MK5 Golf GTI
All Things Mk5 => Mk5 General Area => Topic started by: davoaj on December 29, 2009, 05:45:48 pm
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Evening all
It's been a while since I've been online, had a lot going on in the past few months. But now my attention has turned towards my plans for the GTi in the new year.
My car is a 56 plate standard GTi which I've had since June 2008 and has now done 28k.
The list is as follows:
Revo Stage 1
VW Racing rear exhaust/Milltek
VW Racing panel filter
VW Racing pads
In the long run I'd also like to add a few other things, including VWR LSD maybe, some R32 rear lights and an RNS 510.
In the meantime though I'd appreciate any comments people might have in relation to whether I'd be better off with the VWR exhaust or a Milltek and also the likely fitting cost of the VWR as I'd have to factor in travelling down to MK from the northwest, whereas if I went with the Milltek I could just get it done at Awesome GTi.
Essentially what I want is something very understated but has quite the turn of pace. Plan on keeping the car for a long time, will be a second car in a few years. Very unlikely that it will ever be on a track but will be over to europe quite a bit on road trips.
Any advice or comments would be appreciated.
Cheers
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If your just getting the cat-back, you could easily fit that yourself. :happy2:
And i also believe that Greenouse has some of those very same pads for sale.
There you go i have saved you hundreds already. :star:
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Good work top cat! Where do i send your commission to?? :wink:
As for the exhaust, yeah it would just be the cat back but not sure how confident I'd be doing it myself. Having said that, I know a few people who could probably sort it for me.
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i think milltek make the exhaust for vwr so the systems wont be far apart any way :happy2:
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dont just look at mltek though.
try looking into
pipewerx
blueflame
piper
they are all of equal quality, and i thikn they under cut the miltek as well
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Cheers guys, I'd seen a few people mentioning the blueflame on another thread the other day. I'll have a look.
Got a serisouly itchy trigger finger on this now! Going to wait to see where I am on January pay day and then get started. I saw one of the guys is getting soem recon'd RNS510's in January as well at a good price so am planning on taking advantage of that if my bank balance is in agreement!
Just had a quick look on the blueflame site, they seem slightly more expensive than milltek and vwr. I'm only planning on getting a cat back, maybe for TBE they'd be a bit cheaper??
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i think milltek make the exhaust for vwr so the systems wont be far apart any way :happy2:
....Indeed they do. Milltek are one of the VW Racing Cup series official sponsors.
Of the listed alternatives to a Milltek, I'd look at the Blueflame (that's to say if I wasn't such a Milltek fanboy!).
If you plan to keep the car awhile, a Quaife diff is an awesome mod and greatly underrated (probably due to cost and not being able to sell on later).
Planning mods really depends what you want from your car in the longer term. Just road use? Occasional track days? How hard you drive when the circumstances are safe, what you are prepared to spend (if family commitments?) etc etc.
Try and think ahead as far as possible :happy2:
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Thanks RR.
Car is unlikely to see any track action, at least not for the next few years anyway. Therefore want to get a good balance to get a nicely sorted road set up. I'd looked at the lsd on VWR's site, would be very tempted in the long run to go for that.
I drive it pretty hard when out for fun but if I'm just out with the Mrs, who also drives it as we're a one car household at the moment, then I just like to make steady progress :innocent:
As for the exhaust, as sad as it is the fact that vwr have the r logo etched on to the tailpipes is a major draw on the basis that whichever exhaust I opt for would do more than a good job with a stage 1 revo.
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^^^^
Be very careful, davo - It's a very slippery slope - Even after 3 years of ownership, in 2008 I said I'd never do any track days.. In 2009 I went to the Nurburgring twice and did a track day at Spa, and am now planning more for 2010.
But a fast and well handling road car is a great joy and makes the GTI an even better allrounder.
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You're probably right RR, I don't want to compromise the day to day drive of the car though so ideally want to keep things subtle.
All stems from a mate of mine who is S3 shopping at the moment, so I have some serious new car envy! I've scoured the internet and without spending £30k there is simply nothing out there that appeals to me as an alternative to the GTI, which I've been very happy with for 18 months.
Therefore the logical solution is to improve what I have and make it feel a bit more special! Already given it a very throrough clean this week so it's spotless!
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^^^^
I'm exactly the same as you are in this respect, davo - I want the sparkle of extra performance etc but not at the expense of driveability or reliability.
We are giving our chariots some TLC!
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Whilst you're about Robin - I believe VWR are doing bolt in rear and 6 point cages for the MKV now, can you find out any details?
There's no pics/prices on the website.
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one of the factors that led me from my ed30 to the S3 was traction on the ed30 , mine was nt the most powerful ed 30 by quite away but in the wet the car was unusable unless you drove it like a micra SO... i would put the quaiffe diff near the top of your list, it would have been my next mod on the golf followed by S3 brakes S3 intercooler ........ so i just got the S3 !!!!
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Whilst you're about Robin - I believe VWR are doing bolt in rear and 6 point cages for the MKV now, can you find out any details?
There's no pics/prices on the website.
....I'm not up there again until after the Autosport show mid January. Give Matt (Walker) a call next week 01908 210088 - He's very helpful when you can get hold of him. You'll get a better understanding of what's available direct than through me.
HTH
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The diff is something I'm considering, need to crack the penny jar out for that one though!! I would imagine that if I went with VWR, the fitting would be as much, if not more than the cost of the diff.
RR if you don't mind me asking, how much did your quaiffe set you back including fitting?
I do like the S3, but I've always been a Golf fan so until it's M3 time or something like that then I'll be in the GTi.
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The diff is something I'm considering, need to crack the penny jar out for that one though!! I would imagine that if I went with VWR, the fitting would be as much, if not more than the cost of the diff.
RR if you don't mind me asking, how much did your quaiffe set you back including fitting?
....I had my Quaife done by VWR in 2008 so prices may have changed but no, it didn't cost an arm and leg for VWR's labour.
The DSG version costs more than the manual Quaife. Budget £1,500 incl everything for DSG and about £1,100 for manual, but it's best to contact VWR to ask prices.
Hurdy's friends, Stattlers ooop nawth, are also capable - Installing an ATB Quaife to a DSG box is not a job for any old mechanic to tackle.
I wrote a review here : - http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=651.0
There's also a new diff on the horizon from Wavetrac.
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Cheers RR.
Mine is a manual and I am indeed up north, although don't mind a little road trip to get things done properly.
I've had a look at your write up, sounds good. I'm aiming to get the remap, exhuast and a few other little bits done and then maybe get the quaiffe late summer/early autumn.
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Diffs have their downsides - they're excellent, but as they remedy one problem they can introduce others. I wouldn't call it a deal breaker by any stretch, but they're not the answer to every prayer.
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what problems are we talking about then. More torque steer??
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That 'searching' sensation as grip moves from side to side and power understeer in the wet where it jumps a metre off the apex.
Also, suddenly finding a load of grip when it is going very, very wrong can bite. A smash of a friend of mine last summer was 99% down to the diff - he lost the back, it bit on oppo with foot down to correct and it caught grip speared him into the barrier. A normal FWD wouldn't have done what it did.
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That 'searching' sensation as grip moves from side to side and power understeer in the wet where it jumps a metre off the apex.
Also, suddenly finding a load of grip when it is going very, very wrong can bite. A smash of a friend of mine last summer was 99% down to the diff - he lost the back, it bit on oppo with foot down to correct and it caught grip speared him into the barrier. A normal FWD wouldn't have done what it did.
....Err? Are you talking about an ATB Quaife diff? I suppose if you were driving so that things were "going very very wrong" in the first place then it's not going to save you, but I've found it's been a great help whenever it has (gently but firmly) come into action.
Lose control of a quattro equipped car and it's invariably a biggie.
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As Robin posts, be careful on who you trust with the fitting. Perhaps get in touch with Quiafe and see who are their prefered dealers/fitters.
:happy2:
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That 'searching' sensation as grip moves from side to side and power understeer in the wet where it jumps a metre off the apex.
Also, suddenly finding a load of grip when it is going very, very wrong can bite. A smash of a friend of mine last summer was 99% down to the diff - he lost the back, it bit on oppo with foot down to correct and it caught grip speared him into the barrier. A normal FWD wouldn't have done what it did.
....Err? Are you talking about an ATB Quaife diff? I suppose if you were driving so that things were "going very very wrong" in the first place then it's not going to save you, but I've found it's been a great help whenever it has (gently but firmly) come into action.
Lose control of a quattro equipped car and it's invariably a biggie.
Yes, a Quaife ATB.
He was crashing anyway, the diff just made for an unusual surprise. He was doing a right hander, lost the back and then as it snapped and got grip it punted him 90 degrees over to the left bonnet first into the barrier. The natural path would have been to keep sliding and send it sideways in, hopefully with a bit more speed scrubbed off.
Anyone can get it wrong though, I've seen a car put on its roof at less than 20mph.
As for the cons I mentioned, fair enough nobody with any sense goes hooning in the rain on the roads - so it jumping into a hedge half way around a corner is highly unlikely, but a wet track day and a diff'd car won't be as progressive as a non.
I'm not running them down, I want a Quaife myself, but you have to make people aware of some of the quirks too, it's not all joy. I wouldn't send my missus out on a rainy day in a diff'd car without showing her what it'll do if you provoke it first. She's a good driver, but having something 'new' happen that might frighten her wouldn't be right.
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^^^^
Good to know, tony_d. I'm thinking that you must drive much much harder than I do, though I did do a continuous 15 laps in the wet at Spa with a very encouraging instructor in my passenger seat and actioned the Quaife lots of times without issues. ESP was off too.
Bottom line is that the Quaife is just another helpful mod which adds to the package. The trick is not to drive on the limit, whether road or track unless you are a professional racing driver competing in a race. IMO.
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I think the key is being prepared. If you know what can happen and how the car will react when it does, then you can play at the limit safe in that knowledge.
Wet track days are under rated, I think they teach you much more about smooth control than a dry one.
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I think the key is being prepared. If you know what can happen and how the car will react when it does, then you can play at the limit safe in that knowledge.
Wet track days are under rated, I think they teach you much more about smooth control than a dry one.
+1 - a man talking sense :happy2:
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agree with that, wet track days make me try to do the lap text book style, but on perfect days i seem to try and push the car that little bit more, sometinmes getting it ragged.
I know a couple guys wth diffs that have come standard in thier cars, (mk1 Focus RS and meganneR26) they have all commented on it being good, but needing to change their previous driving style quite alot