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Cuzoe's 2015 Golf TDI S Journal

Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
Finally going to start this journal. I will keep this post updated (updated 10/30/2022) with a mod list but will probably respond over the next few weeks with posts about individual mods. I know, no one cares without pics. They're coming, gotta pull them from old phone/camera backups... I tend to delete all my phone's pictures every 3-4 weeks, too much crap from work. I'm stealing the format of several folks' journals. Here's a current pic of my car, in the glamour of an apartment parking lot. And below that a forum member Dameon's pic of my car, spotted at the dealership, a couple years ago now...

PXL_20220411_194344198.jpg

Pic by Dameon, at the dealer.jpeg



Engine / Drivetrain / Exhaust / Tune
Boomba Racing Short Shift Adapter (removed when Sigma 6 installed, but well made and good value, zero issues with it)
Dieselgeek Sigma 6
Dieselgeek Shifter Shaft Bushings
Dieselgeek Super Pin

CoolerWorx 02J/M/Q Bottom Mount Short Shifter... link here, seems it's also sold by SB Parts without the CoolerWorx branding
Powerflex Diesel Pendulum Mount Insert (removed, unbearable vibrations... maybe due to engine/transmission mount misalignment)
KermaTDI Stage 1+
Muffler delete, dual exhaust through GTI rear valence (no sound change due to DPF, thankfully... purely cosmetic)
034 Motorsports Engine and Transmission Mount
034 Motorsports Upper and Lower pendulum insert
Neuspeed P-Flo Air Intake (just for the noises)
Neuspeed TDI Turbo Discharge Damper (just for the noises)

***future mods, have the parts on order or in hand***
Metal Shift Cable Bracket - PN 1J0 711 789
Billet Shifter Bracket Bushings, not sure which brand
* not positive I'll do either of these, I'm liking the Sigma 6/Super Pin with Raceseng shifter combo (replaced with CoolerWorx shifter)

Wheels / Tires / Suspension / Brakes / Chassis
Neuspeed RSE05, BF Goodrich g-Force Sport Comp 2 A/S, 235/45/ZR17
Wheel Spacers 10mm front, maybe 15mm rear
Brembo 17z front brakes (RotorLabs kit... Golf TDI has steel knuckles, so Mk6 fitment basically)

Porsche Macan 4 pot front brakes w/ Mk6 R 345mm drilled/slotted rotors (for the looks)
GTI PP Golf R (see retrofit section) rear brakes w/ 310mm drilled/slotted rotors (for the looks)
034 Motorsports Dynamic+ Camber Plates (removed, could never get rid of noise during low speed turns)
SuperPro Camber Plates (removed, could never get rid of noise during low speed turns)
Bilstein B8s with H&R Sport springs
Bilstein B4 Damptronics (DCC Retrofit) with stock GTI springs
Euro Sport Street Camber Kit (pucks, installed in stock strut mounts)
Unibrace UBQ
Audi aluminum subframe
Whiteline KTA252 aluminum control arms
Neuspeed 25mm (hollow) Front Anti-Sway Bar, set at lower stiffness
Neuspeed 22mm (solid) Rear Sway Bar


Cosmetics / Exterior
GTI Rear Valence, GTI mudflaps (rear, because of valence), Golf Mudflaps (front)
Kill-All-Wipers rear wiper delete
Black rear emblem (eBay special, need to replace or paint, faded a bit lot)
Badgeskins color matched rear emblem inlay, black front emblem overlay, black "Golf" and "TDI" overlays
Power folding mirrors, with dynamic blinker in the OG smoked black that is useless in the daytime 🤦‍♂️, aspherical glass
Power folding mirrors with BSM (see retrofit section), with new dynamic blinkers that can be seen, aspherical glass
Gloss black mirror caps (saw someone posted a part number for matte black caps from the TCR, might order them)
OEM Mk7.5 Tail lights, dual rear fogs with JBale Harness
Osram LEdriving headlights with black stripe
OEM front fog lights, with OEM style harness for wiring to BCM
Window tint, LLumar Ceramic 20% all around, 50% front
Vinyl wrapped roof, 3M gloss black (plan to get this painted one day)

*** future mods, have the parts in hand ***
Maxton matte black front splitter
Maxton matte black side skirts

Cosmetics / Interior
Full black interior swap (headliner all the way down), Golf R parts because I don't have sunroof
OEM "Art Velour" heated (retrofit) seats, GTD option, imported from the Netherlands
Front door Ambient lighting, @o_a_ravi style... from this thread, and here's his video. (Replaced with OEM, RGB Ambient Lighting)
Front door exit/warning lights... followed @golfdave's excellent DIY in this thread.
Raceseng Spherelogy, black delrin cover
Front doors and hatch area sound deadening (Various products/layers... butyl, closed cell foam and MLV)
Rear door, rear bench, under entire carpet sound deadening
Front and rear footwell lighting (RGB LED's from de-auto)
Badgeskins airbag warning light and visor warning label deletes
Carbon Fiber/Perf leather steering wheel (TAW Chicago) - had for several years, leather worn, needs to be replaced

*** future mods, have the parts in hand ***
Rear door exit/warning lighting (might not install, someone had a problem with rear door "modules" after about a year)
Rear door ambient lighting, will be @o_a_ravi style, when (if) I get around to it (OEM, RGB ambient lighting)

Retrofits (multiple categories)
MIB II, then MIB II with Nav, then 8" matte screen
MIB 2.5 with 9.2" screen (2018, 2021, 2022 maps)
AID Digital Instrument Cluster
Audi Chirp Alarm
Interior Motion/Movement Sensing Alarm
Driving Modes (including Comfort)
Adaptive Cruise Control (older style round radar, new style 3QF radar, with heated front lens swap from 5Q0 radar)
Later updated to pACC (predictive), adjusts cruise set speed based on camera detected road signs and upcoming curves/intersections
Blind Spot Monitoring/Rear Traffic Alert
Center pedestal buttons
TPMS Set - directly to ABS Module to allow setting TPMS without using infotainment
Parking Assist - factory operation, Parking Aid retrofitted
Parking Distance - factory operation, Parking Assist retrofitted
Mode - driving modes retrofitted
Start/Stop - wired to control External Sound Actor (more likely the Sound Booster from Kufatec, based on my structure Sound Actor experience)
ESC Button - ESC functions

PLA 2.0 Parking Aid/Assist (12 sensors, module, buttons, speakers)
Sound Actor (structure borne, internal) (installed and wired but might never work due to incorrect engine type, still researching)
- This is now working thanks to the work of @Chillout and some others he worked with... thread here, and the GitHub
Sound Actor (external, exhaust)... has been wired and tested/working in the back
- Needs to be installed beneath the car, might ditch the dual exhaust and go one real, one to the soundaktor :D
DCC - Dynamic Chassis Control (also entailed switching to GTI/R aluminum steering knuckles)... separate thread here.
DCC Slider in the Individual driving mode... @RudyH later put together a thread here.
Frameless Auto-dimming mirror
Rain/Light Sensor
Front Assist Camera
Electronic Parking Brake (what a pain, do not recommend, haha)
OEM RGB Ambient Lighting (footwells, front/rear door pockets and strips, front door handles, center console, dashboard, some custom stuff)
Facelift BCM (needed for OEM RGB Ambient Lighting)
Mk8 Heated Steering Wheel with capacitive buttons
"Facelift" Gateway (needed for the Mk8 wheel, and also for RGB Ambient Lighting)
OEM Wireless charging


*** all parts in hand for install, just need to pick a time, I'll strike through items that are installed ***
Sound Actor (exhaust, external), not yet installed but all parts are on hand, will again use the Chillout's work previously mentioned
- I have also installed all the wiring for this, just need to have an exhaust shop mount the speaker under the car
Direct TPMS - car wired and module installed, transmitters not installed in my wheels, and I have not done any coding
Overhead ambient light (from the Arteon), and the link for how to install.
46 pin ABS module (initially thought necessary for ACC, but was not... still needed to support TPMS Set button)
- Correction, ended up going 46 pin ABS module for the EPB retrofit (which again, I do not recommend)


Audio System
Infinity 62.11i coax speakers in front doors (soon to be replaced)
Helix Soundbox (not using Helix sub)
Audio Control LC2i (input from Helix sub out)

Audio Control D-4.800 (replaced both of the above)
- I am still using the Helix harness, but built a pigtail to connect with the D-4.800
Soundqubed S1-850 (input from LC2i)
Stereo Integrity BM MkV in an Uberstealth Box (built to spec for the sub, with dual terminal cups for easy DVC reconfiguration)
- Amp Rack and Sub/box fit under the hatch floor, with the spare
- Quick Disconnects for the sub/box, spare can be removed without removing amp rack

More to come... post will be edited... updated 3/2/2023
 
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Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
Nice. Are those Osram headlights?
Yes, these are the LEDriving Lights... full LED with dynamic turn signals, with black stripe (I think they have chrome and red stripe options). I have zero complaints and would buy them again at the same cost. They fit exactly as well as my stock lights did. Haven't had to make any but adjustments but they are easy to access.
Osram for Mk7s

They are plug and play for cars with Halogens or Xenon's (non LP). You will get the soft code for side marker/parking lights, same as with any of the various rep headlights. But... those 2 channels can be coded as "not active" and then you won't have faults. See my posts in this thread...
https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/index.php?threads/bec-eds-lights-xenon-coding.356698/

:cry: ...For real tho, nice looking ride!
Thanks. Don't worry, I had zero issues and would recommend it without hesitation. When are you going to make something specifically for the TDI? If you ignore the business case and the limited market I'm sure you can come up with something for us, haha.
 
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Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
This post is not current, will update with more detail at some point (hopefully). But I'm now running an AudioControl D-4.800 DSP/Amp, still using the Helix harness. The new AudioControl unit replaces the Helix and LC2i.

Current Audio Setup:
Helix Soundbox feeding all door speakers/tweeters. Front door speakers replaced with Infiniti Kappa 62.11i 2 way speakers. The tweeter of these 2 ways can be "aimed" so I have them facing up. I actually left the stock tweeters in place and I love the way it sounds. Front doors were sound treated as well, which I'm sure helped a good bit. Speakers are mounted with car-speaker-adapters mounts, link below... as they come they are too tall, emailed them and asked for "standoffs" that were half the height, they sent them for free... sweet. If you look at the adapters you might notice they are open on the sides. I wrapped aluminum tape around (like the sides of a drum) the mounts to seal them. Also used a thin layer of duct seal between the mounts and the door, all of which was then sealed with aluminum tape. The rest of the door has been sealed as much as possible.

Helix Soundbox subwoofer out is feeding a monoblock amp through an LC2i. Subwoofer is a shallow mount SI BM MKV in an Uberstealth Audio Box which fits into the spare wheel. I provided sub specs (cutout dimensions) to UberStealth and requested dual terminals. My sub is dual voice coil, with each one wired to an individual terminal cup. This allows changing the wiring (parallel or series) without removing the sub from the box. Built a simple amp rack. Sub is connected to the amp via Anderson Power Pole quick disconnects so sub box can be removed easily. Amp rack does not have to be removed to pull the spare out. Whole setup fits under the hatch floor (in the upper position) so you would never know it's there just by looking. We do have AAA but if we ever need the spare we disconnect the sub box and pull it out, then we pull out the spare.

Equipment:
Helix Soundbox, PN 000051419B (not using included sub)
Front door Infiniti Kappa 62.11i 2 way speakers with SAK023 Speaker Adapters
Stereo Integrity BM MK V Shallow Mount Sub SI BM MKV
Uber Stealth Audio Mk7 Underfloor Sub Box UberStealth - sent sub specs with my order and requested dual terminals
Audio Control LC2i AudioControl - connected to sub-out of Helix DSP with one of molex pigtails, cut off
Soundqubed S1-850 Monoblock subwoofer amp, with remote gain control/clipping indicator in the cubby, forward of the shifter

*not yet installed* Helix demo switch, dealer accessory that disables sound processing for A/B comparisons. Useless, obviously, but will be cool to have. Thinking I'll install it in the center console when I have it removed to install the DieselGeek Super Pin, and some other stuff.

And the pictures...
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IMG_20180625_180607.jpgSpeaker.pngIMG_20180704_130047.jpgIMG_20180804_104119.jpgIMG_20180804_104142.jpgIMG_20180805_095643.jpgIMG_20180807_122332.jpg
 
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Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
GTD Seats, Art Velour, heated (retrofit complete as of 2/5/2021):
I had been looking for a set of GTI plaid seats ever since I got the car. Also wanted heated seats although that was secondary. A few times a set would pop up at a decent price but I was always too late. One day I saw a thread on Vortex where someone had swapped GTE plaid (blue accent) seats into their Golf R which was pretty sweet. In that same thread someone posted a picture of GTD plaid (gray accent) which I didn't know existed. So I began searching eBay for a set of those... and stumbled across the "Art Velour" seats for sale buy a shop in the Netherlands. Reached out to them on Whats-app and got them coming. Had to have them shipped to my job but they came in Fed Ex in less than a week. I want to say total with duty was somewhere around $1,100. Most of the GTI plaid seats I had seen were not local and always ended up around $800 shipped so this was a relative steal. And I have TDI appropriate GTD seats that I would be surprised to see another set of here in the states, don't know how common they are ROW.

These seats are heated so began the heated seat retrofit process, which is still not done. Ordered the harness from Kufatec. Also picked up the A/C controls with heated seat controls on eBay. Seats don't ship with airbags so I moved those over from my removed leatherette seats. The NAR passenger heating element and occupancy sensor is the same part so I ordered one of those and installed into my new passenger seat. Found that the front seat rails have changed at some point (or are just different) between my stock seats and these so I switched those over. Moved the passenger seat airbag module to the new passenger seat and swapped over the drawer under the driver seat. A little gotcha... the front passenger seat seat but belt buckle (that part on the seat) had to be switched over as well. The one on my stock seats has a curve (toward the passenger door) that the GTD part did not have. That curve keeps it away from the center console so it doesn't hit/rattle when the seat is pushed back.

All the harnesses from my car plugged right into the GTD seats. Passenger occupancy sensor works (as expected) since I switched over the module and installed the sensor in the new seats. Note that my NAR occupancy sensor/heating element is installed beneath the heating element that came in the GTD seats. No heated seat wiring in my car but the heating elements in the GTD seats plug directly into the Kufatec harness. I got lucky here, as I was expecting to merge the Kufatec harness with my existing plugs, thinking there would only be one plug on the GTD seats. Instead, the ends of the Kufatec harness will be installed in the open spot next to my existing car seat harness and no vehicle wiring will be modified. This means that IF I ever sold the car and wanted to keep my GTD seats I could put the factory seats right back in (would buy new side airbags though, accessing them is no fun).

Long post is long... found out my Lowline BCM does not support heated seats, does not have the required pins. Almost a year later, got the proper Highline BCM installed at the dealer. This took 4 separate visits for them to get right... seems they don't know the difference between coding and adaptation... took the involvement of VW engineering but finally got done. Anyway, heated seat harness and controls will (hopefully) be done before next winter. Got a lot of retrofits pending and want to knock them all out at the same time. As of 2/5/2021 heated seats are done, tested and approved by the wife :LOL:.

And the pictures...
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IMG_20190607_174932.jpg

IMG_20190530_114644.jpgIMG_20190530_120135.jpgIMG_20190530_120114.jpgIMG_20190609_112211.jpgIMG_20190609_112213.jpgIMG_20190529_213121.jpgIMG_20190530_232429.jpg
 
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riceburner

Autocross Champion
Location
nice try PPNT
Car(s)
MK5 Best GTI
nice golf, love those seats! nice find!
 

Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
Front Suspension Setup
This will be mostly without pictures until the next time I get under the car but figured why not update. Also updated the first post. After trying several combinations of stock springs/shocks/struts/camber plates I have settled on Bilstein B8s, H&R Sport Springs and stock strut mounts/bearings. I have run the 034 and SuperPro camber plates, could never get either of them to be noise free low speed turning. Neither caused any additional NV in everyday driving but there was added harshness. Nothing terrible, and nothing I would've complained about had there been low speed turning noise, but absolutely noticeable. Some say they don't notice it, but back to back it was really obvious (I ran 6 suspension combinations). It reminded me of the difference between the feel of my wife's car at factory recommended 45 PSI o_O versus 37-ish where we run it.

NOTE: Ultimately ended being unhappy with this too, so I retrofitted DCC!

As expected, factory setup has a decent amount of body roll and sits kind of high. The B8/H&R Sport combo brings the height down to somewhere that looks better but doesn't require me to be careful driving around. Body roll isn't gone but there is some reduction, and the car feels more planted, especially at higher speeds. Firmer for sure, but wife approved. I'm also running the Unibrace UBQ. At our last place we entered the parking garage at a weird angle... off of a hill and over a the sidewalk hump. The UBQ got rid of the creaking/odd noise on that entry. I suppose any stiffening like this is good but beyond the better feeling over weird terrain (like speed bumps at angles in parking lots) I honestly don't drive the car hard enough to point out any A/B improvements. Less noise is enough for me to recommend it.

Recent Updates
About a month ago, installed the 034 Motorsports engine/transmission mount. Found out why no one includes the TDI on their fitment guides, they are all missing a mounting point for the fuel filter. That filter also makes installing the engine mount on the TDI a bit more tedious. The filter is still held by two points and isn't in danger of moving. I could move the engine with a firm push while mounted and could move the mounts around by hand once removed. Was not able to move the engine by hand with new mounts (as expected). A side note, my transmission was slightly misaligned from the factory, which probably explains why I had unacceptable vibration when I tried running a dog bone insert in the past. No difference in vibration with the 034 mounts. I know how some feel about them but I don't launch the car and will keep an eye on them. I suspect with my driving style they should at least last the 25-30k that my stock mounts did and I'll be fine with that.

Had the Audi aluminum subframe installed a couple weeks ago, along with WhiteLine KTA252 lower control arms, Neuspeed 25mm FSB, 034 upper and lower dog bone inserts, and replacement ball joints/hardware. Install was performed by Pacific German in Laguna Beach, highly recommended. Thought the car felt great leaving the shop and am liking it even more with time. There is more engine/transmission noise but it is not being translated to vibration even with the A/C on, which is perfect The car just feels so solid now. It reminds me of my Mk4 in a good way. Besides the lower revs of the TDI, it has the go-cart like "toss-ability" that made me love the Mk4, except with decent refinement.

Shifting now feels excellent (besides the side-side movement while in gear, hopefully to be fixed with Dieselgeek Superpin). I think this is a combination of the motor/transmission mounts and the inserts. Already had the Sigma 6 and I no longer feel my shift cables could use an adjustment. I didn't have a problem with missing shifts before but there's now an easy "thunk" into each gear.

Blah blah blah... some pictures... Neuspeed RSB is next (may not do anything, TDI has torsion beam rear, haha)...
IMG_20200524_175636__01.jpg

IMG_20200524_183635__01.jpg

IMG_20200524_183651__01.jpg

IMG_20200531_180226.jpg
 
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Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
Minor update as far as parts go but good size overall impression update. Neuspeed 22mm solid rear sway bar is on now. I suppose the install should be discussed first. Neuspeed provides printed, color instructions that are really good and include an exploded view of how all the hardware will look once in place. I did the install on jack stands in my garage in about 3 hours from unboxing to car back on the ground. That being said, I recommend getting the car up on a lift. I estimate I could do it on a lift in about an hour. Neuspeed recommends a chisel to knock off welding splatter in the areas the sway bar will be flush against the torsion beam. This may be possible on a lift, but is next to impossible on jack stands. Either way I recommend a dremel with carbide bit. It knocks the small splatter right off and will grind down any larger splatter. That out of the way, next step is to get the bar in position and start installing hardware.

One of the bolt/nut combinations is easily accessible top and bottom and I recommend getting this started first as it will "hold" the bar in place while you get the other started. The other two require putting hardware inside of the torsion beam through some elongated "access" holes. My working on fiddly aircraft assemblies means I'm used to installing hardware by feel alone but this would be much easier on a lift so you're standing up and move around to see what you're doing. There is also a backing plate that goes in the beam where the bar mounts and it has to be lined up for the bolts to go through as well. At one point it kind of fell into a spot in the beam and it took half an hour to get it back in place.

Anyway, once all the bolts/nuts are started the next thing is to tighten them in the order given by the instructions. You will need wrenches to reach "inside" the torsion beam and hold the hardware while you tighten/torque from the outside. You will also need a set of metric crows feet if you want to properly torque one of the bolts. The top of it is inside the beam and the bar itself prevents you from getting a socket on the outside (even a low profile one).

As far driving impressions, I'm happy to report that I have nothing else I want to do to the car! It won't ever see a track and I've seen the edge and then backed a little bit away from what I think is acceptable NVH wise for Los Angeles roads. The most aggressive driving I will do is in the various canyons around SoCal and the car now feels in its element there. With the aluminum subframe, aluminum control arms and front sway bar the car felt extremely planted but also wanted to push through the corners. I wouldn't say it was more eager to push than stock but I had a better idea of how close to the limits I was getting.

I was pleasantly surprised with the improvement from the rear sway bar. I have no doubt the car will still understeer at the limit but that limit seems a good bit higher and the car more balanced. There were a couple times on this most recent drive that the (relative) speed I had carried through a turn startled me. That is, I noticed at end of the turn that I was going much faster than I could have before. At no point on the drive did I feel I had reached the limit of what the car could do suspension wise. Keep in mind that I'm an abject novice to performance driving so someone with experience may find differently. In any case, the car is capable beyond the comfort I have in my driving ability and I'm OKAY with that!

Picture of the bar on the ground... I'm too lazy to put my car back on stands to get a decent picture but it looks just like this, haha.
IMG_20200627_205746.jpg
 

Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
Sooo... decided to do a gloss black trim conversion (unpopular I know) because the AID bezel only comes in gloss black (or Polar Night) and I can't find vinyl that perfectly matches the brushed silver in my Golf S. I got quotes for vinyl wrapping all the trim to match but it was about the same as buying all new trim. Anyway, decided I would upgrade to the 8" glass screen at the same time. Part was ordered... FedEx destroyed the box. Screen is undamaged and works perfectly, but the bezel is broken so the seller is shipping me a new one.
Package 3.jpg

Package 4.jpg

Package 5.jpg

Screen 1.jpg

Started working on some other stuff also, for the adaptive cruise control retrofit, couple harness/pigtail pics, which will be detailed later and I'll post up some electrical drawings after I figure out how to make them presentable in AutoCAD. More to come on this...
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And I may have decided to go MIB 2.5 :unsure:... who knows, haha.
 

Acadia18

Autocross Champion
Location
The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area
Car(s)
2019 Golf R
You get the MIB2.5 and 9.2" screen in yet? One of those things I'd love to do, but don't think I could stomach the cost.
 

Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
The plan is to install this weekend. The thing about cost is that you must think of it in terms of the new car you didn't buy... enter your CC info to get the points/miles/whatever, immediately log into your CC account and pay off the still pending charge... then forget about what you've just done
 

jimlloyd40

Autocross Champion
Location
Phoenix
Car(s)
2018 SE DSG
The plan is to install this weekend. The thing about cost is that you must think of it in terms of the new car you didn't buy... enter your CC info to get the points/miles/whatever, immediately log into your CC account and pay off the still pending charge... then forget about what you've just done

Might as well use the banks money and pay it off with the next billing cycle before any interest accrues. It's like a 1 month interest free loan.
 

Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
This is the beginning of an update for my ACC retrofit. And front fogs, and parking sensors.
IMG_20200912_122726.jpg

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Car did not come with emergency stopping so my front crash bar does not have the radar mount. At some point months ago I found (what I thought was) the proper crash bar on eBay. Today I pulled the front bumper and bar off and found out my new bar is shorter than the one that came off of my car 🤔.

Measured the mounting holes and additional mount locations and they all match, what's going on here? Turns out the legs (for lack of a better term) are shorter. This means that the foam would sit maybe 2" further back into the bumper. For a moment I wondered if I was concerned about a couple inches of bumper flex before hitting foam and the answer... yes, concerned, haha. I'd also noticed the tow hook mount is sitting a couple inches back which means my front plate now won't reach and I'm actually not sure the factory tow hook would reach the threads either.
IMG_20200912_141639.jpg


So I'll order the crash bar from the dealer, no big deal. And I'm dealing with the annoying thing about ordering VW parts... The dealer 5 minutes from my house has the crash bar in stock but they won't match the price of the dealer that's an hour away that doesn't have it in stock... I can order at the far dealer and go pick it up or have them ship it to me for $26... which would still be saving $150 over buying at the close dealer 🤷🏿‍♂️🤦🏿‍♂️.

Order placed at the far away dealer and I'll have it delivered. It's an hour each way with no traffic and this is Los Angeles so there will be traffic at any time that the service center will be open. My 3 hours is worth more than the $26 to ship.

In the mean time, I'll work on getting the front fogs in and the parking sensor holes punched. VW was nice enough to put tape on the bumper in every spot where a sensor would be installed so at least those areas are clean.
IMG_20200912_150640.jpg
 

Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
This post is informational, though still car journal related as part of my in progress ACC retrofit. These are the instructions to replace a broken front cover on your ACC radar (or replace a non-heated cover with a heated one). There are a couple scenarios where you might want to do this:
1) You are retrofitting ACC on a pre-facelift car with the sensor in the lower grill and want to install the 3QF part number radar
2) You already have lower grill mounted radar but want to upgrade to the the 3QF part number

The 3QF radar is typically installed on the facelift cars, behind the VW emblem in the upper grill. The front cover is not heated because the radar isn't exposed. The 3QF radar provides some of the following features, copy/pasted from a post by @doctor in another thread...

They has more sensitive for collision and tracking lines / works with park modules without line's when following a car at lower speed's (0-50km/h)
Recognize standing objects and cars ( Front assist )
Predictive functions : if you have new 876B/C (US) or 874B/C (Europe) mib2 which has navigation with sd card discover media or mib2 / mib2.5 discover pro, and you have H10, H11 radar also have 3Q0 camera's
You can get the predictive adaptive cruise control ( P.Acc ) feature by rearranging the necessary coding and swaps. ( of course you can not do that by yourself ;) )


Now back on topic...

The radar has 4 metal clips that hold the front cover on. On the back side of the radar these clips are basically (really stiff) springs. On the front, each of them has two "hooks" that keep the cover in place. You need to push the "springs" enough to let you disengage the hooks.
IMG_20201005_193006 - Copy.jpg


Then pull the clips towards the back of the radar. Once they are pulled back use a flathead screwdriver and work your way around the cover, lifting it off. It is not glued on but there is a double weather seal/flange that provides a really tight fit. Takes some patience but as long as you go around evenly it will come off.
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Re-assembly is the reverse of dis-assembly... blah blah. And below is a picture that shows the difference in the two covers/radars. Both radars have pins for front cover heating but only the front cover from the 5Q0 radar (right) has mating pins to use the heating function.
IMG_20201005_195649.jpg
 
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