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What did you do to your mk7 today?

Raguvian

Autocross Champion
Location
Bay Area, CA
Car(s)
2019 GSW 4MO 6MT
Ha, I don't need a $600 battery for this thing.

Yeah, the price is a tough pill to swallow, but the way I'm justifying it for when I need one is 1. other Euro cars stock batteries can cost 2x+ (like BMWs), so $600 isn't out of the realm for a battery and 2. it's supposed to last much longer than a standard battery while providing good CCA and being a fraction of the weight.

Is it overkill for a station wagon? Yeah, but so are coilovers and Porsche Macan brakes. :p
 

MonkeyMD

Autocross Champion
This week I finally finished my Euro tail light conversion--first ordered the parts in December, but shipping delays and the need to cancel/reorder/order additional parts dragged it out. I installed new TYC-brand European halogen outer light assemblies to match my factory inner lights, modified an LED adapter harness, put in new Auxlight LED replacement bulbs from Amazon and did all of the necessary coding.

I now have essentially full ROW tail light function on my NAR GTI, including amber turn signals, rear fog light (once the proper switch comes in; I carefully drilled/cut out the bulb blank in my original light and only got a couple of plastic flecks stuck inside the lens) and single-side parking lights. Best of all, I was able to point to studies that show that amber turn signals are a significant contributor to reducing crashes, so my wife accepted it as a "safety" upgrade! I've also coded the tail lights to be on with the DRLs for extra visibility (Reflex Silver doesn't show dirt, but it's not nearly as visible on the road as my orange BMW).

A couple of in-action pics--excuse the dirty car:

View attachment 216316

View attachment 216317

Why go this route instead of the full-LED MK7 or MK7.5 replacements?
  • At about $325 all-in, this was a lot cheaper, if more involved; the wiring and coding required more research, planning and work (none of the existing adapter harnesses or forum threads did exactly what I wanted to do, though I'm particularly indebted to the posts by @ZERO815 about his conversion a few years ago).
  • I like the look of the halogen tail lights and the way they mirror the headlights. I don't care for the "blocky" look of the MK7 LED tail lights, and while I do like the MK7.5 style, quality kits are more than twice the cost (see first bullet).
  • In contrast to the full-LED lights, if some of the elements burn out, I can just replace the bulb assembly, not the whole unit. Since I intend to keep the car long-term, this will likely come into play down the road.
  • It's a less common modification, and that uniqueness appeals to me.
While I had the hatch apart, it was only a few more minutes to pull the camera assembly to install a color-matched Klii wrap on the background of the emblem. It's subtle, but I think it gives a more upscale look.

View attachment 216318

-Dave
I like the amber turn signals. I'm probably one of the few that likes these taillights more than the LED 7.5
 

MonkeyMD

Autocross Champion
I will call the dealer, sounds like some folks have gotten warranty coverage when they're less than three years old. If that doesn't work, it's AGM time. Glad I left my OBD11 with a friend in Dallas.
If you need an obd11, let me know
 

bentin

Autocross Champion
Location
Austin, TX
Car(s)
23 Golf R - 3 Pedals
If you need an obd11, let me know
Awesome, thanks. I threw it on my trickle charger and it took it from 12.5a to 14.4a. I've been doing a lot of really short trips recently. I'll blow it out tomorrow and see if that's all it needs. Really just need to buy my wife an eTron, the perfect short haul car.
 

jimlloyd40

Autocross Champion
Location
Phoenix
Car(s)
2018 SE DSG
Removed the ecs front air duct thingy. The plastic one, not the cf one. It was sagging in the middle pretty bad. And it’s weird cuz I asked @jimlloyd40 and he said his wasn’t sagging at all.

went to my brother in laws shop yesterday and I heated up a screw driver and made holes on the stock air duct, on the (American) drivers side. After a bunch of holes, I went at it with a (I think?) die grinder. I dunno this tool could be called something else? But yeah, the driver’s side is open now.
You told me that yours was sagging but I didn't say anything about mine but yes it's sagging. So I used a black zip tie and looped it through the ECS intake and the factory part that remains and it supports it. Don't really notice the zip tie. It has helped my hot weather performance a lot.
 

Keehs360

Autocross Champion
Location
Denver
Car(s)
Mk7.5
You told me that yours was sagging but I didn't say anything about mine but yes it's sagging. So I used a black zip tie and looped it through the ECS intake and the factory part that remains and it supports it. Don't really notice the zip tie. It has helped my hot weather performance a lot.
Really?!? Then I dunno who the hell I spoke to about it
 

jimlloyd40

Autocross Champion
Location
Phoenix
Car(s)
2018 SE DSG
Jim is 70+ how could his not be sagging?
Not really sagging but if I walk by a store window I do notice my upper body leaning forward from the waist up because of years of sciatic back pain. It was just a posture I developed unknowingly to help reduce the sciatic nerve pain.
 

jimlloyd40

Autocross Champion
Location
Phoenix
Car(s)
2018 SE DSG
I will call the dealer, sounds like some folks have gotten warranty coverage when they're less than three years old. If that doesn't work, it's AGM time. Glad I left my OBD11 with a friend in Dallas.
The dealer is now using AGM batteries. At least mine is.
 

jimlloyd40

Autocross Champion
Location
Phoenix
Car(s)
2018 SE DSG
Ha, I don't need a $600 battery for this thing.
Plus if you use the auto start/stop function I'm not sure the Braille would work well. The cars that have start/stop have a much bigger capacity battery.
 
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