Chris' TDI

28 April, 201511 yr

Hi, just thought id share a few things that have been added to my polo over the last few months.

Firstly, i bought some BBS RX2's from a guy on here. Once split and i tried to clean the bolts up i discovered that acid primer had been used on them so would need grinding back to normal. After trying to find someone i eventually got fed up and bought all new stainless steel ones from torquepartz for around £120. I polished them all up with a stiched mop running in a drill with white compound. They turned out pretty good, took a few minutes for each once i got going.

I got the rims powdercoated at Barnsley's Metal Magic as iv heard good reviews. They did a good job and i was impressed with the transformation.

When i was building them up i used Sikaflex EBT+ and ran a small line where the edge of the orange powdercoat met the facing surfaces and another on the inside of the rim where it meets. The object was to prevent water from getting under the powdercoat and to stop it getting between the surfaces. The first one i did my Dad said put a bit more on, big mistake! Took me a total of 4 hours to remove it all. I used WD40 which took it off pretty easily, i also used small bits of wood to get into the crannies.

When building them up the only problems i had were that i broke the head off of one of the bolts due to a crap torque wrench not clicking (my fault). So i had to remove all bolts, split the wheel by putting a thick piece of wood longer than the depth of the rim on the inner flange (where you put on the car) and another large piece on the ground. I then banged the rim down onto the thick piece. To get the bolt out i used some mole grips.

The other problem (below) was that a thread stripped, now i did run a tap down all of the holes but some didn't feel right, so i would advise using a starter or intermediate tap not a finishing tap as it is a bit aggressive. To sort this i bought a V-Coil set from ebay, around £30 which i was really impressed with in the end. As this was the last bolt on the final stage or torquing up to 30nm i wasnt splitting it. I drilled the hole through the rim with the drill bit provided and then bored out the hole in the rim a little to get the tap in and went away tapping then inserting the coil. In the end it went pretty well, it wasn't ideal but i think i would have damaged more taking it apart again.

Anyway, finally fitted yesterday after a steam clean for the bolt heads and a wax with poorboys stuff;

The second mod was some FK Angel Eyes. The clip inside my original headlights had broken, i found a replacement, fitted them (removing bumper etc) and discovered that it was broken on the left to right movement as well.

These were cheaper than original Hella ones and my insurance Adrian Flux didnt mind.

I ordered some leds from CrazyLeds and went about fitting them. I found that the leds provided were too long, so i had to cut down the electrical contact for them to sit in the hole relatively securely (ideally glue them in).

The motor on the back will twist and then manoeuvre out and then into the new ones. I got a relay loom for the sidelights (your going from 2 bulbs to 40) but i didn't use this as it was unnecessary as the leds will draw next to nothing.

Removing the bumper on the tdi is pretty easy, undo the bolts in the usual places, the only difference is the front undertray (below the radiator). You have to pop out the 5 or so plastic rivets.

The connections were a bit of a dog to get undone but you can just get a screwdriver in to prise the clip (you will know what i mean).

Heres the finished product. As these have projector headlights iv found that they are brighter than standard and virtually eliminate hot spots. The plan is to go HID eventually.