Hey Billo,
Yeah, I loved the BBC CH's as well, especially in that colour. However they had just too low an offset, combined with the springs I had on back then didn't make for a good match with my arches. I ended up getting a bit of rubbing & removal of paint.
Your car would look good with the gunmetal CH's (If I'm honest I've never liked black alloys).
I have a set of winter wheels and tyres (brand new tyres) but I haven't even bothered putting them on this year as it's way above 7 degrees these days. You'll love your car whatever colour you get your wheels done in tho. Just something to freshen it up.
Not got the door cards on yet. Tbh I haven't even had time to look at them yet. Work and uni has been hectic this last month. there's a few DIY tutorials online that show you how to do it so I should manage.
Yeah, I did go for the decat downpipe? It's the Milltek Turbo Back exhaust so full bore 3 inch (I think) straight to the back bock then thru the box and out. The tips are GT 80 style. Definitely feel it revs a little freer altho the biggest difference I felt was when I replaced the back box with a thru pipe.
My (original) clutch is doing good at the minute. It's probably a close race between that and my turbo which one will give up first!!
That is a pretty decent torque figure you have on your car for just a remap, who done that for you? Are you feeling any clutch slip at the minute? I've a friend who's run his mapped TDI on the original clutch for over 35000 miles and had no problem.
Anyway, good to see another TDI person on here. One mod I'd recommend is lower valance for the back of your car. Totally trasforms the look and there are millions of options out there. YOu can go for the OEM GTI or R32 valances altho they both have tailpipe cut-outs. If you do some good searching on eBay you will be able to find both the R32 and GTI valance (copies) without cut-outs tho.