Buying a mk4 r32

[cookie]

Hey there, recently I decided to go on the hunt for an mk4 r32. I just had a RACV inspection completed on a reflex silver model that has 137,000k's on the clock (quite a few I know).

Anyways I have a few questions, there are a few things that came back in the report that I'm curious about. Firstly the car has uneven tire wear and a little sidewall damage, he also mentioned that the front discs are lipped and worn and measure 30-30.5mm. The car also needs bushes for both control arms.
Are these all signs that the car has been thrashed? Or is this general wear and tear for a car with this many km's? Am I gonna need deep pockets to go ahead and buy a car like this or can I rectify it easily?
Really want to buy an r32, hopefully somebody can help me out.
Cheers, Sam.

[Coralon]

Sounds like fairly normal wear to me, keeping any car in good repair will cost a good amount of money. Keeping an R in good repair will just cost a little extra

[cookie]

Thanks mate, I just don't want to buy into a money pit, I'm aware that all cars are an expense is themselves but I don't want any extra problems that I could otherwise avoid. I just need to hear some opinions so I can pull the trigger and go and pick one up. Man I want an r32.

[graeme86]

Man I want an r32.

Mate, never let the dream blind you when you are looking at any car.

This sounds like normal wear and tear though.

If the bushes are worn then that may be what created some uneven wear on the tyres.

The front brake rotors are over $500 EACH from VW here and the pads are $360 from memory.

They are actually on the wear limit, so surely would need rectification prior to sale, as with the control arm bushes??

Has it had scheduled regular oil and Haldex oil changes??? - I would be more worried about that.

[cookie]

Yeah would have to replace the bushes and probably the discs straight away. I think it has had regular services and have the oils changed regularly. I'm not a mechanical genius by a long shot so just trying to avoid buying a lemon. From what I have said so far about the car what would your opinions be about buying this vehicle?

[cookie]

Oh and could anybody tell me a rough estimate For bushes and labour? Cheers

[drewr]

Hey there, recently I decided to go on the hunt for an mk4 r32. I just had a RACV inspection completed on a reflex silver model that has 137,000k's on the clock (quite a few I know).

Anyways I have a few questions, there are a few things that came back in the report that I'm curious about. Firstly the car has uneven tire wear and a little sidewall damage, he also mentioned that the front discs are lipped and worn and measure 30-30.5mm. The car also needs bushes for both control arms.
Are these all signs that the car has been thrashed? Or is this general wear and tear for a car with this many km's? Am I gonna need deep pockets to go ahead and buy a car like this or can I rectify it easily?
Really want to buy an r32, hopefully somebody can help me out.
Cheers, Sam.

Very normal mate, i brought mine at 119'000KMs and my bushes where stuffed then. To be honest, it's probably not a bad thing even, use it to your advantage and get the price down, then do yourself a favour and goto ECS tuning and buy some of their Poly bushes, tightens it all right up, I loved the difference it made to mine! And they only cost ~$50, and its a bit of a job to put them in, but definitely do-able, if not, shouldn't cost much at a decent mechanic!

Then as the pads and discs are worn, order some ECS slotted/drilled rotors and EBC pads. You're probably looking at ~$600 for brakes if you install the stuff yourself.

As far as tyre wear, whenever I buy a new car I look at getting a wheel-alignment straight away, more than likely that's what it will come down to.

Other things to check that i've notice have gone with mine as its aged are Thermofans, make sure they both run when the aircon is on! They have an issue where the large thermofan rubs on some coolant-hoses below it, causing the fans motor to burn out. The fan itself isnt TOO expensive, but it's a bit of a pain in the arse to put in!

Also check the door switches, my drivers side is faulty, which you'll be able to tell by looking at your instrument cluster, if the "Door open" symbol doesn't appear when its open there's a problem. It's not too bad, it just means your fuel may not prime first go in the mornings, and your lights wont come on when the door opens. Cheap part, **** job to install

Also my heater core has had it, turn the heater on full heat and smell/look for any mist or anti-freeze smell coming through the vents, also another cheap part/****ty job.

Just have a brief check of your hoses around the gearbox area, there's a power steering hose down that area that blew on mine a couple days after i got it due to it rubbing on the edge there.

I'd say get the price down at least $1k in your favor to do the brakes/bushings etc. Other than that, you should be pretty right, mines at 150k now, and while it's had some minor, annoying things break, nothing thats been very expensive to fix!

You won't regret your purchase if you go ahead with it, i love mine to bits.

[jvlracing]

137000ks mean nothing as long services r up to date!! i sold a R32 with 190000ks and she still drove like brandnew
The new owner luvs it