allset
Go Kart Champion
REVIEWED BY ALLSET:
THE SHOP:
I do a fair amount of work myself on my car. There are certain things I wouldn't even attempt. Installation of a LSD and a clutch are among them. It was very important to me to find the right shop to do the LSD install, as i've heard horror stories of botched diff jobs. Lately, it seems i’ve had a run of bad luck with shops in my area doing rush jobs on some of my other mods with the final outcome being less than a quality job. That made it even more pressing to find the right one this time.
Enter TyrolSport (pronounced TEE-ROL). I contacted the owner/operator Mike Pancheri by email about 2 months before I planned to do the work. I explained what I was looking to do and right off the bat he laid out a plan that would save me money and time. Mike was straight forward with all the pricing and gave me all the numbers I requested for the entire job in that first email reply. There was none of that "well this is our labor rate but you never know what can come up..." nonsense you sometimes get at shops. The work I wanted done that day was installation of the Peloquin LSD, SB Stage 2 clutch disc, Turbo Outlet Pipe and replacement of the infamous squealing Throw Out Bearing with the "F" revision. (Which, by the way, has not made a sound yet but that’s on my other thread). The price I was quoted in that first email for the biggest part of the job, LSD & clutch labor, was the price I paid 2 months later.
Following that first correspondence, I sent Mike many other emails over the next 6 weeks with all kinds of questions. Every email was responded to if not within a half hour then later that day with all my questions and concerns addressed. When I was having trouble ordering some bolts from an inept VW parts guy, Mike told me he would get them to the shop in time for the work.
The morning of the work at TyrolSport I discovered that the last shop that rotated my tires never replaced my wheel lock key in the trunk. I was freaking out because I was convinced that at least the driver side wheel needed to come off for this work. For some reason the VW "oem" installed stock wheel locks were not oem so I couldnt just run to VW. So, i'm standing there thinking now after all this prep, taking the day off from work, the install either can’t be done today or would be seriously delayed and over budget. Mike saw my anxiety, stepped in and said "don’t worry, we will figure it out, ill call you if its a problem". And they figured it out, it got done.
The shop itself is very clean; long and narrow as are many buildings in the NYC area. As I was waiting I looked in the back and up on 3-4 different lifts were 3 nicely modded MK4's and I think another MK6. Although TyrolSport does all kinds of euro's it was nice to see a bunch of GTI's in the shop.
I guess I don’t need to mention that Mike is himself a Euro enthusiast and has made many trips to Northern Italy (Tyrol Region) for that reason. You can check out the shops crew and project cars on the website. http://www.tyrolsport.com
Overall, TyrolSport is a professional outfit that "does it all" with an experienced owner and crew who obviously take great pride in their work... our cars. What particularly stood out was their attention to detail from the first email until I was handed back my keys. I will be returning in the spring for more work, without question. I highly recommend them for any job, big or small.
And its not just my impression, see here for customer recommendations: https://www.tyrolsport.com/index.php?pcsid=e7ffc310ec0c7be34eb1a00d389f7abb&p=page&page_id=customer_reccomendations
THE LSD:
http://peloquins.com/
I spent many hours researching the right LSD. Hours of surfing, calls and emails. I’m sure many of you know what i'm talking about. I finally settled on Peloquin's LSD. This decision was based on its track record, other people’s experiences but largely b/c I liked the fact I was able to speak with the guy who designed and built it, Gary Peloquin. It was appealing to me that he cuts his own gears, assembles and oversees the operation. It felt good to support an American based operation in addition to knowing i’m getting a quality product.
My endgame with this GTI is K04 and I wouldn’t even consider going K04 without an LSD. Right now at APR Stage 2 my wheels spin like mad in 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Coming out of turns and cornering is downright embarrassing. The spin is bad on dry roads, frightening in the rain and dangerous in the snow even when i’m paying attention and feathering the throttle to prevent it.
All of that for the most part is now just a bad memory, what a difference. The wheel spin from a level, hard launch is almost completely gone; I say almost because there is some spin at the top of 1st but I currently have the stock Conti's on which are very low on tred. I’m confident a good set of summer tires will fix that. Since the LSD install, it bites into turns and corners and shoots you right out with no spinning inside wheel. On wet roads it is also a big improvement, it doesn’t spin when you accelerate from a stoplight during normal driving. Same thing with turns on wet pavement, I have much more confidence in my traction ability. There has been no snow yet in the NYC area, which is odd, so I can’t speak to that yet but I assume it will only improve traction on hills.
I’m still experimenting with this LSD and have to figure out the best settings thru vag com for all of the electronic stability programs. But Peloquin's LSD is awesome thus far and I certainly recommend it. I can’t wait to have it perform with APR K04.
THE PICS:
OEM Clutch Kit waiting for a new disc
O2Q also waiting patiently
Peloquin LSD, Bearings, Bolts
Peloquin LSD Close-up
Flip Side
Drilling out the OEM diff to remove ring gear
Swapping the ring gear onto the Peloquin LSD
O2Q Cracked open
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