Ah,…, the Larne ferry. Its a long time since I enjoyed that trip. Used to love the run to Scotland and the mini cinema on board! My entire family moved to your side of the Irish Sea. My parents retired to Kirkcaldy along with one sister. My eldest sister has lived in Edinburgh for almost 40 years now! Some great road over your way.
For me here, I’m mid Ulster. I can take off the A roads within 5 minutes of home and be on B roads for hours with minimal traffic. Since getting my 5 back on the road, I took it out almost daily for 30 minute therapy sessions! Haven’t enjoyed driving as much since my biking days (I peaked with a Honda Fireblade 929RR which was just sublime on these roads but held obvious risks!).
The ceramic coating is like teflon… so honestly I wasn’t too worried. A rinse with water and it gleamed! I’ve just made sure that as soon as salting started here on the roads, I SORN’d the car. Its tucked away in the garage with the oil fired boiler at its nose and a dehumidifier running to keep things bone dry!
I have ordered a new ND and am going to get it all undersealed/waxoiled as soon as I get it.
I have swapped a golf GTI daily driver and an NA that I would have had to do what you did to your car to be really happy with and decided against it. I will use the ND everyday as it was a pain only getting the NA out of the garage a few times as space was at a premium on the drive.
I think I will also get it ceramic coated at the same time as I like a clean car and the ceramic finish will help…
I got a price for a friend on an Audi A5.Coatings start at £120 for the basic but the one I had done is a professional grade which starts at £175 and +£50 for an extra layer.
Minor paint correction process was quoted as £350 for the A5.
The car developed a slight stammer under hard acceleration, especially from low rpm. A quick search pointed to the coil packs as a likely candidate for the problem.
Ordered a set of IL Motorsport coil packs and it was a very easy job indeed. Set of new long reach plugs for the sake of a few ££s more to the order. Problem solved!
I’ve been playing with the MeisterR settings over this past while. I’m now on -10F -13R and its pretty close to perfect for my local B roads. Turn in is sharp yet the rear doesn’t wallow too much… it bites in and you can feel it JUST on the edge of oversteer as it tucks in. A lovely feeling indeed…
Today, I ordered a set of HEL braided brake lines and 1L of Millers DOT4 Racing brake fluid. Time to get that fitted along with the box of EBC Green Stuff front pads I’ve had sat there since Christmas! That’ll be the car on all 4 corners, running EBC Green Stuff pads.
Time to go full stainless - with a lovely 4-2-1 manifold and 200 cell race cat from IL Motorsport. I took a risk and sold my OE cat and got a fast £610 for it. That, paid for the S/S stuff direct from IL in Germany with enough left over for this…
… a short shift kit. I even had £60 left over which more than covered my labour bill for fitting the manifold and cat! At last, a benefit to living in NI. Import duty free stuff from Europe. Thanks Brexit/NI Protocol!!
Happy to report that the car passed the NI MOT and emissions test with no problem. I have this going into an IL Motorsports mid pipe and a Racing Beat power pulse back box. Things have definitely turned a bit naughty now!! A deeper throaty note and the odd pop. Nothing ASBO… but enough to encourage you to misbehave a bit.
Some pics of the fitted item (and I know… HEAT SOAK!!!.. I’ll deal with that in 2023!)
Right… SEATS. These have been a problem since buying this car in 2013. The previous owner must have left the roof down in the rain. The seats were immaculate but STANK of mould. I must have spent £50+ on every product going but the mould was deep inside the foam.
I’m not sure how it is on the mainland, but here in NI, every half solid Mk2/Mk2.5 is getting snapped up for targa rally bashing. There’ s a flow of solid cars here getting stripped and I found these about 40 miles away on a freshly imported English car, heading for a rally prep stripdown. Only 21k miles on them and absolutely as new:
My focus with this car is always to try and make it drive even better. I’ve thought long and hard about a driver’s side bucket seat but do like my OE heated seats. So, to get a bit more lateral grip, I added a set of Jass Performance seat supports. Beautiful build quality as I’ve come to expect from Jass Performance and they really do make a difference. You wouldn’t need to be too beefy on the derriere mind you!!
Main activity in 2022 has simply been to enjoy the car. It now has 42k on the clocks and I’ve made it to half a dozen or so cars n coffee meetups and local shows.
