessories for the car over these two years but couldn’t post due to time constraints, lack of pictures while making the mods, being away and some mods were done by my dad. This post has also been 3 - 4 months in the making due to busy schedule. There will be an overload of information. So, brace yourselves! Let me answer the most important question many ask me, Yes, the car is still under warranty technically! (5 year extended warranty)

I am going to break my experience into three sections –

1) Tyres, Lights and Accessories

2) In-Car Entertainment (ICE)

3) Car electronics which include ADAS.

I tried my best to provide information about cost, sellers, and part numbers wherever I can. These mods were made over a period of 2.5 years and there are time gaps in between different mods. For sake of ease, I sorted the mods based on function, but these are not installed in that specific order. I estimate that I spent around 2L for the ICE and another 2L+ for various accessories, softwares, electronic modules, wiring, tools, shipping etc. I stopped counting after a while for my family's peace of mind . I understand some may feel few of the mods are pointless or unnecessary even over the top. But, when did “just because” stop being a good enough reason for curiosity and tinkering with something you are passionate about? This journey can be its own reward without offering any real tangible benefits.

Politics aside, I have used Aliexpress extensively due to lack of availability of various accessories locally in India. Unfortunately, shipping to India is a hit or miss currently. Sometimes, I had them shipped to me in Germany and carried/couriered them back to India. I subscribed to Ford Motorcraft sites whenever required and bought manuals from Ebay US to aid my DIY projects.

I have uploaded owner manual, workshop manual, wiring diagrams, firmwares, software etc. on my Gdrive.

Huge shout out to other Ford enthusiasts on team-bhp like Naveen (@nkdev89) whose informative DIY Retrofit post for IPC, SCCM and Steering wheel made my job easier and saved me precious hours figuring out ways to disassemble the units.

Tyres, lights & Accessories

Tyres

We had a pleasant ownership experience in these 2.5 years without any problems except the infamous Bridgestone Ecopia tyre gate. The Ford Authorised Service Station (FASS), Fortune Ford Hyderabad, has also been very professional, supportive, thorough and maintains great engagement with EcoSport owners’ group in Hyderabad – Ecobeasts.

800 km road trip on the day of delivery

Fun to Drive on the ghats

In those first three months in 2019 I was with the car, we covered about 12000 kms driving between Hyderabad-Bangalore and Hyderabad-Kakinada-Visakhapatnam. Meanwhile the gear head in me was thinking of ways to improve the car. Things that immediately came up in my mind are tyres. I had to replace the infamous 17" Bridgestone Ecopia low profile tires twice (front tires both times) due to sidewall damage within two months of buying the car.

3rd Sidewall damage and minor scratches on the Alloy

On the third tyre burst I paid the price difference (Rs. 300) and had FASS fix a Michelin Pilot Sport 4 instead of "BS" Ecopia. I bought a second Michelin (Rs.9500 in 2019 from a Michelin dealer) and switched the other front tyre as well. Now both of my front tyres are Michelins (retained stock tyre size of 205 50 R17) and in these two years (14K Kms) we had no punctures or any other damage. They have performed exceptionally well on road and off-road.

In the above picture you can see that I have also applied Rim protector around the edge of the alloy for protection and visual appeal. I believe they will provide protection against minor scratches.

Rim protector – 8m roll is enough for all 5 wheels (6 euros)

Anti-theft lug nuts - M12x1.5 (12 euros)

ST hub caps (3 euros)

Tyre valve caps (3 euros)

Dad painted the Front Disc brake callipers and Rear drums. He used primer from local paint shop and spray paint from Amazon

Spray paint (Rs. 400)

Jack stands to help with DIYs (Rs. 1700)

I hope this gives the car additional 10 bhp

Lights

Low beams in top line S variant were D5S HIDs at 4300K which provide good performance. However, high beam performance from the OSRAM 55w H1 Halogens was poor during highway drives. After reading various LED reviews on team-bhp and going through technical specifications of various products on Amazon, local sellers, Aliexpress, I have decided to order two types of LED bulbs from Aliexpress (COB chip type and Lumilex type). I have tried both and decided to install the Lumilex type LEDs due to better focus in my trials.

A note of caution against using aftermarket LEDs in reflectors meant for halogens. There will be glare and it is likely to blind oncoming traffic aside from likely being illegal. Hence, we use high beams judiciously and dip them as soon as we notice anybody on the other side. Also, I prefer 4300K/5000k colour temperature which is easy on the eyes and efficient.

Stock 55w H1 type Halogen bulb from Osram

Please note that the headlamp housing in EcoSport does not have enough clearance for the heat sinks of the LEDs. This was explained in numerous posts on the forum.

I cut the back plate/housing of the LED that was touching the headlamp assembly and completed the LED install.

High beams - 4300K H1 (25 euros)

Replaced above ones with the ones from Amazon India below (Rs.1500) for the time-being as right-side bulb fused on one side and AliExpress is no longer shipping to India

Fog lamps- 4300K H8 (10 euros)

LEDs in high beam and fogs lamps. My dog loves car trips.

Front Turn signal lamps – T20 7440 W21W (20 euros) Insanely bright

ORVMs – W5W T10 Orange and Interior lights W5W T10 White (8 euros)

After-market LED tail lamps (Rs.6500) – Bought from Autopreneurz Delhi (+91-8130840420) and LED reflectors (Rs.1700)

Night drive (Right side high beam LED partially burnt)

Turn Indicators

Accessories:

1. I have installed illuminated sill plates that I got from AliExpress ($60). Similar acrylic sill plates were also available locally but were offered only in Blue color while I was looking specifically for Red. We wired the sill plates to the interior roof lamps

2. Aftermarket Raptor grill (Rs.9500 @ Fast track, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad)

3. ST Badge

4. Ford Racing Emblem

5. 3D Shelby Cobra

6. Shelby Cobra Emblem

7. Joker Vinyl sticker

8. Joker Hahaha decals

9. Baseus 12V to 220V Inverter 120W (40 dollars)

10. Fake Intake Hood Scoops (10 dollars)

11. Wheel arches (Rs.6000), Cross-bars (Rs.6500) and Illuminated gear knob (Rs.2500) - Ford official accessories from service center

12. Ventilated seat cover for driver seat – Heating, cooling and massage function ($50)

13. Coozo 7D Mats (Rs.3200 including shipping – Mr. Vijay Hasija 8920352454; 9958562510)

14. American Micronic Pressure Washer 1500WDX (Rs.8000)

15. Dashcam – Yi smart Dash camera bought in May 2019 from AliExpress even before taking delivery of the car. No longer available and superseded by better ones. Infact, now we have lot of choices as dashcams from brands like DDPAI and 70mai are imported by local sellers which was not the case back then.

16. Underbody Neon lights