Sideshowfreds GTI - Stereo Upgrade :-)

[sideshowfred]

After a truly awful 6 months of driving around in a Polo 6n2, i'd finally had enough of it. I was really dissapointed as i had (wrongly) assumed the quality would be on par with my old mk4 Golf, it couldn't have been further from it. Also, the fact i went through 2 gearboxes in 6 months didn't help either!!!

But anyway, the search was on for a new car. after looking at Megane 225's, Mk1 Focus Rs's and a Mk4 Golf Anniversary 1.8t, i still wasn't really feeling any of them. So I decided to test drive a MK5 GTI. I loved it straight away. So last weekend i picked up this beauty. It's done 71,000 miles, fsh, 1 owner from new etc etc.













I promised myself before I bought it that I wouldn't modify it atall, but already i'm thinking of things to do for it. Only problem is as i'm 21 insurance is a killer anyway, let alone declaring mods too!! I've decided though, as I want to do things properly to save up and not rush things. Wheels will be changed (in the summer months at least) by some BBS CH's or similar 18's (any suggestions welcome). Maybe coilovers to make it handle even better, exhaust for something that sounds even nice and maybe a remap when I get bored of it's mere 197bhp   (i've only had a PD130 engine as my most powerful before this so it's quite different!)

Also going to put some yellow lamin-x over the foglights to make it stand out a little bit. Interior wise, it's all going to stay pretty much as VW intended. I might upgrade the head-unit at some point for something I can stick my sub onto but other than that it's just a nice place to be. I'll get some better pics once i've properly cleaned it and the sun's decided to show itself.


Fred

[wortho8]

very nice motor there, the blue glass  sooo wish i had this on mine.

when i first had my gti i found it hard to modify mibe due to my and and the insurance  but after driving it for a year i was finally let loose 

and trust me this site can certainly spend your money 

[sub39h]

Nice car mate.

Sorry, shameless plug but I've got some wheels for sale:

http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,36213.0.html

[RSam84]

nice car!

[JoeDarKa]

Looks great, CH wheels are    (I have some too!)

[sideshowfred]

cheers fr the comment guys.

SUB39H, i'd have them if i had the money but buying this means i gonna have to wait for wheels 

I decided to have a look at the broken foglight today, i'd assumed the bulb had gone so didn't think the much of it. Took the grill off to find that there was no bulb in the foglight unit, infact, there was no holder or anything. I also noticed that one of the foglight brackets had snapped so it was wobbling a little bit. So I whipped the light out and rummaged around behind it to find the bulb and holder and the horn were both loose. After a quick inspection the bits that hold the bulb/holder into the light unit were snapped. So i need a whole new fog light unit 

TBH i wasn't too fussed at this point, i could live without it for the moment. So i went to put the grill back on and couldn't screw it back in. After much confusion (and checking the other side), i found that the bracket that the screw goes into has snapped off the bumper. As if this now wasn't enough to annoy me, i found that the bumper was beggining to crack heading towards the number plate. 

So basically, i need a new foglight AND bumper. And i've had to bodge the grill around the foglight to hold it in place. Other than that though i'm still really enjoying the car. Just want to get these little bits sorted as there always going to annoy me!   

[sideshowfred]

I decided that as it's payday tomorrow, and I wanted to do something useful to the car, i'd buy some carbon look vinyl so I can wrap my front grill and make it easier to get the smooth look as I can't be bothered to do it properly!! This then bit me in the usual way and I thought about the other thing I could wrap. Needless to say looking at some other people's cars on here made me do the most obvious thing. I had some terrible effect stuff already in the garage so out it came and this is the result.





It took me about 30 mins and tbh it's a rubbish job. But at least I can decide if I like it enough to do it properly. Roll on tomorrow so I can start sorting the grill out :)

[sideshowfred]

not a very exciting update, unless your me haha. To go with the US spec rear bumper i bought, and am still awaiting delivery of, I decided the front needed to match. As much as I like the smoothed front look so many run, a previous encounter with the police for no front plate has put me off the idea.

Cue a long search for  on a US spec front plate holder. 2 months after searching Ebay.com came up good. So i ordered this on Monday (30th Jan), and it arrived at my front door yesterday (2nd Feb). I'm astonished it's got here so quickly tbh, but it has.



tomorrow i will test fit it and order some US size plates 

Also my proper carbon wrap turned up on tuesday so I re-did the steering wheel to better results, and also did the ashtray and surround







i lost the clips for the ESP button though hence it's sticking out :(

So just waiting on the rear bumper at the minute and then I can actually get cracking 

[big al]

Look forward to seeing the front, nice to see something done differently with the US front plynth.

[sideshowfred]

Yeah, i was just looking for something better to run a US spec plate on rather than screwing it straight onto the grill which just looks stupid in my eyes. So i though i'd go down the oem route. I got impatient last night so whipped the grill of and got the drill out.




I just used the holes that were already marked so it was nice and easy for once  The grill went back on last nigt but it was too dark to take pics so i've had to brave -6 this morning to get these   





About an hour after i'd pm'd the guy I bought my bumper off, sods law happened and I almost missed it being delivered. I had my music turned up too loud so couldn't hear the doorbell. Anyway, managed to grab the driver resulting in this being given to me




It's a bit scratched up but what can I expect for £85 lol. Gonna give it a good clean and polish and see if I can get some of the scratches out and weather permitting will test fit it next weekend. 

 

[sideshowfred]

My plates arrived on tuesday but due to long days at work i didn't get any photo's until this morning. I've got the front plate on but am waiting for some better weather before i swap the rear bumper over. I like the look as its just a bit different to what you normally see  Excuse the poor quality phone pics

[higher1]

Hello nice to see your going down the usa route what dimension is your front number plate?

[sideshowfred]

It's 12" x 6" so is a perfect fit. 

[sideshowfred]

Got round to doing my rear bumper today. I have however found out my fear that it would be a different shade of black. Anyway, some pics of today's progress.






and a couple of the difference in colour 




I also found out the Rabbit valance on the back isn't quite as deep as the GTI one. So i'm now on the hunt for a proper GTI lower half as well as needing the top half sprayed up. 

[vRS_Pagey]

Nice mate, looks like yours is black magic metallic, and the bumper is just gloss black?