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5-year-old Vitara Brezza gets a Stage1 ECU remap & other modifications

4th January 2023, 07:43 by Rahul Nagaraj

I am quite happy with how the car has turned out to be and it's given me a wide scope for thoughts right now on my way forward with the car.

BHPian gururajrv recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

It's been a long time since I wrote anything about my car. With Maruti cars, one thing is, you don't really get to write home about much. Because, it serves the very purpose for anyone driving from point A to point B unless you spice things up which our members have done with quite a few examples (Sudeepg, Dr Naren and a few more). I believe most of the owners will agree with me when I say - it is built to last and certainly bore you at one point and it amplifies when one is having a load full of options out there in the market if you plan to ever upgrade.

Yes, I did get that bug, yet again, of upgrading randomly at the beginning of the year when my car completed 5 years with 45k kms on the odo. While I did actively search for a few prospects out in the market i.e. New / Pre-Owned, after deep thought and some discussion in the round-table with the family, I decided against going for an upgrade this very month (Dec 2022) due to obvious financial reasons involved when the car is still as good as new at 51,700 odd kms at the time of writing this update.

Okay, let's get over with the updates I have done so far in 2022 for the car:

GTR-Pro Alloys with Michelin Primary 4 (Size 16 inch, 225/60)

Total Damage to the pocket is Rs.80,000/- i.e. inclusive of both tire set and alloy purchase from Tire Empire in HSR Layout. Including pics below - As far as my experience goes, I am in love with Michelin Primacy tires. They made world of difference coming from stock Apollo tires. Highly recommended. I did not think too much except for browsing through the catalogue available at the store - I just went with what both of us i.e. I and my wife liked. Did not do math too much with respect to weight etc. Overall looks good with wider tires which peek a bit outside the body line. In fact, it gives a good character to the car:

IPHCAR Bi-LED projectors from Blaze India

Headlight & Fog-Lights had weakened to an extent it was in fact noticed by my wife itself while doing a casual night drive where I had to literally depend on the high beam. That is when I realized I hadn't quite thought seriously about the lights themselves after getting LEDs on the headlight assembly back in 2019. It was high time I went in for a good setup. I had to think whether I opted for a headlight assembly which involved opening up the assembly and installing the D2S projectors or stick to a relatively easier way of getting Fog projector assembly. When I made a firm decision, I didn't think much about whom to contact. It had to be our own team BHPian Sudeepg - the level of DIYs he's performed on his car was quite amazing. I directly contact Sudeep and he was very sweet to answer all my queries and provided me with one Mr Amit from Blaze India.

The very same day, I reached out to Amit and finalized the purchase of Bi-LED projectors with variable colour temperatures. Finalized the purchase and Amit shared details of the dispatch within a couple of hours and I got the product in 3 days' time.

The next step was fairly easier for me because I am not a DIY guy. I asked Amit from Blaze to share his contact in Bangalore for the installation. He provided Nawaz who took care of the installation. He also provides installation at home but I had some work over the weekend which made me meet Nawaz in person at the location he advised. Since I was quite elated to see the installation of the most wanted upgrade on the car, I forgot to click pictures while doing so. Please make do with the after-installation pictures to see the lights for yourself my verdict is - Blaze India is a good contact who is responsive and quick to meet customers' needs. Highly recommended.

Apologies, I forgot to click pictures as usual due to my involvement while the technician was installing the projectors. But, I have some pictures which will show the on-road performance of these lights. I am satisfied as I took the car out on the highway at night and I was confidently cruising at respectable speeds. My next focus is on improving the headlight throw which has deteriorated rapidly in the last 2,000-odd kms. I am cautiously evaluating my next step in improvising the headlight. Will post updates as I make some quantifiable updates on this. Please make do with below pictures:

Light pattern & output:

Ferodo Brake Pads from Engineering Exponent

My car has run 51,000 kms on stock brake pads. Braking accuracy or feel had deteriorated quite rapidly in the last 1,000 kms. When I reached Sudeepg for advice, he suggested either EBC / TVS pads. I am not an aggressive driver with almost family in tow almost all the time. I would consider myself a little over a sedate driver and not too spirited. Hence, I reached Engineering Exponent who advised Ferodo pads for replacement. I have done it now and I feel braking performance is now back to being normal and a little better over the stock pads. Unfortunately, no pictures here as I was indulged in getting a test drive with the stage 2+ Brezza while the work was being carried out. Nevertheless, braking is good right now. Can expect the average life for this pad to be 20-25,000 kms. It cost me 2,000 Rs which I believe is good compared to stock pads.

Overall experience with the new set of pads is beyond satisfactory levels!

Turning Point for me to RENEW my INTEREST in the car, yet AGAIN!

It is the REMAP - yes, I got the car remapped from the most renowned provider i.e. Wolf Moto!

This was THE turning point for me which quenched my thirst for an upgrade. I am surprised myself for saying this because my car suffered from that lag which any 1.3 DDiS engine owner would agree when I mention this! This custom stage 1+ remap which I got for my car has changed its characteristic leaps and bounds. I do not see any lag which I experienced before the remap.

When I made up my mind for this remap, I reached Joe @ Wolf Moto who was extremely professional in his response from the very beginning. He advised they have Stage 1 / 1+ options which are standard. Considering I am a guy who wants his car to be a unique one amongst the crowd, he quickly understood my requirements & suggested they can do a custom basis my requirements which I listed below.

Reduce lag (Joe confirmed they cannot eliminate lag but can certainly reduce it)
Not a top-end fan, but prefer the car to be quick on its toes from the word Get-Go with a strong initial and improved mid-range! (Joe confirmed it can be achieved depending on several factors)
Smoke reduction (Joe advised clearly, smoke cannot be eliminated but it will not increase significantly as is against the pre-remap)
Power should be available across the rev range with better in-gear acceleration. I was upset with in-city / highway overtakes which demanded gear changes frequently in the stock map. This effect felt so pronounced after I upsized the tire earlier this year.

With all the requirements in place, I confirmed the date on which I would visit their centre (11 Dec 2022). Joe agreed and shared details of Engineering Exponents which is their authorized dealer in Bangalore for Wolf remap. When I was at their centre, luckily, I got to experience Stage 2+ Brezza from Mangalore who was there getting the service done. That car gave me a gist of what I should be doing next

My experience with Engineering Exponent (EE) was at another level! I met Mr Rakshith who is managing the operations at EE and is working with Mr Jayanth running the EE! I had a lengthy conversation before the remap process began. Rakshith was quick to download the original map file and sent it to the Wolf operations team at around 1 PM IST for them to build a map suiting my needs.

At around 2 PM IST, we got the remap file back from Wolf and Rakshith was quick to plug it into my car. The overall process took about 25-35 mins approximately.

WIP picture of the remap:

Post remap completion, Rakshith and me took a drive outside near Whitefield. Knowing the road plagued with traffic (including me), we did find a fairly empty road which showed the improvements in the car already almost real-time while I was seated as a passenger. However, to rule out any possibilities of the placebo effect, I reserved my comments/feedback there. Although I could feel the changes, Rakshith advised clearly a revised map will be learnt by ECU in about the 100-250 kms range. At this point, I can safely state the gains are about 15-18% with the Stage 1+ custom remap I opted for. Doesn't feel like an FNG at all - extremely professional in their approach & executing a particular task for the customer! Rakshith also told me in case I needed a revised remap to amplify the tune, he can very well do it with no additional cost.

I left their garage and took the ring road to reach home. I could instantly feel the lag reduced with power available on tap (I am not exaggerating) at least for a person who ran on the stock map which was laggy. As of now, I feel like a gamer who has increased his system's RAM from 8 GB to a whopping 32 GB! That's how lag-free the engine is right now. I am for sure enjoying the way the car has transformed right now with the Wolf Remap!

This last weekend, I took a 160 km round trip to a close by restaurant (Murugan Idli Shop - Krishnagiri) and I am certainly happy to report car performed extremely well with minimal gear shifts demanded by the engine. Power is available across the rev range which I believe is now felt between 1,500 - 3,000 RPMs easily and the engine doesn't run out of steam quickly unlike before! I will certainly go for a Stage 2+ custom remap sometime in 2023 mid.

With all the handful list of upgrades, I am quite happy with how the car has turned out to be and it's given me a wide scope for thoughts right now on my way forward with the car. I am active on the forum but I am not too active on my thread itself considering the car does what it's meant to do! I will keep posting progress as and when a substantial update is made with it.

With all the drives (short and fairly longer ones), the car was extremely dirty and demanded a wash which I got from Express car care centre in HSR: