MkV GT TDI 170 DSG - Blue Graphite [Sunday Clean]

[MikLSP]

It's a shame yes but they're not totally ruined. The dishonesty from the driver is more irritating.

I wasn't intending to paint them no, at least not at this time, I do like the black plastic trim actually. I'm not sure what's available but surely some sort of black plastic filler would do the job if applied with care 

[Andy]

bloody couriers -As dodds  says if you are getting the colour coded a body shop can plastic weld it and sort it out...If you are leaving them black then the only way is to replace it

[MikLSP]

I'm more optimistic and I think the current fix is holding fairly solid, it's just closing up the splayed mouth of the crack that I need to do.

Has anyone ever tried this sort of stuff?

[MikLSP]

This weekends job was fitting the GTi rear valance, the Mrs is picking up the tow eye cover from VW today for £6-odd. (EDIT: specifically, it was £6.25 and she even fit it to the car for me )

I'm actually a little undecided at the moment, obviously I prefer the contoured valance but something looks a bit off and I'm not used to it yet. It might just be because I've lost the mud flaps and I happen to think they look good so I'll probably end up getting the GTi flaps.




On the subject of mud flaps, I took all four off the car while doing this, seeing as the front ones will need to come off when the skirts go on, and I was rather surprised to find great amounts of dirt packed in the sil behind the front arch liner!

[Andy]

need to pain the bottom valance

[MikLSP]

I might get it painted in the future but I'm not spending on that right now. How much do people usually pay for valance painting, about £500 I'm guessing?!

On a related matter, I noticed that the old valance had definitely been removed / replaced before and was done by some utter moron who clearly used a screw driver to prise it off from the outside causing several dents and chips to the painted bumper like this.


The majority are behind the number plate actually so at least they don't show but, come one, what the hell are you doing! The bumper does have few other marks around the boot lid anyway and I'm going to leave it for the time being until we no longer have to get prams in and out of the boot. I would be much more annoyed if I sorted the bumper and it got gouged with a pram frame!  

[chrisr763]

I might get it painted in the future but I'm not spending on that right now. How much do people usually pay for valance painting, about £500 I'm guessing?!

On a related matter, I noticed that the old valance had definitely been removed / replaced before and was done by some utter moron who clearly used a screw driver to prise it off from the outside causing several dents and chips to the painted bumper like this.


The majority are behind the number plate actually so at least they don't show but, come one, what the hell are you doing! The bumper does have few other marks around the boot lid anyway and I'm going to leave it for the time being until we no longer have to get prams in and out of the boot. I would be much more annoyed if I sorted the bumper and it got gouged with a pram frame!  

For the rear valance - I'd say £150-250. Not sure where would charge £500 but I wouldn't to back there unless they were painting the rest of the car FOC!

[MikLSP]

Haha, I had no real basis for that figure, it was just a (wild over-) estimate that I picked at the time. Either way, I'm happy with black textured plastic for now but will consider a painter upper valance section and a tidier bumper in the future.  

Oh another thing I forgot to mention is how big the gap between the GT arch liner and the GTi valance is. Obviously you will need to fit the GTi liner to sort this properly but for now I just made a very crude little bracket so at least everything is held in place (and yes I am aware of how despicably filthy my liner is haha).

[Melvin084]

not £500

I should be picking my valance tomorrow, my body shop are charging me £80 fitted

[MikLSP]

Here are a few new pics I took in the fog last night. I actually went out to photograph a building on campus but couldn't resist this opportunity, just a shame the car was not actually clean.

[MikLSP]

Picked up these headlights from D3hnt today and it looks like some little fingers want to help fit them already...


I'm going to give them a buff first though and hopefully get this scratch out.

[Timepillow]

Some amazing photos there mate!

Looking forwards to seeing them on your car, iv been looking at getting myself a set! 

[MikLSP]

Oh thanks TIMEPILLOW, I'm really happy with those I took in the fog, just wish the car was clean when I went out.

[MikLSP]

Today I decided to take on the challenge of reconditioning the headlights I bought recently as they had rather a lot of small stone chips and a few minor scratches.

I decided to go with 1200 grit wet & dry first, followed by 2000 grit (I'm sure I'll get shouted at for skipping 1500), each were done with plenty of water and patience. Finally I used T-Cut to polish and Turtle Wax to seal.

All this was done by hand and it has taken me three hours to do one side though I'm quite happy with the results so far. I will actually give it a bit more going over with the T-Cut to just buff out the last few hairline marks left from the 2000 grit wet & dry but even without that, the improvement is fantastic I think  

[Lyall]

What a difference that made, wish I had the balls to do this haha!