Volkswagen parts reviews

Job got done in about three evenings Biggest time sinks were figuring out how to use the caliper piston compression tool and getting my overtorqued/rusted lug nuts off. Drove up from Maryland to NYC with no problems so I think I did the job right.

I ordered some 235/55/17 Michelin X-ice tires since Discount Tire was having a sale on Michelins.

They seems good through the MN winter, including 2 trips to the North Shore of Superior. It snowed both times, and we never had any issue with traction.

I knew the original battery in my '08 R32 was getting weak by the difficulty it had cranking the engine, but it always started, even through this past winter (175K miles). Went to unlock it after work on a Friday and the car was dead...seems I left the headlights on, and even though the car shuts them off automatically after a while, the battery was so shot that it completely died. Two Triple-A guys came to give me a jump; the first wasn't strong enough and the relay just buzzed, the second had more powerful equipment and got me going. It started the next morning, and I headed to Pep Boys for a new Champion AGM battery, which works great now.

New stuff i attended to. checked cleaned and pull apart the Warm up regulator. Was not clogged or dirty. worked fine. replaced the fuel filter, which i did notice was a little crummy. but normal.

I removed the brake master cylinder and wanted to inspect the internal seals... A faulty master cylinder would be spongy and soft to push its piston all the way in. A good master cylinder would be only soft when the lines are open, and would be hard, or require more force if the holes were plugged/sealed/closed. I used rubber stopper to plug the holes and performed the test: As you can see in the picture: in both tests it took almost same amount of force to push the piston. That indicated an internal leak, and a faulty master cylinder.

Trunk lid opens automatically now...

I did reduce the gap of the PFR7Bs to 0.025" when I was running DriverMotorsports K04+ tune and it boosted more than 26 psi. I did so due to upper rev stumbling, but for being back to running my GIAC HO K04 tune...0.028" works. PFR7B usually work great with higher boost from turbos and tunes when you do notice the stumbling for having arc disturbance.

Had the Conti All Seasons last winter and was not real happy how they performed on ice/snow. Wife was slipping and sliding all over, especially in single digit temps. Took advantage of a Costco Bridgestone deal and got the Blizzak snow tires for about $700 after installation. Haven't had a chance to test them yet in the elements, but the ride is very quiet although a little more floaty/soft. Can't take the corners as fast as you would with the Conti's.

I ran the Performance kit and by 4 months in it was slipping badly. This is after a break in period of 500mi (city driving) before running any significant power through it. I don't beat on the clutch by launching it or dropping it. I kept the OEM flywheel with this kit. It's also very heavy, and you definitely feel it in the pedal. Overall I wasn't satisfied with this kit.