My Golf R journey begins

[torga]

That Sylvania kit is magic! Used it on my old headlights last year and had similar results to yours.

Are Diesel Geek Shifters a thumbs up ?
Been reading about Diesel Geek short shifter and Super Pin. If the reviews are good I will add it to the list. My shifter is.... ok.... but for spirited driving it would be nice to have a shifter that helps you hit the right gear and minimizes movement to do so.

I've got a DG shifter and love it. Many others have the same shifter and they'll love to gush about it if you let them. The only person on this forum that I specifically recall not liking it is our dear Jay. I recall him feeling that the throw was too short and was worried about selecting the wrong gear on track.

I've been meaning to do the Super Pin, but I have to replace my drill first. I've got the rest of their bushings -- the first gear getter and the shifter shaft bushings. So far, it has really tightened everything up and makes for a delightfully notchy shift. I imagine the Super Pin will finally get rid of that last bit of inherent assembly slop.

 

[GIACUser]

That Sylvania kit is magic! Used it on my old headlights last year and had similar results to yours.



I've got a DG shifter and love it. Many others have the same shifter and they'll love to gush about it if you let them. The only person on this forum that I specifically recall not liking it is our dear Jay. I recall him feeling that the throw was too short and was worried about selecting the wrong gear on track.

I've been meaning to do the Super Pin, but I have to replace my drill first. I've got the rest of their bushings -- the first gear getter and the shifter shaft bushings. So far, it has really tightened everything up and makes for a delightfully notchy shift. I imagine the Super Pin will finally get rid of that last bit of inherent assembly slop.

Thanks Torga, just what I wanted to hear, great feedback.

 

[KollinWithaK]

Are Diesel Geek Shifters a thumbs up ?


Been reading about Diesel Geek short shifter and Super Pin. If the reviews are good I will add it to the list. My shifter is.... ok.... but for spirited driving it would be nice to have a shifter that helps you hit the right gear and minimizes movement to do so.

Super pin and fear gear grabber I've heard great things about.

You'll find mixed reviews on the sigma shifter as some think its too aggressive but others love it. I am picking up the pin and first gear grabber myself to go with the Forge short shifter set up I have.

 

[GIACUser]

Trunk Lid Popup Kit installed

Project #1
Upgrade to CarPlay and add a rear camera.

Project #2
Paint correct scratch and rock chips and headlight refinish - done

Project #3
Refinish and Repair the oem wheels.

Project #4
Trunk Lid enhancements
Install remote switch to open hatch
ECS Trunk Lip Popup struts - done

Kit is of course super easy to install. Now I press the key fob and the hatch pops up, Very handy.
Downside - quite a bit of effort required to close hatch, but its worth it.

 

[GIACUser]

Two more projects added after my first spirited drive (braking and suspension)

i took car out for a romp and put it through some big sweepers at full throttle and it was getting a little bouncy. Nothing dangerous but you can feel the 108K miles on the stock shocks. The car could be driven normally just fine as is, but driving it hard, you can feel the age as the shocks are having a difficult time coping with the road undulations at speed. Lucky for me, I have found a very affordable set of coilovers and am picking them up this morning. So I am going to add that to the project list.

Although the brakes are new I believe they are ceramic pads. I prefer something with more bite so I will be swapping them out to Hawk HPS 5.0 all around. Along with the Tyrolsport sliders for the front calipers And as is typical with these front calipers the logo clips need new paint and decals. I think the calipers will clean up fine. I have the R decals in hand and am just waiting for the primer and pads. Going to just stay with stock rotors on the car currently as they are in great condition and it will save money for now. 2 piece rotors will set me back about 1300 or so.

Project #1
Upgrade to CarPlay and add a rear camera.

Project #2
Paint correct scratch and rock chips and headlight refinish - done

Project #3
Refinish and Repair the oem wheels.

Project #4
Trunk Lid enhancements

--------------------

Project #5 (upgrade handling)
Install Mfactory/YCW coilovers and drop the car just a little. And and 034 Motorsport rear sway bar.

Project #6 (upgrade brakes )
Clean up calipers
Repaint spring clips and put new logos on. Strip/Primer/Paint/Decal/Clear
Install Hawk HPS 5.0 brake pads all around
Install Tyrolsport stiffner kit

 

[GIACUser]

New windshield in. Cost was 485.00, took about 45 min. So nice to have replaced the original 108,000+ mile pitted and worn windshield and have a nice new car like clear view. Really a big upgrade in the general driving experience.

Next week the coilovers and the 034 rear swaybar and 034 endlinks get installed. I will ask them to lower the car just a tiny bit, probably 3/4in or so. I don't want to dump it, even though these coilovers would allow me to do so without losing ride quality. To get the best handling I am shooting for what another owner directed me to do on this platform.

Coilovers, rear sway, add camber up front and maintain close to stock ride height to take best advantage of the suspension geometry. This will all get done 2 weeks from now and will greatly improve cornering capability. Right now the car is on stock suspension and it is tired so just freshening that up would make a big difference.

Next month I plan to do the brakes which includes making them look like new and giving them a mild upgrade with more aggressive pads and the Tyrolsport slider kit. I will also have a rebuild kit on hand in case they need new seals etc.

Once the suspension and brakes are done it will be time for canyon runs to enjoy the upgrades.

 

[torga]

What happened to no mods!!

 

[GIACUser]

What happened to no mods!!

What mods, I see no mods. It is just a "refresh" at least that is the line I use on my wife and her response is " yeah right ".

 

[GIACUser]

Projects Update 10/22/2021

Project #1
Upgrade to CarPlay and add a rear camera. (RCD330 and rear camera arrived 10/21)

Project #2
Paint correct scratch and rock chips and headlight refinish - done

Project #3
Refinish and Repair the oem wheels.

Project #4
Trunk Lid enhancements

Project #5 (upgrade handling)
Install Mfactory/YCW coilovers and drop the car just a little. And and 034 Motorsport rear sway bar with 034 end links.

Project #6 (upgrade brakes )
Clean up calipers
Repaint spring clips and put new logos on. Strip/Primer/Paint/Decal/Clear
Install Hawk HPS 5.0 brake pads all around
Install Tyrolsport stiffner kit

Tuesday October 26th the suspension "refresh" will be done by Metric Autosport in Huntington Beach. I picked up the YCW coilovers from a member who bought them on the intro offer and never used them so I got them for a very good price. I figured why just do coilovers when a rear sway added to the package would really make it even more "refreshed".

Follow up article coming after the install and a couple weeks of driving and an alignment.

Pics of the equipment going in.

 

[torga]

It's really cute that they send you a mini camshaft for your keychain. That's quality customer care!

 

[GIACUser]

It's really cute that they send you a mini camshaft for your keychain. That's quality customer care!

View attachment 228644

You get the care when you pay the big bucks. 185.00 for that set. Ha, those 4 inserts do look like a mini camshaft when lined up like that.

 

[GIACUser]

First Response on 50 mile drive home (coilovers, rear sway and endlinks)

Fingers crossed. I am asking for about a 1.2 - 1.5 in drop and there are 7 settings 1 being soft. I am going to set on 3 to start with. Going to Metric Autosport (Brian) in Huntington Beach, this will be my first experience with this shop.

Great shop, would recommend them.

Well I got my drop, started off with all set on 3 and drove home. Good god, waaay too stiff. These may not work for anybody they are so stiff. I am going to put them on their softest setting and see if I can tolerate them (doubt it). Then going to call MFactory and ask why so crazy stiff, this is like smooth track only. If you hit a nickel on the road its like running straight at a curb. If you hit multiple bad spots on the freeway you get rocked and if you also have to try and stop hard while that is going on it is unsafe. So I have a call out to Michael Yip in Taiwan at YCW to see if there is a solution, as I suspect they must have made some adjustments before putting these into production. If no reasonable solution such as softer springs then I will get all new suspension but the car is not going to get driven until I resolve this. Bummer.

Before

After

 

[GIACUser]

Ok, some good news. YCW has agreed to revalve the coilover system at no charge. I do have to remove them and deliver them and it will take around 2 weeks to get it all done but the cost is better than tossing them out. If I do it here I guess it would be a good time to get the brake project done and the new radio and rear view camera installed. That a lot to bite off all at once but I have nothing else to do I guess.

 

[GIACUser]

Projects Update 11-1-2021

Well time to get busy. Car will be down for 2-3 weeks. The YCW coilover folks have agreed to re-valve the coilovers for free (way to stiff). However, I have to remove them and they indicated it will take around 2 weeks once they receive them. The shop doing the work is only about a 45min drive from my house so I can deliver and pick-up. The downside is I have to do things the hard way and do the work of R&R myself.

So the car will be on stands for quite a while. In that time I hope to complete project #1 and #6 and of course #5 (re-install the coilovers)

Project #1
Upgrade to CarPlay and add a rear camera. (RCD330 and rear camera arrived 10/21)

Project #2
Paint correct scratch and rock chips and headlight refinish - done

Project #3
Refinish and Repair the oem wheels. Refinished at the Wheel Shop - done

Project #4
Trunk Lid enhancements

Project #5 (upgrade handling)
Install Mfactory/YCW coilovers and drop the car just a little. And and 034 Motorsport rear sway bar with 034 end links.

Project #6 (upgrade brakes )
Clean up calipers
Repaint spring clips and put new logos on. Strip/Primer/Paint/Decal/Clear
Install Hawk HPS 5.0 brake pads all around
Install Tyrolsport stiffner kit


Going to get started soon, got my canopy up, impact wrenches charged.....

 

[GIACUser]

Update Project #3
Refinish and Repair the oem wheels. (If I can find someone that does a nice job, I make take these in for professional repair and refinish)

I took the car down to the Wheel Shop (that is the name of it) and I am going to have them restore and refinish the wheels. This will be a full sandblast and repaint with clear. They will look new when finished. Cost is 700 I am going to bring in wheels/tires. They dismount, then refinish, then remount and rebalance tires for that price. They also have a touch up service as well that refinishes the affected areas only and that service would have been 95 per wheel.

The wheels are straight but a lot of curbing, a well scored spoke, and lots of nicks. In my effort to get the car looking like a much newer car I decided to put a little extra into the wheels and stay OEM.