My name is Stephen. I am a car enthusiast and I currently own a 2010 model MKVI Golf R.
This is a journal I have decided to create to document the changes and modifications which will be done to my car throughout the various stages of its life.
I have a vision of what my Golf R will look like after it's complete and hopefully with this journal, it will show a step by step process of achieving that goal.
As you may recall from my previous post, I decided to delete the rear wiper and plug the hole using a glass grommet which I had purchased from GeCleant. After paying $40.00 for it, it didn't fit even though it guaranteed perfect fitment so I looked for an alternative. I had temporarily fitted a rubber grommet that I bought from Clark Rubber thanks to Ray's suggestion and it was a perfect fit. However, the only gripe I had with the grommet was that if you pushed the grommet hard enough, it could pop out and you could push it into the dark crevices of the boot trim (which is a bitch to get off). Even if you had applied some sort of silicone or super glue to make it stay in place, you could still push it in with enough force. Of course, you hope that no one does but then again you also hope no one keys your car. So therefore, I decided to use the OEM Honda metal wiper plug instead that Justin had used previously on his GTI. These plugs fit most Honda cars that came with a rear wiper from 1989-2005, which means it includes almost all the versions of Civics, Preludes and Integras, as well as CRX's and CR-V's. I was going to buy the plug from JDMYard but after a quick look on eBay, I found someone selling not only the OEM Honda rear wiper plug, but also the OEM components which would be needed to properly plug and seal the hole left by the rear wiper. After paying $22.00 including shipping to Australia from the US, and waiting approximately 1 week, this is what arrived.
OEM Honda metal plug, the rubber grommet, rubber spacer and the 10mm M6 bolt.
OEM Honda Metal Plug : 90301-SR3-000
OEM Honda rubber grommet : 90109-SR3-000
OEM Honda rubber spacer : 90105-SR3-000
OEM Honda 10mm M6 bolt : 93402-0601200
I thought that since the plug came with the components already, I wouldn't need to go and buy a spacer or stem top cap. At the end of the day though, the other three components did not fit as the hole left by the rear wiper is bigger than the rubber grommet so I couldn't utilise them. So, using Justin's DIY guide as shown here, I went on eBay again and bought a carbon fibre stem top cap and spacer made for a mountain bike by a company called OMNI. $20.00 and another week and a half later, it arrived today. Since it didn't come with the bolt and the 10mm M6 bolt from Honda was too short, I had to drop by Bunnings to buy a longer M6 bolt. I bought a 15mm and a 25mm bolt just in case the 15mm was too short. I also bought some rubber washers from Clark Rubber and cut them to fit.
OMNI carbon fibre stem top cap.
OMNI carbon fibre spacer. It came with a 5mm, 10mm and 15mm spacer.
I used the 15mm one for my application.
Various lengths of M6 bolts. 15mm, 25mm and 30mm. I ended up using the 25mm bolt.
Installing the plug wasn't too difficult as I just followed the DIY Justin had written. It was all a pretty straight forward install and because I kept the plastic boot lid trim off from the DIY day, it made the job easier and quicker too. Because the shape of the bolt head was a hexagon and it didnt sit flush with the stem top cap, I had to use a socket wrench and a 10mm socket to make sure it threaded into the metal plug nicely and stayed tight. You have to hold and press down hard on the metal grommet when threading in the bolt, otherwise when you try and screw the bolt in clockwise to tighten it, the metal plug will move also, thus a bit of pressure is needed to make sure the plug stays in place as you are threading it in. Apart from that, the install was a success.
Socket wrench with 10mm socket to thread the bolt into the metal plug to make sure the plug stays firm and tight.
Result. You can just see the black rubber washer being pushed against the windshield by the spacer.
Installed!
Nice, clean and no leaks!
Pretty happy with how it looks now and finally, the rear boot lid trim can go back on! I liked the size of the Clark Rubber grommet though, it was nice and small. The OEM Honda one is a little bigger but having said that, it's made from metal, there's no leaks, and personally I do think it looks good.
There are a few more aesthetic mods I would like to do before I can say I'm happy with it (e.g gloss black roof, new wheels, subtle body modifications, etc) but slowly but surely it's getting there. I think personally I'll hold off on the power mods for as long as I can until the guys in the US get their Golf R's in January/February 2012 as from that point forward we can expect a lot of parts becoming available for the Golf R from the good old US of A. Performance wise, the car has a GIAC Stage 1 tune with a VW Racing cold air intake at the moment, but I will be adding a front mount intercooler, high pressure fuel pump, discharge pipes, actuator and a full turboback exhaust later on too. Will probably opt for a custom ECU reflash tune once the power mods are finished.
When you decide to purchase a new car from a dealership, you deal with your salesperson (usually a male) to work out what car you want, what options you would like to have included with your car, what colour, haggle on the price, etc. Once both parties have reached a mutual agreement, the dealership then try and "upsell" by offering you some additional extras and introduce a new person to explain the products in more detail. Now, the person who tries and upsell these products is usually a female, and most of the time they aren't bad to look at. Eye candy. In fact, I'd say some could actually pass for models. They are usually a lot slimmer, their dress is a few sizes too small with boobs as fake as a hookers smile and are usually more attractive than that girl at reception taking phone calls. But beware. If a great looking girl with massive tits comes to sit down while buying a new car, get up and walk away. She's trying to sell you something you dont need. These girls are commonly referred to in the industry as "Ming Moles". Their job is to primarily target the male dominated market, selling additional extras on top of the sale of the vehicle such as paint/fabric protection, rust protection, UV protection, tints, gadgets and so forth - usually at a much higher price that what is available on the market. The term is a combination of two words : "ming" being the original brand of car protection products with the same name, and "mole", a derogatory Australian term associated with females of poor social conduct, or questionable sexual promiscuity. Sure, it's not a nice term but their job is to sucker in new car buyers to pay extra for this stuff and all they're interested in is their commission. It's a job, and some do it quite well. When I was buying my Golf R, I knew all about this and when the ming mole sat next to me explaining her products, I played along and teased her a bit in making her think I was going to fall for it. She didn't get anything. Haha!
Beware of the Ming Mole...
When I took delivery of the car last year, I went straight to Dave at Reflect Effect to get the car checked for any paint imperfections from pre-delivery and to also put on a paint sealant, which would be a lot better and a lot cheaper than whatever it was the ming mole was trying to sell me. Plus, I could actually be in the presence of seeing a qualified professional actually applying the sealant to my car rather than having any random applying some stuff I didn't really know. It's a lot like deciding to either go to a dedicated specialist VW mechanic to work and service your car or go back to the dealership service centre where there is every possibility of your car being worked on by a novice apprentice.
Dave is great with all things detailing. What started out as a hobby has becoming a growing business, with his clientele expanding every day. And what's great is that he is also very particular with his work and has a very keen eye for detail. Traits which I can relate to and approve of. I went to Dave to get my car sealed and protected in a paint sealant called Opti-Coat from Optimum Car Care. Dave was now an approved dealer to apply Opti-Coat. This is a new age coating which is applied to the paint to protect the clear coat. It cures much harder than regular waxes and sealants (9 on Mohs scale of hardness) and provides added resistance against marring and superior resistance against things like bird poo, tree sap and contaminants. It beads water quite well too.
Opti-Coat treatment on a car 24 hours after application. Notice how the water just glides off and the water droplets bead nicely.
Dave had originally applied this to my car back when I took delivery of it last year in December and so far, it was great. Every time it rained, my Golf R still looked so clean (apart from the rear, where all the dirt and crap seems to get stuck to like white on rice). He applied it to his own car and even after 2 years, it did not need another application. I did get the lifetime warranty from Optimum Car Care via Dave when I got this as this would mean that I could get the Opti-Coat re-applied if it ever wore out. This just required me to drop in at Dave's once a year so that he can check the thickness of the coating to see whether or not another application was needed.
Since Dave had applied the Opti-Coat on my car when my euro number plate holder was still stuck on my front bumper, and since I have now removed it and had the bumper resprayed, that meant that whatever Opti-Coat was on the bumper was now gone so I decided to get it re-applied. Also, I had installed my OSIR carbon fibre mirror covers since the first application and because there was no sealant on them, I asked if he could apply Opti-Coat over them as well. No problems. OCD much?
Dave started off by giving my car a good wash with a snowfoam lance, which was good because my car was filthy!
Letting the dirt and contaminants sit and slide off before washing it off with a high pressure hose.
You might be wondering whether or not the ghetto blue masking tape solution I had for my wiper delete held up to the high pressure hose. Well, the answer to that is no, because I had found a temporary replacement which looks the part. Thanks to Ray, I went down to my local Clark Rubber store where they sell all sorts of foams, rubbers, pool supplies and so on and bought myself a 25mm rubber grommet. This grommet fit over the hole left by my rear wiper perfectly. And when I say perfectly, I mean it was a very snug fit with no need for any sort of silicone or superglue to hold it in place. Price? $2.75. Yes, Two dollars and seventy five cents! Compare that to a bullshit glass grommet which didn't even fit properly for $40.00. It doesn't look too bad either!
A 25mm rubber grommet from Clark Rubber. $2.75. Sometimes, quality doesn't equal expensive.
As always, a fantastic job done was by Dave. He had washed the car and re-applied the Opti-Coat to the front bumper and to the OSIR carbon fibre mirror covers. I'd just have to let it fully cure for 24 hours, which was fine because I wasn't going to be driving my car anywhere else today after I got home.
Car is finally looking clean!
Now that I didn't have a rear wiper, I needed something that would repel water on my rear windshield. I had purchased some Nanolex glass sealant and Nanolex wheel sealant from the recommendation by Pierre at Car Care Products.
Nanolex glass cleaner and sealant, courtesy of Car Care Products.
Nanolex is a German company that is working with a new sealant technology that is based at a molecular level. The Nanolex glass sealant is a high tech sealant / coating which is designed specifically for glass that can repel water and dirt, improving all round visibility. The nanotechnology is designed to coat the glass surface with a durable layer that will help repel rain and dirt, making it much harder for these contaminants to adhere to the glass and simply ‘slip off’ with the motion of the car.
A petri dish coated with Nanolex sealant to demonstrate how water repels off the surface. So cool!
Nanolex didn't require a professional to apply it, although I'm sure Dave could have done it for me had I asked. However, I wanted to try and apply this myself as it didn't seem all that hard plus I had a bit of time on my hands. Following the instructions, I cleaned the glass with a lint-free cloth by applying a few drops of the Nanolex glass cleaner, which removes any dirt and leaves a completely fresh windshield for the sealant to adhere to. Then, taking another lint-free cloth, I applied a few drops of the Nanolex glass sealant and worked it into a small section, approximately 30cm by 30cm. Once a few passes has been made on the glass, vritually all the residue is removed. Then, taking a microfibre cloth, I buffed out any remaining residue to leave a crystal clear finish. The important thing to remember is to make sure you buff the sealant quickly as if you leave it on the glass for any more than a few minutes, it will harden on the glass, making it harder to remove. It's easier to apply then buff off on small sections at a time. I did this with the front and rear windshield and the side windows. It took approximately 2 hours to do it properly.
I had also bought the Nanolex wheel sealant but I decided that I will leave that task for another day as it requires me to jack up the car, take the wheels off, give them a good thorough cleaning and going through the same procedure as I had with the Nanolex glass sealant. I may need Ray's assistance on this one later on as he has a trolley jack and jack stands. I also said he could use the remainder of what I had left from the Nanolex glass sealant, which is actually quite a bit. I'm thinking you should be able to do at least 2 full cars with these two tiny bottles!
If you would like to have your car washed and detailed or you would like to purchase some quality detailing equipment for your car, please visit :
Miles organised a DIY day for the VWG members. There's lots of new folks in the community, many with new parts but without the knowledge on how to go about fitting it themselves. So he figured that VWG should have a get together day to educate everyone, get help installing some of the parts we may have ordered for our cars and give a hand to others. It was a great idea and a big success. Marko kindly offered his workplace as the location for our DIY day and it was the perfect. The day was quite hot as well. It was a very nice day, blue sky, no clouds, perfect way to spend a Sunday.
I personally had 5 things I wanted to get done to my car. They were :
Install quick drain tap for my 42DD oil catch can
Get rid of the rear wiper
Install garage button modification.
Use VAGCOM to deactivate the rear wiper water jet spray
Use VAGCOM to get the indicator blinking 4 times instead of 3 for when you pull the stalk down just enough to activate the indicators.
The 42DD quick drain tap is a brass tap which is designed to fit the 42DD oil catch can that I had installed about a month ago. This provides a quick and easy way to drain all the gunk collected from the engine instead of having to physically remove the oil catch can every time to drain it out. However, I still had not purchased the hydraulic hoses from Enzed to replace my heater hoses which were currently connected to the catch can. I decided to install the tap another day once I have the hoses, empty out the gunk and have a nice, empty catch can ready to collect the next batch of crap with my new hoses.
Quick drain brass tap from 42 Draft Design to attach to the oil catch can.
Just a matter of attaching a pipe to go over the drain tap, put the other end of the pipe into the opening of an empty bottle, open the tap and let all the gunk come out.
The rear wiper for me is useless. I never use it. Plus I hate how when the rear windshield is covered by water droplets and when you select R to reverse, the rear wiper automatically activates to remove the water from the windshield and give you a better vision. That's all well and good but quite unnecessary as I have a rear view camera which activates when I'm in reverse, allowing me to see clearly what is behind me on the head unit. Plus when the water dries up, I have a nice semi circle in the middle of the rear windshield. It looks ugly.
With help from Ray, I removed the boot lid trim to access the wiper. After a few minutes, we had disassembled the wiper. To plug the hole which will be left after I remove the rear wiper, I decided to get a glass grommet from GeCleant. They guarantee that their glass grommets would be a 100% accurate fit for all Volkswagen/Audi models.
The glass grommet from GeCleant, which guarantee a perfect fit.
What bullshit. The glass grommet was a fraction too big and the hole left by my wiper was a fraction too small. The glass grommet would look good if it had fitted perfectly like they claimed. I tried everything I could to get it to fit snug, but the inevitable happened. The glass grommet cracked. This was the same fate that Ray's grommet faced when he tried to install it on his Audi A3. The fact that it cost approximately $40.00 for a little tiny glass grommet which didn't even fit properly was the worst $40.00 I've ever spent in my life. In the end, I had no choice but to rock blue masking tape until I could come up with a solution. I've decided to buy an OEM Honda wiper delete plug which is used by the Honda boys on their Integra's, CRX's and Civic's. Justin had one installed on his GTI and it looked really good. He mentioned that he purchased his from JDMYard so I might hit them up real soon.
Removing the wiper motor with trim already off.
What the Gecleant.de glass grommet would have looked like installed had the grommet been a perfect fit.
The end result due to the glass grommet cracking. Temporary ghetto solution.
Justin's OEM Honda wiper delete plug, courtesy of JDMyard.com
If there's one thing I don't know anything about, it's electrics and circuit boards. I had purchased a garage door button from CarStyle4You to replace the blank buttons located just under the ash tray lid. There were two buttons which came with my Golf R from factory and that was the Electronic Stability Program (ESP) button, which activates/deactivates the traction control, and the parking sensor button. The other 3 buttons were blanks. I had decided to get 3 buttons to fill up the blank spaces. One was the Golf R's "R" logo, one was a button depicting an driver ejector seat and one was a button which can be soldered and wired with my remote control garage door opener so that when I pressed that button, the garage door would open. The good thing with these buttons is that Carstyle4you uses genuine OEM VW buttons and engrave their own pictures on the blanks and they are also LED lit to replicate the interior OEM red lights on the centre console. You can choose a variety of LED's but to keep it looking as factory as possible, I chose the red LED's to match the rest of the interior.
Miles brought his soldering iron and with me just watching on, he soldered the wires onto my garage door remote control. I was surprised at just how easy it was. I guess once you know how electrics work, it's not that hard. We installed it on the car and it looked great! Big thanks to Miles. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been able to install this.
The "R" logo and the garage door push button. Notice the wire coming from the push button.
This is what needs to be soldered onto the circuit board of the garage door remote.
All five slots utilised. Of course, the "R" and the "eject" button are just for fun, but I'm really happy with how the garage door button turned out.
Video demonstration of the garage door button in action.
Finally, Cam gave me a hand with his VAGCOM prowess and did his thing. He deactivated the rear washer jet as I had no need for it now and if it were left activated, there would be no wiper to wipe away the water residue. It would have been cool to re-adjust the position of the wiper jet stream so that whenever there's someone who you think is too close and tailgating you, you can just give them a squirt...and piss them off even more! He also made sure that the indicator blinked 4 times now when you just lightly flick down or flick up the indicator stalk. This is great for when changing lanes. The default from factory is 3 blinks, but I realised that I would be in the middle of changing lanes by the third blink. A fourth blink and I would be in the next lane. Yes, OCD. Many thanks to Cam. Probably one of the most easy going fellows I have had the pleasure of meeting from VWG and always willing to lend a hand to anyone and everyone!
Cam with his laptop, making sense of all the numbers and letters on the VAGCOM/VCDS unit.
Really pleased at how smoothly everything went, bar the glass grommet. I guess there were a few more things I would have liked to have done to my car today but because I had to wait for other parts to arrive first, I was done for the day and I thought I'd lend everyone else a hand with their installs.
Here are some photos from the day.
Marko's work. Blum headquarters. Some fantastic hinge and storage systems sold here! Very impressive to say the least.
A massive shelter to stay nice and cool where we could all perform our DIY jobs.
Quite a big turnout!
The boot of Miles' GTI. I was amazed at how much the GTI could fit! There's also 2 large speakers in there somewhere too!
About half of what was in the boot of Miles' GTI. It's still a lot of gear! And he managed to fit it all in!
Miles' MKV GTI with colour coded rear bumper, sideskirts and powercoated 17" OEM Classix wheels. Fresh!
Everyone started unloading their gear and got stuck in.
Ian took apart his bumper to remove and replace his headlights for OEM style Xenons with DRL's.
Mark had installed his Stage I APR cold air intake to his MKVI GTI.
Hadn't seen Adam for a long time. He popped in to say hello.
This is the other Golf R32 with ABT supercharger, just like Jose's. Built by Ramspeed.
Adam's mod list are just as tasty as Jose's. 18" ADV7.1 wheels, Capristo exhaust, Vogtland coilovers, plus many other goodies.
He recently installed OEM smoked rear LED tail lights as he's going for the full "murdered out" black theme on his car.
Miles and Alan trying to install slotted rotors to replace the stock rotors.
Jason's MKV GTI Manual 3 door. Such a lovely car, this. Love the Tornado Red. You don't see many GTI's in this colour, let alone modified this nicely.
The death of "shitbox" signaled a new beginning for Ray. His new ride? A 2001 model Audi 8L A3. It basically has the same 1.8L engine from a MKIV Golf GTI.
Now that reliability is not an issue in this car compared the MKIII Golf GL he had, expect BIG things from this! Personally, I cannot wait.
Cam never really bonded with his Golf GTI Adidas version, so he did the only sensible thing and sold it. His new ride is now a 2011 model Subaru WRX.
Such a beefy car, and so much potential to be had! Much more than his old Golf GTI Adidas...plus a lot more fun with the manual box compared to the DSG.
Needless to say, Cam is one happy chappy now that he has this! And I can see why after having a short blast in it. Expect big things from this WRX!
The BBQ smelled so good. Miles cooking up a storm.
DIY Halftime.
Chillaxin' before getting back into it.
SUGA's new shoes : 19" Work Meister 3pc wheels with black bolts.
This definitely completes the look, much more than her old 19" Alpil 11's. So sexy!
JDM Style MKV Golf R32. Does it get any better than this?
SUGA on her daily driving height and me on still stock suspension.
After looking at this picture, I want wheels and suspension ASAP!
And finally, a little video Cam took of both his and my car. Launching and doing a drive by. Listen for the diverter valve flutter! Haha!
What a great way to spend a Sunday. Big thanks to Miles for organising, providing the music, the food, the drinks and all sorts of tools and also thanks to Marko for providing the premise. Perfect location for a DIY install day.
If you would like to purchase the parts for the mods listed above, please visit : Carformance
Volkswagen cars sold here in Australia all came with plastic euro plate holders. Euro plate holders are great for cars in Europe which have the elongated number plate design. I just got a regular sized number plate issued by the RTA and because the size of the plate is smaller than the regulation European number plates, thus the euro plate holder looked quite hideous. It is an ugly piece of black plastic stuck to the front of my bumper, somwehat ruining the lines of the car.
You can clearly see the size difference between the black plastic plate holder and my number plate.
Something had to be done. I decided I would get rid of the number plate holder as it wasn't really serving any real purpose and I thought I would also get some brand new number plates with white lettering and a black background, to keep with the white/black theme on the Golf R.
The number plate holder is held by 4 plastic push clips which can be popped out by poking it in the middle of the clip, thus releasing the clip to be pulled out. However, my clips weren't wanting to cooperate. So I got a drill with a 2mm drill bit attached and carefully drilled the middle of the plastic clip, thereby releasing the tension of the clip and making it easier to pull out. Result :
The holes left by the euro plate holder. You can also see the outline of the holder on the bumper.
The new plates work much better with the white/black theme! Sweet!
I dropped in to visit Frank again at Dural Prestige Smash Repair to see if I can book in my car to get the holes filled. They would have to be plastic welded and the whole front bumper resprayed because if you only respray the portion where the holes were filled, the colour would not match with the rest of the bumper. To ensure flawless coverage, the whole bumper needed to be resprayed. Frank is great because he is a "no nonsense, no bullshit" kind of guy. If there's a job and he isn't confident in doing it, he'll tell you (but this is a very rare case). He won't let any cars roll out unless the job is perfect and he'd rather keep the car an extra few days just to make sure everything is spot on instead of letting the car leave with it having a mediocre finish.
I also wanted to get rid of the holes on the rear bumper as well. Fortunately, that did not require a full respray of the rear bumper as there is an indent where the number plate sits and all Frank had to do was to tape off where the indent finished, plastic weld the holes and respray it in the factory Candy White. White is the hardest colour to match on any car because there are so many different variables and additives which needs to have the perfect mix of ingredients in order for the colour to appear just right. A little bit over or under in an ingredient can result in the paint looking an entirely different shade of white. With my car at Franks, I knew I was in good hands.
About 2 weeks later, I get a call from him telling me that my car is ready for pick up. Here is the final result.
Number plate holes filled and front bumper resprayed. Smooth!
Rear number plate holes filled. The trapezoidal indent was the only portion of the rear bar which was resprayed.
Number plate affixed. Much cleaner!
I'm very happy with how this turned out. Not only is the euro plate holder gone, the front bumper has been completely resprayed which means that whatever stonechips and imperfections used to be on the bumper are no longer there.
Also, as a small request by me to Frank, I had also asked him to paint the wheel nut covers in candy white and also do the battery cover and fuse box cover in gloss candy white with piano gloss piano black inserts. No problems.
Gloss black 19" OEM Talladega wheels with candy white wheel nut covers. Breaks up the black a little bit.
Candy white battery and fuse box covers with piano gloss black inserts.
If you are involved in an accident or are looking for a quality smash repairer (NRMA approved), please contact :
