APR Tuned Candy White Golf 6 R from South Africa

[Porra46]

hey mate awesome car ......its times like this I miss joburg...down under cannot do such mods...im a golf fanatic. I tried building a mk 3 already lost 7 points of my license...have u raced against any mk1

Thanks bud!

Yeah you do get away with a lot more things here. And mods are more acceptable. For instance decats are legal here.

Mk1s aren't much of a challenge for my R. I have a friend with a Mk1 turbo but even he struggles to keep up.

[Porra46]

And so I opted to have the front fenders rolled as the front tyres were getting cut by the inner lips on the fenders as I entered driveways.

After doing enough research on this, I was stuck between a few options. Import an Eastwood fender roller and roll them myself (Also risk cracking the paint) or order Kerscher wider front fenders (Seriously expensive, plus the fact that they are fibreglass puts me off...)

So I spoke to a guy here by me that I know who owns a bodyshop called Executive Coachworks. Not only are they an official BMW authorized repair centre, his trained staff has rolled plenty of BMWs/VAGs/Mercs that have change wheels and have rubbing issues.

I took the plunge and dropped the car off by him. I am very impressed with the workmanship! No cracks in the paint and looks so professional! As if it came from the factory like this!

Here are pics...



And this is what it looks like from underneath. Liner is only slightly away from the fender lip.



I tried to get the car to rub at my low ride height. Nothing at all.

The front rolled fender shows nicely in this first pic.

[db_101]

Nice man!! representing SA!!

[Porra46]

And with getting valeted every week my car is at almost 19000kms and still looks new:

[Porra46]

And part of prepping for Dragwars 2014. It is an event that is hosted every year here in SA at our official NHRA strip.

Found that my AEM WMI pump is faulty, but I have purchased a new one to go in. Will have the old one stripped, fixed and kept as a spare...

The R is so heavy on fuel, I decided I need a better fuel approach. I filled up with a different ratio using Octane Booster so I thought it was time to test and log. After logging the car on Sunday and getting AMAZING timing advance (33 deg BTDC @ 6800rpm with almost no pull, I decided to leave my race map on for the week and get my launches right. The car is an animal even with no WMI kit. I see even my Yoki S drives wheel spin off the line until about 40km/h where she grips. Then it looks like she bogs and goes!

Quick vid made with my cellphone. You can see the timing pull is very little from my FIS+:

http://youtu.be/UUkJ7OP6ktU

[Porra46]

Got my R back today... Teaser pics of front and rear spoiler fitment. I left everything carbon fibre. Will take clearer pics in more light tomorrow...

[Porra46]

Some sunlight pics...

[Ramee]

Looks ace!! Now I want that CF rear spoiler!!

[Porra46]

Looks ace!! Now I want that CF rear spoiler!!

Thanks bud!!

[Porra46]

Some more randoms snapped:

[Porra46]

And some more...

[Porra46]

Some updates!

Some of you know I was looking at a Brake kit. I really looked at getting the HPA kit as this was the most robust kit that would fit without requiring spacers or modifications.

Unfortunately, the cost of this kit would come to about half of a BT conversion so I had to think even more about it... Shipping and customs to South Africa is just plain ridiculous too.

So I looked at another option...

This had to be an option that is stronger, yet lighter for the R as well...

Here is my choice which arrived last night courtesy of ECS Tuning:


EBC YellowStuff front and rear brake pads. I chose these pads cause they will retain the OEM brake pad sensor


ECS direct fit front and rear braided lines. These clip in like the OEM ones and are DOT approved and tested to handling pressures of up to 3000psi


And the main part of the package... ECS 2 piece rotors!


These rotors are cross drilled and slotted. The front are 30% lighter than OEM and the rear are 15% lighter than OEM


OEM rotors are straight veined. These are directionally veined to aid with cooling. This will help a lot with cooling them down...


Very impressed with the quality of the alluminium hats and the treated rotors!!


This will all go onto my R soon along with a Motul RBF660 fluid change

I am still in 2 worlds about my calipers though. The local bodyshop can redo my calipers in a Flame Red which I think will look awesome. But the gloss black calipers also go well with the R's theme.

[Porra46]

My R went back to the Bodyshop. The same bodyshop that rolled my fenders and fitted my carbon bits. These guys are proper perfectionists!!

The latest on my car.... Calipers, rotors and the hoses have been stripped from.the car and little cups have been placed on the floor while most of the brake fluid drips out.

Front rotors on my R have taken a beating...



The job they do to clean, degrease and fully prep the calipers for fresh paint is meticulous and pretty time consuming.

The braided hoses compared to the stock ones. Front and rear



Installation of the front and rear hoses and rotors...





The caliper cleaning process took a while and eventually they were read for primer.

Before finishing them off in Flame Red...


The stock R front caliper rattle springs had an R logo. Painting over these would mean losing the logo. The guys at the bodyshop printed a vinyl logo. The black logo was was stuck on a white painted rattle spring.


This is then followed by a coat of the Red paint.

Sticker is pulled off and the rattle spring is polished up.


After a day's proper leaving of the paint to cure, the EBC yellow stuff pads are installed in the fresh red calipers.


Fitment taking place.



The brake system will be bled and fresh Motul RBF660 brake fluid will be used.

[Porra46]

And here are some random pics from the weekend:













And parked next to a local Golf 7 TDI from here in town... The 7 is fitted with an OEM bodykit available from VW. This shot made me realise I love my 6 and she isn't gonna go anywhere soon...


The verdict so far...

She STOPS! She really stops damn well. And I still haven't really played with the brakes hard as I only managed to get around 150kms on her. I've started braking hard from 100 to about 40 and then I continue driving to bed her in better now. Once I reach around 300kms of town driving, I will see how she stops to standstill.

I also don't know if it's just my mind, but the car does seem to handle much better too. It feels more nimble on a roll as well. This could be from the weight savings from the rotors... However, it is also gotten much colder here by us, so maybe the car is just performing better with this insane minus temps. But I just love how much fun she is to drive now!

[dArK5HaD0w]

very nicely done.
loving the new brakes too.