Kidoh

Brilliant on the road but a bit soft for a trackday at Bedford.

It's not just a couple of horror stories unfortunately. https://www.vwroc.com/forums/topic/29450-dirty-haldex-filter/ https://www.vwroc.com/forums/topic/23536-mk7-haldex-fluid-change-and-pump-gauze-clean/ https://www.haldexrepairs.co.uk/

Yes, it is a problem and a quick search for Haldex on this site will tell you more. I suggest you read all the advice from these guys who sell all the parts too; https://www.haldexrepairs.co.uk/ Last year my Transporter haldex pump failed and I've just had the whole haldex diff unit replaced under warranty on my 25,000 Golf R . Is seems that most VAG vehicles with a haldex unit have the same problems. The pumps are about £300 and the whole diff is about £2500, then there is the labour which explains your relative's quote. What happens I believe is that the wet clutches create some sort of residue which combines with the oil, which blocks up the filter, so not enough oil gets to the pump, which then burns out. And the front wheels start spinning. I was told that the filter was not listed by VW as a part so they are still not all aware of it. Borg Warner I think supply the filters, which generally should be cleaned with an oil change, which doesn;'t happen frequently enough.

Should just add that my Transporter Haldex pump failed last year too (out of warranty) and I found these guys who were very helpful and supplied the parts. Lots of advice and "how to" information on their website. https://www.haldexrepairs.co.uk/

26,000 miles and 2016 car, front wheels spinning in 3rd and 4th while overtaking. VW in Newbury found the haldex pump had disintegrated and pieces of metal in the diff meant that they had to change the whole Haldex unit. Fortunately under warranty as it's a £2500 part.

The tyres were £107.50 ea delivered and the wheels were £195 ea inc the bolts etc.

I normally run on 19" Pretorias but also went for the 225/40 R18 92 V CONTINENTAL Conti-WinterContact TS 850 P FR, XL, (from Pneus-online.com) fitted to a new set of 18" Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 in gloss Anthracite. Ordered them from Rimstyle.com to this spec to avoid the spigot rings; 5x112, 57.1mm centre, ET45, 18x8J, with a set of 60deg tapered/cone seat wheel bolts and locking bolts included. They said for special orders to expect 4-6 weeks delivery but they arrived in 2 wks just as the weather turned cold.. I didn't like the look of the Bimecc UB425 locking bolts supplied, so I ordered a set of McGard M14x1.5 27181SL locking wheel bolts. Wish I hadn't! It turns out that the key/socket is too deep so as I tightened the bolt by hand the key jumped out and then I couldn't get the damned thing out. The key socket bottoms out on the chamfered sides of the bolt hole in the wheel and damaged the key part, so I hacksawed about 5mm off the rim of the socket and then the bolt came out. Phew! I had by then ordered a replacement key from McGard but I don't think I'll use them after all.

Took my tips off today. I sprayed the inside with GT85/WD40 or similar yesterday and left to soak overnight and then just tapped them off with a soft hammer. They came off easily and I prefer the look without them, 4 pipes looks too much anyway. They look more subtle now I think and a bit more aftermarket/modified. See what you think....

Funny you should say that.....I noticed a spot of rust today where I presume a stone has taken off the black paint. I thought this might happen. I'm not sure they do the hexangonal mesh in stainless or aliminium etc, but makes sense to use non-ferrous, or paint it better than I have done. You could try Hammerite or something more hard-wearing than Halfords undercoat and matt black.

Well that's a b*gg*r, he was under the impression it had DCC. He'll have to take it up with the dealer. Thanks everybody for clearing that one up!

Yeah, I'm in the UK. Thanks for the replies so far. If it isn't changing the suspension when you select Normal or Race, what does it do, just makes it noisier?!

Well I thought that if it had a mode button to the front left of the gear lever and it showed Driver Profile Selection, with the choice of Normal, Race and Eco and Individual then it did have the all important DCC. I understood that cars without DCC were rare and did not have the Mode button. Am I wrong?

A friend has just bought an R first registered December '16 and the only modes available are Eco, Normal, Race and Individual. Anybody know if Comfort has been dropped or if it can be programmed back in? I can't find anything on here except I did see a Youtube with only those 4 options. I'd told him about the benefits of Comfort on rough country lanes etc and now his car hasn't got it.

Just seen your question.... http://www.themeshcompany.com/products/Perforated-Metal-Mesh---1mm-Thickness---4.5mm-Hexagonal-Hole---5mm-Triangular-Pitch---Mild-Steel-400.html#SID=88 I chose this because of the hexagonal VW reference. Also.... "Our hexagonal perforation provides an extremely high open area of up to 85%. Sheets with holes of this configuration are very lightweight. The stability of the parent material is of the utmost importance to maintain the shape of a honeycomb structure. This pattern produces an appealing, timeless design suitable for current and future product applications." I didn't want the airflow restricted too much so this seemed relevant. The radar was not effected initially but this proved to not be the case. I subsequently and regularly got dash warnings that the radar couldn't see the road ahead. This suited me as I was fed up with the car emergency braking with cars turning left. I have since cut the mesh away from the centre of the radar unit as someone pointed out that my insurance company might have taken a dim view. As has been noted, my radiators were knackered too after 4500m so I fitted the mesh to stop the stone damage. Clearly I tailgate and live in the sticks and the roads are cr*p. The mesh catches straw, moths, birds and most stones. I painted it black before fitting it with small cable ties through small drilled holes, with the bumper off. My headlight washers still don't work!

Well, yeah it does Splats, I only used the paddles to change down a few times, so not engaging. Like you, if the conditions are right, then a proper manual-shift blast is very rewarding. No, I just wanted to illustrate the lack of lag that Pumatron mentioned with the DSG. An onboard video of a fun and rewarding drive might be self-incriminating. In fact I did a few runs at that event on the Saturday, manually changing gear just by ear and I may well have been early. By the time the timed runs came around on Sunday, the car was getting more competitive in its class, so I pushed the boat out by turning off the aircon and taking the spare out the back to lighten the load a smidge. I also left it to auto upshift. It paid off as I made up two places and finished 2nd in a class of 10 on the last run and 3rd overall against some modified cars (allegedly 600 hp Evo came 1st). Anyway the results (and video) show what a surprisingly quick road car it is. (211 bhp/t) I was only driving the Golf as my DJ Firehawk is being upgraded to run on methanol, (to keep it cool) having promised myself not to use the R on a track. The racing car weighs about 365kg and has a little bit more power at the wheels than that, so roughly twice the bhp/tonne of most supercars. Keeping this "on topic", how can you not love this car, with or without DSG? Going back to what xPETEZx said, it can be a Golf most of the time but I think it surprised a few other competitors when it was an R.