Serrongetme
New member
I’ve had a MK6 GTI for a while now, but I’ve been too worried about messing with the extended warranty I bought with the car to ever really do anything fun to it. I don’t regret getting the warranty, because it has more than paid for itself, but having it did leave me less than attentive to the world of modding, which I originally bought the car to eventually get into. I have a K&N reusable “performance” filter in my stock intake, and I guess I’ll always consider that the first modification I ever technically made to my performance, but now that I’m ready for a serious modification, my head Is spinning from trying to prioritize. My philosophy for after the warranty ended was going to basically be “if it’s not broken don’t fix it”, essentially meaning I was planing to just wait out my parts and, as they went, I would take the opportunity to replace them with something a little more exciting than stock. My first real chance to follow this process has come and gone, thanks to an unfortunate long weekend road trip situation. I pulled into a parking lot to do something on my phone and that was it. As soon as I was done, I started the car, drove about two feet, and felt my power begin collapsing into rumbling misfires which gave a light show of yellow CEL flashes and an indecisive EPC light which didn’t end up staying on but showed itself all the same. It was some bad coils and plugs. This was the very beginning of a long weekend, I needed my car for plans which I also happened to be partway through a commute for, and there was nothing within a reasonable distance of me except for an actual VW dealership. Naturally they wanted a ridiculous amount of money to get me up and running again. Had this happened at less inopportune of a time, I would have been happy to order some NGK iridium spark plugs and R8 coils or something like that, and I’d officially have progressed toward a faster and better car in that way. Not a big upgrade, sure, but an important one for ecu tuning. These things already kinda go a lot, at least from what I’ve read in forums and heard in conversations, and even going stage I will often kill a coil or two within the first few thousand kilometres, so, in whichever order, both new coils and an ECU upgrade were going to happen within a short time of one another. Neither luck nor common human decency, it seemed, were on my side. The dealership wanted a whopping $130 just to officially diagnose the issue I already knew I had, before they’d be willing wit fix it, then $700 for parts and labour to do so. After tax, that would have been $937.90. That’s in Canadian dollars, in case anyone is wondering. Suffice it to say, they knew they were my only option. When the service advisor told me what the cost would be, my jaw literally dropped. I asked how much the parts alone would be and the quote was just under $400. Ignoring that quote for literally just plugs and coils with no install for a second, I took in the fact that the remaining $300+ of the cost was supposed to have just been the labour charge. If people are actually in the habit of paying “certified technicians” who can’t confirm, nor deny, a single fact about an engine which isn’t throwing a code to tell them where to look, over $300 for the 15 minutes of labour to install coils and plugs in a car, then I’m quitting my life to do that full time. You’ll think I’m nuts, thankfully less so than I would have to be to have paid for installation too, but I bought the parts I needed. It was worth it because I was able to really quickly install them where it sat and then get back on with my plans right away, even if I overpaid just to put stock parts back in it again. Now I’m trying to decide between APR stage I, an APR intake (just need the air box and the rear turbo inlet pipe for my engine), or if I should wait until I’m ready to buy both at the same time. The third option is just in case, if I do stage I, then get the intake, I would have to go back to update the software again to account for the new intake. I don’t actually know if that’s how it works or not though so please help me make my decision by correcting me if I’m wrong. I know that a new intake can call for an ECU reset but that it will eventually adapt to the new airflow on its own if you don’t reset it, given enough kilometres driven. I’m not sure if the ECU will do the same thing, or to the same extent, if I’m stage I. I’m also getting close to needing new brakes and I’m thinking of taking that opportunity to get better brakes. I was looking at the big brake upgrade kits but they are excessively expensive. Are there any suggestions for better-than-stock brake pad or maybe even rotor replacements which are well reviewed but won’t blow a modest modification budget? I’m also thinking about VCDS. If you just bought my car and you were ready to spend between $300 and $700 on a first modification, where would you start? Better coils? A catch can? ECU tune? Intake? None of the above? I should also mention that I’m happy to do the work myself, as long as that’s an option, but a good suggestion is a good suggestion, even if it’s something I’ll have to get done by someone with the proper equipment and/or training. I’m excited to hear what people have to say, because I’m really ready to get my hands dirty and then enjoy the fruit of my labour.
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