GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk8 => Topic started by: Ceefeesh on 10 June 2022, 18:01
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I am still looking through the limited stock of used GTIs available. What are the general thoughts/observations/ experience about Moonstone; it’s upkeep and durability. Is it prone to scratching? As an aside, given the current cost of petrol, is the real world consumption of a Mk 8 in general any different to a 7.5? I know many factors influence this but is there a real world difference/trend?
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Can't say I've noticed much problems with moonstone and I'm fourteen months and about 13k miles.
Fuel consumption, about 28 in heavy traffic and 38 on flowing a roads assuming you aren't hammering it. Best was 50 down the motorway at 65!
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Thanks Fred. It wasn’t a colour I was looking for but I have the chance of one with Adelaides. I replaced the 19s on my current car. Not sure if there’s anything else on it. I am planning to have a drive in it.
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The durability and susceptibility to scratches for Moonstone shouldn’t be any different to any other colours that VW use on the mk8, as the same painting process is used in the factory for solid, metallic and pearlescent colours; primer coat, colour coat, clear coat (I think Oryx White is the exception - I believe it has an extra stage in the painting process). However, lighter colours are better than darker colours at ‘hiding’ minor scratches and swirls, and I’d say that Moonstone should be quite forgiving in terms of hiding such minor imperfections.
A few sensible precautions when it comes to the regular washing routine will help to minimise the risk of swirling to the paintwork from the washing process;
- use a safe wash technique; pre-rinse, two bucket wash method with a decent wash mitt and drying with good quality plush drying towels or a warm air dryer. There’s some good advice in the sticky ‘Rebecca’s Guide to Detailing’ on the Detailing forum board, and on sites such as Detailing World - this is a good intro guide to safe washing on the Detailing World site; https://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4637.
- never let the VW dealer do the free complementary service wash when your car’s back at the dealership for servicing or repairs. The service wash is known as the ‘scratch and swirl’ treatment for good reason :grin:.
- keep away from the many hand wash car washing places. Getting cars through the wash process quickly is their main objective as time’s money to them, so they’re likely to use harsh products to speed up the cleaning process and those products can strip any wax / sealant protection from a car’s paintwork. I’ve also seen the hand washers rubbing hard on localised areas on a car to remove baked on bugs etc., and doing that is likely to inflict scratches and swirls.
If I was considering a mk8, then Moonstone would be one of two colours on my colour choice shortlist :smiley:.
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As above, moonstone is a nice colour, it definitely suits the MK8 GTI. I had a similar shade of flat/primer grey on a previous car and it was fine maintenance wise. It did look super when clean on a sunny day but was a bit drab on our many dull days... I also needed a small paint job on the same car after it was side-swiped and the body shop had no great difficulty matching the paint perfectly.
The lighter colours are definitely more forgiving so if you want an easy life, avoid Atlantic blue and definitely steer clear of black.
I'm in a GTI CS and fuel consumption isn't great - I think my long term average is 25-26 MPG but my trips tend to be short and I sometimes give the car some beans as you would tend to do... I've seen 37 MPG on a long motorway run though.
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CeeFeesh I have a edition 45 in the moonstone and it’s a lovely colour, it’s the fitting colour as in the original German press release car and with the tones of the reds and trim of gloss black roof / mirrors all I get are kind comments about how it looks. It’s very telling when it’s probably the most sought after colour on the GTi / GTD / GTe ranges. I love it and would recommend it. Aa for fuel in this near £9 a gallon market, I am getting an average consumption on my car at 40 mpg at the mo. I am using redex petrol treatment on every tank as I used to use on my MK 7 PP car and whether that helps who knows??
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I was admiring a moonstone GTI in the dealers yesterday it did look nice I think if I had my time again I’d have gone for Moonstone or Reflex Silver
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Thanks everyone for your perspective and experience. As always you give good information that helps when making decisions. I had a test drive this morning and succumbed to moonstone. I put down my deposit and will collect it in the next few days. Due to rising petrol costs I had considered being sensible and buying a 150bhp Audi A3 but there’s no fun in that. I did look at a S3 too, but I enjoy my Golf and so I am sticking with front wheel drive. Thanks again.
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In my experience you always get the best advice from the knowledgeable people on this site. Always good to hear from people with first hand experience.
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I think the mk8 looks amazing in moonstone, hence why I bought one :grin:
So far I’m getting. 33.5mpg when I was getting a couple more in my manual mk7.5 but I have only had it 2 weeks so we’ll see
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Nice going Ceefeesh. :cool:
Moonstone looks great and will be a really practical colour to live with.
Fingers crossed your software woes will be small ones! :laugh:
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Thanks Exonian. I am going to ask they upgrade the software before I pay for it in full. Maybe I should have kept the Reifnitz! It’s last years and has 5k miles. I’ve no idea what version the software is but I will find out.
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Your opinions convinced me. I took delivery yesterday. Stock GTI DSG in moonstone with Adelaides, for now. They did upgrade the software to 1896.
(https://i.postimg.cc/BZHNgycN/24629-DD5-3-A56-4-C06-9301-A21-FED1-ED8-E6.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/Jt7b7pFB)
Nearly matches the mug! 😂
(https://i.postimg.cc/L8ry9pHd/FA780-B85-1-AA7-4-A7-D-AE1-D-F6-F22122615-D.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/18r0BbnM)
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So close!
Very nice :cool:
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Really liking that Ceefeesh. :cool:
Superb colour and wheel combo
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CeeFeesh
Very nice you won’t be disappointed with that colour I gave my 45 a clean today and it just looks so nice when it’s out and about on that moonstone. I do like your wheels on the Mk 8 GTi as well. Touch wood for me I have had no software problems at all, done the major download two weeks ago and even before then it’s been fine. Enjoy 👍
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Looks good Ceefeesh, that lighter grey does make the car standout nicely.
Can I ask what the 19” wheels are like on UK roads, comfort wise? Do you have DCC with the car? I’ve read a few articles mentioning that it can be a bit firm and uncomfortable without DCC fitted.
I have a GTD with 18” on order, and the wait is just getting longer. I’m starting to see stock cars appearing but most seem to be coming with 19” and no DCC. If the order keeps being pushed out I’ll be tempted to get a stock car, just not sure about the larger alloy/tyre size.
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My Mk 7.5 came with 19" Santiagos and no DCC. I thought the 19s were too harsh and I reverted to genuine 18" Miltons which I thought were an improvement and provided better comfort. My current car does not have DCC either. I have only done around 100 miles in it, over B roads which are quite uneven. So far it seems less harsh than the 7.5 with 19s did. Currently I do not think I will need to revert to 18s but more miles will tell.
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Thanks Ceefeesh,
I did think that if I do go down the route of a car with 19” wheels and found it too harsh then I could maybe swap over to 18’s, although it wouldn’t be cheap. The only thing that got me wondering was the sport suspension is different when you build it for 19” alloys, and I wasn’t sure if that prohibits you from going back down to 18’s.
It does look good with the 19’s though, I can see why it is specified for stock cars.
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I don’t know if the suspension differs for original 18 and 19” specification. As far as I know the overall circumference of the wheel is very similar, the 19” wheels are fitted with a 35 ratio tyre and the 18s have 40 ratio tyres. The extra width of tyre wall is more pliable therefore the ride is potentially softer. I did find the 18s less harsh on the road.
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I don’t know if the suspension differs for original 18 and 19” specification. As far as I know the overall circumference of the wheel is very similar, the 19” wheels are fitted with a 35 ratio tyre and the 18s have 40 ratio tyres. The extra width of tyre wall is more pliable therefore the ride is potentially softer. I did find the 18s less harsh on the road.
My understanding is that mk8 GTI/R that are delivered from factory on 19” wheels have lowered suspension when compared to factory delivered 18” wheel cars, this was confirmed to me by Eibach when I was looking at fitting lowering springs to my GTI, as I had 18” wheels from factory and changed them to 19”, I needed pro-kit springs to bring it down to stock 19” levels, where as sport line springs would have made it lower still, only sport line springs will lower a 19” factory car.
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19s without DCC. It’s certainly firmer than the stock 18s. My wheels are 8.5” wide, so the tyre walls have less give than the OEM 19” options. But no worse than my MK7
(https://i.postimg.cc/zfQYTsj2/3-CD2-A1-A1-83-FF-44-F9-824-A-D00639159830.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/WD0yvfx0)
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We’ll I just filled it up again and it’s still doing 33.7mpg :cry: and that’s with normal driving
I got around 35-36 out of my manual mk7.5 GTi, maybe the dsg isn’t as good as my left hand and left foot :grin:
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Depends if you remember to come off the gas...
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Depends if you remember to come off the gas...
:lol:
Worse thing is I’m actually trying to get some economy. Maybe a bit to hard perhaps!?
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Let it coast... there is a symbol that appears on the dash when you are coasting... only does it in D not S...
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Has anyone ceramic coated their car? If so, which ceramic coating, how long ago, result and durability? If you would care to share, how much did it cost? Do you think it has made a difference? Was it a worthwhile investment? Thanks.
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Has anyone ceramic coated their car? If so, which ceramic coating, how long ago, result and durability? If you would care to share, how much did it cost? Do you think it has made a difference? Was it a worthwhile investment? Thanks.
This is a really subjective topic and you will get very varying views.
From experience, a huge amount will actually depend on the quality of the prep and polishing before hand by the detailer. You get what you pay for there. Personally, I wouldn’t strongly consider it unless you plan to keep the car for more than 3 years. Otherwise you are just paying for the expense for the next owner.
Coating quality also varies hugely, with most being poor quality with minimal longevity.
Of those I’ve either had applied or researched, and may be biased as a result, I believe Modesta is one of the best out there. It needs to be cured with infrared light for a number of days though so can take a bit longer in terms of overall process.
No ceramic coating will really protect against scratching (you’ll need PPF for that) but a good quality ceramic coating will definitely improve gloss appearance of the paint work, has very good hydrophobic quality and personally I did find made cleaning easier as dirt, tar etc washed off much easier.
Is it worth it? I’m not sure. Would I do it again? Possibly, with the right coating, at the right cost and with the right detailer. But don’t be sucked in by misleading claims that your paintwork becomes bullet proof to swirls or dirt.
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I have a moonstone CS arriving next week and I'm thinking about all this too, possibly even going as far as to get the front end PPF'd, but I don't know if it will be worth it,
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I have a moonstone CS arriving next week and I'm thinking about all this too, possibly even going as far as to get the front end PPF'd, but I don't know if it will be worth it,
If you’re driving a high mileage and regularly drive on cheaply surfaced roads (e.g. surface dressing / loose chippings) where the car’s frontal panels will be regularly subjected to potentially excessive stone chipping then it might be worth considering. Otherwise I personally wouldn’t bother, although those forum members who’ve invested in PPF will probably disagree. It’s also worth considering how long you’ll be keeping the car as PPF + ceramic coating is quite an investment if the next owner will be the person deriving most of the benefit from your financial outlay.
I’ve owned five VW’s and I’ve have never had an issue with stone chip damage on any of them - just the occasional one or two which I attend to and touch in after the next time I wash the car (checking for stone chips is part of my car washing regime :grin:). One of the first things I always buy for my car is touch up paint so I’m prepared :smiley:.
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Has anyone ceramic coated their car? If so, which ceramic coating, how long ago, result and durability? If you would care to share, how much did it cost? Do you think it has made a difference? Was it a worthwhile investment? Thanks.
The majority of the cost of a ceramic coating is the preparation of the paint. A pot of coating is about £50 and a Golf size car can be done in under an hour.
Whether it's worth it is up to you. It's amazing how much improvement can be made to the paint even on a brand new car, let alone one that's several years old.
I've had 3 cars ceramic coated and never paid more than £440 all-in which was for my Mk8 and it took the guy 9 hours in total - 8 of that was cleaning and the paint correction.
Now my paintwork looks better than when it left the factory and all I need to do is carefully wash and dry it. I won't need to apply any products for approx. 2 years (maybe more).
Be aware you can pay 3 or 4 times as much for 2/3 days work with some kind of protection applied to every single surface inside and out. Personally, I think that's madness for a Golf; perhaps less so for something more prestige.
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Has anyone ceramic coated their car? If so, which ceramic coating, how long ago, result and durability? If you would care to share, how much did it cost? Do you think it has made a difference? Was it a worthwhile investment? Thanks.
As you know I do it time to time. Lots of ceramic coating brands all offering different benefits Gtechniq being one of the best known ones, Gyeon is my current favourite after trying many brands and coatings.
Durability wise don't go for anything beyond 2 years, your car WILL pick up scratches that the ceramic won't stop so after 2 years you'll see benefit in polishing the car again as well as coating formulas get revised and new chemicals are introduced so you'll stay on the current thing. A number of coatings I offer easily reach past the 2.5 year mark and thats with very poor care.
Current coating on my 7.5 is 6 months old and is the old Gyeon Syncro, on the mk5 it's a 2 year old Carbon Collective Nero and Molecule self-healing combo.
Most of my jobs I tell people don't go for a long term coating first, buy the cheapest coating first so you can make mistakes! As the wash and drying routine requires more patience. The cheapest coating actually Gyeon CanCoat Evo which gives epic gloss and water hydrophobicity and now lasts up to a year (generally over a year).
I won't get into the pricing side of it at this point, but although the pot of coating can cost £50, coating an entire car takes an hour but most coatings require multiple coats, drying times and strict working conditions.
Is it worth it? Depends who you ask, I think it is. Makes a fantastic difference to the paint depth and gloss.
The most important aspect a lot of people are missing out here is maintenance of the coating, if you want your coating to live the longest possible you have to invest in maintenance coatings and drying towels and special shampoos etc. It's a full commitment which is why I recommend cheapest coating first so you can make the mistakes before your long term coating.
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I have to say i agree with SRGTD i have never had any PPF or ceramic coating done to any of my previous GTI’s and not my clubsport 45. I have used the Maguiars ceramic hybrid wax and its made the car look stunning. I do accept that detailing is an art form and there are many sponsored you tube stories with lovely little soundtracks in the background drawing you into a world of £££££££ spending but like anything in the car world you can pay as much or as little as you want. If you look after your vehicle as best as you can and then sell on / part ex etc… the dealers wont give you a CAP better price because its been PPF or ceramic coated. They will of course knock you for scratches, wheel damage, limited history. I am more concerned at the moment again of vehicle theft and so any investment as we have seen in this forum in car or home, personal security is by far a more worthwhile enterprise. Just my thoughts folks.
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Some excellent advice there regarding all the variables around ceramic, paint damage and care.
Very interesting stuff.
How does ceramic cope with bird poop?
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I've not tried lots of different waxes and never had a ceramic coating but I have been impressed with FinishKare 1000P. It really lasts well and I put a second coat on top of their Pink Wax. I find a great depth of shine even on my white car. Considering the cost of these products and how long they last I think they are high performing bargains.
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How does ceramic cope with bird poop?
Not well at all in my experience. I had my lapiz blue R ceramic coated. It was parked up in the sun one weekend while I was away and a bird crapped on it and left quite a bad mark on the bonnet! Now maybe the coating on my car was inferior, but that made my mind up - waste of money.
I ended up investing in a DA polisher after that, which sorted out the bird poop stain in a matter of seconds. A really great purchase. I'd highly recommend purchasing a DA polisher, they're a great tool to have in the shed for spot corrections like this. I've never used it to polish a full car... only used it for spot corrections, its really brilliant for removing light marks, swirls and of course bird poop marks.
I've found that you can get excellent results these days for fairly small money and not much DIY effort required. The days of wax on / wax off, labouring over paste waxes are gone, there's a whole load of spray waxes and sealants available now which are really a breeze to use and can give brilliant long lasting results imo. I just can't see the justification for spending 100's (or even 1000+) on a pro job for such marginal gains.
I do see the value in PPF for sure, particularly for the front end of the car, as stone chips really piss me off! But PPF is still very expensive too and you really have to weigh up if its worth it, will you keep the car long enough to get value from it, are you really just keeping it clean for the next guy... and as mentioned, no dealer will give a monkeys if you've PPF'd the car. You won't get that money back. And when you look at a PPF'd car up close, you can see the plastic is there...
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Thanks Joe.
That seals it for me (excuse pun).
I’d never really considered ceramic because it’s quite expensive and I tend not to keep cars long but was always intrigued about this apparent miracle product.
Now I know I really don’t want to spend hundreds of pounds on it.
One day I will eventually get the DA I’ve been promising myself to do spot polishes to swirls and poop etches.
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I'd highly recommend purchasing a DA polisher, they're a great tool to have in the shed for spot corrections like this. I've never used it to polish a full car... only used it for spot corrections, its really brilliant for removing light marks, swirls and of course bird poop marks.
+1 for investing in a DA polisher. I’ve owned mine almost 10 years and it’s more than paid for itself. I’ve never had a car ceramic coated as I do quite enjoy waxing my car.
When I owned my mk6 Golf, it was also bombarded by one of our flying feathered friends on a hot sunny day when it was parked up. After carefully washing the offending poop off (there was lots of it and it was thick and literally caked on) there was some serious etching to the clear coat. A little time spent with the DA and an appropriate combination of polish and pad and all traces of etching were gone. It made light work of removing some concrete staining I got on my GTD’s bonnet from water dripping from a concrete multi-storey car park roof. I also used it on my brother’s car to remove some supermarket car parking or trolley scratches and he was very impressed with the results.
I have polished a full car with my DA - I did both my mk6 GTD, my previous generation Polo GTI twice and a friends car (a Chrysler Crossfire :whistle:) and IMHO the the results were really good. I want to do my current car, but I’m not getting any younger, and I find doing a whole car quite knackering these days, especially with having a dodgy back. It usually takes me a couple of days to recover :grin:. Still, I do want to give my car the ‘full works’ before winter gets here.
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Bird dropping wise it depends on your coating on the car, there are two types of ceramic coating:
Protective and Hydrophobic
Protective gives you a good bit of shine, little in the form of water beading but a lot of protective from environment factors and offering a hardness rating of up to 9H for small things.
Hydrophobic gives you lots of shine, lots in the form of water beading but little in protection for environmental factors.
Another member mentioned it takes an hour to coat a car, this would have been a hydrophobic coating. Full coatings take 3+ hours to coat a golf, then you need to factor in waiting times of which can be 6 hours.
But in my 7 years of using ceramic coatings no bird has etched my paint, my dog did chew my sideskirt before though :wink:
In terms of PPF which I forgot to talk about earlier, it's great stuff mine even self-heals so I never have any scratches! But it's the kind of thing that the duration you're going to own the car dictates, as it's the cost of a proper respray, not one from a bandit.
But what you need to factor in is the mishaps with PPF, I've seen it time and time again where someone has grazed the front of their car and you think this will be a respray and once you remove the ppf, no damage! The ppf is a lot tougher than you think and I'd 100% get it again but only if you're keeping the car for 4 years plus does it make sense.
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I had my last golf ceramic coated and it beaded well for about 12 months. It was apparently a 3 year coating and quite a good quality one too but I was educated that even with ceramic coating it still gets coated in road contaminants which need to be cleaned off from time to time.
The best thing though was the paint correction the Tornado red was outstanding when it came back
(https://i.postimg.cc/85DrCKgD/IMG-4575.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/B8YvYCvw)
(https://i.postimg.cc/prLhfmd6/IMG-4586.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/G86mrhGF)
With my Current car I went down the route of the Bilt Hamber Speedwax which so far has worked well though it has been a few months since I did it and ready for another coat
(https://i.postimg.cc/SsMqwqvx/Clubsport-8.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/KkxdTXb6)
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The fuel consumption figures are interesting and a bit weaker than I had hoped. My 840 has averaged 29.4 over the 11k miles and its almost all B roads so 32 33 from the Golf wasn't what I was hoping for.
Still an improvement I suppose!
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While pondering ceramic and considering your advice including @willni’s. I went old school. A couple of hours, some elbow grease and Autoglym Ultra HD. Not too shabby.
(https://i.postimg.cc/jjBczvGd/C8177-FDA-FD10-47-A7-A195-A22-BC19-ABFAF.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/CZHb0ChW)
I haven’t even looked at mpg yet, I am still on the first tank!
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Driven sensibly it is possible to achieve very good MPG this was my drive home today a mix of fast A-roads and motorway at the speed limit
It’s actually better than I used to get out of my Merc C220d
(https://i.postimg.cc/7Zhf83WV/553-FA39-D-8-C3-C-47-FA-853-F-4850-B79-FA8-AD.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/4YCJp9Z7)
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Cracking MPG for that car foxy367 and have the fun of the handling, comfort and performance as well!
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Foxy - how does that mpg compare with your 7.5PP?
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Because I'm a bit of a stato (and record all of my fuel use as I use my car for business) on a run the best I got out of it was around 42 (similar roads and speed)
The overall Average of the Mk7.5 was 34mpg. SO far on the Clubsport this is at just under 35 but prior to June I was doing very short journeys with a lot of stop start and it was closer to 30mpg. In June alone its 37 average.
Don't get me wrong when its given the opportunity I enjoy ringing its neck like the next person but when I'm doing the commute as its pretty boring roads I'm happy to kick back and relax and regularly get over 40mpg without really trying.
It amazes me somtheing this quick can actually achieve such good mpg when you want it to :whistle: