Leaderboard

Hi all / recently had the APR Low Torque 98 Ron Map. Coincided with a friend (Porsche 991 Turbo S) suggesting a couple of evening sessions at the Ring. So a quick 1001 mile test ensued....! Some onboard footage and my thoughts on the three days of fun…! What an enjoyable trip, three days of great company, nice scenery... , weather, cars and food... even managed to pop to Cochem, a picturesque town on the Moselles river, Wednesday daytime which broke up the track action: My family hatch… 2016 / Mk7 / DSG / APR Stage 1 low torque map (I’d guess around 360 BHP and 360 lbft not dyno’d as yet). Not a proper sports car - and the Ring really highlights this - especially the need for: Tyres (excuse 1) think I’m used to the AD08Rs on my ratty old sprintday Celica, Golf is on its OEM S001 Bridgestones (slippy when hot…had to be wary of managing understeer – road speeds you can normally load it up – foot in and it will pull round…). Brakes (excuse 2) Car is running OEM discs with Brembo (OEM – I may beg to differ - grade) pads up front and pagid discs / pads rear. Initially first two laps on the Tuesday eveningI took a passenger / to get my eye back in / not go silly straight away. The front brakes overheated – even after a drive locally after each lap they were still emitting wisps of smoke. There was also an odd noise – like unbalanced brakes / wheels… more on that below*. The front pads did look like they `cooked` and started to break up at the disc face took on an appearance not dissimilar to BBQ coals: However once cooled they regained `some` bite and were at least useable the following evening – if not that confidence inspiring. Chassis work / Transmission (excuse 3) .... to be fair it’s on standard `non adaptive` damping and felt pretty good – it did lean / but not excessive roll / and although a tiny touch floaty in parts but that is the undulations at the Ring: I can now also see why people have the DSG boxes mapped (TCU tune). You can even hear in the footage me requesting changes (paddles and lever incase I hadn’t hit the paddle firmly enough) which wouldn’t have caused over revving - that the car didn’t deliver.... it’s almost as if at certain speeds / it ensures you want to change / airing on safety and you need a double press. Not had that on the road at all. ** Warning ** - Always check your car properly!!!! So the first evening session was cut short due to a bad accident closing the circuit around 6pm(ie not re-opening for the rest of the evening.). On the few minute drive back to the hotel there was a horrendous noise from the front when turning left and right – like the diff had broken / or the brakes had somehow worked loose / or a wheel / tyre was out of round. After some initial thoughts once cooled we went to check it over – I noticed one of the wheel cap covers missing and the rest of them sitting proud…. yep – All of the offside wheel nuts were HAND TIGHT…. I cannot explain the feelings I had at that time! (I had indicated a good 165 on the autobahn the day before …) and done two laps with passengers… I didn’t check the wheel torques at the front as part of the checks I did… 🤦🏼‍♂️ my `guess` is that when it was last off the wheel was nipped up / and wasn’t torqued afterwards... / the extreme heat cycle has then caused them to loosen…. Either way I decided to count my blessings and tighten them up…. Onto happier thoughts – and a better / quieter evening session with no closures Lap times: The Wednesday eve my best two laps in the Golf – I managed a bridge to gantry of 8:41and an oddly consistent 8:42.... GPS gave an average of 84 MPH and a 135 MPH peak on circuit: Autobahn blast (traffic) showed a GPS 159 - rock solid at this speed: MPG – I left the average ticking away from the start back in the UK…. 416 miles gave an average of 29 MPG - that includes some derestricted autobahn.... however ... on circuit.... 8.6 MPG: Few sums showed about £290 fuel (98) all in. Two onboard laps: https://youtu.be/VB9je5qnic8 https://youtu.be/haVzGiKMTJg Few photos: Pretty busy: Interesting Breakie: Well located accommodation on the half lap entrance: But overall a great car for a trip like that - really comfortable - DynAudio and Apply Play made the journey enjoyable.. I feel that the APR Stage One tune has transformed the car for me - feels like it ‘should’. Feels nicely torquey (oddly) and has so much more urgency over how it initially felt (I’ve had the car since January). Really happy with the engine performance (in this first 1000 miles of the Map). Now thinking a TCU tune (due to the reasons above) / Cup 2s / Clubsport discs and pads (or similar).. would increase my enjoyment. A great few days.... thanks for reading.

Thanks for all your words of support! I’ve seen all sorts of success stories everywhere and it’s heartening to see so much support! This condition afflicts the young as well as me and if they can do it, I’m sure I can! Going to treat myself to a drive out in the R tomorrow as it’ll probably be a while before I feel up to it again! I’ll keep you in the loop as much as possible and once again, thanks for all your support![emoji123] Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Swapped one 4WD for another. Left the R a few thousand miles away and opted to take a back seat in this for a very rocky ride up a Thai mountain.

There are crap Indy garages as well as crap dealers though, it's just about finding the right one for you at the end of the day Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

I’m sure I speak for all here in saying we are all wishing you very best with your treatment Camel. At least with the diagnosis now you know. Show the “pussy cancer” the exit door, however long it takes. You have a great positive mental attitude that will see you through the rough mate. That’s a huge plus. Rooting for you Camel, and your family too.

Success! I was toying with changing my car o a 7.5 before bring diagnosed with my cancer and after having two cars with DCC and 19s, I wouldn’t touch a car on 19s without it. I read an interview with the designer of the mk7 and watched a recent test on Pistonheads between the R on DCC and the A35 (I won’t spoil the results!) and both said if you have the 19s, DCC is almost a default choice. My mk7 is DCC, 19s and MPS4S and it’s perfect. The bonus is that DCC isn’t just something that smooths the road out - it’s an active damper system so it’s monitoring and levelling the car through bends so it’s a win win situation. What’s annoying is the tools employed in dealerships who order demonstraters with 19s and no DCC. I dismissed them straight away. As for mine, each time I drive it, I still love it and given the fun I had a while ago with an RS, an A35, and a C63S, I’m sticking with it but think it’ll greatly benefit from a stage 1 tune - plus it’s a car I specced for me so it’s ALL MINE![emoji23] Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

You could send a spider in to eat the dead fly... then a bird to eat the dead spider... oh hang on [emoji848] Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Drove it up some more mountains [emoji41] Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Installed a Sub in the spare wheel well today, and I’m genuinely shocked at the difference it made to the audio quality for the rest of the system. It sounds so clean now (…and ear-piercingly loud at anything over 60%) that I’m convinced all VW have done for the Dynaudio system is add the powered sub and charged £800 for the pleasure. The benefit of this one over the factory sub is it comes with a handy little remote that allows you to adjust the frequency and gain from the drivers seat [sub volume up, sub volume down …sub volume up, sub vol …anyway, you get the point 😎). I’ve upgraded the factory stereo in every car I’ve previously owned, and this is definitely the best £190 I’ve ever spent on ICE. chuffed would be an understatement. 🤗

Ok folks. Thought I would update this. My heart wasn’t in the Lapiz blue, beautiful car and colour but I knew I wanted something less common, at least in Northern Ireland I figured out none of the VW dealers here don’t actually advertise their new cars, so on Thursday I rang them all to see what they had. There was a lot to choose from but only one worth going to see, who also had grey TCR. Contacted dealer who I had semi agreed the deal for the Lapiz and told him I was going to test the other 2 cars before I made my final decision. Friday afternoon I flew home from London and went straight to the dealer at 4pm. Drove the TCR which was great.. really great but the grey wasn’t for me. The black features really make the car stand out but I know I would get sick looking at them. In the showroom sat a metallic black R... this was the one! Deep Pearl Black Pan roof Vienna Leather Spielberg wheels 90% tints Didn’t drive it, signed my life away @ 5.15pm after a lot of haggling! Cherished transfer registered @ 5.30pm after I took out a new insurance policy while I the sales person was completing paper work. Ended up getting just over 15% discount (including finance contribution) along with 2 years free servicing. There was no one to make the plates for the car so had to drive the 75 miles back this morning to collect it. Here she is. Sorry for the essay. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A couple of cheeky pics!

As said wheel weights, When wheels are made (even the good manufacturers) can't guarantee they will be the same weight all the way around, same thing applies for tyres. You will see a coloured dot on new tyres this marks the heaviest part of the tyre - a good tyre fitter will fit this dot directly opposite the valve on a wheel to try and evenly distribute the weight, they will then spin the wheel/tyre up on a balancing machine to see how much weight the need to apply to blance the wheel, really good balancing machines will actually mark the exact spot with a laser to reduce the amount of weights that need to be applied.

Hi everyone-GG the grumpy git here! I have been a member for a year year but never introduced myself. I bought my golf R last year and collected it at a midnight ceremony at the VW Dealer just before the countrywide snowstorms on March 1st. Needless to say I went straight out in the morning and laughed at everybody getting stuck-How cruel! I was highly impressed with how the R excels on everyday roads-in particular compared to my BMW 135 which was hopeless when trying to nip and tuck so I decided to make a video! I would be delighted to know what you think because I don’t think this topic has really been discussed before. You can find it in Google search if you type Golf R GG and I have also put it on Youtube- https://youtu.be/JKjA80mNhY4

Looking for a new accessory? I stumbled across this by accident https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07JQXWB3G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It couldn't be a better colour match if they tried.

So I’ve always been embarrassed by the exhaust tips on the car, should be shiny chrome but we all know they get so filthy. Whacked mine off tonight with a wiggle and a hammer. Tried cleaning with metal polish and some ‘Bar Keepers’ with reasonable results but not great. So got me thinking.. hmm it’s burnt on carbon, so having great results using ‘Oven Mate’ on the cooker, thought it might be good on the exhaust tips too. Well it’s only chromed steel so thought I’d give it a go. Think it’s worked rather well. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I still think you should have had names on it though lol Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Not tried the mirrorless, would assume it’s pretty crap 😉

Took it to new heights, quite literally... Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

I got dead lucky turning the place around. The painter finished today and he's down a great job for £760 painting the whole place, tanking the walls and doing all the electrics. Found him on rated tradesman and he's just starting out so doing jobs cheap. His English wasn't great but worth the gamble. Did it all in 3 days and I've told him I've got some jobs at home in the next couple weeks. So time to find a good tenant Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Haven't updated this in a while. Few recent pics and some from yesterdays show. I love this car. Shocked to pick up Car of the Show. 😮

My R cost the most I have ever spent on a car - money that hasn’t come easy, so by god this will be very well looked after as all my cars have been. I get ribbed sometimes for buying new - but hey, I then know how it has been driven. My car is a really big deal to me and although I admire how people modify and upgrade to improve braking, performance, handling etc - I couldn’t see me buying a motor modded by an unknown. Even buying “stock” second hand can be difficult as you don’t know how it has been altered by the previous owner/keeper. Just me tho, and I know that others are way less cautious and less risk averse than me. ETTO indeed.

Today, i washed it....proper wash. Switched to using my water filter for all stages of the wash like Booth11 does - makes such a difference. Was still getting water spotting if i used it just for a rinse. Now i'm using it for pre-rinse, wash bucket & mitt and then the final rinse....no spots! and no marks left when water dribbles out from wing mirrors or the hatch on to the dirt shelf. I then hooned it round my favourite roads late evening, with windows down, sunroof open....listening to the lovely Akro exhaust

Wouldn't you go for full compensation rather than a % off? I would argue (whether it's true or not in OPs case I'm not sure) "If I knew it had been mapped previously, I wouldn't have bought it" and suggest they refund me for the whole car . I'd attempt to argue: - it was mis-sold and seemingly in bad faith; - they can't blame poor upkeep as it was serviced by VW; - the engine was compromised due to the map when it was sold, and they failed to inform me as the buyer to make an informed decision; Rather than trying to prove if the map caused the failure or not. I'd just say "it was completely mis-sold. The car had an engine modification that VW didn't inform me about, and now the engine has blown. How can I trust VW in future that their Das Welt checks are as thorough as they make out? How could I trust that the previous owner hasn't done more modifications that VW didn't detect?" etc. If I was in VW's camp though. You could argue it was just bad luck and sometimes car engines break with or without maps. Tough one. But I'd go in hard with VW UK and also get advice from Citizens Advice Bureau (quote them in the e-mail to VW UK as well)

If you want loud - and controlled... Powervalve Sport If you want epic loud... Powervalve WRC Oh and zero drone in all modes 😎 Simples 😉 Cheers Nige

@camelsac2002 you can do this. It’s a long road with all sorts of emotions and humps. Make good use of the unit Macmillan nursing team for support, listen to your body and be utterly selfish; only do what you want to do. It’s a journey of highs and lows. My best tip is to go one step at a time & don’t try to see too far down the line. After all, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Every journey is different, but if you need to talk, pm me. I’m nearly five years out from my remission from Lymphoma.

Not sure exactly what I was expecting, given the thread title, lol.

I have to admit, i have bitten a few times when someone has been right up my arse......left everything behind so far, bar another R which i believe was stage 2. Yep i know that makes me a dick - but i never tailgate someone else hoping for a race. Also conditions have to be right - i.e. not wet, not heavy traffic, suitable road (dual carriageway) etc etc I'm sure there are plenty on here that have done the same - i'm also sure many will never admit it. Difference is i know i can occasionally be a bellend - but within a defined set of safety parameters, so not a total one. I have backed out many times and just let them go - just because the other party is obviously a complete moron who is more likely to end up crashing or endanger others. As for policing the road - most you will get from me is a beep and me grumbling and swearing to myself.

As someone that has had cancer and beaten it I wish you the very very best for the treatment and recovery, I'm sure it is all about keeping a positive attitude and beating it! Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

I'll be honest, I'm not keen on the whole "self policing" dash cam thing. I get they are great if you have an RTA but shopping every little thing just doesn't sit well with me. I'm not implying this is what you mean either, just giving my opinion on dash cams. If you watch all the "bad driving" dash cam vids on youtube you can see some twonks seem to try and make bad situations happen. Just so they can make a clip. They seem to drive ultra aggressively without any normal thought or courtesy. Just because they have dash cam fitted they feel they rule the road. Sent from my S9 using Tapatalk

I think this is the most important principle, and it applies to both VW dealers & Indies. It all comes down to the ability, knowledge, quality & integrity of the person who actually lays hands on your car.

Wet weather handling is great with mine. invariably it's the driver, driving style and tyres (wear and pressures) that have greatest impact on wet weather driving. with decent tyres, decent thread depth, correct pressures, then unless the driver is an utter cockwomble, the car can handle it all. the Golf R must be one of the easiest ever and most forgiving car to drive. mine has handled -11c, foot of snow, torrential rain, high winds, blistering summer with really high UK temps, nothing bothers it. the only negative, is it gives a lot of confidence to the driver (too much?) and inexperienced drivers (or cockwombles) could find themselves pushing it too much for the conditions. Thats the driver not the car though!

I already tried changing just the tyres on the 19s. The conti's that came out of the shoowroom were literally a joke and I couldn't even hear myself think with those on. I binned those after just 500 miles and got a set on MPS4S on there. Nice performance tyres, but the noise reduction was minimal tbh. But today I am a happy man! The 18s and some softer tyres that went on today have made a HUGE difference. It's still not right for sure, but the noise has reduced by around 40% I reckon, just based on the few miles I've tested today. I even had a Bluetooth phone conversation while driving where the person on the other end could actually hear me, which has never happened before. It was a lot of hassle to get to this point, but today was the 1st time I enjoyed driving the car, having owned it for 3 months. And I much prefer the look of it with the Cadiz too, so it's a double win. The slightly annoying side effect is that it's now quiet enough in the cabin for me to hear everything rattling! Both front doors seen to be fidgeting about and there is a rattle coming from the sensors up behind the rear view mirror. But the very fact that I can hear those proves that there has been a big improvement in the road noise for sure and I can work on the rattles another day.

A few shots of today's drive and then all clean ready for tomorrow...

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

So after the forum spoke I opted for reps from CM wheels. They arrived in three days all the way from Northern Ireland. Black circle have just wrapped them in Michelin PS4s. Over the moon thanks for the advice! VW wheel badges in the post. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Instagram - @vagsocietyuk & @jarededwards_

Like this. No more knocking.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

You lot sound very fussy [emoji1787] Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Road noise is what I hate on mine but I have been too tight to change the OEM Bridgestone tyres which, I think, are the bulk of the issue.

Fairly straight forward once the main power lead was through the bulkhead - which has to be fed from the engine side because of the inline fuse at the battery end. Spliced into the rear speakers behind the CD player and piggy backed a 15amp fuse for the remote power, earthed to the boot latch bolt.

Took the car to unicorn developments for a little love. So much better, loving the change

I think 2 things need to be addressed , firstly when you say the engine has blown , that could mean a lot of things , from a blown turbo , to upper engine failure to engine block failure , can you be a bit more specific? secondly , VW are always going on about not honouring warranties if a car shows a TD1 or it’s been modified, so I would suggest if you have proof the car was modified before they sold it to you I would deffo be landing this at their door ! the only sticking point is the 12 odd months you have owned it , they could argue you have modified it in that time period , but again depends what has actually happened to your engine , without knowing that it would be hard for us to give you a proper way forward 👍

I’d be very surprised if all four wheels were buckled. It’s unlikely to be unbalanced wheels either if you’ve had them balanced three times. A few things to check; What is the centre bore for your RVO19 alloys? - the centre bore fitment for alloys on the Golf (and most other VW’s) is 57.1. If the centre bore for your wheels is larger than this, then the fitting kit supplied with your wheels should have included a set of spigot rings that fit in the centre bore of the wheels to reduce it to the standard 57.1 for the Golf, to ensure a snug fit of the wheel on the hub. Not fitting spigot rings (if they’re required) is likely to result in wheel wobble / vibration. More importantly, it would also mean that undue stress would be placed on the wheel bolts as they would be taking the entire weight of the car (dangerous!), when it should be the car’s hubs (with wheels with the correct sized centre bore) that take the car’s weight. Aftermarket alloys usually have a wheel bolts with a different seating face profile to the bolts fitted to OEM factory alloys. It’s important that the seating face profile of the bolts mate correctly with the bolt holes in the wheels, otherwise they cannot be torqued up correctly which could result in loose bolts and wheel vibration. Bolt tightening sequence; I’ve read on various forums that if the correct bolt tightening sequence isn’t followed on the mk7 Golf, then vibration can be experienced. The correct sequence is to tighten the bolts diagonally / in a star pattern sequence by hand to 30nm while the wheel is off the ground. Lower the car on to the ground and tighten bolts diagonally / in a star pattern to 75nm. Lastly, tighten bolts diagonally / in a star pattern to 120nm.

How to balance a square wheel?

Appreciate your candor. Your (our) behavior is very human and in a somewhat perverse way reflects why we love high-performance cars. Doing the responsible thing can require extraordinary self-control but is a critical component of becoming a top-notch street driver, something I hope we all strive for. FYI, I had to look up bellend - isn't part of standard American slang. We have other terms . . .

These days with decent modern cars on public roads it is often down to which driver/rider is willing to take the most risks who is "quickest" on a challenging road, not which car is "best" or "fastest".