New Owner, some interior trim questions...

[c4pete]

Hi All,

I'm fairly new (2 months) to GTi ownership, and to this forum.  I bought an 06 GTi in reflex silver with winter pack, cruise, fsh, 70K miles.

First of all I'd like to say how great this forum is - the info and articles in here have already helped me so much with choice of car and a few jobs.  Since I bought the car I've changed the wheels for 18" BBS CH with some new tyres, done the cam belt and water pump, new brembo brake disks and pads (repainted the calipers), had a full geo done at Awesome in Manchester, upgraded the audio to RNS315 with the microphone so I have BT hands free, new DAB aerial and later CAN gateway to stop battery drain, and I've just done the cam follower.  I've checked the DV and PCV and they are both in good working order.

So now I have the car mechanically how I want it, I'm turning my attention to cosmetics, looking at improving bits of the interior.  I don't have a centre armrest in the front, and wondered about fitting one - what do I need to look out for?  Do they have vents at the back?  How do I connect the vents up to the heating system?  Or can I put a cup holder in there instead of the vents etc?

I'm also looking at the door grab handles and thinking they either need painting or replacing as the rubber coating is quite badly scratched.  Does anybody have experience of getting a factory finish on these with paint like plastidip?  I'm going to upgrade all the window/mirror/lighting switches to the ones with aluminium edges - there's loads of these on ebay and my current switches are a bit worn.  Are these switches ok?  I'm also interested in a MFSW - can I just add buttons and a controller to a standard wheel?

I'm also looking at upgrading the headlights to xenon, can't decide if I will go with Depo + HID kit, or factory units with shutters.  Also looking at the LED rear lights, maybe sourcing these from ebay.de - I've already changed the number plate lights to OEM LED versions.

Any suggestions or information about the above would be great!

Many Thanks,
Pete.

[blueislander80]

Hi Mate,

Like you I am new to ownership so will be following this thread keenly! I am also on the hunt for an armrest and to learn how to fit it.

Can I ask where you got the RNS315 from and how difficult it was to fit with the new canbus and antennaes etc? I'm not electrically/techhie minded so am mildly terrified of it all but the stock cd player is dire!

Cheers!

[c4pete]

Hi BlueIslander80,

The RNS315 I picked up off ebay, there's plenty on there, just shop around - mine was from a breakers in Leeds.

The fitting of the radio and antennae was ok, I followed a few threads / videos on the subject before attempting myself, I'd recommend you get some of the orange plastic trim removal tools - you can pick them up really cheap on ebay.  My car had two aerial wires into the back of the unit that were in a single double plastic block - I bought an adapter to split this into two separate ones because the new unit had them spaced so the old connector didn't fit.  I just placed the new gps aerial under the dash to the left of the radio, kind of on top of the glove box, there's just enough space to squeeze it in.  The DAB aerial I went for was a windscreen mount, but I mounted behind the trim on the A-pillar at the side of the windscreen and it works fine in there.  The battery drain/can gateway I didn't know about until after fitting and my battery died - basically the new unit doesn't switch off properly with the older can gateway, so I sourced a newer one (again there are some threads on which revision you need on here) from a breakers and got my local vw specialist to fit - it needs coding in with VCDS, so not a job you can easily do yourself unless you have the kit.

I'm fairly handy with mechanicals and electricals, and I'd say it took me about an hour to fit the radio, taking my time, watching out not to scratch any trim etc.

Hope that helps,
Cheers,
Pete.

[jayha11]

Hi Pete

Glad you are enjoying the forum! Its definitely one of the best I have had the pleasure of being part of 

I can certainly help you with some of the questions you have raised above and a lot of the info is in my old build thread below:
http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,97064.15.html

The switches from ebay will be fine and are really easy to fit! As for the grab handles get down to your local VW parts dept. I cannot recall the part number for the drivers side sorry but if you let them know what you need they will get them ordered no problem *They are so much cheaper direct than the ones being sold on ebay, my 4 door drivers side was £14 from VW*

Fitting was dead easy too, the drivers side just pops off and the new one clips straight back in. The passenger side is more difficult as the door card has to come off to fully remove/replace.

Happy motoring dude!

[c4pete]

Thanks Jayha11,

I'll have a good read of your build thread now... the door grab handles - I'd read somewhere that the new ones came without the rubberised coating, and were just a plain plastic finish, is this bad info, or maybe different parts from a more basic golf?

I'm also looking at the front grill - my main centre grill honeycomb is faded, so I'm toying with the idea of painting or buying a replacement - the other grills seem fine.  I'm also thinking about doing the wing mirrors gloss black and replacing the indicator strips with smoked versions - thinking it will look good on a silver car.

Loving the GTi though, it's loads of fun for the money 

[c4pete]

The more I read, the more I want to do... just looking at some rear led tail lights on ebay.de here: http://www.ebay.de/itm/Original-VW-LED-Ruckleuchten-SET-fur-VW-Golf-5-V-in-Kirschrot-Rot-Schwarz-/200413685113?hash=item2ea9962579:g:ot8AAOSwqu9VMMpb

Will these be a direct replacement - I've read somewhere you just need to swap the fog red lens so it's on the offside?

Cheers,
Pete.

[Facian]

Good to hear that you can get the door handles cheaply, do they come with the window switches also? Mine have worn through in a few places somehow!