Work wheels are custom made to your specification. From width, offset and diameter to bolt pattern, bolt seat type and center bore, everything about these wheels is tailored to the car they’ll find themselves carrying. What this means is that they’ll fit like a glove -truly OEM fitment- and require no hardware of any kind to be mounted. I did choose to have the bolts that attach the face of the wheel to the barrel, customized black in color. This not only makes the wheel look slightly larger as your eye is drawn to the edge of the wheel, it also ties in with the color of the car. Other than that, they come on Work’s “Burning Silver” finish which depending on the angle, looks almost flat silver in contrast with the mirror finish on the lips.

Something I enjoy about the wheels is the contrast between the form and their origin. From the way the convex center pieces dip into a concave hub to the way the mesh spokes curve upwards to meet the bolt lined edges and high polish lips, the VS-XX is a decidedly European Motorsport-inspired wheel. Yet, they are manufactured with superior attention to detail and flawless finish by Japanese technology. The valve stems reside inside the barrel and curve towards the outer face by fitting through a hole in the outer edge rim. They are capped with metallic high polish caps bearing the Work logo. The black/gold center caps contrast with the silver finish of the wheel and happen to tie in well to the rest of the car as well. Overall, it’s a very sporty and aggressive looking wheel that compliments the GLI perfectly.

As far as tires, since I will be running this set of wheels year round, I wanted a good performing tire that could handle most weather conditions in the Pacific North West. I also didn’t want to “cheap out” on budget tires considering how critical they are not only to the performance of the vehicle and my safety but also because they would be wrapping some of the most sought after items in my lifetime. I also knew I would have to under size the width of the tires in order to retain the car’s current low stance and allow for the increased width and higher offset of the new wheels. After realizing that I would have to go for 215.35.19 size tires, the options quickly became narrower. There was only one Ultra High Performance All Season (UHPAS) tire available on TireRack.com that met this particular sizing requirement: The Pirelli PZero Nero M+S. This tire has received universally positive reviews and is not particularly expensive so the choice became very clear. Unfortunately, one of the tires arrived defective which was only apparent after being mounted and inflated to spec. Thankfully, TireRack.com stands behind their products and a phone call from Bill Spencer resulted in a replacement being expedited overnight. Even though the ideal size would have been a 225 series tire, the resulting stretch from a 215 tire on a 8.5in wheel was less than I anticipated which means Pirelli tires don’t generally run thinner than normal. The slightly narrower tire allows for the perfect amount of clearance which results in no rubbing what so ever. There was no increase in ride stiffness or hardness after the wheel swap and even though the rubber is still breaking in, I found them to perform rather well last night after driving over 40 miles in one of the rainiest nights we’ve had in the Seattle area in several months. I’m confident they will far outperform my outgong set of Kumho ECSTA ASX.

Once all is said and done, I think the results speak for themselves.

Infinite thanks to Achtun!ng in Redmond, WA (Bill, Todd, Dion & Steve are amazing people). I’m not only extremely pleased with the workmanship and quality of the wheels, but the Achtun!ng staff walked me through the process every step of the way (Thanks guys!). They were there to celebrate this milestone of sorts with me and felt as enthusiastic as I did. Installation was also extremely professional; Steve mounted the center caps at a perfect 90 degree angle from the valve stems. He also installed the wheel locks at the opposite end of the valve stems so that I can find them in the dark if necessary without fumbling around. The wheel bolts were also torqued to spec with torque wrenches, something more and more places ditch in favor of impact tools which can overtorque or undertorque them. This is the kind of service that particular car owners would love to see everywhere but is sure to be found at Achtun!ng. I highly recommend these guys for any performance and wheel upgrade for your VW, Audi, BMW or Porsche. They are real auto enthusiasts, just like us.

Upgrading the exhaust system on a car is not a decision that can be made in five minutes. Researching the available options alone takes quite a bit out of you considering how many there are. I decided to go with a cat-back exhaust versus a turbo-back exhaust particularly because at this point in time, I’m happy with APR’s Stage 1 programming and upgrading the down-pipe portion of the exhaust would require an upgrade to Stage 2 programming and substantially alter the vehicle emission system by replacing the catalytic converter built into that portion of the exhaust.

In short, a cat-back is good enough for my needs at this time. When shopping for an exhaust it was important to keep in mind that the stock diameter of the piping is 2.5″ and most aftermarket exhaust systems expand to 3″ in diameter. Hence, the choice was made to seek out a cat-back system that was truly “plug & play” and allowed installation without welding or modification to the stock down-pipe. After some consideration, I decided to go with Autotech Performance and their stainless steel exhaust system made by Magnaflow Performance Exhaust.

While the quality of the welds aren’t the best or prettiest (which were covered in black high heat paint anyway but more on that later), the exhaust’s performance does not disappoint at all. In fact, I can tell an ever so slight power gain (which Autotech supports) although debatable and could be entirely made up secondary to the much livelier sound produced by the new pipes.

The advantages of this system are that it can attach to the stock downpipe seamlessly as it already includes a reducer to 2.5″ at the down-pipe meeting point. Also, it’s non-resonated which means the sound is throaty and deep without being overly loud or obnoxious. A resonated exhaust would be only marginally louder than the stock exhaust setup which is also resonated and a non-resonated, non-muffled setup would likely sound entirely too loud for my tastes. This non-resonated, muffled setup includes a high flow Magnaflow muffler right before the two polished stainless steel tips, which exit out of the left hand side of the rear valence, just like the stock components. The tips are 4″ in diameter which do lend the rear a more sporty look than the smaller stock tips.

Upon inspection of the components however, I immediately noticed something that would bother me if I didn’t do something about it: The muffler had a high polish finish to it which would show slightly from behind and from the left rear angle. Realizing that the exhaust gets rather hot after even 20 minutes of use, I decided to coat the muffler in high heat grill paint to darken it out completely and thus ensuring it would blend in better with the rest of the car. I masked everything except the muffler itself and about 10″ of pipe towards the down-pipe. I also left the two 6″ or 7″ dual pipes leading to the tips exposed (the tips were masked). I then gave the muffler and exposed piping several coats of black high heat paint. The result was a cleaner look from the sides and rear as the muffler doesn’t show at all.

Installation was rather straight forward. Be warned that removal of the stock cat-back portion of the exhaust requires the left rear control arm is dropped (if salvaging the part is something that interests you) or the exhaust must literally be amputated off. Not a big loss in my book. The nut and clamp that holds both portions together should be tightened as tight as humanly possible to prevent the muffler’s weight from shifting it which results in crooked looking pipes.

Once it’s all said an done, however, fit is very, very good. Sound-wise, all I can say is: “mission accomplished”. Powering up the car immediately gives a nice sport-tuned sound. At higher revolutions, the exhaust doesn’t drone; it’s trhoaty and deep but not overly loud. Paired with DSG transmission, higher revolution shifting gives a rather satisfying gurgle that can be pretty addictive, so user beware.

The Carbonio CAI kit includes a carbon fiber scoop that replaces the stock assembly leading to the engine cover and a reusable, high flow foam filter to replace the stock paper filter. The gains represented by this setup are largely driven by the high flow filter versus the carbon fibre scoop. The only benefit I see to replacing the scoop assembly is that the Carbonio scoop is curvy and thus allows for better airflow, as debateable as this is. What isn’t debatable however, is how nicely the scoop looks in the engine bay.

The carbon fibre scoop fills the space left by the stock plastic scoop perfectly. While traditionally, carbon fiber has been used in motorsports to reduce weight, in this particular case, it lends for a sporty touch to the engine bay. Overall there is no increased noise from this intake versus the stock setup, yet my instinct tells me that performance increased very slightly. People looking for a slight boost in performance with an added aesthetical improvement to the engine bay should look no further. Thanks again to APR for everything!

Perhaps I’ll sound a tad blunt when I say that, to date, there is not a solution to the aforementioned problems. Even the most rudimentary solution to a this need -which coincidentally happens to be the most fitting- still doesn’t feel right without a little bit of modification. And amongst the several different options available for this particular generation, only one appealed to me and had the potential to meet these goals.

Traditionally, turbo gauges are mounted either on the center stack (radio area), on the A pillar or on the steering column. The MkV generation design has some fundamental constrictions when it comes to two of these options; the center stack is basically completely taken over by climate controls, heated seat controls, a double din radio space and vents while the A pillars are essentially airbag covers and mounting anything on them is nothing short of a terrible idea. Hence the only option available for this is the steering column – I won’t even go into the driver’s side A/C vent replacement as this was not even considered at any point as it looks terrible, not to mention involves removing the vent and airflow controls for it. Similarly, the pods mounted at top of the dashboard replacing the vent diffuser are incredibly ugly.

Northamerican Motorsports delivered the gauge kit in about two business days. The package included a NewSouth indigo “boost” gauge which matches the Volkswagen blue instrument panel almost perfectly (more on this later), the steering wheel column pod and all fittings, lines and ties necessary to complete the installation. Unfortunately, upon opening the package I noticed a funny detail: The gauge pod felt a tad light compared to the rest of the dashboard’s “soft-touch” plastics. It’s made of thinner, harder plastic and while the color itself is a good match, the finish is a tad glossy and begging to be beefed up somehow. And how else is one supposed to “beef up” plastic? By dipping it in more plastic, of course. Dipped Plastic. Plasti-dip!

After test-fitting the pod at top of the steering wheel, I gave it a vigorous sanding on the outside, which not only served to eliminate the gloss the plastic had but also ensured the back of the steering wheel did not rub against it. Then I sprayed it generously multiple times with Plasti-Dip allowing about 15 minutes between coats. After about 6 or 7 coats, I gave it another inspection. The pod felt much better. It was rubbery -like the rest of the dashboard panels- and heavier, albeit just slightly. It just felt closer to OEM.

Removing the engine cover, installing the included replacement hose and ties, running the vacuum line through the firewall and tapping the necessary power and dimmer wires was a rather straight forward process. Everything was up and running in about 45 minutes. Upon turning the ignition on, I verified that the indigo blue gauge is indeed a perfect match to the OEM blue gauge colors. However, I did notice that it’s ever-so-slightly brighter than the rest of the instrumentation. It operates perfectly and it dims in accordance with the rest of the dashboard when necessary; however, the difference in brightness is always noticeable, perhaps moreso if the dimmer is not turned to the brightest setting. Not a huge deal but I would have liked it to match to the “T”.

Speaking of which, if there is one thing I honestly don’t care too much about the gauge is the word “BOOST” smacked right above the needle. I think it’s redundant and should be removed. We all know what the gauge measures, and if you don’t, you likely won’t be paying attention to it anyway. A more adequate word would be “TURBO”. All told however, the gauge works as intended. It allows me to constantly keep an eye on the turbo’s pressure level while remaining a decent fit inside the cabin although not before some additional modification.

Overall, I do recommend this kit. It’s simply the best the market can offer at this time. As long as you take the time to fit the pod to your liking and give it a little bit of attention, it will fit and match correctly, and look good as well. The location is also prime. The gauge is within perfect view of the driver at all times while only blocking the upper 6.5K RPM range -redline- which you’re not likely to remain in without paying close attention to the road (unless you have a death wish).

I was hesitant about doing performance upgrades on the car for a couple of reasons; first, the car is rather quick in stock form. Sufficiently quick, that is. Second, the possibility of mechanical malfunction or accelerated wear and tear on the power train could cause premature failure perfectly deniable under warranty due to the modification itself. However, I feel that modest performance upgrades are rather unintrusive for stock component operation, not to mention driver common sense still plays a major role in how well the car takes to a performance upgrade. In other words, driving the car like a moron would always result in accelerated wear, regardless of performance upgrades or not.

As far as I’m concerned, the choice was clear for APR. The ECU was loaded with all available programs, including 91, 93 and 100 octane, throttle body alignment and stock mode settings.

Achtun!ng in Redmond was the chosen location to perform the upgrade. Thanks to Dion and Skyler, the upgrade was done very quickly and thankfully all done without having to disassemble or solder anything to the car, unlike older generation VW/Audi models. After about 45 minutes, I was on my way.

The grin on my face was automatic. It’s difficult to explain how responsive, crisp and basically fast, the car feels compared to stock form. And this is only in 91 octane mode, since all we have available in this region is 92 octane fuel. Yet, power is available extremely early in the RPM range which results in rather ridiculous wheel spin if you don’t know how to modulate the throttle properly. For me, the learning curve was a couple of fun minutes long. Tire chirp when shifting into second gear is also rather pleasing.

Thanks go out to the folks at APR (Keith and AJ, thanks again guys) and the folks at Achtun!ng (Dion and Skyler) for getting this set up.

I was initially going to go with a set of StaSIS coilovers, but this never came to fruition. Then these were brought to my attention. Originally meant as standard H&R performance coilovers, it was through a lucky strike that I ended up with an ultra low set. Even though H&R doesn’t officially list them as Jetta part numbers, we all know that Golf/Rabbit/Jettas (including GTIs and GLIs) share the same suspension configuration so I decided to stick to it. While the sedan is certainly about 100lbs heavier in the rear than the hatch, any rake that could result from this can be compensated thanks to the adjustability of the rear perches since these are after all, adjustable coilovers.

I received a large box, which weighed over 55lbs in an incredibly expedite manner thanks to North American Motorsports and their flawless customer service. Upon opening the box, I was treated to an impressive set of performance suspension parts. Product quality is top notch on all accounts. The shock bodies are made by Bilstein and are extremely well constructed. Bilstein makes their gas shocks through extrusion rather than cut tubing so their shocks are legendary for being more durable and resistant than other brands. The front shocks are stainless steel with red anodized adjusting collars. All four springs are powder coated gloss red and the rear shocks are powder coated in yellow. They are also substantially shorter than your average shocks (including the Bilstein Sports) in order to provide the perfect amount of valving while accommodating a very low ride.

I should point out that these coilovers can ride extremely low. So low in fact that setting them at their lowest would not allow the car to turn or even roll off the lift after installation. It is possible to tuck 18″ wheels on these without a problem if one were so inclined, particularly in the front.

Installation is straight forward as far as MkV cars are concerned. For the front struts, I recommend the stock dust cover is left on the strut bearing. While these coilovers come with their own dust covers, the OEM strut bearing uses the dust cover as a seal into the bearing itself so it’s recommended the protection is retained. I also recommend the front fender liner modification is performed to avoid any rubbing issues. Rolling the fenders may also be a good idea if your wheels are wider than 8” and you plan to go low.

For the rear assembly, the perch can be mounted either against the car or on the bottom of the spring seat. Mounting it against the car enables you to adjust them without having to undo the rear control arms and even though the dead coils seat on the bottom end, I did not notice any adverse effects to this method in any way. They can certainly be mounted on the bottom but if adjustments were to be made, the control arm would have to be undone and the spring removed to do so which would not be practical at all, particularly since you are almost guaranteed to need some fine tuning on the days to come after installation.

Once installed and adjusted, the car immediately takes a much lower stance. Upon driving the car after installation was complete, I could notice a much suppler ride than with my previous Bilstein/H&R Race combo. The ride quality is more akin to Bilstein/H&R Sports and it’s not bouncy or harsh at all. This was extremely surprising to see for such a low coilover system. If you have or have ridden in a MkV equipped with H&R Race springs, you know the ride is taut and sporty but H&R doesn’t beat around the bush as far as the stiffness of their Race parts. These are definitely a more “streetable” setup with a friendlier ride quality and feel.

This is not to say that these are soft or “floaty” in any way. The car is planted, firm and taut. There is no nosedive under hard braking and the car corners flat and composed with these on. It’s in no way sacrificing handling, valving or dampening in favor of the ability to ride lower. H&R really did their homework on these and it shows the second you take the car out on the road.

As it stands, I could not be more pleased with this setup. It allows plenty of adjustability (you could ride them at stock height or so low your fenders would be in serious danger) while providing an unparalleled, high quality sporty ride without being bouncy or overly stiff. Anyone considering an extra low set of coilovers should give these some serious consideration. I’m confident they’re the best on the market for this specific application and specific needs. You just can’t beat Bilstein/H&R quality.

And so it happens that my car isn’t going anywhere. As it turns out, I was making abrupt decisions based on nothing and I’m glad I came to my senses on time. Even though my old suspension was already gone before I realized this, I ended up with a setup that I like even better for very little extra over what I received over the sale of my prior parts.

I guess sometimes things happen for a reason.

H&R is not joking around when they state these are Race springs. According to how the suspension handles in comparison to the sports springs I had previously, I’d say the ride stiffened up about 50% more. You can feel everything on the road with these and cornering was greatly improved while nosedive was also reduced over the previous setup. Comfort-wise, there are sacrifices to be made with these, however. The ride itself is stiffer than some people would consider comfortable which could potentially make people tired and fatigued. It’s not a setup for everyone, that’s for sure. That being said, I am enjoying them a lot.

The five-spoked wheel comes in two different finishes, Diamond Black (or Hyper-Black) and standard silver. I decided on the Diamond Black version as I believe it would better fit the Deep Black GLI. The measurements are 18″ by 8″ and has an offset of 50mm. Combined with the rear 12mm H&R spacers, the current offset on the rear wheels is 38mm which does cause some very minor rubbing on tight corners (inside of fender against sidewall of tire) but this is a non-issue at this point since it is very minimal.

The wheels enhance the look of the car quite a bit. The Karthoum five muscular thick spokes give the car a sporty and aggressive appearance. Each spoke meets the perimeter of the wheel with a triangular indentation, in a kind of throwback to the Lamborghini Gallardo. Even though they are larger than stock wheels, they weigh less than 1lb more per wheel. The five-spoke design also makes them a breeze to maintain and clean- I can fit my whole hand inside the barrel and with a thin enough brush, I can clean the barrel around the calipers without issue. The wheel is also 1/2 inch wider than the stock 17″ which to some extent enhanced the cars’ handling due to the wider contact patch. They also do a wonderful job of showcasing the GLI signature red painted calipers. Road feel is also a lot more sensitive due to less rubber to dampen imperfections on the road, which is somewhat of a sacrifice.

I decided to match them with OEM-spec Kumho ECSTA ASX rubber which is an ultra-high performance all-season tire. According to Tire Rack ratings, they have similar handling scores as the more expensive Pirelli PZero Nero M+ S at almost $60.00 less per tire so it was really a no contest. Living in Seattle, I can’t get away with summer tires year round and I do intend to run this set of wheels as a year round wheel so I had to choose an ultra-performance all-season tire regardless of brand. The rubber is still breaking in so I can’t say exactly how much better they handle compared to the stock Michelin ones but I’ll venture to guess they will handle better even if they end up sucking, which I am sure they won’t.

Overall, I am very pleased with the setup. It is exactly what I was going for; a simple, sporty, clean looking OEM wheel.

My spring choice was H&R Sport Springs. After researching the multiple aftermarket brands and rates out at this time, I decided on these because they provide a relatively conservative drop, while still retaining good shock travel so carrying a loaded car (passengers + cargo) would not cause rubbing issues, yet they still provide sufficient amount of lowering to be a true sport spring. These are less conservative than other brands such as Eibach but still not as aggressive as their Race counterparts. I went with Bilstein as my shock option because it is well known that they are slightly stiffer than other brands such as Koni and provide excellent valving, comfort and handling. It also has integrated bumpstops, so the whole “cut-reuse-delete” debate was out the window instantly. I consider Bilstein to be the world leader in aftermarket shocks, period, so I may be a bit biased in that regard. The instalation was performed by Fine Tuning Performance in Seattle.

Overall, handling is very much improved over the stock setup. It is much more responsive and sensitive now. The best way I can describe it is as it had been refined ten times over. The car is not bouncy at all but it perfectly stiff and planted, yet comfortable and cushioned just enough. There is barely any nose dive under hard braking conditions and hard cornering really make this setup shine to the fullest. It has put several grins on my face already. If I could define the perfect sport suspension setup, this would have to be it.

As stated earlier, handling and performance were not the only things that were improved from this modification; the car looks 100 times better than before. Once this car is brought to an appropriate height, what was once akward lines and ugly wheel gaps are now agressive features and flush fenders. You can suddenly get a much better idea of the design of the vehicle as a whole and everything starts looking much more proportionate and even.

I also added a 12mm spacer to each of the rear wheels since the wider rear body pannels make the wheels appear a tad sunken into the wheel wells. This also helped quite a bit to bring the whole package together and give the car a much more sporty look and better handling. Overall I am quite pleased with this suspension upgrade. I would recommend it to anyone that wants to retain functionality of the car to carry passengers and cargo without compromising the integrity of the car but want to increase handling dramatically and also get rid of the hideous jacked up look these cars have from factory.