Well, it wasn't exactly my Mk 5, but today I test drove an old 2.0 FSI manual on standard 15" Wellington wheels and WOW the manual and smaller standard wheels transforms the Golf for the better (perhaps unsurprisingly). I always thought lower profile tyres on the standard Golf would change the ride and not for the better.
2005 VW Golf 5 2.0 FSI Comfortline Sports Automatic
Even though many new cars come with large low profile wheels due to aesthetics (and ride quite well), I do wonder how much better they would ride if they had smaller wheels and higher sidewalls.
My base model XC60 comes with 19 inch wheels standard.
The sportier XC60 model comes with 21 inch wheels standard, but you can option 22 inch wheels which I think is ridiculous.
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MY07 Red GTI 3 Door
Agree. Everyone wants to drive an automatic "sporty" car these days at 50kmh on suburban streets... I had the chance to drive a new KIA Sportage the other day (nice car) but the low profile wheels meant that the car was thumping on its bump stops regularly regularly on inner Sydney streets... great on a well maintained dual highway with divided roads at 110kph but still...
2005 VW Golf 5 2.0 FSI Comfortline Sports Automatic
waterpump started leaking just before christmas, decided it was time to address the other coolant and oil leak i've been having for the last 18 months and it was time for the second timing belt replacement anyway
tore down the timing belt side, ran out of time and had left it there for a couple weeks during the break
finally got some parts in and proceeded to tear out the coolant pipes and hoses, alternator, fans, charge pipe, oil cooler, and finally the oil filter housing
had to modify the silicon hoses i'd picked up a few years ago from aliexpress to fit(seems like the US got slightly different routes?), unfortunately not a complete kit but did replace most of the major ones
oil had been leaking from the rear of the oil filter housing for a number of years now, albeit very slowly, ended up installing a new oil filter housing and seals, bolted up the oil cooler to it and had a heck of a time figuring out where all the coolant lines went back to
coolant had been leaking on top of the gearbox for about 18 months, ultra slow but it had been progressively getting worse but i figured i'd just track it down when i tore everything down for the timing belt swap. i believe it ended up being the hose from the heater core so i ended up replacing both of them with some 19mm hose(or 3/4") and will probably need to wrap them in some heat reflective tape as the factory ones were wrapped in some form of insulated heat wrap
discovered at this time that one of the hard vacuum lines to my brake booster had split so i replaced them with silicon hosing instead(10mm if you're wondering)
since all of the coolant pipes,oil filter housing, and alternator were off i went ahead and swapped out the thermostat too since it would be a pain otherwise (gates th40187g1)
finally finished off the passenger side stuff and put it all back together, only the timing belt gear left
lined up tdc, marked the gear, timing belt, head, and block and pulled the belt off. ripped off the idler pulleys, tensioner, and finally the water pump
cleaned up the surfaces to prep for the new water pump, go to fit it and it turns out i'd picked up the wrong gates kit assuming the normal 2.0fsi would be the same as the gti kit fyi for anyone playing at home you need the gates tckwp334 kit for the tfsi gti, i'd accidentally picked up the tckwp334a a year prior(drove way less than expected due to covid so i ended up with this sitting around for ages), thankfully everything was the same except the waterpump
ended up ordering the waterpump separately(gwp8038 if you're wondering) and waiting for it to arrive now
also decided to pickup new spark plugs since i'd been getting some odd stutters at idle which would happen every now and then
pulled the first 3 plugs and they seemed to be burning okay, pulled the fourth one and found to be fairly rusted on the top along with the coil pack and after removal discovered some of the ceramic had broken off and was no longer arcing at the tip but on the side instead
picked up a replacement serpentine belt while i was at it since it was last changed with the first timing belt
been a hell of a journey, real keen to get it back together and on the road again and see whether the maintenance would restore some life to the thing
just passed the 10 year mark with ownership, time to whip it back into shape
cw.mkv.gti.034ms,s2+
Still plugging away in the Golf Mk 5 ... COVID and the hectic post COVID lifestyle has meant that I've had little time to anything except drive the little beggar... I mistakingly tried to brighten my headlights further by polishing... this time with a no scratch scourer... idiot... to had had to then buy a buffing pad for my drill and finish the headlights again. Here's the new before (after scourer) and after buffing with the same Maguires plastic polishing cream. They look better than ever.
2005 VW Golf 5 2.0 FSI Comfortline Sports Automatic
Long time lurker here
Finally got around to installing the GruppeM intake on the R32 - loving it!! ❤️ Needs a slightly longer connecting pipe though than the one supplied, so will get around to swapping for a longer one in later (fitment was super tight).
MK4 GTI - Sold
MK5 Jetta Turbo - Sold
MK5 Jetta 2.Slow - Until it dies.
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