Brads Progress thread

[Bradley]

Well ive been on this forum for alittle while now,i joined up to find info on the Polo GTI before buying one and still haven't made myself a build thread as such.

So here goes.

I decided i liked the cars and wanted to get myself one over a cheaper french alternative (which i previously had in mind).I wanted a fairly good example and in an unmolested state.

After viewing a couple this was proving to be quite hard (especially with the low numbers made for the UK),i wanted something with lowish mileage (considering average for these is around 75k-125k),good history and unmolested.

After almost giving up of 3 months searching,i found one that had gone up for sale that very morning alittle more than average price and alittle out of my price range .I phoned up the seller,asked a few questions about the car and decided i had to view it.I was the first to view the car that same night of it going up for sale.The car was 2 &1/2 hours in away Pevensey near Brighton and a friend kindly drove me down to check it out.After giving it a good look over,test drive and checking the paper work was in order I placed down a deposit the car,ready for collection the following weekend.Its a late W reg ,1 previous owner,23,000 miles when purchased,full VW service history,no historical problems and an overall good example with 9 stamps in the service book.

Here is some pictures of the car once i had driven it home.







First of all i had to tidy up the wheels as although the car was looked after,the coastal weather had taken its toll on the wheels.



I had the 4 outer lips refurbished by a local body shop and bought some updated centre caps that didn't have the VW stickers on them but were moulded instead.





I then followed the trend by adding the red grill piping as i think it breaks up the front end nicely.



Then i bought a rear keyless door handle for the passenger side door.



I managed to source some Genuine mudflaps too.



I rectently purchased a Vag style Fin aerial,i had it colour coded by the bodyshop and fitted it at the weekend.



After paint






Mods to date:
Green Cotton panel filter
LED number plate bulbs
LED sidelight bulbs
LED interior bulb
LED boot bulb
Silver Indicator bulbs
Uk legal pressed Number plates
VAG FM Fin aerial
Genuine Audi TT stainless pedals
Genuine VW Mudflaps
Genuine VW Keyless passenger door handle
Genuine VW Front Aero wipers
Genuine VW Passat/9N Rear Aero wiper
Genuine VW Toureg mini torch
Genuine VW Mk6 Golf Headlight switch
Genuine VW Polo 9N3 GTI handbrake cover
Genuine VW 6N2 Boot liner
Genuine VW MFD RNS Headunit with 2010-11 map disc
Weitec Hicon GT coilovers


Heres a few pictures i took of the car a couple of weeks ago.








Ive always been a fan of the GTI's origional looks so im not going for the 9J wheels and slammed looks.The car most likely will only be subtly changed,next will be some suspension to lower it between 40-60mm.

Comments and criticism welsome,afterall we're all here for the same reason to enjoy our cars.

Brad

[Mouse_GTI]

Looks good, nice little touches and the suspension will finish it off nicely

[alexperkins]

Nice brad Coming along well

Just need a passat estate rear aero wiper to finish off the rear

What size are the rear numberplate LEDs again....really need to order another set!

[Bradley]

Thanks alot guys,Passat wiper or Scirocco wiper is definately being done soon just need to get to my local dealer (25miles away) sometime.

Im pretty certain the bulbs ive got are these ones alex.

http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/42mm-leds-fe ... -1487.html

[alexperkins]

Passat wiper is much better Scirocco is shorter, and infact more expensive as the blade is unique to that!

[Bradley]

I will buy the passat wiper then my man.Indeed will tidy up the rear end,i want to keep a wiper as it does n half get dirty back there in the rain.

[wilde67]

Looking really good! Looks like you have very similar plans as me, nice and subtle

Quick question, Im a big fan of your shark fin aerial, how is the reception? And did you get it from a dealer or is it an ebay job?

[6N2 GTI 00]

Car looks fantastic Bradley, really clean and tidy.

You have done really well to find such a well looked after car with super low mileage. Your headlights look brand new to be fair and the paint also looks really good.

The wheel refurb makes a huge difference to the car, 95% of the GTI's advertised have the corrosion on the outer rims but the refurb looks like a top job. How much did the refurb cost if you dont mind me asking?

Some nice lowering springs will really finish it off.

Ben,

[Bradley]

Looking really good! Looks like you have very similar plans as me, nice and subtle

Quick question, Im a big fan of your shark fin aerial, how is the reception? And did you get it from a dealer or is it an ebay job?

Thanks dude can't beat classic looks in my eyes.The reception on the fin is the same as it was when i had a shortened Mitsubishi aerial, so not bad at all.Location stations obviously have a clearer signal than national ones but Radio 1 is still pretty crystal clear haha.I bought mine off ebay,i bought two one from different sellers to see which worked best.I'll PM the one i used in the end.

Car looks fantastic Bradley, really clean and tidy.

You have done really well to find such a well looked after car with super low mileage. Your headlights look brand new to be fair and the paint also looks really good.

The wheel refurb makes a huge difference to the car, 95% of the GTI's advertised have the corrosion on the outer rims but the refurb looks like a top job. How much did the refurb cost if you dont mind me asking?

Some nice lowering springs will really finish it off.

Ben,

Cheers Ben,always been a fan of how yours is looking too mate.The headlight are pretty good nic,the paint is always good but i'd like to go over it with a DA polisher possibly sometime.The wheels wewre done by a local bodyshop with a pretty good rep.I only had the outers seperated from the centres and repolished/lacqured.The new centre caps really finished them off though they are pretty future proof too as they're one peice moulded apposed to the origionals thet have that annoying hard back foil sticker.The wheels costs me £45 per wheel and centre caps i sourced myself.For £45 they split the wheels,sand blasted them,repolished them,re lacqured them,put the wheels back together,fitted my new tyres,fitted new valves and re-balanced them.The job was pretty good to be honest and for the money i didn't complain,


Brad

[6N2 GTI 00]

Cheers Bradley
£45.00 per wheel is not bad at all and it does make a huge difference to the overall look of the car.

I like that you have kept it OEM with a few subtle touches because they make all the difference.
Wheel refurb, springs, aerial, pressed plates, red grille strip are all essential with the GTI

Ben,

[Bradley]

Cheers Bradley
£45.00 per wheel is not bad at all and it does make a huge difference to the overall look of the car.

I like that you have kept it OEM with a few subtle touches because they make all the difference.
Wheel refurb, springs, aerial, pressed plates, red grille strip are all essential with the GTI

Ben,

Thanks dude,im not into the whole Euro wide and low thing.Ive seen alot of these cars in my opinion ruined lol.They don't need a great deal doing to them to make them look like a lovely little motor some people go alittle over the top.

Next is suspension,just need to get my thinking cap on as to whats going to be the most benificial.I doubt i'll get springs,more than likely go out for something half decent .

Brad

[Mart!n-GTI-DK]

That's a sweet looking GTI

Where did you get the red trim and how's the reception with that small fin antenna???

[Bradley]

That's a sweet looking GTI

Where did you get the red trim and how's the reception with that small fin antenna???

The Red trim is the model from ebay that most people use.It's pretty good stuff although the sun took it's toll on it last summer so ive recently bought a new one.This is the stuff though dude:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VW-Polo-GTi-RED-G ... 4a9ef2d35d

The fin reception as said before is pretty good.Obviously local radio stations are clearer that nationals but thats to do with distance between masts/repeaters.I still get all the radio stations i listened to before as good as they were with a shorter bees ting antenna.

Brad

[Mart!n-GTI-DK]

The fin reception as said before is pretty good.Obviously local radio stations are clearer that nationals but thats to do with distance between masts/repeaters.I still get all the radio stations i listened to before as good as they were with a shorter bees ting antenna.

Brad

I have to take that little fin into consideration... I had one on my old Mk.III Golf from an Audi A4. But that one didn't work, because it was made for GPS and telephone... I thought that wasn't a problem. So I had it painted before even trying it out... Luckily I had it painted along with the rest of the car so it wasn't an extra cost.

But now on my Polo I have a short antenna from a Suzuki Grand Vitara... Work great too

[Bradley]

I have to take that little fin into consideration... I had one on my old Mk.III Golf from an Audi A4. But that one didn't work, because it was made for GPS and telephone... I thought that wasn't a problem. So I had it painted before even trying it out... Luckily I had it painted along with the rest of the car so it wasn't an extra cost.

But now on my Polo I have a short antenna from a Suzuki Grand Vitara... Work great too

Yeh that would make the world of difference,the aerial inside would be designed to receive GPRS & GSM not AM/FM frequency radio.I had a shorter OEM Mitsubishi aerial on mine but the Fin wins for sure looks so much better than any bee sting set up in my opinion.

Brad