2018 Golf TCR and dealer information ?

[Jim_mk7.5]

 

I watched a few videos before. I could do them without looking now as the carbon ones I bought were a real PITA and had zero chance of actually fitting. The OEM ones pop on and off quite easily although not in the folding in positon, fortunately!

[AGB]

Be great if they somehow managed to polish them up to gloss in the PDI haha - imagine some young trainee being given that task

OEM Black Caps are a justifiable spend at circa £100 and think a must from what understand are a relatively straightforward swap if take time and appropriate care - Could get the Carbon copies, as seen these and they are very good, but actually think in this case the Gloss Black Caps are the better match

Have a road trip planned to the jurassic coast in July, around into Cornwall, so that be my R last hurrah.

Sure the TCR is going to be great and I am going to love it, but unless was taking passengers, I would still leave it parked up and take the GT4 on any roadtrip, - its out of my price band but very much on the desired list, such a great looking car and sure it drives as amazingly too 

Given what my detailer has told me of the transgressions of dealer 'detailers', I'd half expect them to give anything a go. He spent a day fixing the bonnet on a Mini recently where the detailer at the dealership had burnt the clear coat with a non-orbital polisher. He said he started the day thinking a respray was on the cards and said it was a job done with his paint depth meter used every 10 seconds. Black car, customer didn't notice and when he put lights on it, then you really see it. I happened to walk in as he was trying to figure out where to start.

My best advice (if I may offer it and if it's not telling you how to suck eggs) is to get nylon trim tools and get hold of the service manual with the exploded parts diagrams so you know where to lever trim or parts. I've always been frustrated by the combination of brittle plastic or plastic and metal clips with VW trim and parts. Not that I've ever broken anything and sworn profusely to be in a position to give this advice! 

The GT4 is a great car, when you can, you should but be careful, there are strut tower failures on the 991 / 981 series platform and I have seen a few CAT D cars come back on to the market. There was one that the owner crashed after 200 odd miles and it has now come back on the market looking for a premium based on 'nearly new' condition.

[Hertsman]

Be great if they somehow managed to polish them up to gloss in the PDI haha - imagine some young trainee being given that task

OEM Black Caps are a justifiable spend at circa £100 and think a must from what understand are a relatively straightforward swap if take time and appropriate care - Could get the Carbon copies, as seen these and they are very good, but actually think in this case the Gloss Black Caps are the better match

Have a road trip planned to the jurassic coast in July, around into Cornwall, so that be my R last hurrah.

Sure the TCR is going to be great and I am going to love it, but unless was taking passengers, I would still leave it parked up and take the GT4 on any roadtrip, - its out of my price band but very much on the desired list, such a great looking car and sure it drives as amazingly too 

Given what my detailer has told me of the transgressions of dealer 'detailers', I'd half expect them to give anything a go. He spent a day fixing the bonnet on a Mini recently where the detailer at the dealership had burnt the clear coat with a non-orbital polisher. He said he started the day thinking a respray was on the cards and said it was a job done with his paint depth meter used every 10 seconds. Black car, customer didn't notice and when he put lights on it, then you really see it. I happened to walk in as he was trying to figure out where to start.

My best advice (if I may offer it and if it's not telling you how to suck eggs) is to get nylon trim tools and get hold of the service manual with the exploded parts diagrams so you know where to lever trim or parts. I've always been frustrated by the combination of brittle plastic or plastic and metal clips with VW trim and parts. Not that I've ever broken anything and sworn profusely to be in a position to give this advice! 

The GT4 is a great car, when you can, you should but be careful, there are strut tower failures on the 991 / 981 series platform and I have seen a few CAT D cars come back on to the market. There was one that the owner crashed after 200 odd miles and it has now come back on the market looking for a premium based on 'nearly new' condition.

When wife Audi SLine Black Edition went in for a service recently, I was asked whether I would like it washed and that was a firm no having seen the 2 scruffy looking fellas out back with a power wash and buckets - Barely trust them to service and fix car (but do of course) but definitely not trust any of them to clean it etc. I am no detailer, do not even wash them in winter unless have to, but when I do its usually with great care and there is always a good winter coat of collonite thrown in for times not wash much.

Will take lots of care changing the caps, though will not be overly bothered about breaking the outgoing clips as doubt there is much resale value on them! (But will of course still try not to break the clips)

Have seen plenty of youtube videos of CAT D vehicles repaired and set back on the road and some are done really well and you would trust the integrity of the repair as those doing are highly skilled and reputable, but did see one repair on an Audi R8 that sent shivers up the spine as doubt it would hold up to a 5 mph bump - all well hidden repairs, looked great if looking over - criminal act in my opinion.

If could see a day when my wife, the girls and everyone else who have stakes in me decide to leave the poor fella alone financially, then maybe I could go all out on decent second hand 911 or something of that ilk, but till that never to be seen day, TCR is my level and given how happy been with the R, its not too bad a thing to be left with to enjoy

[Watts]

To those looking to replace their mirror caps. Although you don't need to remove the glass, it does help moreso when refitting so you can check the clips are on tight. There are two clips to undo behind the glass, just a flat blade screwdriver will do, no other tools needed. A good tip at this point is to make sure you have control of the cap as once the second clip is undone it can fly off suddenly and you don't want it hitting the ground! Refitting is a bit fiddly but oem ones are much easier. Non oem replacements have clips that are less flexible and prone to snapping if forced hence why I recommend removing the glass, you can see if they are located correctly or not. The other fiddly part of non-oem ones is that the side adjacent to the door often appears to turn in too far at the lower edge where it meets the surround, a thin screwdiver can lever it out as the cap finally fits, it was easy this way with my latest set.

Hope that is of use.

[AGB]

To those looking to replace their mirror caps. Although you don't need to remove the glass, it does help moreso when refitting so you can check the clips are on tight. There are two clips to undo behind the glass, just a flat blade screwdriver will do, no other tools needed. A good tip at this point is to make sure you have control of the cap as once the second clip is undone it can fly off suddenly and you don't want it hitting the ground! Refitting is a bit fiddly but oem ones are much easier. Non oem replacements have clips that are less flexible and prone to snapping if forced hence why I recommend removing the glass, you can see if they are located correctly or not. The other fiddly part of non-oem ones is that the side adjacent to the door often appears to turn in too far at the lower edge where it meets the surround, a thin screwdiver can lever it out as the cap finally fits, it was easy this way with my latest set.

Hope that is of use.

Very much of use, appreciate you posting. I think there will a TCR mirror cap change thread by the time the cars have all been delivered!

[Hertsman]

To those looking to replace their mirror caps. Although you don't need to remove the glass, it does help moreso when refitting so you can check the clips are on tight. There are two clips to undo behind the glass, just a flat blade screwdriver will do, no other tools needed. A good tip at this point is to make sure you have control of the cap as once the second clip is undone it can fly off suddenly and you don't want it hitting the ground! Refitting is a bit fiddly but oem ones are much easier. Non oem replacements have clips that are less flexible and prone to snapping if forced hence why I recommend removing the glass, you can see if they are located correctly or not. The other fiddly part of non-oem ones is that the side adjacent to the door often appears to turn in too far at the lower edge where it meets the surround, a thin screwdiver can lever it out as the cap finally fits, it was easy this way with my latest set.

Hope that is of use.

Very much of use, appreciate you posting. I think there will a TCR mirror cap change thread by the time the cars have all been delivered!

Second that appreciation, the information that have taken from these boards over the years have no doubt saved me a ton of money and hassle by making informed decisions.

Its crazy you say there might be a mirror cap thread but there actually might be as cannot see anyone seeing the caps as anything but a strange style decision and wanting to change them - just a poor VW choice? or like say deliberate? maybe to push the OEM Carbon, and now it seems at very least more sales of the OEM Gloss caps - At the circa £110 price I would not even think outside OEM and these will be waiting to be fitted the day it arrives

[Jim_mk7.5]

To those looking to replace their mirror caps. Although you don't need to remove the glass, it does help moreso when refitting so you can check the clips are on tight. There are two clips to undo behind the glass, just a flat blade screwdriver will do, no other tools needed. A good tip at this point is to make sure you have control of the cap as once the second clip is undone it can fly off suddenly and you don't want it hitting the ground! Refitting is a bit fiddly but oem ones are much easier. Non oem replacements have clips that are less flexible and prone to snapping if forced hence why I recommend removing the glass, you can see if they are located correctly or not. The other fiddly part of non-oem ones is that the side adjacent to the door often appears to turn in too far at the lower edge where it meets the surround, a thin screwdiver can lever it out as the cap finally fits, it was easy this way with my latest set.

Hope that is of use.

Very much of use, appreciate you posting. I think there will a TCR mirror cap change thread by the time the cars have all been delivered!

Second that appreciation, the information that have taken from these boards over the years have no doubt saved me a ton of money and hassle by making informed decisions.

Its crazy you say there might be a mirror cap thread but there actually might be as cannot see anyone seeing the caps as anything but a strange style decision and wanting to change them - just a poor VW choice? or like say deliberate? maybe to push the OEM Carbon, and now it seems at very least more sales of the OEM Gloss caps - At the circa £110 price I would not even think outside OEM and these will be waiting to be fitted the day it arrives

They do look odd as they are matt dark grey/black but hardly think it would be deliberate to make people choose OEM carbon as they are a lot extra. And gloss black is an R option and was standard on the Clubsports.

They really aren't hard to change, a flat head screwdriver is the only actual tool (trim tool) you need but latex gloves are helpful as Watts pointed out the mirror cap have a tendency to fly off so the gloves help grip! I'll see if I can do a simple video at some point.

[Hertsman]

To those looking to replace their mirror caps. Although you don't need to remove the glass, it does help moreso when refitting so you can check the clips are on tight. There are two clips to undo behind the glass, just a flat blade screwdriver will do, no other tools needed. A good tip at this point is to make sure you have control of the cap as once the second clip is undone it can fly off suddenly and you don't want it hitting the ground! Refitting is a bit fiddly but oem ones are much easier. Non oem replacements have clips that are less flexible and prone to snapping if forced hence why I recommend removing the glass, you can see if they are located correctly or not. The other fiddly part of non-oem ones is that the side adjacent to the door often appears to turn in too far at the lower edge where it meets the surround, a thin screwdiver can lever it out as the cap finally fits, it was easy this way with my latest set.

Hope that is of use.

Very much of use, appreciate you posting. I think there will a TCR mirror cap change thread by the time the cars have all been delivered!

Second that appreciation, the information that have taken from these boards over the years have no doubt saved me a ton of money and hassle by making informed decisions.

Its crazy you say there might be a mirror cap thread but there actually might be as cannot see anyone seeing the caps as anything but a strange style decision and wanting to change them - just a poor VW choice? or like say deliberate? maybe to push the OEM Carbon, and now it seems at very least more sales of the OEM Gloss caps - At the circa £110 price I would not even think outside OEM and these will be waiting to be fitted the day it arrives

They do look odd as they are matt dark grey/black but hardly think it would be deliberate to make people choose OEM carbon as they are a lot extra. And gloss black is an R option and was standard on the Clubsports.

They really aren't hard to change, a flat head screwdriver is the only actual tool (trim tool) you need but latex gloves are helpful as Watts pointed out the mirror cap have a tendency to fly off so the gloves help grip! I'll see if I can do a simple video at some point.

Yep, agree, doubt it was actually a ploy, more me poking at how poor the choice was to go with the matte finish and giving them an escape route of financial gain, as otherwise what were they thinking?!

There is a couple of good videos on YouTube from similar good folk as yourself Jim, that show the tilting of the mirror and use of the trim tool, and quite carefully done, so would not want you to go to the effort for ourselves, but of course we expected no less from this forum members, and offer was still much appreciated

I am also going to go for the Hello Wind Deflectors, not sure if anyone else here has them, but relatively cheap but good quality gloss finish, and if really do not like them a quick removal

[Hertsman]

I was always going to choose 5 door, but did not actually realise there was a 3 Door Option - Hoping to see one on a forecourt near me soon - But nothing seeing is quelling the anticipation, looks good

The much discussed caps look quite glossy here also?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIxPvsaJXrI

[AGB]

They do look odd as they are matt dark grey/black but hardly think it would be deliberate to make people choose OEM carbon as they are a lot extra. And gloss black is an R option and was standard on the Clubsports.

I was being flippant about the carbon upgrade but it's the sort of illogical thing that comes out of manufacturer marketing departments.

Changing the mirror cap doesn't bother me, having to electively pay to correct poor design does.