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APR DQ381 TCU Tune installed today.
First impressions. So far so good. Gear changes are noticeably quicker. Can also tell the clamping pressure has increased, not offensive but a good solid feeling. Car no longer races to 7th gear at 60km/h. It has changed the sound the car makes with a bit of throttle, the exhaust note sounds different. I’ll run it for a week or so and post some more. This was a preventative measure as I’m running the high torque Stage 1 APR tune. I didn’t want to run into clutch slip issues. I think this will do a good job if stopping that. Time will tell.
Wagner Intercooler - Intake temperatures lower and more stable. Temperatures still rise in stop start traffic but once you are in free flowing air temps drop right down. Noticeable improvement and car no longer feels as if it’s lost power on hotter days. I still don’t push the car when it’s hot but it’s nice to know the temps aren’t ridiculously high entering the little engine. Maybe a slight increase in turbo noises.
APR TCU DQ381 Tune. I have it for a week or so. I used to always drive in manual mode as the gear selections were always off in D for city driving, would always race to 7th which gave me the ****s. I now keep the car in D mode. Significantly better gear choice by the computer at normal driving speeds. The extra clamping pressure is really good/reassuring and makes a nice noise through the exhaust when on throttle.
In sport mode the gear shift points have changed for the better, can actually use it.
Manual mode in sport. Can now hit the red line and bounce if you want to, don’t know why you’d want to but you can. No first gear downshift lockout.
I haven’t done any launches so can’t comment on that.
All up a great tune. Deletes any of the annoying things the gearbox was doing stock. Definitely recommend even if you haven’t done anything else to the car.
Maybe one day. If I do I’ll post times for sure. Seriously considering stage 2 now. I could have picked up a 034 downpipe the other day for a good price but put the brakes on the purchase. The wife would have killed me :p.
Rally Armor mud guards thoughts. Super good quality and actually do a bloody good job of keeping crap off the car. Need to play with them a little more to straighten up the rears. I’m unsure if I’ll keep them on full time as the look of them has me a little confused. Not sure if I really like the look. Side on and from the front looks good. From the rear they look a little odd.
Ferodo DS2500 brake pads. Upgraded the original performance pack pads as I absolutely cooked them on a track day. Did a 2.14 around The Bend international circuit which I thought was pretty decent. I was keeping up with and pulling away from a few C63 Mercs and was hitting 230km/h on the straight. Destroyed many cars worth much more money than the little golf. Even had one of the C63 owners come up to me asking what I’d done to it as he couldn’t catch me on the straight. Was a hoot. Anyhow back to the brakes. They performed alright for 3 sessions then they were done. After I’d got home and then drove the vehicle again I had a lot of vibration in the brakes. I thought I’d warped the rotors. Drove it for a couple of days and then did a few heavy braking runs. Turned out they’d left a heap of crap on the disks that needed to get burnt off. Replaced the pads and bedded the new Ferodo’s in. Haven’t tracked it again and likely won’t but on the test braking runs the improvement is significant. These pads have a significantly bigger pad surface area when held next to the stock also appear to be much thicker. They seem very well suited to everyday use but can apparently take a beating. Time will tell. They weren’t cheap so here’s hoping they last longer than the stocks.
I've been thinking about doing rear swaybar+springs for a while, does it make big difference in day to day driving, I don't plan to do any track driving at this stage
That’s exactly what I’ve got. Works very well for daily driving. A tiny bit firmer but not offensive. Handling improvement is amazing. Turn in is wild, understeer almost non existent. Highly recommend the 3 as a combo. I did them all together so can’t comment on them individually. Not much will keep up with you through the twisty sections. Took about 6 hours to do the lot from memory. I’d never done suspension before. Someone who know what they are doing would probably do it in a third of the time on a hoist.
Probably should add. The drop in height in my opinion is perfect. Not too much. Have not bottomed out on anything or out of steep driveways but I am cautious. I think 034 really did a lot of product testing with these before release. They really suit the car.
This is equally as good as the stage 1 and DSG tune but for your suspension. You’ll be very happy with the choice. I take my hat off to you still tuning while all this COVID business is happening.
Hey Mitch! Was browsing the forums and came across your mean R! Thought I'd say hello to a fellow local R owner. Very jealous of the Akra exhaust you got there! How you finding the Stage 1 ? Mine came with a Stage 1 and really couldnt picture how one would drive without it, Im already tempted to go stage 2. p.s. Still have that CTS Res delete for sale by anychance ?
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