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Originally Posted by d_himan Absolutely fantastic, I love the OE 16" as well, but these are better! Congratulations! |
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Originally Posted by shibujp Those alloys look sweet. They completely transform the look of the car and being BBS would be pretty light weight too.
Driive on,
Shibu. |
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Originally Posted by agambhandari congrats on the upgrade! Saw the pic of a Blue vRS and a white gt tsi with upgraded wheels few days back on an insta page, and instantly I guessed who the owners were. I opened this thread within seconds :lol
The new wheels look great and the PS4s are the best tyre option for the GT TSI right now. and agreed, the Gunmetal OE 16 inch wheels look great. Love mine |
Thank you, d_himan, shining and agam bhandari!!
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Originally Posted by s4ch Many thanks, will give this a go! Your alloys look brilliant. Has the ride quality changed after switching from 15's to 16's?
Is it pretty easy to swap the stock duct out and put the new one? Thinking of doing this myself. |
Thank you s4ch! Ride quality has improved dramatically. It's definitely more plush than the Continentals. Also, I've tried a few times to 'unstick' the car, but the Michelins are super grippy.
Swapping out the air-duct is a 5-10 minute job and can be done at home with a little patience and the right tools. If you are looking to get it done, please note that you are essentially opening up the air box and the air filter's job gets harder. For the modification to be effective, get a K&N or BMC replacement filter, but ensure that it is cleaned every 4-6 months.
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UPDATE
The one modification I was always keen on getting done was installing a steering with paddles.
There are a few options available to those who are exploring this area. The cheapest being a rudimentary hack-job of the steering to fix the paddles to it. I can't imagine hacking my stock steering, however cost-effective the option might seem. So I steered clear from this idea.
The other option was to get a GTI steering. A quick look on the internet would reveal that the price of such a steering is stratospheric. Having spent a fortune on my wheels and tyres, I wasn't prepared to part with another small fortune for a steering wheel. Besides, I have no interest in turning this car into a wannabe GTI. So I decided to let that slide.
Viddy then got in touch with me on Whatsapp and shared a link from our very own Team BHP classifieds. The listing was for a Polo/Vento steering with paddles, for 28k. My eyes lit up and I got in touch with the seller immediately.
Mr. Sharan Anand from Chennai, the individual who had listed the wheel, responded to my questions immediately. But I was disappointed to learn that the wheel was equipped with white-backlighting. Sharan got into the act, by looking for a steering that fits my requirements, and a few days later he shared with me a steering with red backlighting. Thrilled with the find, I transferred the advance for the wheel, and as soon as it reached Chennai, he parceled it again to my address in Bangalore, after confirming the authenticity of the product.
Sharan was very helpful through the whole process, and had even shared with me a few videos on how to install the wheel. I had also referred Gannu's invaluable DIY thread on how to swap the wheel before taking the parcel with me to Azaan's for a quick installation.
Sharan's video assisted Azaan during the installation process, which didn't take longer than 15 minutes.
I must say, I am extremely pleased with the product! A huge shout out to Sharan for going out of his way to find the perfect steering wheel and for his videos with clear instructions on how to go about the installation process.
Highlights:
1) The steering looks almost identical to the stock wheel, which works perfectly for me.
2) The buttons on the steering are not the same as the stock steering. Audio controls (to increase/decrease the volume and to change the track) were located exclusive on the left spoke of the steering. The new steering has additional buttons on both spokes, the additional buttons on the left spoke now control the volume for the stereo and the additional buttons on the right spoke changes the track.
3) The mute button has disappeared - my only gripe with the new steering - as it was super convenient to kill the music at a moment's notice.
4) It appears that buttons for the cruise control are now located on the left hand side, where the audio controls used to be. These do not work on my car and are dummy buttons. But it doesn't bother me much.
5) The paddles - the reason why I went ahead with this swap - work brilliantly! I love how the '+' and '-' are also backlit in red. And I love how snappy the gear changes are. In my opinion, this modification is an absolute must for all Polo and Vento TSIs. It really transforms the driving experience!
6) The right paddle has 'off' right next to the '+'. This is to disengage manual shifts and put it in D. One can disengage manual control by pulling and holding the right paddle for about 3 seconds. Nifty!
7) The new steering did not come with its own airbag. We had to use the existing stock airbag. Fitting this to the new steering was no hassle at all.
8) I now feel the need for paddle shift extensions (never ending, isn't it
) If anyone has come across a nice pair, please let me know. Thank you!
I am extremely pleased with this new addition to my car. Phase 1 (of modifications) is approching completion and the car is coming together really well! I have just a few small things to address, and the car will be ready for its long pending photo shoot!