My Red Scintillator: Now remapped by Viezu

During my recent search for 16" FR tyre I could feel the pinch of choosing a rather slow moving SKU. The difference in cost is atleast Rs.1500 between fast moving 15" and slow moving 16". Also I had found that the 15" rim costs around 1.3-1.5 k only. So my new tyre changes and overall maintenance costs reduces and also I don't lose much on ride quality. The recent pain of using a lower sized stepney and impossibility of tyre rotation has made me think this way (or I've to buy one 16" rim to be put as stepney).
As @Turbothinghy pointed even I didn't feel any difference in ride quality between a 75 HP and a 90 HP through rough roads. Only difference was that the 75Hp had lower under thigh support and 90 HP has still much lower under thigh support.

So the choice is opened up when one opts for 15" wheels and tyres compared to those of 16". (I'm not a big fan of alloys but not against in owning one that comes as stock. I will not splurge on new sets of alloy. So if not this tyre change next at around 1lac+ on ODO i will choose a 15").

 

@KPR

There is a difference in driving with steel rims and the alloys, budget wise steel rims have always upper hand.Alloys are tention free ride doesn't matters on what kind of road you drive, i do almost 70-80Kmph on pothole roads while others at 30-40Kmph(The ongoing 4 lane work Hyd-Solapur).Two years back, when one of my alloy got damaged(that was an horrible incident) instead of spending hefty amount on one alloy, decided to buy 4 steel rims from FASS, used it for 9 months. Didn't felt much confidence on pothole roads and if you are night rider then you need all things perfect, steel rims are more proned to bends, resulting into air leaks, when i experienced this immediately decided to buy the alloy(under discount offer 5K INR).

You will get a immediate feel on steering when with alloys and without alloys, also when windows rolled up you get a kind of resonance inside the cabin from these steel rims while running, this is just my feelings as my punto came with stock alloys has spoilt me .FIAT alloys are heavy weight compared to steel rims.

 

That experience of yours surely an eyeopener @Ganges. And also the battery drain and star watching were some moments to remember.

 

So, my Scintillator is at FASS (SkyMoto) for the last 2 days including today. Last weekend we did a Pune-Nashik-Pune trip and before that I had got the WA-WB done at Sky to get the left pull arrested. In the trip I still felt the left pull and on top of that I also felt some steering wobbling at higher speeds, that was never felt before. So I gave the car yesterday to Sky and was to get it tomorrow. So, I called the SA (Javed) and asked him to update on it and he said that they havent been able to arrest the left pull as of yet. He said that for 3-4 cars they took 4-5 days to rectify the issue so it might take some more time. So now he said that they will follow the Fiat circular that has proper steps to arrest the issue, but is a lengthy process. God knows why they didnt do it at the first place.

So, do I have any other option in Pune/Mumbai where I can get it rectified? @asimpleson, @kedarbendre ?

@Deepak : I remember you have also faced this left pull sometime back. What was the resolution?

The good part: The Pune-Nashik trip was fabulous and as its filled with 2 lane roads, i had a lot of fun in exploiting the new brutal mid-range which was very helpful in overtakes. Also now cruising even @ speeds like 90 feels brilliant as the higher gears have enough power and require a small tap on the accelerator to move briskly without downshifting. We started for Nashik lazily at 11 and were caught in traffic till Alephata. The FE I got was a meagre 14.8 km/ltr because of such traffic. But for the return we started late at 7 pm from Nashik and it was smoother drive as the villages were already asleep when we crossed them which helped me to achieve good FE figure of 18.6 km/ltr. The roads were largely decent, barring a few rough patches (15-20%). But the main problem was the number of diversions, something similar to the Sholapur-Hyderabad stretch.

 

@Turbothinghy nice bit on your Scintillator's midrange, thus coming to the overall performance..what would be the unofficial 0-100 timings of your car at the moment, and what would be the stock 90HP's timings ? Have you faced any random MID flash messages (error) or any weird behaviour from your engine post remap, leaving aside the strange fluttering sound your experienced a while ago ???

 

@Turbothinghy : in my case camber was adjusted. Usually FIAT suggests below trouble shooting:
1. Swap front tyres (L & R) and check.
2. Swap Rear to front and check.
3. Remove the front tyres and fit in opposite direction. ( not suggested in case of alnac 4G as they are unidirectional).
4. if issue persists, adjust the camber.

Mine worked fine till 5k kms post camber adjustment. I still see a minor left pull. You should worry about left pull only if you have pain in right hand. Until then, dont let FASS experiment on the car

 

My right hand was paining and the left pull was felt even at lower speeds. They have already adjusted the camber, done the tyre swaps and even put other cars' tyres but still it hasnt gone. Lets see . I will ask for a Loaner car in case they take more time.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 12, 2017 ---

I havent done the 0-100 test but me feels that it should be 12.xx. The stock did the sprint in about 14-15 seconds. I havent faced any MID flash messages till now. Regarding the fluttering sound, I guess because of the remap the engine sounds much more refined, almost free from unwanted clatter and maybe thats what I referred to as fluttering.
I havent faced any strange engine behaviour till now. In fact let me tell you one instance. When I was going to Nashik I felt (for the first 20-30 kms) that the mid range had become quite flat as opposed to the stock which has a brilliant pull between 2500-3500 RPMs. I got worried and kept on driving. As I was munching more kms, I realized that as in the city conditions I had started upshifting early post remap due to better lower-end so this interval (2500-3000 RPMs) was not getting visited regularly. But out on the 2-lane highway I was driving differently (upshifting later) and maybe the ECU was un-learning and side by side re-learning my highway driving behaviour. After another 20 or so kms I felt that the engine was pulling a lot better and in sometime the brutal mid-range came into picture and I was happy again The best part was that the 4th and 5th gear had great pull even in sub-2000 RPMs and I could cruise on the 5th gear very comfortably even at lower RPMs amd there wasnt any need to downshift even for overtaking.

 

@Turbothinghy your report is pushing me closer to a remap, 12-something seconds is quite fast, that too with the very short 1st&2nd gears. And compared to the GT TDI, the Punto is the quieter, better riding, better handling, better built, better looking, and a much more character-full car. Thanks for the detailed info

 

I will try to post proper 0-100 timings after the car is back from the workshop.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 13, 2017, Original Post Date: Jan 13, 2017 ---

Latest update from the FASS:

So my Punto is still with the FASS and today I got to know that Sky Moto (FASS) called some fiat engineers to look into the left pulling issue. I was also told that after I gave the car, 3 more cars came having the same issue. For my car they have changed the struts as well and now are getting the WA and WB done the umpteenth time. I hope I get my Scintillator by tomorrow as I need to go to Mumbai on Sunday.

 

@Turbothinghy minor pull don't try to rectify unless you have time. Fiat gives thrust angle settings for WAB, camber caster toe and a proper steering assembly should keep the car straight. Depending on tyre wear problems sometimes magnify.