Boothmeister, If it makes you feel any better (which it won't) I did exactly the same thing with my cover last weekend, cracked to bu$$ery and really pissed off, and I have removed it a few times in the past without too many problems, they key has to be a hot engine (mine was cold).
I have a stage one on both my wifes GTI which has done 83k miles and it made a big difference, and also on my ed30 which makes a Massive difference. If it hasn't made a really noticeable difference, especialy in mid range acceleration you have other issues, would def look at the DV.
Cheers
John
Rather than just get a new cover I am going down the ITG group buy route, might as well get more power if I have to but a new inlet system which I do now :-(