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My Maruti XL6 upgrades: Headlights, horns, tyres & more

10th March 2022, 12:43 by Rahul Nagaraj

Even updated the infotainment unit, which now runs smoothly and feels more intuitive.

BHPian MadTiger recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

It’s been a while since I have updated this thread. Quite a few turns of events have happened. I will divide the post into two sections: a) upgrades b) warranty claims

Upgrades: Let there be light!

One of the major drawbacks of XL6 is the headlights! I miss halogen, yes! I am old school. Nothing beats it period. I was even ready for a swap with Ertiga if they were a direct fit, unfortunately, they were not. I have been following Shashi and was waiting for him to come up with a worthy upgrade that would be worth it.

Today I am so excited like a small child getting candy. This upgrade was so satisfying that the outcome just blew my mind. The only downside is the temptation to keep them on all the time during night drives. But these days I try to restrict myself and use the OE headlamps alone and use them on a need basis.

So I went with Valeo fog lamp housing and Osram LED’s and the combination beats OE fogs black and blue. The spread is almost 180 degrees and gives immense confidence to drive triple digits at night when needed. Extremely happy with this setup OE headlamps and upgraded fogs has eliminated lack of visibility and has increased tremendous confidence.

The clear lens looks spectacular.

Horns: Can we get a bit louder?

The OE horns were just Ok. Definitely lacked the respect on road, often XL6 was let go as the bike. Even though I wasn’t too keen on fiddling with the front grill, leos persistent push on the upgrade was enough to get this done. Had to struggle with the mounts but finally was able to get it done. Definitely Snow White stands out in traffic, a tap on horns is enough to get attention. The pair of Hella does a decent job.

Android Auto? It was a pain in the hind part with AA failing every time. Freezing maps, audio playing thru phone, non-responsive HU and the list goes on.

But finally, the new update for the HU has put most worries to the bay. The first thing I had tested was to check if music resumes in HU instead of the phone while finishing a call, and oh boy yes it plays on the HU, it was such a relief that Maruti addressed this after almost a year of owning the car, now I can take calls and continue listening to music after finishing the call.

Warranty claim: Major tire wear on the rear wheels.

I do a religious rotation of tires every 5k km. However, I have been noticing that the tires are wearing on the outer shoulders more. It took time for me to realize that this is happening more on the rear wheels than on the front. Shashi did update this thread with a possible issue with the rear axle that will be replaced under warranty if found defective.

So I got my vehicle checked in Kolkata MASS, initially, they had no clue what I was talking about but later on, after explaining they acknowledged the issue, Thorough inspection and measurements were taken. The report was sent to Maruti for initial approval for part replacement, Maruti did approve the replacement of axle under warranty. All tire tread was measured for unusual wear. A detailed report was sent to Maruti for final approval of part replacement.

Also approached the WM and explained about my car tires prematurely wearing out and if a warranty will be provided on them. Initially, they said they cannot do anything about the tire wear or any warranty claim can be approved. So I reached out to TSM and explained the situation, he took some time and got back to me with good news, two tires were approved to be replaced under goodwill warranty, they were replaced on a pro-rata basis.

Also, the suspension was thoroughly checked and the report came normal for all parameters.

ODO has almost reached 18k km, after getting the software update for lithium-ion charging the mileage has shot up substantially, easily breaching 18kmpl. Was pleasantly surprised with the results that a firmware update can do.