GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

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monkeyhanger
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Re: GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

Post by monkeyhanger »

JMiddo94 wrote: Sat Feb 16, 2019 10:21 am I've got a good 30-40mm clearance on the rear arch liners at their closest point.
Is yours a GTI or GTI+ with the wide wheels and tyres? If not, what size wheels/tyres do you have?
Dark_cze
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Re: GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

Post by Dark_cze »

If anyone willing to send my their GTI VIN I can take a look to ETKA what their code is

//It would explain a lot. ETKA show date of build as 29.11.2018 and dealer had car around 15.12.2018 (delivery at 20.12.). Also that tyre change but then why there is such a big delay for RHD market :?: :?: :?: :(
JMiddo94
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Re: GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

Post by JMiddo94 »

monkeyhanger wrote: Sat Feb 16, 2019 11:47 am
JMiddo94 wrote: Sat Feb 16, 2019 10:21 am I've got a good 30-40mm clearance on the rear arch liners at their closest point.
Is yours a GTI or GTI+ with the wide wheels and tyres? If not, what size wheels/tyres do you have?
Standard GTI With 18 inch brescias
Tyre size - 215/40 R 18
monkeyhanger
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Re: GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

Post by monkeyhanger »

JMiddo94 wrote: Sat Feb 16, 2019 1:01 pm
monkeyhanger wrote: Sat Feb 16, 2019 11:47 am
JMiddo94 wrote: Sat Feb 16, 2019 10:21 am I've got a good 30-40mm clearance on the rear arch liners at their closest point.
Is yours a GTI or GTI+ with the wide wheels and tyres? If not, what size wheels/tyres do you have?
Standard GTI With 18 inch brescias
Tyre size - 215/40 R 18
Mine must be misfitted. Might get the wheel off and have a look at the fit of the wheel arch lining tomorrow. Any chance of a pic or 2 of the wheel arch and top of the wheel, specifically where you see the indented tab where the torx screws go into the bodywork behind the wheel? Seeing where yours are to compare to mine might explain why mine is bowing towards the wheel and yours isn't.
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Re: GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

Post by monkeyhanger »

Today, the family had a run down to York (91 miles each way), an unseasonably warm 12C and light when we set off at 07:30, straight down the A19 from Tyneside. Doing 80mph on most of the national speed limit roads as it was quiet and everyone else was doing the same. The car managed 40.1mpg on the way down with an average trip speed of 57mph . The mpg started low, got to 33mpg quickly and very slowly crept up over the journey to the end result of 40.1mpg. Quite disappointed.

The way back was much better. The 28 miles out from the far end of York city (parked at the outlets, near Fulford), which is the slowest part of the journey (40mph and 50mph roads) yielded 50.1mpg to that point, with a 42mph average speed. After that, on the proper dual carriageway A19, the average mpg slowly crept down as I maintained 80mph, but not by much - end of journey indicated 47.1mpg and 56mph average speed. Very impressive - I was only marginally slower yet 18% more frugal. The way back was in the dark too, so using the dipped beams - although LED headlights clearly don't use much electricity.

The trip down had some initial excitement - 5 miles into the journey, negotiated a large roundabout (Testos) just past the Tyne Tunnel, I put my foot down to get up to national speed limit and the car broke traction at about 50mph, took 4 corrections to get the swerve completely under control - bloody Bridgestones! A Golf GTD did exactly the same as me in the outside lane, but quicker (i'd guess they floored it considering how much quicker he was accelerating) and looked to have had no dramas - definitely the tyres and not anything oily on the road. Worth mentioning that the road was bone dry, no trace of morning dew.

The kids thought it was great, I was shocked that it could happen at 2/3 throttle in a straight line at 50mph with tyres that are maybe 10% worn, and a relatively warm morning. No doubt about it, those Bridgestones are going. I did accelerate very carefully after that.
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Re: GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

Post by peeceeuk »

Remind me, the Bridgestones came fitted to which wheel?
What are the Parkers fitted with and is there any difference in tyre selection between the plus an non plus gti?
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Re: GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

Post by blackertracker »

monkeyhanger wrote: Sat Feb 16, 2019 10:05 pm Today, the family had a run down to York (91 miles each way), an unseasonably warm 12C and light when we set off at 07:30, straight down the A19 from Tyneside.....
I've been riding motorcycles for longer than I've been driving cars and tyres are even more important on 2 wheels - I gained a real feel for how good a tyre is. I've had various Bridgestones on motorcycles and cars and they are always outperformed by other makes. They're just not very good.

- Had Bridgestone Potenzas on a new Mazda MX-5. OK in the dry but would break traction in the wet. They also wore dangerously, eventually delaminating. Replaced them with Kumho Ecsta LE Sport KU39s and they are much better, especially in the wet. And cheap too.

- My 6C Polo GTI came with Bridgestone Potenzas. Lasted ages, but the torque of the GTI could overwhelm them even in the dry. Replaced them with the same Kumho Ecsta LE Sport KU39s, much better, although they don't have rim protection flanges. If I wasn't being tight I'd have chosen some Michelins.

- Used to ride with Bridgestones years ago on various superbikes. Eventually changed to Pirelli then Michelins and was amazed at how much better they were. The latest Michelin motorcycle tyres are astoundingly good - I hit deep standing water out of nowhere on a fast dual-carriageway once and thought "This is it, I'm a goner", but the bike sailed straight through it with no aquaplaning and no drama. I was amazed.

Did you have ESC activated normally? I'm surprised you had such a handful at 50mph if so.

On a recent similar distance run to yours with passenger and luggage, outward on the M4 70-80 with some 50 roadworks, but back the long way via heavier urban traffic and then winding B roads I averaged 47mpg as well, not even trying, in my 6C GTI. I don't see much point with the 1.0 and 1.5 TSI engines in the Polo when I've read people not getting much better fuel economy, if at all in some cases. I had a new Polo 1.0 95 SE for a few days and averaged somewhere just over 50mpg in that, needing to rev it more for motorway slip roads etc. Plus they are belt cam engines and will need a £450 cam belt change every 4 years to VW's schedule. Not worth it IMO.
monkeyhanger
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Re: GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

Post by monkeyhanger »

peeceeuk wrote: Sat Feb 16, 2019 10:21 pm Remind me, the Bridgestones came fitted to which wheel?
What are the Parkers fitted with and is there any difference in tyre selection between the plus an non plus gti?
For the UK, the 18" Brescias come with Bridgestone Turanza, the 17" Parkers come with Michelin Primacy.

Of course that's based purely on what people here have gotten, and could be subject to change depending on availability or their decision to buy something else. Plus or non-plus doesn't matter, it's the wheels that matter.
monkeyhanger
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Re: GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

Post by monkeyhanger »

blackertracker wrote: Sat Feb 16, 2019 10:56 pm
monkeyhanger wrote: Sat Feb 16, 2019 10:05 pm Today, the family had a run down to York (91 miles each way), an unseasonably warm 12C and light when we set off at 07:30, straight down the A19 from Tyneside.....
I've been riding motorcycles for longer than I've been driving cars and tyres are even more important on 2 wheels - I gained a real feel for how good a tyre is. I've had various Bridgestones on motorcycles and cars and they are always outperformed by other makes. They're just not very good.

- Had Bridgestone Potenzas on a new Mazda MX-5. OK in the dry but would break traction in the wet. They also wore dangerously, eventually delaminating. Replaced them with Kumho Ecsta LE Sport KU39s and they are much better, especially in the wet. And cheap too.

- My 6C Polo GTI came with Bridgestone Potenzas. Lasted ages, but the torque of the GTI could overwhelm them even in the dry. Replaced them with the same Kumho Ecsta LE Sport KU39s, much better, although they don't have rim protection flanges. If I wasn't being tight I'd have chosen some Michelins.

- Used to ride with Bridgestones years ago on various superbikes. Eventually changed to Pirelli then Michelins and was amazed at how much better they were. The latest Michelin motorcycle tyres are astoundingly good - I hit deep standing water out of nowhere on a fast dual-carriageway once and thought "This is it, I'm a goner", but the bike sailed straight through it with no aquaplaning and no drama. I was amazed.

Did you have ESC activated normally? I'm surprised you had such a handful at 50mph if so.

On a recent similar distance run to yours with passenger and luggage, outward on the M4 70-80 with some 50 roadworks, but back the long way via heavier urban traffic and then winding B roads I averaged 47mpg as well, not even trying, in my 6C GTI. I don't see much point with the 1.0 and 1.5 TSI engines in the Polo when I've read people not getting much better fuel economy, if at all in some cases. I had a new Polo 1.0 95 SE for a few days and averaged somewhere just over 50mpg in that, needing to rev it more for motorway slip roads etc. Plus they are belt cam engines and will need a £450 cam belt change every 4 years to VW's schedule. Not worth it IMO.
monkeyhanger
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Re: GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

Post by monkeyhanger »

blackertracker wrote: Sat Feb 16, 2019 10:56 pm
I've been riding motorcycles for longer than I've been driving cars and tyres are even more important on 2 wheels - I gained a real feel for how good a tyre is. I've had various Bridgestones on motorcycles and cars and they are always outperformed by other makes. They're just not very good.

- Had Bridgestone Potenzas on a new Mazda MX-5. OK in the dry but would break traction in the wet. They also wore dangerously, eventually delaminating. Replaced them with Kumho Ecsta LE Sport KU39s and they are much better, especially in the wet. And cheap too.

- My 6C Polo GTI came with Bridgestone Potenzas. Lasted ages, but the torque of the GTI could overwhelm them even in the dry. Replaced them with the same Kumho Ecsta LE Sport KU39s, much better, although they don't have rim protection flanges. If I wasn't being tight I'd have chosen some Michelins.

- Used to ride with Bridgestones years ago on various superbikes. Eventually changed to Pirelli then Michelins and was amazed at how much better they were. The latest Michelin motorcycle tyres are astoundingly good - I hit deep standing water out of nowhere on a fast dual-carriageway once and thought "This is it, I'm a goner", but the bike sailed straight through it with no aquaplaning and no drama. I was amazed.

Did you have ESC activated normally? I'm surprised you had such a handful at 50mph if so.

On a recent similar distance run to yours with passenger and luggage, outward on the M4 70-80 with some 50 roadworks, but back the long way via heavier urban traffic and then winding B roads I averaged 47mpg as well, not even trying, in my 6C GTI. I don't see much point with the 1.0 and 1.5 TSI engines in the Polo when I've read people not getting much better fuel economy, if at all in some cases. I had a new Polo 1.0 95 SE for a few days and averaged somewhere just over 50mpg in that, needing to rev it more for motorway slip roads etc. Plus they are belt cam engines and will need a £450 cam belt change every 4 years to VW's schedule. Not worth it IMO.
I knew they were crap (from tramping tendancy), but I didn't know they were that crap until yesterday.

They're a different kind of crap to the Bridgestone Potenzas. These Turanzas seem to be ok as a winter tyre, they feel so much better at -4C to +4C than they do at 12C (albeit with greater exercised caution when driving in the cold). The Potenzas are horribly hard and brittle in all temps, but worse in the cold.

Yes, I had my traction control fully on when it happened. The Golf GTD in the outside lane got comfortably away giving a lot more than me and having 20% more torque.

Wolfsburg built Golf GTI/GTD/R use a variety of tyres. The MK7 used to fit.Bridgestone Potenzas to about 40% of them (along with Dunlop SP01, Conti 5, Pirelli P7). Due to a lot of complaints, they don't seem to fit Potenzas any more.

Michelins are The best out there IMO, and for grippy tyres, they wear well.

Goodyears are on offer at Costco from tomorrow (£70 off a set of 4) for the next 2 weeks. I should also know from tomorrow what the following fortnight's offers are to know if a Michelin offer is imminent.
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Re: GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

Post by JMiddo94 »

Just checked again and I can see what you mean now in how tight the arch liner is towards the back, I measured mine and both are about 20 mm clearance.
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monkeyhanger
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Re: GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

Post by monkeyhanger »

JMiddo94 wrote: Sun Feb 17, 2019 4:43 pm Just checked again and I can see what you mean now in how tight the arch liner is towards the back, I measured mine and both are about 20 mm clearance.
Thanks for looking. From your pic, i'm guessing that you werent looking where I was looking for clearance though. The tyre radius will only increase by 4mm from the wheel centre, so no way it will snag on the end of the wheel arch across the tyre tread. I'm looking at the clearance between the inside face of the wheel and the wheel arch lining.

So, you're looking straight at the wheel and imagine it as a clock face. Between 11o'clock and 2o'clock, you feel behind the inner edge of the tyre in the wheel arch and see how much of a gap you have there without touching the wheel arch lining directly behind it. You can also put your hand right through the top wheelspoke which corresponds to 12o'clock and feel the gap to the wheel arch lining - My wheel arch lining bows out towards the wheel and leaves a tiny 5 to 8mm gap. Is yours the same?

If I had 10mm gap then I'd have no worries about the slightly wider tyre rubbing off the wheel arch lining.

This thread explains better.

viewtopic.php?f=71&t=72599
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Re: GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

Post by MilgeS »

Just a little review of the new A1 with a favourable comparison to our Polo's :)
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monkeyhanger
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Re: GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

Post by monkeyhanger »

Had the rear drivers side wheel off today to get a good look at the wheel arch lining. This photo should absolutely make clear the clearance issue I've been on about when talking about fitting wider tyres:-

Image

As you can see from the red arrows, this is the bit of the wheel arch lining that flares out away from the 2 pipes (but is nowhere near touching them). I Unscrewed the 2 torx screws and spread the arch a little bit to try and flatten the arch. It worked, to a degree. I have about 15mm clearance now between that flappy bit and the back of the wheel. The intersection of the 2 green lines is where the top centre of the wheel is when the wheel is sitting on its springs.

The right-most blue oval is where there is a lug (behind arch lining) from the main bodywork to attach what I assume is the ABS sensor wiring (as it follows to the brake calipers. I'm probably going to put 2 slits in the lining around the metal pipe (middle blue oval), to thread a cable tie and pull that lining tight in towards it (the pipe was not warm, even though I had just driven home 13 miles). Should have a healthy 20mm gap between lining and rear of the tyre edge if that flare out gets pulled in.

The front clearance of the wheels at full lock is plenty to accommodate a 10mm wider tyre. With the flare-out secure, we'll be sorted for clearance to put on 225/40 R18 tyres, no spacers needed. So for the lack of a few cable ties today, i'll have to do it all in the next few days again (jack the car, wheel off, cable tie, wheel back on, torque up nuts).

Spoke to Costco yesterday, the Goodyear Eagle ASY5 are on offer from today, £93 a corner fitted, plus £70 off 4 - total £302 for the set. They're supposed to be good, but not quite Michelin PSS good or Michelin PS4 good. Current price for PS4 are £98 a corner, with potentially a cashback deal soon (but no news on exactly when yet). I was told that the PSS were about £10 a corner more, and considering how brilliant they are on my Golf R (compared to the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A that came with it - i'd probably pay the extra.


Trouble is, Costco being the risk averse jobsworths that they are, they will not swap out 215 tyres for 225 tyres and fit the wheels back on the car, even if I sign a disclaimer. I'm going to have to get them fitted elsewhere, unless perhaps I take the wheels off one by one in the car park, roll them in, get them changed, roll the wheels back out and refit myself. Sounds too much of a pain, but I know they'd not damage the wheels and they have the latest kit. The prices quoted are inclusive of fitting, so without fitting they end up £8.50 a corner less (plus VAT I think) - might get my local refurb guy to fit the tyres.

So do I wait for a Michelin Costco Promo that could be in 2 weeks time, but could be as far away as 2 months time (unlikely)? Do I get the Goodyears now? or pay £400/£440 for a set of PS4/PSS now and forgo a likely £80 promotion? Decisions!
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l3rady
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Re: GTI and GTI plus owners experiences

Post by l3rady »

@monkeyhanger now that you have the larger tyres fitted, are any modifications needed, if so do you have any pictures of what you did to go along with the description you gave above? Thanks
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