The 'Chimera' - Progression of my 1.8T by SKVeeDubR

Pretorias look great! Did you find them locally? Very nice job with this car.

I just purchased a set from a gentleman in Abbostford and am waiting on him to ship them out!

gdfraser said:

Pretorias look great! Did you find them locally? Very nice job with this car.

I just purchased a set from a gentleman in Abbostford and am waiting on him to ship them out!

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Thanks, yeah the car is coming along nicely. For as slow as I feel it is going, it really allows me time to contemplate each change and how everything will flow together.

Got the wheels in a somewhat local trade through a local VW group.

Cheers!

Ah yes brakes.. the BFI thread has me itching to do something as well

Pretoria's look phenomenal on there! Right at home. They're my favorite OE wheels. Congrats on acquiring a set. The drop looks very tidy with those DG springs.

Trollin86 said:

Pretoria's look phenomenal on there! Right at home. They're my favorite OE wheels. Congrats on acquiring a set. The drop looks very tidy with those DG springs.

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Cheers man! Stay tuned, more to come!!

05/05/2017 - Cinco de Mayo! For me I am celebrating the banishing of my dreaded halogen license plate lights in favour of some OEM LEDs (Chinese LED comparison content included)


It's the little things, is it not? Well it really does not get much smaller than a couple LED lights when it comes to 'modifying' your car, but boy do I like what I see!


In my quest for OEM+ changes to my little 1.8T the LED plate lights were a no-brainer, except that I struggled internally with the fact that each LED light would cost me well over $100CDN at the dealer, and that was WITH a discount! While I am a HUGE stickler when it comes to using OEM parts, I wasn't about to shell out $200+ on a pair of plate lights.. Or was I?


I have seen many variations of the LED plate light for our car (and earlier models), and I knew that resistors or multiple LED bulbs were not for me, if I was going to 'cheap out' I was going to at least get ones that looked like their OEM counterparts.


After ordering a set of Chinese-made LED plate lamps I came across a great deal on a pair of OEM LED plate lamps so I ended up buying those as well and figured it would be a good opportunity for a comparison!

Here is a comparison shot.. Any guesses as to which is the OEM one and which is the Chinese version?




How about now?










Well now I'm not even sure..




Here you can see a bit of rough finishing to the mold near where it plugs in..







Compared to the better finished OEM piece..




In all honesty though, very true reproduction. Probably the most obvious difference at first glance. Figure it out yet? The German-made one is the green/clear lens whereas the Chinese-made one is the white/frosted lens.






And here is what you really want to see. Obviously the left is an LED and the right is halogen bulb, but which LED is it?!





Here is one of each, but which is which?




I know it's REALLY difficult to see in these pictures (sorry for not being able to capture what my eyes saw). The Chinese-made LED is on the left (driver's side), the German-made LED is on the right (passenger side). You MAY be able to see an ever so slight difference in temperature/colour - the Chinese LED is actually whiter! The difference is more noticeable in real life, and if I were to guess I would say the Chinese LED is about 500K to 750K whiter.









Aside from the differences already mentioned, I thought it important to mention one other difference which I found to be significant.. The German-made LED housings simply fit better, more OEM. This is not to say the Chinese-made ones were ill-fitting, just that they didn't 'click' in the same, nor were they easy to remove as I actually struggled with removing them once they were plugged and clipped in to the bumper. Take it for what its worth, the tighter fitting Chinese LEDs may be more desirable?

And in case you were wondering, yes, they both throw a bulb out error until coded for LED plate lamps. I cheated and used the app with my OBDEleven device to code for LED plate lamps- worked like a charm!



Here is the final shot, can you guess which pair I ultimately settled on?




*I should note I did not change the intensity of the LEDs, this is at 100%. Some choose to increase intensity to 127% when installing LED plate lamps

Nice thorough comparison, good job! I simply went with Philips LED bulbs in stock housing. I actually put Philips LEDs throughout the interior as I couldn't stand the yellow lighting. I need to start my own build thread for my 1.8T.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

TJN said:

Nice thorough comparison, good job! I simply went with Philips LED bulbs in stock housing. I actually put Philips LEDs throughout the interior as I couldn't stand the yellow lighting. I need to start my own build thread for my 1.8T.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

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Thanks! The devil is in the details, so to speak, and I love examining all the little details when I can.

And yes, I find it helpful to document all my changes as otherwise I doubt I would remember them all. I also like to follow along with what others are doing as well. Cheers!

05/09/2017 - Euro Power Folding Mirrors with BSM


Finally had a bit of time and some nice weather to install these Euro power folding mirrors with the Blind Spot Monitor wires already installed. My original plan was to purchase a set of Chinese OEM folding mirrors and swap my BSM wires over, then purchase a Euro set WITH BSM for my R and do a comparison, but I ended up just buying two sets of European Mirrors for convenience sake. This way if I ever want to revert to stock I won't have to deal with swapping the wires back over again, not that I plan to revert, but never say never.

First I must apologize, I realize I took no pictures of the install process. There are however some very well documented videos/PDFs outlining the procedure, so if you are attempting to install a set yourself I highly recommend watching the DAP video(s), and reviewing the USP Motorsports PDF install guide. I spent about 2 hours start to finish, and taking my sweet time. When I installed the second set in my R i was able to do the complete install in 30 minutes.


I'd like to note that the Euro power folding mirrors are made by the same manufacturer as my stock mirrors, so there's that.

Stock Mirror Assembly





Euro Power Folding Assembly (note - same manufacturers)






And installed!







As you can see, I also installed the European Aspherical glass WITH Blind Spot Monitor indicator. I installed Aspherical glass on both the driver and the passenger side, although I believe it is more common in Europe to only have the driver's side aspherical, while the passenger side is much like ours in North America, but without that ridiculous warning 'objects in mirror something something Dark Side..). I have since spent some time behind the wheel and I must say I LOVE my aspherical mirror glass, and I don't think I could go back now - While it took a few minutes to adjust initially, my field of vision is greatly enhanced rearward and I do feel better aware of my surroundings. My wife initially turned up her nose when she first went for a drive and I thought for certain I would be posting them in the FS section that afternoon, but by the time she came back from her errands she too was in love with the mirrors!

The switch is definitely a 'soft touch' when you turn the knob just like the stock mirror adjust knob, unlike the Chinese switch which has an audible 'click'.

I believe the Euro mirror motors are quieter than the Chinese mirror assemblies, but it's been a while since I have heard a set of Chinese folding mirrors in action.

And just like the Chinese power folding mirrors, these Euro power folding mirrors are not perfectly synchronized either, not sure exactly why this is but I suspect it has something to do with the electronic signal/modules.





All in all I am extremely satisfied with my Euro power folding mirrors, everything functions as it should, and they give an air of luxury to the car that definitely does not go unnoticed.

Are puddle lights functional? Any coding required? How much was the set and where to purchase?

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TJN said:

Are puddle lights functional? Any coding required? How much was the set and where to purchase?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

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Yes puddle lights are functional, and yes coding is required. There are a variety of places you can purchase the power folding mirrors and depending on whether or not you have BSM (Blind Spot Monitoring) will dictate which ones you purchase.

The best place to get power folding mirrors if you DON'T have BSM would be AliExpress as they are a little over $200USD shipped. I bought these Euro versions WITH BSM from e-Acca and they were significantly more. A second option if you DO have BSM is to simply swap over your BSM wires from your stock mirror assemblies, It's actually quite straightforward, just takes a bit of time and patience.

05/11/2017 - OEM GTD Shift Knob/Boot AND Shifter Stalk modification



When we first got the 1.8T I had the dealer install a VW accessories 'Sport Gear Lever' knob. It was the only OEM option at the time that was indicated as fitting the 1.8T, other than the lowly stock shift knob that comes standard on these cars. Don't get me wrong I quite liked this 'sport' knob, in fact it is essentially the same shift knob as the MK6 ED35 GTI but without the red accents, and of course a different trim ring/boot to fit the MK7. I have since dubbed it the '40 Years Golf' shift knob.

Over time I realized I much preferred the 'floating' ball design of the R/GTI, both in aesthetic and in hand feel. I didn't however want to install either an R or a GTI shift knob in the 1.8T as neither complimented the car quite right. As I was studying European forums I discovered the MK7 GTD shift knob was EXACTLY what I was after. It had the floating ball design, the ball resembled a golf ball with the dimples, and it had only silver accents (no red of the GTI or blue of the R). So I ordered a GTD shift knob late in 2016 with plans to install along with the new steering wheel I was planning on putting in.

Well.. Things did not go exactly as planned. Turns out the GTD (R/GTI) shift knob does not fit the Golf properly. The problem was that the actual metal shift stalk in a Golf is much higher than that of a GTI/GTD/R. Test fitting shows just how high the shifter would have sat if installed on a Golf Shift stalk. In fact, it sat so high I was unable to securely fit the trim ring/boot without stretching the shift boot!





Here is the reason the R/GTI/GTD shift knob sits so high - this shift stalk is TALL!





When lifting up the boot on the 1.8T you can see just how much of the shifter stalk remains below the shift knob.





Compared with that of the R for example, where there is barely any of the shift stalk remaining.





Part of the challenge was to determine exactly how much of the stock 1.8T shifter stalk needed to be removed in order for the GTD shift knob to sit as factory intended. It's not a simple 'measure the height of each knob' and go from there sorta thing, but it's not too difficult to figure out. First I measured the depth of the hole of the new GTD shift knob to see how much of the metal shifter stalk was going to be seated inside, then I compared to how much shifter stalk was left showing on my R. I simply added these two measurements, and made my mark.

Turns out the Golf 1.8T shifter stalk is approximately 55mm taller than that of the one in my R, everything else being equal. So I cut off 55mm of the existing metal stalk. First I scored the metal with a pipe cutter to mark my cut line, then I used a fine hacksaw to cut through the steel rod.

After I made my cut, I then had to replicate the shape of the piece I had just cut off. Volkswagen incorporates a wedge-style relief inside their shifters, as well as a guide tab. These serve to not only firmly hold the shift knob in place, but to prevent rotation of the knob once installed.

After a lot of painstaking hand-filing, and measuring each aspect with a micrometer to ensure proper tolerances, I came up with this..








Here is where the GTD knob sits now..





..just like where it sits on the R





And here she sits now! I know the shift knob looks twisted counterclockwise, but trust me, it's an optical illusion. I guarantee it is oriented perfectly just as it would have been from factory







I can't stop touching my knob.

05/11/2017 - Leyo Motorsport Billet Aluminum Trim Rings


I found out about these trim rings from Leyo Motorsport from a friend who was testing some product(s) of theres a while back. I sent Leyo Motorsport a message to get on the waiting list for these trim rings, and have now had them for quite a while, but wanted to install them alongside my new GTD shift knob as I think they compliment each other nicely. (see post on previous page).



Hats off to Leyo Motorsport for their boutique-like experience. The packaging is top notch!





Presentation points continue to add as you open the packaging to find each trim ring placed perfectly in it's own portion of the dense foam cutout. A nice die cut decal and a card are also included.







Top shelf, Leyo Motorsport!





While you could argue that you would rather save a couple dollars by not having to pay for such elaborate presentation, I think most really do appreciate such attention to detail.

Before





After





The quality of the trim rings is just as impressive as the packaging, they are knurled aluminum, have a nice tactile sensation, and are held in by o-rings securely to your existing knobs. No permanent modification or adhesives necessary. They also compliment the Audi 12V plug that many people fit to their cars. My only complaint might be that the smaller rings appear to stick out further than the larger ones, but I think it's just an illusion as the overhang is not as noticeable on the larger rings.

Recommended for that upscale feel!

05/12/2017 - I'm just gonna leave this here..

SK VeeDubR said:

03/01/2017 - more 'tweaks' with OBDEleven

Prob one of my fav visual updates, once again to the lighting, was to code the DRLs/Fogs to act as my CH/LH lights instead of the dipped beams (Will post a pic soon). They fade on and fade out, and the car looks slightly more badass now haha!

(Waiting until I swap wheels/nicer weather to put in new H11s in efforts to better match my fogs with my DRLs)

Also coded:
- 'Offroad' data on the multimedia screen
- Video In Motion
- XDS changed from 'Standard' to 'Medium'
- Starting Vibration Reduction from 'Normal' to 'Deactivated'

Will have to see how I like the last two tweaks once the pavement is dry and I have my summers on.. Winter may not be an accurate representation of the full functionality of these changes.. Also performed the above tweaks to my R.. Curious which car the last two settings will have more of an impact on, but I suspect I will notice these tweaks more on the 1.8T..

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Any feedback on XDS change? Have you noticed any difference between "Standard" and "Medium" settings?

I just changed mine to "Medium" this afternoon. I also notice there are several variations of ESC/ASR settings. Any recommendations on those?