Boondock
Ready to race!
- Location
- Chicagoland
- Car(s)
- 2015 GTI S
I never got around to making a build thread. Seeing as the stuff I did was pretty sporadic and kinda minimal (up to a point), it didn't make sense to me. Think of this now as more of a "In Memoriam."
In August of 2012 I purchased my 2009 Rabbit 2.5L from a Ford dealer in the NW suburbs of Chicago with 17,900-ish miles on the clock.
Little did I know of how her future would look down the road! I kept it mostly stock for a couple years until I met Das Gepenst and everyone else in our local club. I drove it as is and just enjoyed it for a long time. But then I got the itch after seeing and riding in so many cool VW's.
The day I brought her home. August 2012.
My very first mod was a set of LED plate lights in October of 2012. So pretty!
It wouldn't be for a while until I started doing more, during the time of stock-ness we traveled the country together.
But in March of 2014 I installed a dash shelf I picked up from a local forum member. Then before a road trip to Florida I bought an RCD-510 head unit for the goodness of satellite radio.
After that road trip something clicked in my head. I bought a set of OEM LED Tail Lights from another local forum member.
November 2015 I found a great deal on a set of OEM 17" Classix locally. So I snatched them up with plans of cleaning them up and using them in the spring.
They were pretty dirty and had remnants of plasti-dip. So it took a bunch of scrubbing but they turned out to be pretty nice at the end!
Then winter happened, and the bunny went into hibernation. Not really, I drove it every day still and have had no problems in the Illinois winters.
12/12/2014 - I did buy a full set of DE Auto Key interior LED lights in December. Those crisp white lights are damn pretty!
Once it got warmer out I started messing with those tires I bought in November, it was killing me to see them stacked up all winter long.
But the fitment was a bit silly with the 215 tires on them. So I picked up a set of Sumitomo HTR-Z III's.
4/26/2015 - I found a great deal on a Eurojet Catback. Nothing would be the same from here on out! The exhaust on the 2.5L 5 cylinder motor is legit when you open it up. Ricers beware.
5/25/2015 - Got a deal on a Neuspeed P-Flo for the 2.5L. It made pretty sweet wooshy noises.
July 2015 - Over the winter I pieced together a suspension setup and finally got around to installing in July with the help of the beautiful Das Gepenst (and Jay). I bought Koni Orange STR.T Shocks, Neuspeed Sport Springs, and 034 Strut Mounts. The car was still super comfortable to drive but handled like something completely new. Biggest change to the car other than the exhaust.
August 2015 - Then as the summer progressed I started getting bored with the interior. It needed to be made fancier. The touchscreen radio already did wonders, but it needed something else. Something more Euro... and leather!
So I picked up a Euro Cup Holder, a Jetta Wolfsburg leather steering wheel, a leather handbrake, and a leather shifter knob from a Passat Wagon.
What was I getting into?
All this for a cup holder?!
Worth it.
I also installed a Projector Fog Light Kit around this time too. Converted the lower grills to the euro 5 bar.
1/4/2016 - I have had a suspension clunk going on for a while. Having no idea what it was I thought we tracked it down to the endlinks. So I installed a set of Whiteline adjustable endlinks.
1/10/2016 - In preparation for a cross country drive from Chicago to Los Angeles I bought a set of full new brakes seeing as I had 72k on my OEM ones. Centric C-Tek blank rotors and Stoptech Street Performance brake pads on all 4 corners. These felt awesome for the time I had with them.
1/22/2016 - Halfway from Chicago to LA I stopped for a couple days in Denver to spend time with my best friend who moved out there. I was just leaving for my next destination as this happened.
A semi truck cut his left turn coming off of the highway, the cab made it through the intersection, but not the rear tires of his trailer. I was stopped waiting to make my left turn onto the highway.
Thankfully for German Engineering I got out of my car with only a bruised shin and shock seeing my bad bunny killed. Had this been any other car the outcome could have been much worse.
The insurance company took one look at it and declared her totaled. I got on a plane to Los Angeles and was stuck with a rental Elantra and had to switch to a Fiat 500.
The last picture I have of my car intact. With my silly dog wanting to hop in.
That's the history of the bad bunny. I'm still upset about losing my car that I put so much time into. It sucks to see it go. Due to the circumstances as they were, I wasn't able to take off any of my mods. So whoever ended up buying this car from the insurance company struck a gold mine while I got shafted.
RIP Bad Bunny
In August of 2012 I purchased my 2009 Rabbit 2.5L from a Ford dealer in the NW suburbs of Chicago with 17,900-ish miles on the clock.
Little did I know of how her future would look down the road! I kept it mostly stock for a couple years until I met Das Gepenst and everyone else in our local club. I drove it as is and just enjoyed it for a long time. But then I got the itch after seeing and riding in so many cool VW's.
The day I brought her home. August 2012.
My very first mod was a set of LED plate lights in October of 2012. So pretty!
It wouldn't be for a while until I started doing more, during the time of stock-ness we traveled the country together.
But in March of 2014 I installed a dash shelf I picked up from a local forum member. Then before a road trip to Florida I bought an RCD-510 head unit for the goodness of satellite radio.
After that road trip something clicked in my head. I bought a set of OEM LED Tail Lights from another local forum member.
November 2015 I found a great deal on a set of OEM 17" Classix locally. So I snatched them up with plans of cleaning them up and using them in the spring.
They were pretty dirty and had remnants of plasti-dip. So it took a bunch of scrubbing but they turned out to be pretty nice at the end!
Then winter happened, and the bunny went into hibernation. Not really, I drove it every day still and have had no problems in the Illinois winters.
12/12/2014 - I did buy a full set of DE Auto Key interior LED lights in December. Those crisp white lights are damn pretty!
Once it got warmer out I started messing with those tires I bought in November, it was killing me to see them stacked up all winter long.
But the fitment was a bit silly with the 215 tires on them. So I picked up a set of Sumitomo HTR-Z III's.
4/26/2015 - I found a great deal on a Eurojet Catback. Nothing would be the same from here on out! The exhaust on the 2.5L 5 cylinder motor is legit when you open it up. Ricers beware.
5/25/2015 - Got a deal on a Neuspeed P-Flo for the 2.5L. It made pretty sweet wooshy noises.
July 2015 - Over the winter I pieced together a suspension setup and finally got around to installing in July with the help of the beautiful Das Gepenst (and Jay). I bought Koni Orange STR.T Shocks, Neuspeed Sport Springs, and 034 Strut Mounts. The car was still super comfortable to drive but handled like something completely new. Biggest change to the car other than the exhaust.
August 2015 - Then as the summer progressed I started getting bored with the interior. It needed to be made fancier. The touchscreen radio already did wonders, but it needed something else. Something more Euro... and leather!
So I picked up a Euro Cup Holder, a Jetta Wolfsburg leather steering wheel, a leather handbrake, and a leather shifter knob from a Passat Wagon.
What was I getting into?
All this for a cup holder?!
Worth it.
I also installed a Projector Fog Light Kit around this time too. Converted the lower grills to the euro 5 bar.
1/4/2016 - I have had a suspension clunk going on for a while. Having no idea what it was I thought we tracked it down to the endlinks. So I installed a set of Whiteline adjustable endlinks.
1/10/2016 - In preparation for a cross country drive from Chicago to Los Angeles I bought a set of full new brakes seeing as I had 72k on my OEM ones. Centric C-Tek blank rotors and Stoptech Street Performance brake pads on all 4 corners. These felt awesome for the time I had with them.
1/22/2016 - Halfway from Chicago to LA I stopped for a couple days in Denver to spend time with my best friend who moved out there. I was just leaving for my next destination as this happened.
A semi truck cut his left turn coming off of the highway, the cab made it through the intersection, but not the rear tires of his trailer. I was stopped waiting to make my left turn onto the highway.
Thankfully for German Engineering I got out of my car with only a bruised shin and shock seeing my bad bunny killed. Had this been any other car the outcome could have been much worse.
The insurance company took one look at it and declared her totaled. I got on a plane to Los Angeles and was stuck with a rental Elantra and had to switch to a Fiat 500.
The last picture I have of my car intact. With my silly dog wanting to hop in.
That's the history of the bad bunny. I'm still upset about losing my car that I put so much time into. It sucks to see it go. Due to the circumstances as they were, I wasn't able to take off any of my mods. So whoever ended up buying this car from the insurance company struck a gold mine while I got shafted.
RIP Bad Bunny
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