Opinons and Options

Hey guys,

This is my first post on any forum so please tell me if I'm doing anything wrong. I’ve been lurking on this forum since I bought my mkv gti in 2012 and drooling over what everyone’s done to their cars for 3 years. Now I want to join the ranks and see what I can do to my car. After countless hours of research I think I know what I want, but now I want your opinions! My goal is to create the best performing/most reliable daily driver. I’m not concerned with cosmetics and I want to keep it looking as stock as possible. My hope is to be close to done in 3 to 5 years.

My problems are:
• I need to be able to fit a lot of people and things in my car at random times
• I need my car to last as long as possible (5 to 10 more years)
• My budget isn’t unlimited so I’d like to keep it on the cheaper side
• I’d like to do as much of this as I can myself or with a friend or two but I have very little mechanical experience (basically reading about it and looking at my car and motorcycle and doing maintenance).

I know this is a lot to ask from one car but I’m okay with sacrificing some performance to meet my needs.

So far this is my shopping list in no particular order:

• Driver Motorsport Tune – I like the option of being able to switch programs fairly easily and pay one price for all of the tunes. Plus I am eligible to get the programmer.
• Eurocustoms Downpipe – I like the price and I can’t seem to see much of a difference in quality (other than quality of welds) between the $300 and $800 downpipes on the market.
• Autotech Intake – I like the price and again can’t seem to find much quality difference. This isn’t very high on my shopping list.
• H&R Sport Cup Kit – seems like the best bang for the buck but I’m not sure how well it will work with 5 or 6 people crammed in the car.
• Dogbone Mount insert – seems like a cheap and easy thing to do but will it really help on a stock or stage 1 car? Should I wait until stage 2/2+?
• Boost Gauge – how necessary is this? I don’t plan on going K04 and I don’t want to do anything extreme so am I at danger of losing boost? Do I really need to monitor it or is it just fun to watch the boost gauge?
• Rev D diverter valve
• H&R Rear Sway Bar – seems like a good option for me but will it make my car too stiff from my passengers?
• Whiteline Anti Lift Kit – from all accounts it seems like a good upgrade to do but I have the same worry from the H&R Sway Bar above

What do you think about my list? Will all of this work together? Am I missing anything crucial? Are there better options? What can I do myself and what do I need a mechanic to do?

Again I’m not concerned with looking or sounding cool, I just want to have fun with my car.

Thanks for reading! I really appreciate your input!

I dont want to speak for all of the FSI guys here, but you should check a few of the problem areas first. The most important things being:

-check and/or change your cam follower
-get a DSG transmission flush done if it hasnt been done already and you are over 40k miles (are you MT or auto?)
-revision D (or other) diverter valve
-boost gauge (not necessary, but important in turbo cars)

You might want to start with a stage 1 tune/intake first. Going stage 2 with the FSI engine usually requires a new HPFP among other things. Save stage 2 (downpipe) for later as it can get pricey. After the stage 1 tune consider upgrading your suspension/rear sway bar. Honestly, just pay the extra cash and get coilovers so you can adjust to your liking.

Thank you! I'm auto and I have my 80,000 mile service coming up in a couple weeks. I'm not sure if a DSG flush has been done or not. I'm the third owner and I'm not sure what the first two had done.

At 80k I would just assume it needs to be done and change the DSG fluid/filter. If you have basic tools, you can do all the installs yourself. Any stage 1 tune will be a big improvement. You can really save some money if you get the Bentley repair manual and a VCDS cable.

Honestly I'd say go grab a Raceland downpipe and be done with it, its $179 and it will do everything you need a metal pipe that carries gas out of the engine to do.

I've had mine on my car for 60k miles and its been great, all you need to purchase is an upgraded ATP clamp and you're good to go.

Tune is up to you, and if you go with a 24mm H&R rear sway you won't notice any more harsh a ride than normal, same goes for the walk kit, it'll affect turn in but your ride won't change. Honestly out of all the things you're looking at you'll most likely notice the Dogbone mount the most (As far as NVH and vibrations go).

If you wanted to go the extra mile when you're doing the Rev. D DV, you could grab the GFB DV+ kit to throw on at the same time and never worry about it again.

Autotech intake isn't a bad choice, though I'd honestly check the classifieds section on here to see if you can source one for your car that's better and less expensive (I got my BSH on here for $70). Barring that the Autotech isn't a bad choice, though you need to watch out for the mounting area for the MAF (Since its plastic it can some times be warped and let air in, you can fix this with a piece of foam or the like around the outside when you screw the MAF in).

I'm also with one of the other guys that posted up, do a nice set of coilovers and be done with it. I've gone through 4 suspensions and am on my 5th. I wish I had just gone with my PSS's when I first did suspension, but, you live and you learn.

Maintenance wise :

* CAM Follower
* Valve Cleaning (Like a REAL valve cleaning, none of this seamfoam crap, walnut blasting is preferred)
* Brake Fluid Flush (Usually like $100 at a dealer)
* Fuel Filter (Super easy to do... and the filter is pretty cheap.)
* Cabin Air-Filter if you've never changed it (Get the MANN Filter from Amazon)

Looks like things are headed in the right direction!

Let us know how you like the MOD's once you do them!

Thanks everyone! Tons of great information, i made some changes to my list (mainly added the maintenance stuff, coilovers and raceland downpipe). Ill post more when i get home from college and can actually start working on my car!

nates08gti said:

Thanks everyone! Tons of great information, i made some changes to my list (mainly added the maintenance stuff, coilovers and raceland downpipe). Ill post more when i get home from college and can actually start working on my car!

Click to expand...

What are you looking at for Coilovers?

Aside from the fact that all this info is a search away, I'll humor you.

• Driver Motorsport Tune – Tune is the first and best thing you can do on this car. I think stage one is like a 30-40% power increase or something.
• Eurocustoms Downpipe – I just bought cheap downpipe but I've yet to put it on. Sounds like it doesn't really matter too much brandwise what you get. (as long as it's 3")
• Autotech Intake – I like my evoms. It makes a wooshie sound.
• H&R Sport Cup Kit – meh. do this last
• Dogbone Mount insert – i just put mine in last week. Stage 1 stock suspension. This made a very noticeable difference - I wish I'd done it sooner.
• Boost Gauge – I like when the gauge needle spins. then the wooshie sound then the needle goes back. sometimes i just stare at it
• Rev D diverter valve - sure
• H&R Rear Sway Bar – dont do this unless you're tracking
• Whiteline Anti Lift Kit – never heard of this before

FiXXXerX,
I've been looking at these so far:
Bilstein PSS Coilover Kit - Fixed Dampening
$1005.64 http://tinyurl.com/kf3qhuv (stolen from your beautiful build thread)
H&R Sport Cup Kit
$671.95 http://tinyurl.com/mgkf45s
H&R Street Performance Coilover Kit - Fixed Dampening
$1110.95 http://tinyurl.com/mee287b
Vogtland Coilovers
$1,149.97 http://tinyurl.com/n99gtow

I still like the H&R Cup Kit for the price and some reviews I've read, but if they wont last then id rather get ones that will. I wont be doing any track stuff but i do like to open it up on some twisty roads near me.

CKGTI,
Ive searched everything that I've listed and then some, i just want opinions/guidance from people with experience on what I've chosen specifically and what i can do better.
This is the Whiteline Anti Lift Kit (WALK) http://tinyurl.com/ow9vmvp

CKGTI said:

• H&R Rear Sway Bar – dont do this unless you're tracking
• Whiteline Anti Lift Kit – never heard of this before

Click to expand...

Its more like if you enjoy cornering in this car, buy a RSB. Its an easily installed mod and the difference is very noticeable. As far as the WALK, thats more for tracking/autocross.