Golf GTI CS Edition 40 to CSS

[LewR1407]

Hello all,

This is my first post as a new GTI owner so please go easy on me 

I purchased a 2016 GTI CS 40 privately at the beginning of November 2020 and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience since. I have a previous car history of a mk3 MX5, Z4 Coupe, EP3 Type R, Scirocco R, Subaru BRZ, Honda S2000, DC5 Integra Type R and an E92 M3. I am a big fan of Honda engineering and have a supercharged EP3 Type R for track fun.
Alluding to the above, I have developed a bad habit of not holding onto a vehicle for no more than 18 months, and so have wasted lots of money in the process, which brings me back onto the GTI. This is a car that I would like to keep for a while due to its infallible abilities and very sensible running costs.

The GTI CS Ed. 40 is currently sitting at 27000 miles with only having 1 owner since new. After only accumulating 1000 miles on the vehicle since purchase 3 months ago, I was hit with the dreaded water pump & thermostat failure 2 weeks ago. I was a bit aggrieved as to how a water pump can fail on a car with this mileage and following a bit of research on this forum (thank you all!), discovered that this is a very common problem. Worsening still, the leak may have been apparent upon purchase, so bit of a cock-up on my side for not doing proper homework.

Now repaired (highly recommend JKM Motors in Portsmouth - they did a fantastic job), I am now looking into upgrading the CS to as near a CSS spec as possible while keeping the back seats! My sincere apologies advance - I know this question has been asked many a time on this forum and a spreadsheet kindly posted up (which I have utilised for CSS differences and part numbers - thank you again guys!) I only ask if anyone has had any experience with the below.....

It is my understanding that all I need to do is install the following parts and get the geometry setup:

CSS hubs (2' camber)
TTS 8s Wheel Bearings, however, as I understand, current wheel bearings are fine to use
CSS Muffler
CSS Front Silencer (Part No: 5Q0 253 209 HF)
CSS Brake Discs
Alu. Subframe and associated hardware (washers + bolts)
Numerous hard rubber bushings front LCA & rear LCA
CSS Springs (my car does not have DCC)
Perhaps thicker anti roll bars front & rear

Does anyone recommend doing anything else or have I missed anything? The car that I have is a manual so with the front subframe disassembled for the alu spec, I would also upgrade the clutch as this is another weak point.

With being a bit isolated from VW due to my previous car choices, I never knew about the MQB platform and that so many parts across the VAG are interchangeable! I must admit, the chassis feels great in the GTI CS and so I would love to see what the car is capable of doing with a few minor alterations as above.

The CS is just a run around so I would like it to maintain the OEM ride that it currently provides. I would like to improve the chassis and brake setup first before thinking about a power/remap, but certainly interested in computing more life into that EA888. Noise restrictions on UK tracks are becoming an issue for the EP3 so I would be keen to test the limits of the GTI on a circuit with it being a much quieter setup.

Thank you in advance all - any views would be greatly appreciated! Also, thank you for being a great forum - the information available is superb and invaluable to new owners like myself!
   

     
 



 

[fredgroves]

Hi Lew, welcome to the forum and the world of Golf!

The main things which made the CSS fast round the Ring and gained it its legend were:

1) Its stripped out (the one with the record almost certainly was the minus AC unit one too)
2) Special DCC setting - soft, really soft.
3) Tyres (Cup 2's)

I'm not knocking your plans, just suggesting your mods won't really make a CSS.

I'd definitely think twice about using the CSS springs on a non DCC setup.

If you wanted to make your CS more trackable, look beyond the VW parts bin - Golfs are some of the most readily mod'able cars out there with a huge array of race/track parts available.

[LewR1407]

Hi Fred,

That's great advice - I really appreciate your input, thank you.

All the best,

Lew.

[Watts]

I would consider different discs to the oem CSS if you intend to track it at all, fine if you don't. Mine has them and they are really strong for road use but they have a flaw in that they are all the same rather than pairs. This means that on one side of the car they don't vent properly and can warp with track use. Just a thought.

Also the subframe, it is a standard fit on A3s so not sure how much (if any) benefit you'll get from that.

Oh, and welcome to the forum! Feel free to post up some pictures of your cars

[dobb3r]

Welcome to sofisticated speed.
Having had 2 EP3's, one fairly modded with Spoon parts, and later a DC5 with  5zigen jntake, HKS catback exhaust and D2 coilovers. The Hondas are raw machines, great engines and gearboxs but i would never swapm one for my current Golf.

I look forward to seeing how you mod your CS, what exhaust and intake you go for. I do find the exhaust could be a bit more sporty in its sound. My last car was. Polo GTi, i removed the centre box and put a straight through pipe in and the sound was perfect, not to loud but had a good deep burble.

[LewR1407]

I would consider different discs to the oem CSS if you intend to track it at all, fine if you don't. Mine has them and they are really strong for road use but they have a flaw in that they are all the same rather than pairs. This means that on one side of the car they don't vent properly and can warp with track use. Just a thought.

Also the subframe, it is a standard fit on A3s so not sure how much (if any) benefit you'll get from that.

Oh, and welcome to the forum! Feel free to post up some pictures of your cars

Hi Watts,

Great advice and thank you! Interesting to know about the OEM CSS discs. I’ve stumbled across that the TTS (8s) four piston front calliper is a plug and play upgrade for the MK7 so I may consider that option too.

Also, thanks for the warm welcome - I’ll post up some pictures soon. 

[LewR1407]

Welcome to sofisticated speed.
Having had 2 EP3's, one fairly modded with Spoon parts, and later a DC5 with  5zigen jntake, HKS catback exhaust and D2 coilovers. The Hondas are raw machines, great engines and gearboxs but i would never swapm one for my current Golf.

I look forward to seeing how you mod your CS, what exhaust and intake you go for. I do find the exhaust could be a bit more sporty in its sound. My last car was. Polo GTi, i removed the centre box and put a straight through pipe in and the sound was perfect, not to loud but had a good deep burble.

Hi dobb3r,

Thank you for the welcome! Sounds like you had some great Honda’s in the past and agreed, the Golf GTI is a fabulous sophisticated machine that still feels quite light and energetic on the road. With regards to exhaust, I am commonly intending to fit the CSS muffler as the piping diameter is 65mm vs 55mm currently (correct me if I’m wrong). I haven’t considered intakes whatsoever at the moment, as concentrating on chassis, brakes and tyres, but what would you recommend?

Thanks again for your response  - greatly appreciated!

[clubsport]

An interesting project.  Have you driven a CSS?

I wanted a CSS, but couldn't really justify an additional 2 seater to accompany the other two!

I ended up buying a 3 door manual, CS with Buckets, 19"s & DCC, which was as close as I could get with the rear seats fitted.

I have pondered updating it at some point in the future. The question is what do you want to use the car for?

As mentioned above one of the noticeable updates is the Cup 2 tyres. I have used these on a 911RS & they are not an all year round tyre for my Golf. I will fit PS4-S next, rather than the Cups.
As I said, what do you intend to ise the car for, Cups will give you a second or 2 a lap depending on the track & weather?

If I were to modify my CS, I would probably go beyond stock CSS spec, particularly the brakes as mentioned.

For road use upgraded flexi brake lines and pad material would provide a useful upgrade fpr the mere mortal.

Look forward to hearing progress on your car.

[Paul70]

Hi

I have pretty much

[Exonian]

Hello and welcome LewR.
I really like your thinking in keeping the car ‘OEM plus’ whilst transforming it into something much closer to an actual CSS minus what could be considered as that car’s drawbacks (as far as daily use goes).

I read the thread in the early hours of this morning and pondered post #1 quite a bit.
I thought of quite a few things on the subject but to be honest I reckon Paul70 has a great idea. Getting it set up more as a fast road car using a mix of high quality aftermarket and OEM kit which would be translate-able into an occasional track day car. A lot of thought has gone into Paul’s mod list.

The one thing to remember about the DCC ‘ring mode is the soft damper settings were put in more to allow Benny to bounce up over the kerbs to shave microseconds from the lap times rather than actual bump absorption.
It’s (relatively) easy for the men in white coats to plug in computers to read the raw data taken from on board sensors allowing them to set up a dedicated mode for a given track thanks to the microprocessors in the DCC.  British potholes are a whole different kettle of fish! I too found the passive suspension worked just fine on my Ed40 and would be wary of changing to potentially stiffer springs in case they didn’t cope well with the bad road surfaces in real world driving.