De-Arching

[Petec82]

alot of people will dis agree with me! but i say DON'T do it!

i cant see why every one is mad on ripping the arches off looks better with them and also its what makes the mk3 gti a mk3 gti imo. look at cars like shep gti's i think it is perfect example of how a mk3 gti should look, nice subtle mods and kept there arches (the identity of a mk3)  dose look nice with out arches but imo not as good.   

+1. I prefer mk3's with the arches!
Pete

[VR6-Joe]

alot of people will dis agree with me! but i say DON'T do it!

i cant see why every one is mad on ripping the arches off looks better with them and also its what makes the mk3 gti a mk3 gti imo. look at cars like shep gti's i think it is perfect example of how a mk3 gti should look, nice subtle mods and kept there arches (the identity of a mk3)  dose look nice with out arches but imo not as good.   

Yes they make it a GTI however if you want to run bigger wheels it is a lot easier without them.

can be done with the arches in place, just have to try a little harder joe managed it on his SE

Too right

There's no way I was binning the arches, I think they looked spot on. I was completely feeling the green + black theme I had going on too

[Wayne]

alot of people will dis agree with me! but i say DON'T do it!

i cant see why every one is mad on ripping the arches off looks better with them and also its what makes the mk3 gti a mk3 gti imo. look at cars like shep gti's i think it is perfect example of how a mk3 gti should look, nice subtle mods and kept there arches (the identity of a mk3)  dose look nice with out arches but imo not as good.   

Yes they make it a GTI however if you want to run bigger wheels it is a lot easier without them.

can be done with the arches in place, just have to try a little harder joe managed it on his SE

Yes maybe but I had to trim the rear arch lips back to get clearance, I then did not have enough left to pop rivet the cover on, looked at bonding them on but to me it looked cleaner without plus gets rid of the water / rust / dirt traps.

[chezney55]

arches defo on!!!!!!!!

[funkyfive]

50/50 i am also not sure.

[spunkymonkey]

It really depends on what look your trying to achieve. i think if you go the seventeens, 40mm drop type of route then the arches on.

But if its euro then the arches off, wheels never look as wide with them on

[vee-dub90]

without i say.

[IAN C]

if your gonna take them off make sure you have no rust. took mine off 3 days ago needed 2 front wings  but i must say i think it does look better nice clean look.

[JP16V]

Yeah I'm 50/50 on this too. Never really thought about it much for my car til I saw James Ford's 16V with them off, running dark grey #schmidt MLs, a US spec tail gate and jetta grille (page 108 of Performance VW June 09). I think de-arching can make a really clean line right round the car if the rest of the car and stance are right. Oh and BTW - he's kept his original gti side strips and not replaced them with CL ones and it looks fine!

So, er, yeah....well there really isn't a right or a wrong really is there??

[Wayne]

Yeah I'm 50/50 on this too. Never really thought about it much for my car til I saw James Ford's 16V with them off, running dark grey #schmidt MLs, a US spec tail gate and jetta grille (page 108 of Performance VW June 09). I think de-arching can make a really clean line right round the car if the rest of the car and stance are right. Oh and BTW - he's kept his original gti side strips and not replaced them with CL ones and it looks fine!

So, er, yeah....well there really isn't a right or a wrong really is there??

You can keep the GTI trims however the small parts on the wing are part of the arch mouldings so they need replacing when you remove the arches, I have seen people use CL trims but leave the other mouldings but to me looks wrong as they do not match up.