Aftermarket leather, sunroof...

[airofu]

Has anyone got aftermarket leather seats/sunroof/xenon lights on the new GOlf GTI but not from the factory? How is the quality/cost?

[livingthedream]

Sunroof...never, ever do aftermarket. They are no where near as structural sound, they have a high leakage rate (maybe not straight away ) and i have never met anyone that has said you should do it.

Leather, lots of people do this aftermarket and is a good option. I didnt on my jetta because i lease it and its easier to get everything done thru the factory for invoicing etc. However i have a mate that had his Porsche and Hummer both reupholstered in a leather he liked. I am also going to do it to the new Navara STX when i take delivery (leather isnt an option). Bit chaper than factory most times and you can choose your type of leather and colour.

Bixenons, general consensus seems to be factory only. But i have never had em, so am not really in a position to comment.

[Maverick]

I concur with livingthedream,

Never ever put in an aftermarket sunroof, it will massively reduce your resale value and just create problems. You would have to put in a new headlining as well if you had a unit that drops the glass into the car rather the just pops up as the rear interior light on the models with sunroofs is located towards the back of the car.

Aftermarket leather is fine, there are quite a few good places around that do these and you can pick colors and types of leather. You can also buy the factory leather from places like www.oempl.us including the ones for the edition 30 (red stitching) but the limited edition ones are around $4000. You'd be looking at $2000-$3000 for aftermarket leather. The only extras you lose over the factory leather is the electric lumbar and the seat heaters but the seat heaters can be put in the same time but will add another $1000 to the cost (this is going oem).

What you could do is to find a wrecked GTI with leather and put those seats in and grab the wiring for the seat heaters as well for future hookup.

As for bi-xenon forget it, to put in the factory system for parts alone you're getting to around $3500-4000 and there is a lot of work to add sensors to the front and back suspension, add the front washers, new washer bottle, pump, painting of part of the front bumper and so forth. Again you could find a donor car but unless you're able to do it yourself and know which parts to remove you'll be spending a lot on labour.

And as for xenon drop in $200 upgrades, these are illegal and for good reason, forget them and invest in some Osram Nightbreaker +90's.

[Tim]

I dont know that after market / dealer fitted sunroofs are so evil.
Its not like OEM ones dont leak and are overly reliable. The only difference I see is that the switchgear and roof lining may not end up being oem.
What structural difference does it make?

Its really not that uncommon for dealers to fit a roof.

[Guest212]

Aftermarket sunroof fitters are required to add mroe bracing to the roof if its required. They're not all that horrible. Plenty of manufacturers who offer sunroofs fit them once the vehicle has been built.. Mitsubishi (Verada), Holden and Ford come to mind as manufacturers who do this.

Personally I'd still go for the factory option tho. Generally a much nicer finish.

[livingthedream]

Plenty of manufacturers who offer sunroofs fit them once the vehicle has been built.. Mitsubishi (Verada), Holden and Ford come to mind as manufacturers who do this.

haha...rest my case (in a nice way)

[Sunny43.5]

Righto you lot time to set you straight !!! The factory sunroof that is fitted to most european cars regardless of make is made by Webasto funny that its the same brand that is fitted aftermarket here in Australia . GM and Ford have both used this roof for the last 7 years {I was GM,s only Qld authorised fitter }. Next if any of you have ever seen the inside of a cars roof without the hood trim you might be surprised . VW Jetta has NO!!!!! crossbrace in the roof at all. Golf does , when an aftermarket sunroof is fitted it is fitted with 4 braces to make up for any brace removal and in some models an extra brace called RSR is fitted to keep the SIPS the same . Now as for leaks just ask Honda and Mitshubishi owners how water tight their Factory sunroofs are , every time we have rain my phone runs hot with these owners complaining about leaks {all fixable } . Aftermarket sunroofs have a 4 point water management system if this becomes blocked just like factory they will cause water to overflow in the roof area so just like the rest of your car "maintanence" will prevent this . Yes the aftermarket sunroof switch is different but it will probably have more features than factory , and finally yes the hood trim is recovered and the interior light is refitted . Now next Leather you guys must be nuts I am a motor trimmer by trade and believe me its the one thing that you will never find in any of my cars , after spending 30 years repairing and replacing leather no thanks . The main problems are no one tells you that once the hide of a cow is removed from the poor beast, its coloured - tanned etc and then its up to you to replace the lost moisturiser at least 4 times a year or it will dry out shrink and crack . Our cars are subjected to hellishly high temperatures when parked , burnt bum is not part of my driving experience . Also leather is the most easily marked scratched material you can put in a car , for me give me a velour -cloth trim any day Regards Howard & yes I do own two VW ,s

[Maverick]

Righto you lot time to set you straight !!! The factory sunroof that is fitted to most european cars regardless of make is made by Webasto funny that its the same brand that is fitted aftermarket here in Australia . GM and Ford have both used this roof for the last 7 years {I was GM,s only Qld authorised fitter }.

GM and Ford hardly inspire any confidence!

[quote]Now as for leaks just ask Honda and Mitshubishi owners how water tight their Factory sunroofs are , every time we have rain my phone runs hot with these owners complaining about leaks {all fixable } . Aftermarket sunroofs have a 4 point water management system if this becomes blocked just like factory they will cause water to overflow in the roof area so just like the rest of your car "maintanence" will prevent this . [quote]

Where do you drain the sunroof to? No matter how you do it you need to remove all the trim from the pillars, the roof lining and so on. It's not going to be as good as the factory.

You won't have a rolled edge on the roof so it fits in there without sticking up but will get rubber mouldings poking up from the top of the roof which can introduce leaks as opposed to the folded edge.

Yes the aftermarket sunroof switch is different but it will probably have more features than factory

Does it integrate into the CANBUS? Does it automatically close when the rain sensor on the windscreen detects rain? Can you automatically open it with the windows via the remote? Can you automatically close it?

The switch will have to be located elsewhere and it will need to be wired in elsewhere with a separate fuse added. It won't integrate into the car.

and finally yes the hood trim is recovered and the interior light is refitted.

How is the roof trim recovered? It won't look the same as the finish that is in there now?

The interior light is connected via a flat ribbon cable from the front of the car, how do you extend this?

Now next Leather you guys must be nuts I am a motor trimmer by trade and believe me its the one thing that you will never find in any of my cars , after spending 30 years repairing and replacing leather no thanks . The main problems are no one tells you that once the hide of a cow is removed from the poor beast, its coloured - tanned etc

I don't think that anyone expects that leather comes off the cow that colour and finish

and then its up to you to replace the lost moisturiser at least 4 times a year or it will dry out shrink and crack . Our cars are subjected to hellishly high temperatures when parked , burnt bum is not part of my driving experience . Also leather is the most easily marked scratched material you can put in a car , for me give me a velour -cloth trim any day Regards Howard & yes I do own two VW ,s

It's all part of maintenance, I find leather to take less maintenance, looks good, easy to maintain, wipe clean, clean every month or two and it holds up a lot better then cloth or velour. All IMO having owned cars with all types and the last 3 have had leather.

[Sunny43.5]

Okay so not everyone is happy about aftermarket sunroofs lets clear a couple of points here without starting ww3 Maverick.
Answer this one were do you think the factory run their drain tubes ??????????? the same place we do !!! were do you think they run them outside the car ? . I might add here even though GM &Ford are not high on your list , the roofs they have fitted Webasto-Hollandia have been more reliable from a water management point of view than the factory Honda Mitshubishi etc . Do your home work next time , we also offer rolled edge finishes as well . Economics are the reason for the bezelled edge it saves money and time and does not leak !!! you really are naive .
Okay you got me on the canbus but we have never had any issues when we wire them in being careful to only use "clean " circuits and diode relays . Yes we have our own rain sensors but who would be stupid enough to leave their car windows or roof open ? it would be like waving a flag to thieves "come and steal from my car" Insurance companies would easily say no to a claim if you said you left it open . Yes we fit extra fuses but in 30 years no one has complained do you exibit your fuse box for the world to see ? our switch is mounted into a purpose fitted part of the sunroof housing or to a front console if required , our roof closes automaticly after the ignition is switched off and features many safety and user functions as well . Sorry no auto open by remote but last time I checked my fingers & brain are used for this purpose when I get in the car along with switching the car on and starting it along with adjusting seats mirrors handbrake I could go on forever .
Interior light relocation is a no brainer do you think manufactures run wiring from one front or rear corner to the light ? some times we have to spend some time securing the excess length of wire as usually its taped to the back of the roof trim and is longer than required . Even if we had to extend the ribbon wire please give us some credit we are not stupid we would not be in this industry if we couldn,t do our jobs to a high degree of competancy . Okay yes we do retrim the hood trim as you may or may not know there are two different hood trims in any model car one for a sunroof and one without , we usually modify the one without and again no customer complaints , in many cases some people even pass a comment that they did not even notice we had retrimmed it . Finally my comment about leather stands , the fact that it is coloured and tanned is not what makes leather deteriorate its the fact that after the hide is removed from the cow it no longer gets a supply of nutrients from the animal . So my point here is that it "will dry out " so maintenance is very high compared to other trims . Sorry for venting my spleen but I get very irate when people who think they know every thing about someone elses business are so negative , maybe you can lets us know what you do and everyone can contribute some negatives about your interests Howard

[Maverick]

Okay so not everyone is happy about aftermarket sunroofs lets clear a couple of points here without starting ww3 Maverick.
Answer this one were do you think the factory run their drain tubes ??????????? the same place we do !!! were do you think they run them outside the car ? .

For a start settle down

The drain tubes you run wouldn't be run as well as they would be from the factory where the car is completely bare without an interior when fitted, this is a fact.

I might add here even though GM &Ford are not high on your list , the roofs they have fitted Webasto-Hollandia have been more reliable from a water management point of view than the factory Honda Mitshubishi etc . Do your home work next time , we also offer rolled edge finishes as well . Economics are the reason for the bezelled edge it saves money and time and does not leak !!! you really are naive .

The rolled edge is a lot more pleasing to look at, again you can't do the job as well as a factory fitted sunroof! Again this is a fact so why dispute it.

Okay you got me on the canbus but we have never had any issues when we wire them in being careful to only use "clean " circuits and diode relays.

The only way that I would do this on the Golf would be to remove the fuse holder and fit new circuits to it.

Yes we have our own rain sensors but who would be stupid enough to leave their car windows or roof open ? it would be like waving a flag to thieves "come and steal from my car" Insurance companies would easily say no to a claim if you said you left it open .

I can think of plenty of times you might leave the windows down a bit and the roof open without it being a security issue, the Golf has deadlocks in the doors and when the alarm is armed in the case of the GTI the doors are deadlocked so you can't get in or out without a key. The rain sensing is integrated into the Golf.

Yes we fit extra fuses but in 30 years no one has complained do you exibit your fuse box for the world to see ? our switch is mounted into a purpose fitted part of the sunroof housing or to a front console if required , our roof closes automaticly after the ignition is switched off and features many safety and user functions as well . Sorry no auto open by remote but last time I checked my fingers & brain are used for this purpose when I get in the car along with switching the car on and starting it along with adjusting seats mirrors handbrake I could go on forever .

The point I was trying to make was that an aftermarket sunroof doesn't integrate into the car anywhere near as well as the factory sunroof from many aspects.

Interior light relocation is a no brainer do you think manufactures run wiring from one front or rear corner to the light ? some times we have to spend some time securing the excess length of wire as usually its taped to the back of the roof trim and is longer than required . Even if we had to extend the ribbon wire please give us some credit we are not stupid we would not be in this industry if we couldn,t do our jobs to a high degree of competancy . Okay yes we do retrim the hood trim as you may or may not know there are two different hood trims in any model car one for a sunroof and one without , we usually modify the one without and again no customer complaints , in many cases some people even pass a comment that they did not even notice we had retrimmed it .

There are two roof linings for the Golf.

One has a sunroof and has the back seat lights back about another 50cm to accommodate the sunroof.

One doesn't have a sunroof and has the back seat lights right in the middle where the sunroof will retract to inside the roof and isn't suitable to use with an after market sunroof.

The light fitting has the power running from the front of the car and doesn't have a lot of slack. The type of wiring used is clear plastic with conductive tracks and is a PITA to join or repair.

Finally my comment about leather stands , the fact that it is coloured and tanned is not what makes leather deteriorate its the fact that after the hide is removed from the cow it no longer gets a supply of nutrients from the animal . So my point here is that it "will dry out " so maintenance is very high compared to other trims . Sorry for venting my spleen but I get very irate when people who think they know every thing about someone elses business are so negative , maybe you can lets us know what you do and everyone can contribute some negatives about your interests Howard

That's your opinion and I respect that, my opinion is that I love leather seats, they are low maintenance and I don't have problems with them. I condition the every 1-2 months and don't have any problems with them drying out.

To sum it up you can't fit a sunroof anything like the factory one in looks nor functionality and I would never attempt it to a car like the Golf. Cars are getting more and more complex and adding on things like Sunroofs and so on is going to get harder and harder especially when people want similar operation to the factory ones.

[WEDEL.1]

Let's keep this a healthy FRIENDLY debate please....

Maris

[blutopless2]

by "aftermarket" what exactly do you mean... anything that is not fitted on the production line???

in 2000 i bought an SS commodore... *shudders at the memory*... the one on the showroom floor was the only one in the combo that i wanted.. but they had to fit leather and a sunroof..
dont know who did it (they told me it went back to the factory to get the sunroof done - though i doubted it at the time) but it was exactly the same roof as a mate's SS that had it from factory.. same switches etc... same finish. had the car for almost 3 years and never once had a problem with the roof or the leather.
with the integration into the rest of the electrics of the car tho (rain sensors, remote open/close function etc) i would want all of this operational as if it was factory fitted.

[SmutsGTI]

I had a HSV Clubsport, for the VT - VX model range no sunroof's were factory fitted. They were fitted by an authorised Hollandia fitter at the dealership. It had rolled edges and was flawless in operation.

2cents

Smuts

[Sunny43.5]

This is my last reply on this issue its no point trying to make someone like yourself see the pros and cons of this issue just remember one very important thing here .Most manufacturers put out a variety of models in any one range . So unless you by a specific spec vehicle you may not get a sunroof option , Australia is not blessed with being close to manufactures as in Europe . Importers don,t want to saddle dealers with expensive cars with all the features you may desire , so the cars that sell in volume - base models are the ones dealers will most likely option up themselves . Some customers may want a sunroof or leather but are not prepared to pay for a certain model that may also have other factory options they don,t want at a much higher price . Don,t put people off something that you may have a dislike for its their own decision not yours . Can you tell us have all of the cars you have bought had any other extras added ?? dealer or yourself window tinting maybe different wheels stereo whatever more than likely you have so whats the difference between what we do and them . Finally most of the items you have highlighted are again showing your ignorance , our drain tubes are run down the same internal cavity of the "A" and "C" pillars they exit out through the same rubber grommetts as factory we do remove the hood trim and other parts to install a sunroof so we have the same access as they do !!!!! Have you ever seen an aftermarket sunroof with a "Rolled Edge finish " ? I,ll bet you have but you did not notice it as it is done so close to factory that no one can tell . Very last point in over 30 years fitting sunroofs right up to this day I have not had to leave out an interior light because of a wire harness and trust me there is always enough length in the wiring in most cases the light never varys by more than a couple of inches from were it was originaly . Goodbye