As promised some time ago, I said I would post up some pictures of my new MK7 Golf GTD when it arrived. Well I collected on Saturday, and here she is (bit of a cut and paste for a thread of mine over on another forum - sorry about that.)
Well, today after what seemed to be an eternity, I finally collected my new MK7 Golf GTD, and she was certainly worth the wait. Was really sorry to see the old Scirocco go but hey, that’s progress.
I had asked the dealer not to prep the car so the paint work was in excellent condition. So, this is what greeted us this morning at the dealership. Sorry, went a bit overboard with the photos.
DSC_0950 by
Sootchucker, on Flickr
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So, afterwards, drove the car straight home and began the preparation process.
First I removed the number plates, then power washed the car down, followed by a liberal coating of AF Snow foam. Whilst the snow foam as dwelling, I hit all the nooks and crannies with a detailing brush with Megs APC. Then rinsed.
Followed with a hand wash using the Two bucket method with Megs lambswool mits. Then rinsed.
Hit the paintwork with a liberal coat of Iron-X, and i was genuinely surprised at the level of fall out the car had. Then rinsed.
Followed with Autosmart Tardis to remove the last of the glue marks from the transport sheets.
Clayed the car with Bilt Hamer soft clay (which to be honest removed very little). Then washed the car again, rinsed and dried with waffle drying towels and my hot air blower. With the paintwork now clan and smooth, I used Werkstat Prime on a DA with a polishing pad, followed by a coat of AF Tripple on a foam applicator.
Finally, 2 coats of GTechniq C2V3 applied leaving the paintwork like glass. Wheels were cleaned and decontaminated and Poorboys wheel sealant applied. All black trim hit with GTechniq C4 trim restorer, and finally glass cleaned with GTechniq G4 Glass polish.
Interior was as you would expect in mint condition and just need a quick hover and wipe down with a damp microfibre.
So, onto the afterwards....
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Also, whilst I had the wheels off for polishing and sealing, I noticed that after just a couple of weeks life (my car was actually built end of August), that the calipers had the all too familiar signs of aluminium dulling and corrosion. The blurb on the GTD in the brochure said the calipers were painted, but as I suspected, this was just for the GTI, not the GTD, whose calipers are left in the standard aluminium finish. Knowing how crap my Scirocco brakes looked after just almost 3 years, I wanted to ensure that the GTD would look as good as possible for as long as possible.
Luckily I had some Red Caliper paint, that I purchased some time ago for the Scirocco and never got round to doing, so with the wheels off, I painted the calipers Red (2 coats over 5 hours).
Now let me make this clear, I am in no way trying to make the GTD look like a GTI. I did consider gloss black, but to be honest with the very open spokes of the 18" Negaro wheels, the calipers are very much on show, so thought Red against the white would work at treat. I totally understand if this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it really annoyed me on the Rocco, that whilst the wheels were in mint condition after nearly 3 years, the calipers looked very grotty, and it was quite clear that brake dust had eaten it's way into the surface finish, making them almost impossible to clean like new, so wanted to prevent this on the new car.
Procedure was:
Cleaned the calipers with brake cleaner spray, wiped them then dried with my hot air dryer / blower. Then masked up as much as I could, and on the rears removed the anti rattle clips (the long ones running top to bottom).
Then it was just a case of various size paint brushes. I just made sure that the sliding faces where the pads sit wasn't painted (as they are not on the GTI), to allow the pads to freely slide. Other than that just did one caliper, then onto the next, and by the time I'd finished the last one, the first one was dry and ready for a second coat.
You need to have some patience as it's quite tedious but hugely rewarding when finished against a clean car. Not sure Red would suit all colours, but on a white car I think they look awesome.
The only real problem I had was the bloody British weather. I ended up setting up our 3m x 3m Gazebo to put the car under to prevent me getting soaked.
Anyway, enough rambling - photos.
DSC_0964 by
Sootchucker, on Flickr
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Finished. Hope you enjoy (sorry for so many photos).