MK7 Mod Guide for the Clueless Quarantined Dad...

[maxwell]

Wow! Thanks for all of the responses already, super cool community here!
I guess my idea of smaller is different than what others might think haha
I'm thinking more on the level of intake, plugs, down pipe, exhaust, maybe a tuner, or just smaller bolt-on ideas, etc...
Are intakes a good mod or no?

Again wow thanks for the help guys super cool.
Sounds like an alignment on these new wheels / tires is a must...
They had 7k miles on them from the guy I got them from.

As far as Intake, don't bother with an (expensive) aftermarket unit. It has been all but proven in third party testing that modifying the stock airbox produces just as much flow.

Look into MK7 intake mods here and on VWVortex as a cheap starting point during this forced downtime. (Snow guard removal, drop in Afe or K&N filter, open driver side, p side blockoff plate)

Other cost effective simple yet effective mods include: rear sway bar, clutch pill removal, DIY clutch stop, wheels/tires, alignment, OBD11/VAG/Carista mods, dogbone mount.

After that you get into bigger mods like turbo muffler, intake elbow, ecu tune, turbo upgrade, suspension mods, etc

 

[Golfs everyday]

For fun I would do a front splitter, 10mm spacers with longer studs for your rear wheels, for performance JB1 (or Cobb AP if you prefer a flash), maybe a catback exhaust for some exhaust note. Window tint is good to have too but your shop might be closed.

Also a BoombaRacing short shift adapter since your car is MT, gas pedal mods for heel and toe.

 

[The Butcher]

Maybe it's because I'm also in my mid 30's, is 36 still mid? But a dash camera install teaches you a lot about routing wiring through your interior as well as removing interior panels. Plus, having extra reassurance in the case of an accident is never a bad thing.

I have a front and rear setup that I got on Amazon and the 1080P video is crystal clear even at night.

I haven't needed to use it for me, but after witnessing an accident and the culprit was telling the policeman the victim was at fault, I put the MicroSD card in my phone and showed the cop the footage. I was able to send the footage to all parties to aid in the police report and insurance claim.

 

[JK105]

I just realized, what no one has actually asked you...what are you looking to get out of the car? Is this just a DD for point a to point b work, or are you looking at modifying for a specific purpose?

So I'm now in sales going on almost 2 years with my company (OH, IN, KY Motorola Radio Systems Partner)
I climbed radio towers for almost 6 years with them, thank god thats over ha.
But really the car is just my daily driver back and forth to work, and when I go to sales meeting, usually put on about 300 miles a week.
So I dont want to get real crazy but I am ready to start with a few things!
I just spent a few hrs cleaing the engin bay for the first time haha

 

[Golfs everyday]

Might be the lighting but your plastic bits can use some water based dressing?

 

[JK105]

Maybe it's because I'm also in my mid 30's, is 36 still mid? But a dash camera install teaches you a lot about routing wiring through your interior as well as removing interior panels. Plus, having extra reassurance in the case of an accident is never a bad thing.

I have a front and rear setup that I got on Amazon and the 1080P video is crystal clear even at night.

I haven't needed to use it for me, but after witnessing an accident and the culprit was telling the policeman the victim was at fault, I put the MicroSD card in my phone and showed the cop the footage. I was able to send the footage to all parties to aid in the police report and insurance claim.

Man Ive wanted to do this too!

We also build cop cars at our shop we get them from the factory and install the radios, pcs, routers, lightbars, cages, vinyl wraps, etc
Im sure I could get a couple of the guys in the shop to help me take apart the interior and do it right...

 

[JK105]

Might be the lighting but your plastic bits can use some water based dressing?

All I'm sure... I didn't even use anything but water, and micro cloths

Whats the best product to use for the plastic?

 

[Gimpster]

Not hardware mods really, but OBDEleven / VCDS (whichever you own or want to own) make for a lot of fun personalizing the car. I mean messing with adaptations, long coding.. etc.

 

[victorofhavoc]

So I'm now in sales going on almost 2 years with my company (OH, IN, KY Motorola Radio Systems Partner)
I climbed radio towers for almost 6 years with them, thank god thats over ha.
But really the car is just my daily driver back and forth to work, and when I go to sales meeting, usually put on about 300 miles a week.
So I dont want to get real crazy but I am ready to start with a few things!
I just spent a few hrs cleaing the engin bay for the first time haha

your coolant level looks a tad low from this angle, so might just add some distilled water to get the line up to the middle range.

In that case, I'd say don't worry too much about suspension stuff. I would do an alignment for sure, and if you want to reduce roll the cheap way you could add a front and rear anti-sway bar, but the bars will ultimately make potholes buck you around more. I notice you're in Ohio, so I'm aware of the crap roads you deal with (just like us in the Kansas City area). If you really want to reduce roll, and still have winter compliance, I'd get some Koni yellow dampers. You can set them to soft for winter and stiffer for summer, with the added bonus of keeping your stock ride height.

A stage 1 flash tune you can do yourself (cobb ap or unitronic) would be nice for some added oomph and ability to flash back if you ever need to take it into the dealer. Higher flow panel filter and removing the snow grate also helps with some throttle response. OBD11 with some of the coding changes can give you some fun lighting things to play with as well as improve throttle response and reduce the jumpiness of the brake booster.

 

[mk7_bk]

if you want something small that can change alot of functions, go with OBDEleven, its like 60$ and can do a bunch of small stuff like lower windows with click of remote, change the way the lights on the car function, ect ect. I would say you can add a JB1 or JB4 tune, there are alot of people selling them on here (go to private section). RSB, CAI or Drop-in / snow guard remove, upgrade plugs, add OEM mud flaps, small turbo inlet pipe, outlet pipe, turbo muffler delete, blow off valve, springs, spacers, badge delete or add badge skins

 

[The Butcher]

Man Ive wanted to do this too!

We also build cop cars at our shop we get them from the factory and install the radios, pcs, routers, lightbars, cages, vinyl wraps, etc
Im sure I could get a couple of the guys in the shop to help me take apart the interior and do it right...

To be honest, the hardest part is removing the A-Pillar to route wiring to the main unit for power and auxiliary to the rear camera. You can easily tuck it under the pillar, but in case of airbag deployment, I dont want my girlfriend to get whipped in the face by flying cables.

Routing to the rear camera is easy as there's more than enough room to tuck the wire under the door sills without removing them. For the hatch, you can feed the wire through the stock rubber boot alongside the stock wiring which makes for a super clean install.

 

[hotbascosauce]

I had the dealer tint my windows so technically that was my first mod? Within the first month of owning the car, I had purchased DG lowering springs, JB4, and a dogbone mount. I had waited till I had about 2500 miles on the car before installing the JB4. I bought it used from a local on this forum for $350 with the bluetooth adapter. His car was coming off warranty and he got the APR tune. I am probably going to do the same thing if I still have this car in 6 years. Since your car is an S, I would look into getting some new headlights. Really changes the appearance of the car. Also if your car doesnt have blind spot monitoring windows, look at getting the power folding mirrors on Aliexpress.

 

[KevinC]

get an alignment. The factory alignment was written by accountants... You want toe zero front, all the negative camber you can get out of the front (won't be much, but better than nothing), similar negative camber in rear (maybe slightly less than front), and about 0.12 decimal degrees toe in rear.

 

[PowerDemon]

If you aren’t ready to commit to a full tune the JB4 is a great bang for the buck and you can recoup $ when you are ready to move into larger mods. I found it to be a great starting point.

I agree! It's like a stepping stone drug!

 

[imthanick_a]

Whatever mods you do, get your sons off of Fortnite and involved with the build!
Some of my best days were days I got to hang out with my dad in the garage and fix stuff on cars. Even if I didn't think it was fun then, I learned a lot from it and those wrenching skills/knowledge come in handy almost every day of my life and I take any opportunity I can to work on stuff with my dad.

PS your coolant looks a little low, mine looks the same way. Could just be that the car is hot and the reservoir is still pressurized though