Projekt Rinzler

New wheels arrived! Reminding myself to take a photo stacked on top of my stockers. So much wide.

Gonna put them on in the morning, make sure they fit good, then go wear off the curing layer, get some photos. The PF01 are quality. Look good.

Got the new track wheels put on this morning to check fitment and get ready for my next track day coming up soon. Enkei PF01 17x8 wrapped in Bridgestone Potenza RE-11a 245/40R17. The wideness! These are like almost an inch (2 cm) wider than the 225's I was running.









While I had the Enkei Raijin's off I cleaned the insides which were caked with brake dust. Wiped them down, applied wheel wax, buffed them up, and stored them in those handy Tire Rack tire totes with the optional felt layer to keep the wheels from scratching.

The felt things kind of suck in terms of the straps to hold them on... otherwise they do the job. Not sure any better than the cardboard discs that came with the wheels, though, for the price. The totes, however, are great.

More of a pain in the ass than I thought to get these on -- the centering rings were stuck to the hub with some rust since I failed to use anti-seize as TR recommends in the install guide when I first installed them. Do this! I had to get in there with a knife and standard head screwdriver and pry them off. They got somewhat mangled and two chipped in the process, so I'll have to get Tire Rack to sell me a new set. I seem to have lost one of my Raijin center caps too, probably at auto-x last weekend, so I'll have to get a replacement for that too.

This time I *did* apply some anti-seize around the hub so hopefully these new wheel centering rings don't get fused to the hub.

I also ordered a set of jack pads from ECS Tuning since I realized I have a WALK on there now and I really HATE putting a jackstand under those control arm bushings, I don't want to crack them. Next time I jack the car, it will be with the ECS jack pads and place the jackstands under the front and back jack points as VW intended.

The wheels fit pretty well. There's TONS of caliper and rotor clearance -- a BBK will be no problem. There's about 5mm clearance from the back of the wheel to the strut. I can get the end of my pinky in there, that's about it. Otherwise they seem clear, even on the DG springs, at both left and right full lock. Photo shows one full lock.

I might do the fender screw mod anyway since I don't want to scrape the screw under compression in a turn at the track.

Went for a drive and they feel good. A little noisier, but not bad. I wanted
them as track only wheels, but I'll keep them on for a while and see how they feel for a bit. I don't commute far, so the wear should stay low.

Happy with these! Thanks to Sonny and Tire Rack for the help with all my questions.

Car looks awesome with the new wheels!

Thanks! It will look more awesome with a wash and some better lighting.

Been driving the new wheels around and it feels good.

I'm worried about that fender screw in compression on turns at the track. Mentioned to my racing buddy who told me it WILL scrape on some turns and best to get rid of it. I'll look into that this weekend.

Just got some jack pads to make my life easier:

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/Euro_Spec_Gti_Lip/ES240951/ES251835/

I'll take some pics and do a review when I get some time to play. No more putting jack stands under my WALK.

Thinking through some new items assuming I want to keep tracking the GTI a couple more years.

APR OPS V2
Stoptech 328mm ST40 BBK
APR DSG tune

I thought I was done with this car, but I'm getting to the track more and well, the cars depreciating quickly so I'm less scared to track it.

I think the DSG tune is gravy, I only had it shift on me a couple times I didn't want, so I can live with it as is.

As I am getting faster and getting into stickier tires I am worrying about oil starvation, so I think OPS might be a wise Investment.

Brakes are the weakest link now, especially with the K04 power. I can hit almost 120 on the straights at Thunderhill and was doing even more at Laguna and the braking is hard coming down from that. I can probably continue to make the stocks work by adding ducting, maybe just a rotor upgrade like SPM. It would be nice to make pads easier to swap though. Track pads are in my future.

Life got complicated with surgery and not driving for a while, so no updates in a bit. Had to cancel all my track days and autocross for the year and lived with some problematic APR K04 3.0 software until I could FINALLY get the 3.1 fix for it.

OMG it's so much better! 3.1 fixes all the 2nd gear lameness and the car feels like a Rottweiler pulling on the leash again and not an old basset hound. Got the new plugs that APR recommends put in an well. The old ones had some miles on them, so just as well.

I also got the APR DSG tune at the same time. I have been trying out D mode for the first time in forever and... it's functional! It's much more in tune with the K04 now, not overshifting, and it will run and downshift very quickly if you get on it to squirt into traffic. Very happy with this! I haven't tried S mode much, but it seems to be a bit more aggressive version on D. It acts more like me in M mode, shifting between 3 and 4K, sometimes going higher when I get on it. I'll have to try it for real sometime.

M is definitely snappier now as well, and the 2->1 changes seem smoother. I didn't expect a lot here, and most of the changes seem to be when you're on it, it shifts very quickly. I won't be able to track the car for some time now, so I can't really give it a solid test yet.

Anyway, the car feels alive again, and I am pleased with the new APR 3.1 K04 tune and the DSG tune. I can let my wife drive in D now and not cringe at how horrible the stock DSG tune plays with the K04. Hell, I might even use D a little more around town since it shifts kind of how I shift in M mode around town anyway, now!

On the plate:

o I got 32K now, considering getting the DSG service done now, a little early, since I have tracked this car a bit.

o Shocks seem to be finally getting a little loose from the stiffening and bump roads around here, I think I might need to look into the Koni yellow upgrade I have been waiting on.

Awesome build man very inspiring. I could read builds for days. Wish I had 10k to blow and just go all out k04+suspension mods... Maybe next year :thumbup:

12bluemk6 said:

Awesome build man very inspiring. I could read builds for days. Wish I had 10k to blow and just go all out k04+suspension mods... Maybe next year :thumbup:

Click to expand...

Thanks! Yeah I wonder as the car ages how I will feel about all the mods. This is gonna be my DD for a while, so.

I'm damn happy with it right now though!

Aries Pope said:

Thanks! Yeah I wonder as the car ages how I will feel about all the mods. This is gonna be my DD for a while, so.

I'm damn happy with it right now though!

Click to expand...

Hey Aries Pope

You thread is inspiring me to mod my GTI lol.

I love your rims, I have noticed some people complaining about the paint chipping while driving etc, have you noticed any issues with this?

Cheers
Druski

Druski said:

Hey Aries Pope

You thread is inspiring me to mod my GTI lol.

I love your rims, I have noticed some people complaining about the paint chipping while driving etc, have you noticed any issues with this?

Cheers
Druski

Click to expand...

Thanks!

The Enkei Raijins?

I haven't noticed a problem with chips, though I also don't drive in dirt ever and as I recall people with paint chipping drove it gravel? That said, I think there's one or two little small chips ones here and there near the bolts (point sticking farthest out), which might have been caused by wheel changes or a flying rock (I have a chip in my windshield from one). You do have to be careful when pulling wheels/torquing wheel bolts.

There's a little curb on them, but that's kind of par for the course after a couple years of city use. One bad rash was a valet (I was pissed), another my wife, and I managed to rub a curb myself twice trying to wedge into very night parking spots (parking around here sucks). It doesn't look THAT bad though, you gotta get up close to see it. Overall I am very happy with these wheels.

Enkei makes high-quality wheels for not that much cash (compared to say, BBS).

Last update was quite a while back. I've been busy with other things, including getting a 1999 Miata for track duty.

Meanwhile, a few new items on the GTI since the OEM shocks were finally starting to go at 40,000 miles, given all the stiffening and DG springs I guess. Plus my rotors were getting ugly. Decided against the BBK because I don't track this car any more, but couldn't resist the slotted rotors from Rock Auto for a deal.

o Bilstein Sport Dampers: B8
o 034 Density Strut Mounts
o 034 Sway Bar End Links F&R
o StopTech Slotted Rotors


Happy with all of it. The car feels much more planted with the Bilsteins and DG springs. Slightly less compliant than the OEM, but not too harsh. Definitely planted. I think this is a good choice for the DG springs and a DD that gets occasional autocross and track time.