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BUILD RedBeard’s 2018 GTI
- Thread starter RedBeard
- Start date
- Replies 203
- Views 5K
My least favorite task when cleaning the car but the most rewarding.
Looks great! After I polished mine up a few months ago, I found a good deal on a used local set of black BMS exhaust tips. I liked the black look so much, I bought some cheap black slip on exhaust tips for my wife's Bug also. And the added benefit is not having to clean the carbon off every few months. Just something else for you to consider throwing your money at! 
Picked up a set of wheels for this thing yesterday. Here’s the only picture I took last night. These are the VW Motorspots wheel.
Previous owner put them away dirty so I spent a couple hours freezing my ass off trying to clean them. Need to give them another scrub down to get rid of the brake dust that’s caked into the corners and would like to fit them with a polisher to bring back the glossiness and throw a ceramic coating on them.
Tires are Continental Extreme Contact DWS that are about 80% tread on two and 60% on the other two. Got the wheels and tires for less than the cost of a new set of tires.
I don’t really like black wheels but these were a really good deal and black doesn’t look bad on a red car. Also going to pick up a flush fit spacer kit to help with fitment as these are same dimension as the stock wheels I believe. Will update with pics of them on the car once mounted
Previous owner put them away dirty so I spent a couple hours freezing my ass off trying to clean them. Need to give them another scrub down to get rid of the brake dust that’s caked into the corners and would like to fit them with a polisher to bring back the glossiness and throw a ceramic coating on them.
Tires are Continental Extreme Contact DWS that are about 80% tread on two and 60% on the other two. Got the wheels and tires for less than the cost of a new set of tires.
I don’t really like black wheels but these were a really good deal and black doesn’t look bad on a red car. Also going to pick up a flush fit spacer kit to help with fitment as these are same dimension as the stock wheels I believe. Will update with pics of them on the car once mounted
I tried finding info on these vs the Dallas wheels. I think the Dallas come in at 26.x and these are 23.x but haven’t found concrete info on either yet.
I know MK7s produce a ton of brake dust but this dude must have never cleaned these.
Two deep cleanings with Adam’s wheel cleaner and brushes, clay bar and polishing with a wheel cone on a drill and I’m still trying to get them to look a little better before I ceramic coat them.
Probably should have picked up a compound to get some of the deeper scratches and imbedded brake dust, the polish I picked up isn’t working as well as I hoped.
Ordered the ShopDAP wheel spacer flush fit kit this morning. Hope to have the wheels on by the end of the week.
Two deep cleanings with Adam’s wheel cleaner and brushes, clay bar and polishing with a wheel cone on a drill and I’m still trying to get them to look a little better before I ceramic coat them.
Probably should have picked up a compound to get some of the deeper scratches and imbedded brake dust, the polish I picked up isn’t working as well as I hoped.
Ordered the ShopDAP wheel spacer flush fit kit this morning. Hope to have the wheels on by the end of the week.
Oh I should do the calipers as well, that’s a good idea! They don’t seem to get too dirty and wash off easy but will help protect the paint and ensure they look good for longer.
I did not coat mine last time but since I usually have a little ceramic left over when I do the wheels it would make sense. I usually spend a couple minutes per corner with various brushes cleaning my calipers so if them being coated could speed up that process it wouldn’t hurt. Mine collect a lot of brake dust around where the pads meet the caliper. The faces aren’t too bad usually.
I like the gtechnic C5 wheel armor. I’ve never used ceramic and it was pretty easy. Performed great for two spring-fall summer tire seasons on a daily driver. It’s still there but needs to be reapplied next year so I’m just doing it in spring while the wheels are still off. $40-50 for two years of easy wheel cleaning is worth it for me with dusty brake pads.
Got the wheels and spacers on this weekend. Snagged a quick pic after washing the car yesterday, but will try and get some better ones soon.
blue-sun new ride thread and little mods he’s been doing has sparked me to order a couple small things for the car.Ordered the Badgeskins red GTI emblem overlay for front, back and the little one on the steering wheel, passenger airbag light overlay, and the upper front grille chrome bar delete. Couldn’t decide on a VW emblem overlay so held off on that. I don’t really like matte/gloss overlay and wasn’t sure if a matte/red would look good. Then went on to order some black extended paddle shifters of Amazon.
The car has been really blah for me lately so hopefully this sparks something again. I probably just need to get out for a spirited drive in the canyons, but I’ve been a lazy shit about that.
Thanks, I'm off to the interwebs to find this!
edit: I don't think this will work for my car. front badge is the smooth one with the radar sensor built into it. Rear is the motorized rear camera/tailgate handle. meh
Extended paddles installed, totally worth the $25 and took 5 minutes to do. My only wish is they stuck out like 5mm more to make the reach that much easier but still a big improvement.
Was ready to buy the Integrated Engineering turbo inlet elbow last night but they’re out of stock everywhere I found them for sale. IE expects a restock around May 10th, might just buy it on backorder now.
Was ready to buy the Integrated Engineering turbo inlet elbow last night but they’re out of stock everywhere I found them for sale. IE expects a restock around May 10th, might just buy it on backorder now.