Lovely restoration of my late father's 17-year-old Maruti Alto

I drove the car to Pune to get the project done by Brotomotiv and they just didn't do the work, but went the extra mile for each task.

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Hello BHPians,

I thought of sharing my journey here about the restoration of my 17-year-old Alto. The article encapsulates the project done in collaboration with Brotomotiv, as we all know now it's popular for detailing and aesthetics.

Motive behind restoration:

I have an Alto purchased by my late father in 2007, his first-ever car. It was my dream car, I treated him (yes, the car) like a family member, and he became my DIY engineering projects companion. Since he started ageing (like a wine) it was time to give him a fresh treatment in aesthetics.

As Brotomotiv’s service has been speaking great, I being a Dharwadian (Karnataka) thought it would be worth travelling to the beautiful city of Pune as I wanted to ensure I would gift him the best looks he deserved. So I filled enquiry form from their website and Divyas from Brotomotiv reached out to me over the phone explaining the services and recommended the best. I got an appointment on September 25th 2023. I started at 7 AM in the morning and had a lot of fun driving alone, finally, I reached Pune and bam! there was terrific traffic. I somehow navigated through the Pune streets finally reaching Brotomotiv at around 6:30 PM.

Handing over the car:

As I reached that day after a thrill-filled (this was the first time I ever drove that long) and tiresome drive, Raghav was already there, I met him and we greeted each other, Further Divyas attended me and the team showed great hospitality. While sipping a cup of coffee, I as an excited kid started giving them my requirements, services, and issues like panel gaps. Alam bhai accompanied Divyas and they both assured me that all the issues I pointed out will be sorted. I would say I had such a solace for I roamed around many MAS or AAS but they were to no benefit.

I gave them the keys and headed to my hotel located just behind Brotomotiv (and it was the best decision to have a hotel near the workshop). I took govt. busses from Kharadi pass the next day changing three buses, finally reaching home. By the time I reached, I was Thankful to Cab driver Akash for helping me out on Pune streets.

Discussion and particulars:

At first, I was skeptical about changing the shade of color, but I was assured that within the same color, I could still choose different shades, which is why I went with Lamborghini Blue. But I had to change my mind which I will explain later. Other than that I was offered options on leather cushions and seat covers.

I had also asked them if they could fit the rear wiper, I had purchased the motor, and mounting parts beforehand but stupid me that I forgot them at home, Divyas then suggested me to send them through courier so that they could verify if it can be done (trust me they did more than I had asked them and you will read that soon why).

I also asked (and sort of challenged them) if they can permanently cover the antenna hole (I have no idea why manufacturers put that on one side of A-pillar, it looks odd and I never liked it), Brotomotiv ate this challenge for breakfast. I will share pictures of how it looks now.

Door pillar wraps in matt-black.

Commencement of the work:

And here comes the much-awaited moment, the vehicle was finally lined up for denting work, A social group was created where I would then get all updates, and also used for all other communications and agreements. The bonnet panel had to be changed because the paint was so thick that stripping it off would cost nearly the same as a new panel. Other than that the front windshield frame was rotten completely (poor boy) and the team told me they had to do patchwork.

After the patchwork was completed, the vehicle was then sent for priming.

Meanwhile, Raghav had contacted me telling me they wanted to shoot a video on this project and I was very happy to share with him the story of the vehicle and the reason behind its restoration. By this time I also shipped the wiper parts and they received them on the third day (thanks to Delhivery for doorstep pickup).

Change of Mind:

Brotomotiv had just uploaded a video of an Ecosport painted in BMW's Snapper rocks blue (kudos to the owner as well for selection), and there we go, I started procrastinating. I was confused as hell, and the major question was will the team agree to my request for a change of color. I called Divyas and asked him, Voila, he said we could do it and that the cost would remain the same as for Lambo Blue, so I had nothing to pay extra. I also had projector lamps on my mind, which Brotomotiv tried but unfortunately, the projectors were too large to fit inside and were dropped, but there is a twist and you will see that later in the article.

The Paint:

While my restlessness and excitement was growing, I got my first glimpse of him in his new look. When I showed it to my mother, she said she did not find much difference, then I literally put his old picture and new one, and compared the colors, this color was really looking beautiful (no offence to the old one though). As days passed, all panels were painted, at last as I had asked them to fit the rear wiper, they drilled holes in the tail gate panel finally painting it. Trust me the work is simply a perfection and top-notch. There is no evidence that drills were done explicitly, it was precise cutting. Sigh those experts had their hands!

Other changes and accessories:

I was betting big on projector lamps with running DRL lamps. But as there were challenges to set them up in housing, I had once seen Twobrothers, from Delhi who happen to be customising lamps for almost every car. I checked and contacted Anil Kumar, I asked him for one specific product but also asked him for customisations like going with dotted DRL with running amber lights, and LED projectors, he was very kind and since I had requested him to expedite their work, they shipped it the second day. I informed Brotomotiv that I had ordered lamps and that they would receive them soon. When they got them delivered, Brotomotiv team liked the lamps. My selection and customisations paid off, Thanks to Twobrothers for understanding and their fantastic art on headlamps.

I also added ceramic coating, floor lamination, underbody coating, caliper paint (red), drum paint (gloss black), Sun film on front windshield, Brotomotiv themselves added the rear wiper washer pump to the cart.

They got WagonR's rear wiper fitted as well, which looks stunning.

And we had an issue with the Security module, so had to change it.

I selected Bentley white with Blue leather for seat covers (I know some of you might be thinking if I own an interior cleaning service), and wrapped the steering wheel with black leather stitched in blue thread.

Delivery of the car:

Here's my Boy:

I received the date for delivery, I asked my friend Akshay if he could join me, which he did happily, so we left for Pune on the 13th as the delivery was scheduled for the 14th Thursday. There in Pune, we were accompanied by another friend Shubadeep. We were asked to reach the workshop by 2:30 PM, so in meantime, we roamed around the city's Magarpatta streets trying some food, checking out the stuff. We three then reached Brotomotiv and God, I was astounded to see my boy looking so beautiful posing for some video shots.

Divyas, Ganesh and the team welcomed us, and took us to the office for billing and completing other formalities, meanwhile, I saw Anil's uncle, but I couldn't interact with him. We went down to check the car and observe better, my friend Akshay, a great video shooter took some crazy video shots for Insta, Shubadeep was checking around the car, while I was working with Brotomotiv's video team Harshal and Prateek for giving them my feedback for their video. I met Raghav fortunately as he just arrived, we discussed and had good conversations about their competency, we even shared humour about how other sets of brothers (Twobrothers) were also involved in this project, making it a true #BroGang.

We also presented the Brotomotiv team with our authentic Dharwad sweets called Dharwad Pedhe and it was distributed.

Anxiety after I took the car out:

Pune's traffic is no joke, none of us being localities or even used to its traffic, I was scared to take the car out in city traffic all the way to Magarpatta where we were staying. But as my two cool friends were there, we somehow managed to reach our stay safely.

Drive from Pune to Dharwad:

We had planned that we would leave the next day after delivery (15th Dec) early in the morning, as traffic will be low, so we got up at around 5 AM, freshened up and started close to 6 AM (Lol no discipline). I was a bit nervous but my friend Akshay was there to help me with navigation, we finally reached the Kharadi ghat and made our way out starting in the ghats, and the drive then was filled with thrill and speeds, we stopped in a few locations, people expressed their interest and asked about the work.

My friend Akshay's shot:

The car just handled most manoeuvres with ease. We reached home by 2 PM, and there were neighbors already waiting to take their glimpse off of my boy.

Everyone loved it.

My Testimony:

If you care about your car and have received no concerns from service stations over bodywork, It might be worth driving to Pune because the first thing I observed was the team listens to your issues, queries and addresses them with great care. I as owner had a lot of issues with panel misalignment after a certain accident which made left fender look worse. Apart from that, I had a lot of other accessories too which were not easy to work with, and especially the closure of that antenna hole on the right side. Divyas guided and recommended me any modification with the right proportions of costs and time during process. Procurement of certain parts like a washer tank with two holes was required for rear wiper.

The drill on tailgate panel was done so nicely:

Motor fitted inside the panel (mounting bracket required no modification inside as screw/bolt holes are already available):

Brotomotiv just doesn't do the work, but they usually go the extra mile for each task, like take the underbody coating, they covered the whole vehicle taking extra care.

Here's a glimpse:

The projectors (which were dropped due to misfit) at first I was talking about had another story to it. The Item we had ordered was different from what Brotomotiv received from vendor and it was way more expensive. Yet the team was super kind because the lamps I had selected were not available and they received expensive lamps, but they still said they would charge me no extra amount.

Thanks to Brotomotiv, Twobrothers, Boodmo and all other teams for their help in this beautiful project.

What's next:

As there was a challenge in getting Alto VXI's rear wiper switch assy, Brotomotiv did a temporary wiring and provided minimal switch, but I did a research of my own and noted that Zen Estilo's combination switch has the same bracket as Alto, in fact, it is shared by probably few other cars, so I ordered and kudos to Boodmo for delivering it soon despite its stock issues.

I will need a helping hand in getting this fixed as we have to remove the steering wheel, I will then wire up everything, and if possible I will get fog lamps, lucky that in this combination switch, we have a fog lamp switch in the stick.

I am planning to add an on-top dash infotainment system that I am designing on my own using Raspberry Pi 3B+ (Probably will run OpenAuto pro or Automotive Grade Linux with some kernel development) and Waveshare 7-inch QLED screen, mounted in a custom housing that I 3D printed at home (designs and STL files will be available soon in another blog).

Printer in action:

End product:

With Screen:

I attached back the Honda City's auto-dimming IRVM that I bought from Boodmo. I did my own wiring and anyone interested can let me know, I can send them details or can write a blog. To mount it on the windscreen, I used Permatex IRVM glue. The only part that would be ugly is the bracket may be noticeable from the outside of the windshield as we ain't got no frit.

Here's the image of the IRVM:

IRVM assy and mounting bracket

I am designing the rear AC vent housing and hopefully 3D printing it for seating Dzire's rear AC vent I bought from Boodmo.

I have plans to get alloys (13' probably from HRS Taiwan) for him as many people suggested this will enhance the look, and I anyways decided to get callipers and drum painted for the same reason.

And on a side note, I changed all door pads and dashboard to a little lighter tone found in Alto K10 first gen. Even pillar trims are borrowed from Alto K10. I did this mostly one year ago by ordering parts from Boodmo. Steering is 3 spoke coming from the new Alto (without Airbag).

I have done many other modifications like a custom wiring harness for power windows, security, added door ajar warning with lamp on the instrument cluster. I am happy to share how I did it!

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.