What did you and your MKV do today?

[colesey]

Keep an eye on those inserts as mine were soon squeezed out and then later caused one of the oem mounts to burst its fluid. I ended up replacing with 034 mounts but suspect that one can go ‘harder’ without any concerning NVH issues.

[bobby_fodge]

Fitted new engine mounts (lemforder) with powerflex inserts. No vibration so far and car feels 100x better, as was running original mounts from 16 years ago. Already had the 034 dogbone upper and lower inserts fitted. Will upgrade the actual dog bone next to the new OEM one

I did the exact same and noticed a massive improvement, maybe just new mounts would make an improvements.

[Sebas_theFish]

Installed the Gruven Parts billet intake manifold linkage and drive ball.

[pudding]

So a simple oil change today turned into a rust curing exercise and fitment of H&R Springs and Bilstein B4.

More gold coloured flecks in the oil again, so turbo failure is imminent.  Still undecided whether to keep the car, or get something newer.  With car prices the way they are currently, I might just throw a new turbo on.  We'll see.

So yeah, this wing was a warranty replacement done in 2015 at a dealer.  Good work VW    I bet they just sanded the old one down and repainted it rather than fitting a brand new one    Nevermind, all sanded back, POR 15'd and painted.



The front struts were bar steward, fought me all the way.  Being standard length struts, I had to remove the driveshaft bolt and ball joint on the passenger side to allow the ARB to drop down enough.  Complete ball ache. 

Then to add insult to injury, the sodding strut on the passenger side wouldn't drop down all the way into the knuckle, so sat 10mm proud of the bottoming out ledge. As I have the alloy knuckles, the spreader tool didn't work as some previous chump and cheesed them out with a chisel or something 

To cut a long story short, I did the brave/stupid/genius thing of driving it with no pinch bolt in an attempt to force the strut to bottom out.  After 2 miles, I hit a large bump and I heard a satisfying 'THUNK'. That did the trick    Drove back home gingerly and put the pinch bolt in.

You, yes you front B4s, you're complete gits. I hate you.



Rear B4s, you're so simple to fit, I love you!



Ride height is comedy, but I wanted more travel after the Ohlins & ST due to the crap roads I have to drive on to work now.  They are the non-GTI spec H&R springs, so lowering is minimal, perhaps 10mm at the most.

Ride quality is a bit jiggly and rough. I thought H&R springs were supposed to be forgiving, oh well. Maybe the Eibach ARBs aren't helping matters on that front    It'll do though. I wasn't expecting a magic carpet ride after the ST kit.

And yeah the car hasn't been cleaned since September 

[81lly]

So a simple oil change today turned into a rust curing exercise and fitment of H&R Springs and Bilstein B4.

More gold coloured flecks in the oil again, so turbo failure is imminent.  Still undecided whether to keep the car, or get something newer.  With car prices the way they are currently, I might just throw a new turbo on.  We'll see.

So yeah, this wing was a warranty replacement done in 2015 at a dealer.  Good work VW    I bet they just sanded the old one down and repainted it rather than fitting a brand new one    Nevermind, all sanded back, POR 15'd and painted.



The front struts were bar steward, fought me all the way.  Being standard length struts, I had to remove the driveshaft bolt and ball joint on the passenger side to allow the ARB to drop down enough.  Complete ball ache. 

Then to add insult to injury, the sodding strut on the passenger side wouldn't drop down all the way into the knuckle, so sat 10mm proud of the bottoming out ledge. As I have the alloy knuckles, the spreader tool didn't work as some previous chump and cheesed them out with a chisel or something 

To cut a long story short, I did the brave/stupid/genius thing of driving it with no pinch bolt in an attempt to force the strut to bottom out.  After 2 miles, I hit a large bump and I heard a satisfying 'THUNK'. That did the trick    Drove back home gingerly and put the pinch bolt in.

You, yes you front B4s, you're complete gits. I hate you.



Rear B4s, you're so simple to fit, I love you!



Ride height is comedy, but I wanted more travel after the Ohlins & ST due to the crap roads I have to drive on to work now.  They are the non-GTI spec H&R springs, so lowering is minimal, perhaps 10mm at the most.

Ride quality is a bit jiggly and rough. I thought H&R springs were supposed to be forgiving, oh well. Maybe the Eibach ARBs aren't helping matters on that front    It'll do though. I wasn't expecting a magic carpet ride after the ST kit.

And yeah the car hasn't been cleaned since September 

What did you think of the ST kit? I’m looking into that and Vogtland

[ttelracs]

I removed the drivers side rear brake disc but had to use the blowtorch on the outer part of the splined bolts holding in the caliper in place which took about an hour in total to remove the top bolt.  I couldn't remove the bottom one but was able to loosen the bottom enough to adjust the caliper and remove the disc.  I fitted the new one, replaced the bolt only to realise the disc was the wrong size, it was way too small. 

I had to heat it up again to remove the bolt and go through the whole process again, but this time it was harder as the splines in the bolt were rounding off but I did it eventually.  I then replaced the disc with the old one and put the top bolt back in but didn't tighten it too much. In total, about 5 hours wasted, well not entirely as I removed, cleaned and greased the slider pins on the caliper and as the bottom one was very stiff. 

Went online to return the wrongly labelled Mintex discs, ordered two new caliper bolts and a caliper repair kit as both rubbers were torn and.  Gutted really as 5 hours in the hot sun and achieved very little.  Lesson learned, check ***ing parts before removal.

[pudding]

What did you think of the ST kit? I’m looking into that and Vogtland

For the money I quite liked it. It's pretty firm, but no worse than other setups I've tried in the past. I'd say it slots in between standard and cheap coilovers in terms of ride quality.  They seem to last as there's no sign of leaking after a year's hard use on sh1te roads.  For £500ish, I fully expected them to be covered in damper oil upon removal 

One thing I've noticed over the years though, is how crap the RS3 top mounts are.  They start knocking after about a year and over the summer months, they make a rubbery squelch noise over speed humps.  They're a complete waste of money over the GTI mounts. Next time I switch/replace the struts, I'll be looking into better alternatives.

[Sebas_theFish]

Installed my frameless mirror.

Sent from my Samsung Smart Fridge

[pudding]

More gold coloured flecks in the oil again, so turbo failure is imminent.  Still undecided whether to keep the car, or get something newer.  With car prices the way they are currently, I might just throw a new turbo on.  We'll see.

A large portion of Turbot arrived today.  I guess I'm keeping the car for a bit longer then 

Shout out to TurboZentrum for good prices and speedy delivery 

[rich83]

More gold coloured flecks in the oil again, so turbo failure is imminent.  Still undecided whether to keep the car, or get something newer.  With car prices the way they are currently, I might just throw a new turbo on.  We'll see.

A large portion of Turbot arrived today.  I guess I'm keeping the car for a bit longer then 

Shout out to TurboZentrum for good prices and speedy delivery 

Few quids worth there! Now for the fun bit! 

[pudding]

More gold coloured flecks in the oil again, so turbo failure is imminent.  Still undecided whether to keep the car, or get something newer.  With car prices the way they are currently, I might just throw a new turbo on.  We'll see.

A large portion of Turbot arrived today.  I guess I'm keeping the car for a bit longer then 

Shout out to TurboZentrum for good prices and speedy delivery 

Few quids worth there! Now for the fun bit! 

You're not kidding, but given all the Brexit/War/Cost of living stuff going on, I thought £804 was very reasonable.  Some other sellers are charging that for a refurbished one! 

And nope, I'm not looking forward to fitting it!  Pelican Parts guide shows it coming out from the top, so that makes life a bit easier 

[rich83]

Thats not too bad... I would have presumed about £1000. Lets hope I dont need to ever buy one 

[pudding]

Thats not too bad... I would have presumed about £1000. Lets hope I dont need to ever buy one 

That is the average price I saw during my research, plus another £500+VAT on top if you get one form the dealer    I saw one clown advertising it at £750 inc VAT.  Bargain! Until you get to the checkout and see the flat rate £150 delivery 

Your car seems to be lasting well, so I reckon you'll be fine.  Just watch out for a sprinkling of tiny gold specks in the oil/filter, and uber sluggishness below 2500rpm.  They are the early signs of impending turbot doom!

[mjmallia]

Hit the five year mark and had the cambelt/pump done by a specialist and also a mate.

I swear the car feels more responsive now, or I had got used to the crap Honda Jazz courtesy car 

All genuine bits on, so have peace of mind again

[OllieVRS]

Replaced my Spark Plugs this morning, which according to the service book have 29,000 miles (46,670km) on them.

50 Shades of Orange 



For reference though I have been running octane booster for the last 5000km, as there's nothing above 95 octane in the Rep. of Ireland, so that's probably why they've turned to orange from yellow since I last checked them. Interestingly though there's none of that sticky carbon on them that was there last time I checked them, as seen in this photo:



Replaced with some NGK BKR7EIX, engine feels calmer and sounds less angry now, dunno if it's placebo