vrs'burks

I think these are one of the only options other than going full coilover with adjustable top mounts -https://progressiveparts.com/product/superpro-vag-mqb-offset-strut-camber-mounts-front-trc5000 My 245 is running 310 now. . In the wet/damp/greasy its useless to try and get all the power down. . . Dogbone inserts help alot with wheel hop - I have the racingline twin piece version fitted - https://www.racingline.com/mqb-dogbone-insert-engine-mounts

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226099614891?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=4IRGjOU0TEK&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=CZikgsQ0TdC&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY There was also a Vw dealer somewhere in Scotland selling off genuine 18inch pretoria's in the past couple of years. . I remember seeing them when I was on a wheel search

This is my FL mk3 with 18 x 8j et45 Protrack ONE - 225/40/18's PS5's on h&r springs. . The facelift mk3 vRS has a 38mm wider rear track than the preFL - so basically like it's running 19mm spacers each side from the factory. So 18 x 8.5 et45 on a non lowered preFL car will fit fine. . .I've seen 19 x 8.5 et45 on a lowered FL MK3 and it's very tight in the rear arch. One thing I looked out for when changing was the weight of the wheels, alot of aftermarket wheels are actually heavier than the oem equivalent. . The Protrack ONE's as above are 3kg ligher PER corner. .the lighter unsprung mass makes a noticeable difference.

I recently fitted bilstein b8's to my mk3FL . . Difference In performance is night and day. . I upgraded because one of the front oem shocks was shot at 40k miles. . I do have h+r springs fitted hence going for the b8 and not b6. . They are FIRM. . But not over the top firm, unless you drop it down a decent pothole-then they can be quite harsh, obviously this is where the compromise between comfort and performance steps in. . But in my experience upto yet the pros outweigh any cons you might experience. . Where the car used to feel a bit juddey and unsettled due to road condition is much much better now. The way it puts power down is also much improved, probably a combination of less squatting and wheel hop now. If you are looking to upgrade rarb - https://www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk/products/genuine-21-7mm-x-3-6mm-vw-mk7-golf-clubsport-s-rear-anti-roll-bar-upgrade.html This is a nice upgrade while staying quite oem. . I have one on mine, makes a difference for sure but no where near as much as the dampers do.

2008 is is mk2?. . .so wrong section of forum. . They never made a 1.8 vrs? Other than the mk1 octavia vrs. 2010 would be mk2FL Find a friendly MOT'er nod nod wink wink.

Do you mean grille?

The ecs tuning topmounts came with febi-bilstein bearings as a package- https://www.awesomegti.com/shop-by-brand/ecs-tuning/ecs-tuning-upgraded-front-strut-mount-kit-mqb/ When I took them off today I checked the bearings n they felt OK to be honest, I thought it might have just been the higher durometer of the actual top mounts making the noise on the strut shaft. Either way the cost of the ecs mounts can't be justified at all I don't think. . .we live and learn I guess. The new ones are just bilstein (I'm guessing bilstein and febi-bilstein must be a related company in some way?) . . The bearings look the same, but these ones aren't making any noise at all. . The others clicked from the moment it went back on the ground.

The b8's are designed for lowering springs and in turn are slightly shorter. Not done tons of miles yet, but the car feels very "fresh" on its tyres. . .one thing I was worried about was them being too harsh. . Which they are not at all. . But also not standard - if that makes sense. I'll give em a week or so to bed in then off for an alignment check again. Money well spent this time.👌

So I had the dsg box serviced at the end of Nov, just before the car hit 40k. . . I know the intervals got upped to 80k. . But for the cost I see it as 100% worth it in preventative maintenance. Whilst this was done it was picked up on that the front offside shock was leaking slightly. . This meant only one thing. of course they had to be treated to some ceramic coating before going on. Also swapped back to oem top mounts - the ecs tuning ones I'd fitted previously made clicking noises when manoeuvring or going lock to lock and had since day 1. . Now all as quiet as a mouse again.

One thing I've mulled over for well over a year finally happened last month. . exhaust was changed to a fully non-resonated gpf back custom built system. i did loads and loads of research before having this done, and the general consensus to get any kind of noise from the newer gpf equipped cars was remove everything. . . Well I regret it like crazy, outside the car sounds nice, deep but not too loud. . Inside is horrendous, at idle it is genuinely louder inside than it is outside. It's got a very deep drone at "normal" driving rpm's -1800-2200ish. It's even been back and had a box put in just before the rear axle, which has toned it down between 2500-4000rpm, but below 2500 is still horrendously droney, it's really making me dislike driving the car for general driving - if you drive it with a heavy foot it sounds wicked,over runs burbles n all that, but it has ruined day to day life in it. Myself and a friend and going to fit some helmholtz resonators towards the back and see if it helps, if not ill probably have to have the rear section rebuilt with a twin box setup again. This one had been an expencive mistake. 👎

Never posted any pics of the coilpacks once fitted - there was a difference on how the car runs lower down in the rev range cruising around, feels a little more eager and like it possibly had a bit of a flatspot before. . .this might just be down to the new plugs 🤔 Also gave the bay a pre winter tidy up 😎

Diffuser was easy to fit, hardest part was getting the oem one off, yeah its nice and subtle but also doesn't look stock either. The intake hose is now on my mates leon cupra attached to an Apr intake, buttered him up on the sale by offering to fit it haha 😁

I've got the exact same thing lock to lock. . . And it only appeared after they went in. . Its annoying but only does it during slow maneuvering so haven't done anything about it yet 🫣

Am I blind or is the Aerial missing off the roof? 😂 Quite like that roof spoiler, what brand is it?

Aug/Sept 2023. Driving home one evening I go to give the car a full dose of right foot in 2nd and it made some horrible juddering and a lot of turbo recirc noise aswell as throwing up the EPC light, so I limped the car home and looked on here. From what I found I though it could be a sticky turbo actuator, but got it into the garage the next day, doing this also threw on EML. Turned out to be a coil pack had gone down, coincidentally Racingline performance released there "uprated" units the next day. So I got some ordered along with a full set of NGK plugs as the plugs hadn't been done while in my possession. I went on a bit of a spending spree at the same time and ordered some Leyo motorsport paddle extentions. very expencive for what they are, but i couldnt bring myself to have some 3m sticky pad extentions on the car, and these look the part aswell as being really well engineered.

June 2023. Following on from changing the wheels and wanting a touring car type of "vibe". . I got the idea in my head about doing the headlights yellow. . So ordered some film but though I'd try it on the fogs first. . .. ive done vinyl before but never done any wet application,which this called for. . Anyway with the fogs done i decided against doing the full headlights - it's quite a faf and I don't think I'd get the full lights to be neat enough for my liking.

April 2023 turned into an expencive month. . Protrack ONE wheels. 😍 18 x 8j et45 in gloss silver. Paired with Michelin pilot sport 5 (Again) These save just over 3kg per corner vs the oem Geminis 🙌 Got them coated with Carbon collective platinum wheels (Amazing wheel sealant- used it on 4/5 sets now) I went with silver wheels, because they have become one of the least used wheel colours in recent times, I don't like black wheels (they just make your tyres look grey unless you constantly dress them) and i wanted to go with a touring car kinda vibe with the car. . . .Anyway. On the car. . 🤌 Initially I was scared staying 18s and going multi-spoke would make them look too small for the car, but they didn't Imo.

Dec 2022 through to April 2023 the car remained mostly the same, just kept clean and maintained. After having the mapping done obviously the car wants to try and break traction more than it did from factory. So I ordered the Racingline performance twin dog bone inserts to see if it would help (breaking traction wasn't that bad that I had to order this,I'm just a sucker for nice looking car parts - although once fitted it's never to be seen by anyone really) definitely makes a difference, but can be a bit annoying in stop start traffic with it being dsg when the clutch fights the brakes . . It transferes more vibrations into the cabin than standard.

Dec 2022. Something that was always going to be happening with this car was. . .Mapping of course. So during the black Friday sales I bit the bullet and booked it in at Awesome Gti for a Racingline oem+ ecu and tcu map. I decided on going Oem+ long before booking it as these seemed to be the only company having GPF specific maps marketed, and knowing the head software guy is Ben from Shark performance. So Racinglines official figures for the gpf cars was 296bhp. With the intake and few other bits I'd done to the car I was praying it would break the 300bhp barrier. Car rolled 244bhp and 279 ft-lbs in "standard" form - so just bolting on an intake clearly makes no gains. After mapping, 310bhp and 354 ft-lbs, along with the gearbox mapping. . .well yeah it's pretty bloody quick. . Makes my previous mapped Mazda3 Mps feel not as quick as I thought it was. Awesome were great, I was late for my slot due to horrendous traffic and the car was still strapped to the rollers having the finishing touches done 30mins after they officially closed 👍 Literally 2 days after mapping it was time for a 300mile jolly upto Dundee for Christmas, sitting at speed limits where possible and with the car loaded up with 2 adults, a baby and all the gear for 4 days away plus Christmas presents the car returned 47mpg average over the journey. Who needs a diesel. 😬

Sept 2022. So as above I didn't like how the racingline turbo intake pipe fitted, so the search for a different intake setup was on, the obvious choice on the tsi is the racingline r600, but this uses the same intake pipe as the one I didn't like 🫣 Mst options were looked at and priced better than the r600 but still not cheap by any means. I was almost going to go for a ramair jet stream, when someone I follow on Instagram had just swapped there's for an Integrated engineering intake. Never heard of them, so on the net to do some research, American company who didn't seem to have much retail in the UK. But I tracked a uk supplier down, and less than 10 miles from home and with the intake I was after on discount - winner. not as pretty as the racingline r600? But i liked the raw style of way its engineered. Unlike the r600 it also came with the coolant under hose included! And 2 top elbows to suit aftermarket or oem turbo elbows, a optional carbon lid can also be added to this - maybe one day. September also came with some frivolous ebay bidding, and I ended up winning these. Rota pro r in 19x8.5 et45 satin bronze. After looking into the prices for 19inch tyres and debating with myself if I want to possibly make the car ride worse (carting round a 10month baby by now) and knowing these would be closer to the arches than my current set up. . They were sold onto my neighbour for his sons Seat Leon cupra. 😎

July 2022. A rather cheap and nice little upgrade was fitted in the form of a matching foot rest. much better than the standard rubber wedge stuck in the corner. during this time i also picked up all the parts for a pikey r600 intake mod (intake vent delete,panel filter and turbo intake pipe) Once fitted up I didn't like the way the racingline silicone pipe fitted to the standard plastic turbo elbow. So an uprated vagsport turbo elbow was purchased, the racingline intake pipe now fit much better. But sat really high in the engine bay which I didn't like. . .I never got any pics of it fitted and it's days were numbered.

April 2022. Another few months went by with the car looking better, until I inevitably start looking at more parts. Genuine vw golf gti clubsport rear anti roll bar was sourced brand new from darkside developments and fitted to the car along with new rear drop links. Since ownership the car had just been on the tyres it came on, Michelin primacy 3 I believe. . Which were starting to get past their best. Around this time Michelin pilot sport 5 had just come out, so popped to my local tyre place to get a price. . And they already had them in stock. . .AND was included on a Michelin summer offer (buy 4 and get £50 back from michelin) so it worked out at not much more than £100 a corner. Brilliant tyres. Coming out of the backside of winter the car had to be brought back upto summer standards and given a thorough clean (ocd clean by most people's standards)

Jan 2022. So with all the parts gathered up it was time to get them on the car. With the 245 having the wider rear track from factory once the spacers were on and I got the wheels bolted back up I had a moment where I thought "this was a bad idea" because I was convinced it was going to scrub when loaded up, and been my "dad" car was still supposed to be practical. . . Anyway it was FLUSH but never caused any issues, even with 150kg of sand in the boot. 😁 then off for alignment on a local firms clampless alignment rig, very cool bit of kit. And the end result. . 😍. . Again how I think they should look from the factory.

January came along and I had Christmas gift money burning a hole in my pocket so I placed a few orders. St spacers. 15mm around. Ecs tuning uprated front top mounts. Febi-bilstein bearings. And H&R lowering springs. all lined up for "the car im not modifying"

From August- December the car remained pretty much the same other than the addition of a Chameleon windscreen tint in a nice subtle blue/purple. Not too in your face like some of the Chameleon tints I've seen, it's actually really hard to get a photo of its that subtle.