NeilM

Wait, "never having to change coolant"? Is this like the bevel box and the final drive "lifetime" lubrication? (Where "lifetime" is a self-fulfilling prophecy...) Neil

It's definitely not mayo. And the pump system is sealed and pressurized in use, so no breather. The gunk is black, and presumably consists of clutch pack friction material wear particles that agglomerate and are then captured on the filter screen. So the good news is that the screen is doing its job. Fortunately the inspection/cleaning procedure doesn't add all that much more time to a simple Haldex fluid change — although it's kind of a messy job to do at home with just jack stands. It's a total mystery to me why some cars have masses of this crud and other almost none. One thing's for certain, though: if that filter screen gets really blocked, your Haldex electric pump is going to fail. Neil

Not well regarded and cokes up like crazy according to whom, exactly? Message from across the pond: the NAR version Golf R works fine, drives well and has similar out-of-the-box performance to the Euro version, despite not having the secondary port injection. There's very little discussion here about intake valve coking on the R, other than idle speculation about whether the Euro dual injection is worthwhile or not. However it may also be too soon to tell for us — we didn't get the Mk 7 R until spring of 2015, so the sample size of cars with 70K miles or more is likely small. My own 2015 only has 20K miles, and although the intake manifold was taken off at 10K miles (chipmunks gnawed on my engine wiring loom — not making this up!), it was too soon to observe any carbon build-up. After slogging through this long thread what I'm mostly seeing is uninformed speculation and rampant panic. In case of abnormal carbon build-up, abrasive media blasting is always an option. Although it's not exactly dirt cheap, how many times might it be required in the expected life of the car — twice maybe? Sure, better if you don't have to do it, but hardly the end of the world. Lastly I'll point out that in 2018 VW (and Audi) introduced an updated oil separator (P/N 06K-103-495-BM, about $100 over here), presumably to better control the amount of oil the ends up in the intake tract. This revised part can also be retrofitted to earlier model year cars. Neil

In the USA we don't get that lower engine cover (although I did buy and fit one to my car). I figured VW cost-reduced it away. Neil

Any evidence they’re needed? A higher capacity intercooler, now that’s another question.

Despite my living in America I ordered my boot liner from manufacturer Travall in the UK. It's made of rather grippy rubber that does a nice job of stopping stuff from skidding around should the driver happen to get a bit exuberant at a roundabout. Neil

69 and heading into my second childhood at well over the speed limit. Neil

Forged? Nope, it's entirely real.

There's a metallic silver/grey Audi part that that'll work, P/N 321601173AZ37. My wife's Q5 has them, same 17mm head fitment. Neil

The alloy subframe is an Audi part, isn't it? I looked it up once out of curiosity. About $700 over here, plus miscellaneous bushings, fasteners and so on, so probably closer to a grand in US $, plus not totally trivial installation required. Both lighter and more rigid, but for that money you've really got to want it. Those equally lust-worthy SuperPro alloy control arms are of course not included in that. Nice upgrade, PocketRocket! Neil

That's what I did immediately after delivery of my R. The 18's are more robust, the car handles just as well, and ride comfort is improved — although some of that may be the Michelin PS2 vs. OE Bridgestones. Neil

So what do these infamous camera vans look like? Asking for... a friend, yeah, that's it ... who'll be driving some kind of Hertz sh!tbox while visiting the UK in a few weeks. Neil

Well that's one way for VW to weasel out of fixing the R's weak clutch. Neil

Good work! Yes, that bolt definitely has a conical seat, while the wheel seat looks to be ball. On the bolt you can also see where the cone is making unsafe line contact with the wheel instead of mating properly with it. As R-Estate points out in his post above, this means that you should be able to use standard VW bolts until your others arrive. Perhaps you still have your originals? Neil

Standard VW bolts and wheels are ball seat (small version). Many aftermarket wheels use a 60 degree cone seat. Rotiform makes wheels for both types of fitment, depending. Are you sure you've got your description the right way round? Use of the wrong bolt for the wheel can damage the matching portion of the wheel, and is also flat out dangerous, since the bolts may tend to loosen. Retightening them will inflict more damage on the wheel and make the bolts more likely to loosen up. You need to get this taken care of properly before driving the car at speed again. I'd suggest taking out one bolt and examining both it and the machined seat in the wheel yourself to make sure you know what you're actually dealing with. If you're not confident about doing this, find someone you trust to help. If necessary go and buy some temporary — but correct! — bolts to carry you through safely until the ones you've ordered arrive. If the bolts and wheels are indeed mismatched and it was your fault, then you've learned an important lesson. If it's the fault of a shop that sold them to you and fitted them wrongly, then you've learned an important lesson about them. Neil

One more data point: I serviced my Haldex oil/filter screen a couple of weeks ago at just under 17K miles/3 years. Messy PITA job to do yourself, but I was curious about its condition. On my car the filter screen was only perhaps 10-15% blocked by the black grunge, so not all that much. Haldex oil was pretty clean — still a fairly clear amber, but with some visible black matter in it and the usual funky smell you get from final drive oil. While my car is driven enthusiastically enough, I've never used the launch control and don't expect to, so it's possible that my Haldex clutch pack gets less abused than some. Now that I've seen how mine fares I'll likely do the next Haldex service at 30K miles. One note for servicing the filter: When initially refilling the Haldex unit with oil the pump itself will not get filled. With the car still supported off the ground you should start the engine, put the car in gear and run it for maybe a half a minute to circulate the final drive oil. I found that once the pump is run and primed this way the unit will then accept about another 100 ml of oil before reaching the overflow level again. Failure to follow this procedure will result in significant under-filling. Neil

<Snork>. No sh!t. Extended warranties are simply insurance policies. The owner pays a premium and hopes to come out ahead. The provider pockets that premium and hopes they come out ahead. Neil

Hubcentric rings, used to adapt wheels with a larger centerbore to smaller diameter hubs on the car, can be the root cause of this kind of vibration. They’re a particular problem on the Mk 7 because of the unusual profile of the car’s protruding hub, which features a necked down section. Unless the adapters are designed to seat on the full diameter part of the hub, the wheel will not be properly centered when mounted. It’s better to avoid wheels that need these adapters. Neil

Imperial or US quarts? Neil

You do know that they just pull off, right? Take them indoors to the kitchen and see what some washing-up liquid might do. Wait — they spray painted your wheels while they were on the car?? WTF! Are these people neanderthals? Neil

The key term here is "up to".

That's exactly it. To pull the rear they have to secure the car someplace else, i.e. the front. Neil

My 2015's turbo has never taken a tinkle AFAIK. Neil

Entirely OT: Reading from across the big pond I'm amused that UK drivers still apparently refer to 'wing mirrors' when there haven't been mirrors on the wings ('fenders' in US-speak) for decades. Many decades in fact. I'm voting for a return to 'trafficators' too! (You young kids can go and look that one up.) Neil

Two feet, two pedals...you do the math! Neil