nicholam77's PP GTI thread

[nicholam77]

Hello everyone

Just joined up with golfmk7 and thought I would port my modest car thread over from VWVortex. My car is a 2016 GTI SE in Carbon Steel Gray, 6spd manual, with the Lighting Package and Performance Package.


Engine / Drivetrain:

- Integrated Engineering Stage 1 Low Torque 93 Octane
- OEM clutch bleeder block delay delete
- Clutch pedal spring delete
- OEM S3 short shifter
- 034 lower + upper dogbone inserts
- BFI Stage 1 engine + transmission mounts
- ECS solid shifter cable bushings
- ECS stainless steel clutch line + swirl valve delete
- Eurocode turbo muffler delete + silicone outlet hose
- AWE Track Edition catback exhaust
- Burger Motorsports cold air intake

Suspension:
- VWR springs

Cosmetic / Other:
- Monster Mats
- Audi 12v cap
- Lower Engine Cover
- Euro Switch
- BFI GS2 Shift Knob + Leather Boot
- Lamin-X Yellow Fogs
- LED tail lights
- Power Folding Mirrors
- deAutoKey LED amber front turn signals
- deAutoKey LED license plate bulbs
- Audi jack pad adapters + trim
- Frameless Auto-dimming Mirror w/Compass and Homelink
- OEM Window Shades Rear + Hatch
- 3D printed clutch stop
- Aerofabb V.1 Spoiler Extension

Removed:
- KMD Tuning stainless steel clutch line
- DinanTRONICS Sport+ Piggyback Module
- CTS Engine + Transmission Mounts
- aFe Pro Dry S drop in filter

Coding:
- MFD Display set to carbon fiber look
- Disabled Soundaktor
- Comfort Blink set to 4
- Passenger mirror dip in reverse
- Mirror automatic folding on lock/unlock
- Disabled seatbelt warning chime
- Disabled ignition on door open warning chime
- Disabled orange side markers in head lights
- Set fogs as CH/LH lights
- ROW functionality for LED tails (amber blinker)
- Rear fog light / euroswitch enabled
- Hill start assist set to easy
- Starting Vibration set to Deactivated
- Idle RPM correction
- Direct Acceleration "Throttle Mod" (controlled over threshold value)


Summer Setup:
- BBS CO 18x8 ET44
- 5mm front, 10mm rear spacers
- Firestone Indy 500's 225/40/R18

Winter Setup:
- Alzor Style 628 17x7.5 ET35 (Audi Rotor Reps)
- Nitto NT-SN2 Winter 225/45/R17

Pics:

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[nicholam77]

Here is everything I have done so far. I apologize in advance for a very long post!

Pic of car in its stock form shortly after buying it in November 2015

Monster Mats arrived and installed:

Winter wheels from ECS arrived (Alzor Style 628 17x7.5 ET35) and put on just in time for the first snow:

Installed Audi 12v Plug before and after. It's a small detail but I think it makes a big difference in the look of the interior:

And now for some of the more important stuff.

ECS solid shifter cable bushings installed. Definitely improves the feel of the shifter. Was originally thinking about a short shifter as well but not even sure I want it anymore.

Completed the OEM bleeder block delay valve removal mod I discovered on this forum. Clutch feels soooo much better now. Was really the only thing I was disappointed with after having the car for about a month and very thankful I came across the great write up by LeGti on here: http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14745

VWR springs installed by Further Performance Tuning in Minneapolis. They did a great job and I am very satisfied with the springs -- the ride, the look, is perfect for my needs.

And lastly, I installed the tail and brake LED bulb kit from deAutoKey. These things are great. They light up instantly, fill the housing better, and are a deeper red color as advertised.

I also made a short video showing how much faster they are than the stock bulbs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8OyEsRz3ws&feature=youtu.be

Hopefully there will be more things to come in the near future. Cheers!

 

[PLF8593]

Love what you've done with it! Especially the wheels. So those are Audi reps, right?


Bent form NY jKone fyi jabberwock

 

[PLF8593]

Gonna get a JB1??


Bent form NY jKone fyi jabberwock

 

[nicholam77]

Love what you've done with it! Especially the wheels. So those are Audi reps, right?

Thank you! Yes, they are Audi reps from ECS Tuning's Alzor line. Just picked them up for winter wheels with the intention of switching back to the Austin's in the summer, but I have to say the look is really growing on me.

Gonna get a JB1??

Definitely not ruling it out. I don't have any experience with tuned cars but would probably lean towards that over a full ECU flash like APR's. The one thing that I'm hesitant about is the clutch failing to hold the additional torque on the manual transmission cars. I would like my stock clutch to last as long as possible and am not too keen on the idea of replacing it early just for a few more horses/lb-ft. But... we shall see

Do you have the JB1? If so, how's it holding up and any thoughts or advice?

 

[Sandman GTI]

Welcome to the team!
Love the video. Great way to show the difference.
Deautokey should use it.
I have added many deautokey bulbs but was not sure I needed the tail lights.
You sold me on them. One day will also get.
Also like the wheels. Always wondered what these looked like on a GTI.
Share more mods when you have more.

 

[Johnny Blaze]

Thank you! Yes, they are Audi reps from ECS Tuning's Alzor line. Just picked them up for winter wheels with the intention of switching back to the Austin's in the summer, but I have to say the look is really growing on me.



Definitely not ruling it out. I don't have any experience with tuned cars but would probably lean towards that over a full ECU flash like APR's. The one thing that I'm hesitant about is the clutch failing to hold the additional torque on the manual transmission cars. I would like my stock clutch to last as long as possible and am not too keen on the idea of replacing it early just for a few more horses/lb-ft. But... we shall see

Do you have the JB1? If so, how's it holding up and any thoughts or advice?

You'd defintely be able to tune out the tq with the Jb1 vs APR, since you can use MAP6, and custom settings, boost per gear iirc

 

[nicholam77]

Welcome to the team!
Love the video. Great way to show the difference.
Deautokey should use it.
I have added many deautokey bulbs but was not sure I needed the tail lights.
You sold me on them. One day will also get.
Also like the wheels. Always wondered what these looked like on a GTI.
Share more mods when you have more.

Thanks Sandman!

 

[Sandman GTI]

This is the first time I saw your wheel type.
I think they are a nice looking 5 spoke.
Would also be good in summer!

 

[VMRWheels1]

Lookin' good!

 

[Golferee]

The car looks great! nice wheel and tire combo. think i've only seen a Jetta with Alzor rims on. now, it also looks good on GTI. by the way, any feedback on the Nitto tires? i seldom see that tire since most people use blizzaks or x-ice.

 

[nicholam77]

Lookin' good!

Thanks!

The car looks great! nice wheel and tire combo. think i've only seen a Jetta with Alzor rims on. now, it also looks good on GTI. by the way, any feedback on the Nitto tires? i seldom see that tire since most people use blizzaks or x-ice.

Thanks! Yeah the Nitto's actually perform quite well. I had these on my old car for just one season before this and figured instead of getting new ones I'd carry them over to the GTI as they were the right size, and spend the cash on some winter wheels instead. I don't know how they compare to the other more popular snow tires out there as these are the first snow tires I've owned, but I've been happy with them.

 

[nicholam77]

Just a quick update on my car. I've spent the last 4 weekends making trips to the dealer and 7 days total in a loaner car on account of my MIB II unit. First it "died" on me about a month ago. It would just reboot itself 5 times in a row and then just stay off. Techs were not able to apply the available software update because it would not stay on long enough. It's a known issue. So... they ordered a new control module (unit in the glove box) from Germany. A week later got that installed and everything was ok at first except I noticed right away the touch screen interaction seemed sluggish compared to the original. Over the course of the next week the screen animations were consistently dropping frames, laggy, and other glitches happened including the song play cursor getting stuck, dropping my bluetooth connection, and lastly the proximity sensor bar got stuck as if my hand were always up next to it. The lower half of the screen would not animate. Complained, brought it back to the dealer, they ran a bunch of tests which it all passed, so they ordered a replacement control module... again. So far 3rd time has been the charm and everything is working.

Happy to have my car back and be able to listen to music again. Everything was taken care of under warranty of course and mostly just an inconvenience, but I know others have had similar issues and I hope VW can straighten out the bugs in the MIB II software soon! I should not have had the infotainment hardware replaced twice already with less than 2k miles on the car.

Here is a quick video of the proximity sensor stuck (persisted even after hard booting radio and shutting off/on car):

https://youtu.be/yhWaJ2a3nEA

I will say though that getting my car back after driving the Jetta loaner really made me appreciate my GTI. It's easy to get used the power, handling, etc driving it day in and day out but it really is a great car!

 

[nicholam77]

After re-reading the Free MT6 wonder mod: OEM bleeder delay removal thread, I saw some people had been taking it a step further by drilling out the center of the bleeder block. I already had removed the yellow restrictor with good results, and thought I would give it a shot. I also grabbed a compatible speed bleeder from amazon to replace the OEM screw to make the bleeding process easier.

You can find the part here. The size is M8-1.25X27.6

First I disconnected the clutch line and directed it into a ziplock baggy to catch the spilled brake fluid (this was suggested by another poster and worked great):

This is about how much fluid I lost from the clutch line:

Once I had the bleeder block removed I flushed it out with water and then dried it with compressed air. I removed the valve piece and bored out the center with a 1/4" drill bit. There is a bit of a plastic backing that the yellow restrictor used to rest against -- this can be further opened to allow for better flow by drilling it out. Here is what it looked like before, and after (larger opening all the way through):

Unfortunately the valve piece still sticks into the bore. So as others have done I proceeded to file the part down with a metal file. The only one I had was on my leatherman and it took forever.

Here is a pic of the valve base filed down:

And with the bleeder screw attached:

As you can see when placed in the bleeder block it's only protruding into the passage a little bit and is more or less flush:

With the hard part out of the way I put it back together and proceeded to bleed the system with DOT 4:

Overall impressions after driving around a bit is that simply removing the restrictor probably gets you 85-90% of the way there, but personally I found drilling out the bleeder bore and filing the valve to be worthwhile. I still wish the clutch was a little heavier on this car, but I think the spring and pressure plate are just too weak for my liking. These mods help a LOT though, and I find it much easier to shift smoothly and start out of 1st.

I might look into getting a torque arm or engine/trans mounts in the future as I've heard they also help solidify shifting feel.

 

[nicholam77]

Installed deautokey's amber LED front turns last night:

They are not necessarily brighter than the stock bulbs but the stock bulbs only hit their peak brightness for a moment and spend the rest of the time fading in and out, whereas the LEDs are on solid. I like how they now match the instant on-off of the integrated markers on the side mirrors.

The light output is also more "self-contained" than the stock bulbs. By that I mean the light from the stock bulbs has more flare and bleeds outside the housing when looking at it. These look cleaner.

Here is a quick vid: https://youtu.be/MDY7RPTyaAk