Shirley Knott

It was great to meet you today man, always good to put faces to names. I'm glad to hear the Golf's behaving itself!

The Duster looks particularly handsome in that light. Definitely would. Bon chance @davehedgehog31, it seems we're in the midst of something of a boon RE collection threads at present!

I can definitely say with 100% uncertainty that your vibration/feedback at 65mph+ is either one of the two front wheels out of balance, or a slightly dragging caliper. Get on it and investigate 👍

@big_al_granviais spot on, get a stand under that! Also, it looks you're jacking on the rear beam, avoid this as I've seen them bend (Ignore me if I'm wrong) Otherwise- Good thread and a heartwarming read. The vibration at speed could easily be balancing, but also don't disregard the possibility of a slightly seized front caliper. Get the car in the air and spin both front wheels, even a very small drag on either of the fronts can and will give the exact symptoms you describe, I've seen this time and time again FWIW.

Despite being built on 2004 my Golf SDI is slower than anything on that list (16.8 seconds 0-60). That really brings home just how SLOW it really is.

^ This came back to bite me in the arse big time. A month of ignoring the (Only very slightly) squeaky/draggy NSR wheel culminated in me stripping it down on Wednesday to find the calliper totally seized and the pads worn down to nothing... Fine I thought, I've got some pads and a good used calliper in stock... I set about the job and mid way through felt a sickening crunch as the hard brake line over the rear beam broke in two. Not good. Behold- Seized calliper and ruined brake line... Luckily ECP saved my bacon! For all of their sins, we've got a branch just around the corner and they had the exact section of brake line in stock (Including flexy) for £22.50 New line fitted and covered in a healthy dose of Dynax UB... Followed by a calliper I bought as part of a pair for £10 around five years ago. I knew they'd come in handy one day! For whatever reason a previous owner had painted my old calliper (Also second hand) red. There was clearly a stage, mid noughties, where the VAG lads decided painting brake callipers was the thing to do. This one was yellow... I joined in with the painting fad, this time opting for a coat of silver Hammerite. Much better... After this the system was pressure bled using my Sealey VS820 and normal service was resumed. Financial cost including brake line- Under £40. Emotional cost HUGE. I'm getting too old for this shit and thoughts are genuinely turning to a new car, maybe even on finance.

Don't count on it. It works a treat but DOES get messy, it also pongs. Excellent work going on here @rainagain, exactly the sort of thread I come here for.

Strange that it's worked it's way up to Northern england so quickly... The bloke selling it seems to be a small time trader with 2 or 3 other cars for sale too, he also runs a recovery business by the look (As is often the case with such types) I'm actually on the look out for another Mk4, it cropped up in one of my searches but as mentioned the colour/tax/PD115 head-lift fear put me off.

Interestingly this is now for sale on Facebook marketplace for£1195 just up the road from me in Chester Le Street. If it wasn't for the expensive tax/marmite colour/mysterious cooling woes described up thread I'd almost be tempted to go for a look... Almost. @Petrolize- I'm assuming you sold this outside of the site?

The trusty Golf SDI has spent the weekend in the garage for some minor rust treatment -Nothing serious, just the usual blebs starting at the bottom of the wings and along the sill flanges Position assumed... Products assembled.... Any areas of rust were rubbed back and treated with Hydrate 80 (I love watching this stuff turn black whilst it reacts.... Then 24 hours later a couple of coats of red oxide primer... And then 12 hours later several coats of final colour. I've learned through bitter experience that VW 'Refelx Silver' LA7W is a difficult shade to replicate. Many of the professionally colour matched cans are nowhere near, but strangely Upol's wheel silver is actually a near perfect match... Job jobbed, after which the car was pulled out of the garage for a quick hoover in readiness for being pushed into service again next week.

A week has now nearly passed. What's appertaining man? Is it everything you'd hoped/dreamed of?

Aye, that makes sense. My old man's doesn't even have air con.

Yep- That's a fairly vast price gap eh. Obviously joking RE WVO, but the rules are clear in that someone has to mention veg oil in some format at least once a day- So I spotted the opportunity and grabbed it. Happy Dustering man- It looks great as mentioned, I'm genuinely envious.

The orange colour looks good, I don't think I've seen them like that before. Much more exciting than silver/white. The 'proper' 4X4 versions of these seem to be a rarity.... Maybe one in every ten I'm parked behind actually has a diff/shafts on display. If it's not rude to ask, is there a big price difference between the 4WD and 2WD options? Also, have you tried it on WVO yet?

A week on from the last time- It's Mk4 Golf service groundhog day, only this time with the roffle win GTI Service completed on the 03/05 at 129,821 miles. Oil and filter only as other filters were changed during last service- Switched this time from 5W40 to 5W30 as that's what was handy Boots/bushes/bearings/levels checked and brakes cleaned up - Found to be in need of two new front tyres ASAP.