First time owner of a GTI - Modding Tips?

[TheMechanicDude]

^Since you only have 700 miles on your factory tires you can sell them and get some money to subsidize the cost of some good performance tires. Also if your looking for a very mild drop DG, H&R OE Sport, and Eibach Pro-kit springs should fit the bill.

buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut they're 3-4 years old. I personally wouldn't buy anything or use anything that old on my "sports" car.

OP, do tires first. Pavement gets hot in Cali. The crap they put on my car is from 2019 so I am trying my darndest to burn through them ASAP.

 

[GTIfan99]

Not sure if I’d upgrade tires yet since they only have 700 miles on them right now...

As for sway bar, what size would you recommend? Obviously I drive rather enthusiastically on a few canyon drives, but I don’t plan on tracking the car anytime soon.

Do you know if the CSS muffler will give me the kind of verbals/crackles that the stock exhaust doesn’t? Don’t want to add a down pipe just yet. Also like the look of some bigger 3-4” tips

With that logic, all of the parts on your car only have 700 miles on them right now....

Tires are the only mod that improves every single performance figure for your car all at once. They'll improve braking, handling, and acceleration.

I'm a fan of the H&R 26mm rear sway.

You aren't going to gain performance from an exhaust on a stock car, no matter what the aftermarket manufactures claim, so get whatever sounds good to you. You aren't going to crackles with a 6mt on stock tune, no matter which exhaust you choose.

 

[JC_451]

Not only do these tires suck new these particular ones are from 2017, not sure how many more reasons you'd need to get rid of them.

I said they suck already right?

 

[launchd]

https://racer.com/2017/07/18/autocross-handling-secrets-swaybars/

 

[sloopercat]

Most AX guys I know up the front bar to get the weight transfer, they leave the rear bar alone or disconnect it. What works for AX generally sucks at higher speeds and increased radius corners as it tends to be biased to understeer. The stock setup on almost all cars is set for understeer for safety sake. That’s why a rear bar reduces the way the car understeers from the factory. It still understeers a bit with the bigger rear bar and needs to be rotated with braking to induce any sort of oversteer.

A matched set of bars is probably better, the reason folks don’t do them is the front bar is a bunch more work to change and the rear only does what most want it to do. YMMV

 

[jimlloyd40]

Most AX guys I know up the front bar to get the weight transfer, they leave the rear bar alone or disconnect it. What works for AX generally sucks at higher speeds and increased radius corners as it tends to be biased to understeer. The stock setup on almost all cars is set for understeer for safety sake. That’s why a rear bar reduces the way the car understeers from the factory. It still understeers a bit with the bigger rear bar and needs to be rotated with braking to induce any sort of oversteer.

A matched set of bars is probably better, the reason folks don’t do them is the front bar is a bunch more work to change and the rear only does what most want it to do. YMMV

Sue didn't sound like the OP was going to be racing in AX so for street driving he would be best served with just the RSB.

 

[KevinC]

I would hold off on doing anything until you've had the car for a while and become intimately familiar with it. By then you'll have a chance to come up with some ideas of where you want to go with it.. and what stuff you're perfectly happy with in stock form.

Another thing you might do in the meantime is peruse the For Sale forum. There you'll see what kind of stuff people are unloading for various reasons - often to move on to a similar but "better" upgrade. Might help you avoid going through the same process of paying for some mods 2-3 different times.

 

[theDoktor]

Welcome. I'm with those who recommend tires first. The OEM Pirellis on my 17 Sport were adequate at best. Other brand OEM tires have a less than stellar reputation based on this forum. As a previous poster said, tires impact every aspect of the ride, handling and braking. Age has a huge impact on the life & performance of the tires- yours are starting out at 3 years old. They are "well-aged" at the starting gate. I encourage you to go to the Tire Rack website and talk to one of their CSR's about your needs and specifics. My experience with them has been nothing less than excellent and helpful.
I would also recommend a performance 4-wheel alignment be done on the car when you upgrade the tires and before you install the next-recommended mod- a bigger rear sway bar. Do some research on this before you make the jump. What works well for some may not be the best choice for you. There's lots of information on this site that will be helpful to you- use it!