Money Mike's '15 GTI (S)-Tuned

[one0]

Hey all!

Wanted to keep a log of my sweet ride. It's a 2015 GTI S that I purchased from Carmax in April.

I traded in my 2013 BMW 550i xDrive for this little beauty My previous car was a blast to drive but I purchased it used from Carmax about 2 years prior and I had no major problems with it ever. So I started getting nervous about the potentially impending engine failure that happens with N63 engines that would probably bankrupt me. Decided to trade it in for a fun hatchback with a little "giddy up" in its step, after test driving an Elantra GT and feeling exactly zero power when I stomped the gas. The GTI was fun and peppy and has enough space for my two car seats and double stroller stuffed in the back. Perfect.

Mod List (So Far)
Engine
TPC20 Hybrid Turbo from turbopartscanada
Stage 2 Water/Meth Kit from Snow Performance
Neuspeed Turbo Discharge Pipe
CTS Turbo High Flo Turbo Inlet
CTS Turbo downpipe (stock muffler)
CTS Turbo Throttle Pipe
Cobb Intake
APR Intercooler
Red Top RS3 Coil Packs
Brisk Racing Plugs
Precision Raceworks Stage 3 Fuel Pump (Walbro 450)
Precision Raceworks EA888 Gen 3 Port Injection Kit (1300cc)

Suspension/Braking
BC Racing BR Coilovers
Wavetrac LSD
EBC Red Stuff Brakes
Zimmerman slotted rotors
034 Motorsports Street Density Upper and Lower Mount with Inserts

Cosmetic
ECS Tuning Backup Camera
Replica Golf R HID headlights
Power folding side mirrors
ECS Tuning carbon fiber front lip spoiler
20% Window Tint

Special thanks to everyone on the forums here for providing all this great information in a searchable format (I lurk more than I post). Special thanks to GTI Jake for his posts about exhausts.

 

[toothofwar]

Nice ride! Welcome to the madness. Just out of curiosity, how many miles is on it?

Also, is it dsg or 6mt?

 

[one0]

Nice ride! Welcome to the madness. Just out of curiosity, how many miles is on it?

Also, is it dsg or 6mt?

Oh thanks! I've been here for a while but finally thought I'd write down what I had done so far. Its getting harder to remember all that was done at this point haha

Its got about 67K miles on it. I distinctly remember starting the serious modding on this car at 60K miles so its all relatively recent.

DSG for this one. Serves as a daily driver and stop/go traffic in the DMV with a manual would destroy my knee. The paddle shifters are more than enough for me.

 

[one0]

This was probably a month after I got the car. I was so excited to tear it apart...but I also had no idea what I was doing...

I eventually got the discharge pipe and intercooler installed.

 

[one0]

I've gone a couple of turbo choices. Initially, I bought an IS38 from a member on this forum and it was pretty good. I just grew tired of incrementally changing the wastegate trying to get rid of the EPC light. In hindsight, a custom tune would probably have fixed that. Instead, I bought a TPC20 IS20 hybrid with a pre-configured wastegate to eliminate crawling under the car to fiddle with that 10mm nut ever again.

Side-by-side for scale:

TPC20 vs IS38 vs IS20

 

[one0]

Just got her back over the weekend! She has been at NGP Racing in Virginia getting the Wavetrac LSD installed. First driving impressions: yes, I do feel it pulling me through the turns and it feels grippy as all hell. I'll put it though its paces at Summit Point this weekend and give my thoughts after.

This is just a good picture of my baby with some extended members of its VW family after they were done. haha

 

[one0]

Took the opportunity to wrap the downpipe with the titanium exhaust wrap from DEI. The aim here was to lower the downpipe temperatures and also handle any exhaust leaks from the CTS Turbo downpipe (I was still smelling exhaust smell no matter how much I tightened the v-band or O2 sensor).

Before:

After:

Mission accomplished! The smell has been eliminated. I think the flexible section was leaking out a little and by fully wrapping it, I believe I've fixed the problem.

 

[GFGTI]

Cool to hear about the wavetrac, it's a big job but good to know it's worth it.

 

[jimlloyd40]

Good job.You came a long way in a short time. You obviously did a lot of research.

 

[Tornado-GTI]

How is the performance of the TPC20 vs the IS38? Noticeable difference in lag?