Modernizing My 2008 Greenline Estate, suggestions welcome.

[Truls84]

I forgot to take pictures of the ledlights instaled on the car! I didnt do it the day i finnished the instalations since its so damn dark outside where i live during winter.
They look crooked but they are actually  straight, i guess its the shape of the grill or hood that makes it look this way.

I also instaled a HEKO grille winter cover since i got one for just 25 euro, i tested it on a longer drive and the coolant never gets above 84 degrees C.
It seems the heater works better now, the cabin seem to get hot faster.

Dont look at the dogpoop thats around the shrub behind the car:P
Also, dirty car be dirty, winter is always dirty.

 

I stil have the roof and one rear wheelarch to cover with dynamat, but i have to wait until next month to be able to aford it.

The money i had left this month i splurged on LED H4 and HB4 bulbs as there where a 15% discount on Philips Ultinon Pro9000 H4 and HB4 at he same time as one of my halogen bulbs blew:P

I expect them to arrive next week and il take pictures to compare the halogen to the new leds, this time il borrow a better camera and im gonna remember to lock ISO and shutter.

[Truls84]

Here are some quick pictures of the new Philips LED H4. I have an old Philips bulb for comparison.

 

The new one is much smaler and it doesnt need an external box. The new one does have a fan on it, and on one of the bulbs its so loud that you notice it if the engine is of.


Here are comparison of low beams, Philips LED(right) and and Osram halogen 120%(left)

 

Low beam with led on both sides:

 

High beams, Philips LED on right side and Osram halogen 120% on left side:

 

High beam both sides LED:


Even tho i locked camera to same settings it stil makes the differense seem smaler than it is to the eye.

Maybe it would have been better if i took the pictures outside instead of in the garage, but its narly weather so meh.

I went to the parkinglot of the local supermarket and adjusted the low beams with the tape-on-wall trick and then headed out for a long drive.
After one hour of driving with these ledbulbs i did not get flashed bo oncoming trafic. They light up alot more than the halogens i tried so far and im really happy with them.

[corndog]

Nice project

 

Have you got the bulbs in reflector headlights? Do you know if the ones you bought are supposed to work with reflector housings? I know nighteye ones are bright but don't have the correct beam pattern for reflector.

 

Thank you!

[Truls84]

4 hours ago, corndog said:

Nice project

 

Have you got the bulbs in reflector headlights? Do you know if the ones you bought are supposed to work with reflector housings? I know nighteye ones are bright but don't have the correct beam pattern for reflector.

 

Thank you!

Yes i have reflector headlights. Its not stated that they wil work with reflectors, but the bulbs have that "cup" on them that a halogen has on its 2nd fillament, so if guessed they would work when i ordered them. From the pictures its pretty clear that they maintain OEM lightpatern. The only LED H4's i seen that has those "cup" thingies are the original Osram and Philips ones.

[corndog]

it looks good, i might end up trying the same on my Ibiza, thanks!

 

 

[Truls84]

Been a while since last update, loads have happened both to the car and in life.

Removed the headliner according to WillSmithy instructions, was easy enough to do alone.
Rolled off the original sound/heat insulation and cleaned off the glue with ISO.




Installed dynamat in the roof was also easy, almost no finicky cutting needed to make it fit:


Reinstalled the original sound/heat dampening with some double sided tape made for carpentry.



My landlord had a sheet of the same material in the garage and i helped myself to some so the roof got full coverage:P
Im a thief:(

Edited 9 May, 2021 by Truls84
Accidentaly posted befor i was finnished.

[Truls84]

Finishing touches:

Installed the proper DAB/FM/GPS antenna, it looks so much better than the original and miles better than the "tape-in-window" DAB.




Added dynamat to the coupefilter housing thingie:



Installed a mic to the roof-lining, i found out that there is a mic that can be placed in the coupelight after i done this mod:(


 

[Truls84]

Anyone know a way to plug the holes in the roof where the roofrack is mounted? I really want to remove the racks but i cant leave those holes.

[Truls84]

So i just failed a periodic since the bearing on top of my right front shock was busted. I ordered a pair of new ones to replace them but then i saw that i also had a broken spring and a leaky shock!




Look at that! No wonder the car was pulling to one side all the time, and both the bearing where just rust, no oil left in them and barely any metal to speak off.

So after some back and forth, and reading up on what to order, huge thanks to Carlston and the information he brings, i ended up with Bilstein B6's and new stock springs.


 

look at the thickness of these ******s!




 

Since the bilsteins dont use those botom out thinges i had to adapt soem to get the dust caps to stay in place, i cut the top of em just so they fit on the tops of the bilsteins:


 

 

New and old:

 

 

Looks quite nice when its finnished=)




 

 

Now i have a new periodic in one week, hope i installed it all the right way:S never done something like this before.

[J.R.]

You have just removed the active part of the bumpstop and left the piston and seal exposed.

 

I understand that there was not a lot you could do about it and that Bilstein are selling rubbish if those components cannot be fitted without the butchering, maybe the piston rod is covered with the weight on the car and its difficult to compare them both on the first picture as the spring coil could be hiding that old and new are in fact the same height.

 

I would be very concerned about the springs being able to become coilbound though.

[Truls84]

57 minutes ago, J.R. said:

Spoiler

You have just removed the active part of the bumpstop and left the piston and seal exposed.

 

I understand that there was not a lot you could do about it and that Bilstein are selling rubbish if those components cannot be fitted without the butchering, maybe the piston rod is covered with the weight on the car and its difficult to compare them both on the first picture as the spring coil could be hiding that old and new are in fact the same height.

 

I would be very concerned about the springs being able to become coilbound though.

 

The Bilsteins are said to have internal bump-stops so i just butchered the ones i had to make the dustboots stay in place.

Heres more pictures to compare the old and the new.

 

 

 

The dustcaps do cover the entire piston when the weight is on the car. I also sprayed it down with lanolin(not the piston itself) just since i imagine that's a good thing.

Edited 25 February, 2022 by Truls84
Spelling

[J.R.]

The top mount will give compliance and that schlonger of a piston rod is not going to bend, you will know all about it through your backside if it does go coilbound over speed humps etc.

 

Re the dustshields, Macpherson struts never used to have them, nor bump stops now that I think of it, they didn't last long so the shielding is wise but the struts fitted to Skodas for the last decade have a pitifully short life anyway compared to previous ones, so bad that they created the new mantra of "misting" for leaking.

 

I reckon they will go the distance.

[DieselMonte]

What difference has the addition of all that sound deadening made?

Would you say its worth it?

[AnnoyingPentium]

Backing DM here, wondering if the sound deadening is worth it as it would be rather nice to cut down the racket.

[Truls84]

Im sorry for the late replies to the both of you, i sort of forgot to pay attention to this tread:P  @DieselMonte @AnnoyingPentium

Yes the sound dampening is worth it IMO. I would do it again if the car didn't have it already. Tho i would not go as hard as i have. Half of what i used wil probably be enough and most gain is on the larger flat panels, especially the floor and the bonnet. Thing is if you don't do enough it wont help much and to much is not gonna help more than enough would, sort of.

 

As soon as the winter season is over i wil try to do a comparison if i can find someone with a similar car/engine combo as i have close by. I have a proper DB-meter and i can use my phone for spectrum analysis.

And as a general update on the car, my front brakes are f***ed! Both sides have started to wear the pads crookedly, it seems that there's indents on the hanger where the pads have been resting on it. So it seems the pads wont move on one side and caliper only pushes the top of the pads inward. I'm tempted to just grind down the unevenness and hope for the best, but im also tempted to changes ALL THE PARTS inside the front wheel-wells xD