[iBokehlicious]

I was in the market to get a decent hatchback in 2019 December having just moved to Bangalore (little did I know of how covid would change our lives). Initially looked for a decent TDI polo, but they weren't available brand new due to BS6 norms kicking in and any decent used one I found was atleast 50-55k run in. After considering other options I decided to go with a rev happy baleno K12.

I knew right when I was buying the car that I wanted to modify it's looks as balenos are so common I didn't want it to look like just another. I contacted a view maruti service centers for a 2019 RS bumper as a spare but most denied having stock. Luckily a service center in Yeshwantpur had one in stock and I got my front bumper replaced there.

Covid kicked in and the car wasn't really driven much as I left it with my family in bangalore and moved to my home state (Odisha).

Update: 27/01/2022

The K12 is a happy revving engine but there's just some lag below 2500 rpm. I knew wolf was the only choice for me as they have remapped a lot of K12s to stage 1, Stage 1+ and even recent Stage 2 builds.

I contacted Jayant at Engineering Exponent who are the official wolf moto remap dealers in Bangalore. I initially wanted the car to do a stage 2 but I was coming back to Bangalore for a short period of time and due to some unavoidable circumstances had to settle for a stage 1+

The whole experience was great. It took about 2-2.5 hours for the whole thing including fresh oil into the car. Special mention goes to Prajwal at engineering exponent to not only make the process smooth for me but to also answer any and all technical questions I had.

Post remap:


Remap happened at 4000 kms.

I went into it knowing exactly what to expect. I wasn't expecting any crazy bhp numbers because I knew it's a NA car. I just wanted better drivability and acceleration and boy did the wolf remap deliver !

Initial impressions are that the car feels way smoother to rev after the remap, always eager to touch the red line. The initial lag below 2500 rpm is gone and the car pulls cleanly from the word go. In the almost 200 kms I drove in bangalore city since the remap I noticed improved FE as well. Used to get 15-16 earlier, now I'm getting about 17-18 in moderate driving. Will continue to update this thread with my experience as time goes on.

P.S

I can't wait now to get wolf's magic done on my 2019 city i-vtec, only problem being it's in Bhubaneswar so not entirely sure what nearby dealers wolf has for me.

[Cliff9091]

Hey iBokehlicious,

Really well written thread if you could share the horsepower and torque figures post the remap it would be really helpful for fellow enthusiasts. I also suggest a better air intake if your budget permits.

Cheers

Cliff

[amvj]

Thanks for posting.

What is the difference between the stages and what are the components we need to change?

How much it costs?

Apart from performance mode, are these companies provide bigger brake discs and improved brake pads? I find the stock braking performance is not adequate for Baleno.

[adrena]

I have the 2018 Baleno RS. Wonder what can this timing do to that car. I'm also on the lookout to make it more a rally stled car with higher profile tyres to manage roads or the lack thereof. Maybe some suspension upgrade would be terrific.

[iBokehlicious]

Originally Posted by Cliff9091

Hey iBokehlicious,

Really well written thread if you could share the horsepower and torque figures post the remap it would be really helpful for fellow enthusiasts. I also suggest a better air intake if your budget permits.

Cheers

Cliff

Thank you. The gains with a stage 1/1+ and NA aren't really a lot. Wolf claims somewhere around 87/88bhp from the stock 82 and about 125nm torque but I haven't any dyno figures to confirm this.

I had actually planned for a stage 2 map with a BMC oem replacement filter and SS304 decat to gain about 96 bhp which would have made the rather light weight car more fun to drive. But there were some scheduling issues due to which I couldn't give them the car for 2 days.
Will surely do it once I'm back in Bangalore and update this thread.

Originally Posted by amvj

Thanks for posting.

What is the difference between the stages and what are the components we need to change?

How much it costs?

Apart from performance mode, are these companies provide bigger brake discs and improved brake pads? I find the stock braking performance is not adequate for Baleno.

Hey,
By what I've been told by wolf stage 1+ is just a more aggressive version of stage 1 remap. Wolf advises getting a bmc oem replacement filter for better airflow. Stage 2, in this case would require at least a decat. Once you have the decat you can go ahead and get the stage 2 map.

The cost of maps:

Stage 1: 22k
Stage 1+: 24k
Stage 2: 26k

These are incremental so say if you already have a Stage 1+ from wolf running on your car and you get a decat, you need only pay the difference (2k) to get the stage 2 map.

Originally Posted by adrena

I have the 2018 Baleno RS. Wonder what can this timing do to that car. I'm also on the lookout to make it more a rally stled car with higher profile tyres to manage roads or the lack thereof. Maybe some suspension upgrade would be terrific.

A remap can certainly make a good difference to the baleno RS engine considering it is turbo charged. I believe gt tunerz Delhi claims around 125hp/190nm after remap. Wolf has maps for the 1.0L booster jet available too. For the rally build you should definitely hit up engineering exponent bangalore / wolf moto depending on where you are. They would certainly have some really cool ideas.

Do share the progress with us. Would love to see a thread of this build !

[iBokehlicious]

Hi all,

January 2022 was when I first started my journey into performance mods. The K12 engine although lively doesn't really have decent power, specially when you have the car with 4 on-board. Stage 1 was essentially just an ecu flash and I liked the performance I got. (stage 1 teambhp post)

After driving the car for a year and discussing stage 2 with Engineering exponent and a few customers who had gotten it done, I decided to pull the trigger and go for it.

The car got a BMC stock replacement filter, a SS304 Decat and a performance resonator fabricated in house by Engineering exponent. As of writing this review I've driven the car about 2000kms with stage 2.

First things first, I see a bigger difference between stage 1 to stage 2 than stock to stage 1. There's more pull in all gears and the car sounds amazing, specially revving above 3000 rpm. The peppy performance with baleno being a light vehicle and fun around corners has made it a joy to drive now.

City mileage looks the same to be at 15.5-16 in bangalore moderate traffic (whitefield side) and 13.5-14 when revving the engine out. Will update this post after a road trip to Gokarna for highway mileage.

[grshnehete]

Please keep the thread updated. I also have Baleno with K12C engine and I am on fence about going for these mods.