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20
October 2006
 I
guess it was only a matter
of time, but two of my valve stem caps were stolen.
It’s
not the first time, and probably not the last. :o( At
first I thought it was my remaining two .:R-line
caps
that were taken, but no, I still have one left. Ugh.
8
October 2006
A
mildly mortifying battery update.
28
September 2006
I
updated the R’s fuel
consumption data. Break
out the champagne!
Green-top ECT sensor
update.
8
September 2006
Updated
the R’s fuel
consumption data. Data
for previous years can be found in R32
information.
3
September 2006
Nothing
too spectacular with
this update. I visited the Steven
F. Udvar-Hazy Center and was
mightily impressed with how much
parking they had. :o) Even while inside
the Center, I was still able to check up on my R's welfare.
30
August 2006
It’s
always a pleasant
surprise when I find another Golf IV R32 review. This
article is from Automotive Trends
and
can be found in R32 reviews.
27
August 2006
Updated
my personal fuel
consumption. Fuel
data for previous years can be found on R32
information.
Waaaay
back in November 2004 I
purchased a VW mobile phone holder.
I
guess it was about time I uploaded it here, eh?
17
August 2006
Yesterday
I had to have the R’s battery replaced.
Follow
the link to check out my ordeal.
12
August 2006
Updated
some general
information on the R32: follow the .:R :o)
10
August 2006
I’ve
uploaded the wheel
alignment specifications for the 2004 R32. The
permanent link is under R32 maintenance.
6
August 2006
Last
weekend I decided to
re-wax. I was reminded once
again just how
easy Glanz Wax
is to apply. Follow the link for
pictures.
After
washing and waxing on
Sunday morning, I went out looking for a location where I could test my
rev limiter—the R was re-flashed a couple weeks
ago—without
the noise bothering anyone. I decided to
take some pictures
while I was there.
29
July 2006
Yesterday
I stopped by Pro-Imports
to have them check for codes—as a follow up to last week. Good
news—the R had a clean bill of
health :o)
Last
weekend I had the R
re-flashed at EIP
Tuning.
 I’d
noticed that
occasionally at cold-starts the engine would stay at 1200 rpms instead
of dropping back to 600-700 rpms within a half second or so. I
also thought that as I down-shifted into 3rd
the throttle was less responsive when I blipped it in neutral. I’d
had the cold-start update from EIP
Tuning last
year, but I stopped by to have them take a look last Saturday.
EIP
Tuning told
me that the R should actually be staying at 1200 rpms for about 20
seconds before dropping back down… say what?
So
far I’m impressed
with how much merely replacing the engine coolant
temperature sensor has
improved performance. It’s still
too
early to say for certain, but I think my mileage has also improved by
roughly 2-3 mpg… maybe even 4 mpg.
I
updated my fuel consumption data
for 2006. Data
for previous years can be found on R32 information.
This
morning someone asked me
about my R. He wanted to know if it
was a Rabbit
(fyi, the Rabbit
is VW’s
reiteration of the
Golf on a MkV platform). I attempted to
explain the differences but I left with the impression it
didn’t
get through to him—he seemed fairly stuck on Rabbits. He
also
wanted to know if I’d imported my R or purchased it
domestically. I explained to him
that, yes, the R was sold
in the U.S., but that only used MkIV R32s are currently available.
20
July 2006
Updated
Favourite
links.
19
July 2006
As
I said in my previous
update, on Saturday I had a MIL
come on so I made an appointment at Pro-Imports
for today. Just my luck, the MIL
disappeared yesterday evening. I had Pro-Imports
check for codes, anyway, and I had four faults, all of them having to
do with cylinders misfiring (cylinders 1, 2, and 3).
They
cleared the codes, and recommended I drive the R for
a week and then bring it back in to see if any new codes come up.
Since
I was already having the
R looked at, I decided to have my engine coolant temperature sensor
replaced as a
preventative measure—one of the TSBs
for the R32 pertains to this. Click the
link for
details and pics.
16
July 2006
On
the upside, this weekend I
replaced my driver’s side ceiling grab handle with a VW OEM sunglass
holder. It’s
a straight swap, but as it’s
not offered in black I had to paint it myself. Click
the link for more details.
On
the downside, my R32 came
down with the MIL, also known as the dreaded check-engine light. Wangos! Tomorrow
morning I’m going to have to make an appointment to have it
diagnosed.
8
July 2006
Yesterday,
a 2004 VW Golf R32
(Reflex silver—a great casting choice, by the way) had a
significant cameo on one of my favourite television shows, Monk. It
was the season
premiere, titled Mr.
Monk and the Actor, and aired at
9pm EST on USA Network. It’s
actually being re-aired as I type this, from 5:30pm-6:30pm (EST). The
R32 shows up near the end of the episode
when the villain is handcuffed to the passenger door handle. I
hope they didn’t scratch up the paint
;o)
In
case you missed it, the
next time it’s showing is tomorrow, Sunday, 9 July 2006 at
12pm
(EST). If that’s not
enough for you,
the full schedule of additional show-times can be found at the official Monk website.
I
really wish I had some way
of getting a screen-capture to post it. Oh
well. I guess
you’ll have to make do
with these,
these,
and maybe some of these,
too :o)
24
June 2006
A
couple weeks ago I decided
that I should have cleaned my exhaust tips a long
time
ago. Check out Wash & Wax
for details and preliminary
results.
Added
links to Einszett
and Open
Road
Motoring Accessories to Favourite
links.
In
R32 maintenance
I added the
instructions I followed to correctly aim my HIDs.
17
June 2006
Not
much new that’s
R32-related this week, but I’ve updated my fuel consumption
data
for 2006.
I
also gave this site a new
look. Hope you like it!
5
June 2006
It
occurred to me that all of
my recent shots of the R were taken with the R in the shade (to get
reflection pictures). To remedy this I
took a few pics in the sun
:o)
For
those who wanted but
missed out on getting a R32, it looks fairly certain that North America
will be getting the Golf V R32 in July 2007: 250hp, 3.2L VR6, 3-doors,
with DSG only. You can look here
for more details.
27
May 2006
This
morning I tried out Einszett’s Metallic Polish
Wax and Glanz Wax. Results
and my impressions are here.
24
May 2006
I
downloaded the TSBs for the 2004
Volkswagen Golf R32
from the NHTSA. Right
now there are only four and I’m keeping this information
under R32 maintenance.
Updated
Favourite
links.
20
May 2006
Earlier
this year I bought the Mr.
Clean AutoDry Carwash for the
times I simply wanted to rinse off
salt or pollen without having to do a full wash and dry.
I
was lead to make this purchase because I had hard,
visual evidence that water-spots are darned ugly. There’s
no way I’m hand-drying a dirty car! Anywhoo,
I bought it just for the hard-water filter—I’ve no
intention of ever using the special soap. The
filter certainly worked, but be forewarned: the
water pressure with the filter is fairly feeble.
14
May 2006—Happy
Mothers’ Day!
I
bought some billet aluminum upper dash vents
at the R32 GTG,
yesterday. I installed them today
and took some pictures. These
billet vent covers are sold in pairs by EIP
Tuning.
13
May 2006
The
2nd
East Coast
R32 GTG is today and tomorrow. Check out Events and GTGs
for pictures and
notes.
Today
I uploaded the R’s maintenance
schedule from VWoA. My
next service is at 30k miles, with a Haldex
oil and filter every 40k. I’m going
to have my Haldex oil changed at 30k, though—according to this article
from Driver Gear magazine
(published March 2004) the Haldex oil should be changed every 20k, and
the Haldex filter every 40k. This info is
going in R32 maintenance
under R32
information.
My
20k service was in March,
and I went to Pro-Imports
because I’m not going to a
dealership again except for warranty work. I’d
been to Pro-Imports previously to get some things done, and
I’ve
always been happy with their service and work. Well,
one of my Lexan headlight covers
was cracked, but
that could have happened to anyone, and it’s still useable.
I
didn’t realize it at
the time, but my coilovers
were installed on the eve of the 2nd
anniversary of happy R-ownership :o) Talk
about a great birthday present, eh?
10
May 2006
On
Sunday I washed the R and
afterwards put on some Blackfire Deep Gloss Spray.
Check
out Blackfire results
for pics and my overall
impressions, to date.
Earlier
this month I took a few pictures
after washing the R.
Another
2004 R32 review, this
time in Ride & Drive,
posted October 2004.
2
May 2006
I
found another review of the
2004 R32, published in the Austin American-Statesman
(June 2004). If you don’t
feel like
searching through the entire list of R32 articles,
click here.
Yesterday,
I put a 4th
coat of Blackfire’s Wet Diamond AFPP on the R.
That’s
probably going to be it for this
spring/summer. In the autumn I might
add
another coat to prep for winter.
FYI,
next weekend is the 2nd
East Coast R32 GTG at EIP.
30
April 2006
Wow,
I found another review of
the MkIV R32. Published in Driving
Sports
Magazine, the review is here,
by Ryan Douthit. I
placed it with all the other R32 articles.
I
also updated my personal
fuel consumption data for 2006. Check
out R32
information for previous years.
29
April 2006
Hmmm…
well… oh,
what the heck. I took some pictures
from
the Herbie and Friends tour in May last year. Better
late than never, eh? Check them out in Events and GTGs.
For
those interested,
here’s a list of visitors by country
in March 2006.
23
April 2006
Two
weeks ago a passenger
accidentally snapped off the seat release handle. Luckily,
it’s an easy enough job to replace, and a relatively
inexpensive
part, to boot. Check-out my mods and parts page
if you’re
interested.
Recently
I’ve noticed
that I have a lot of chips on my front bumper. Ugh. I
guess the paint on the new (though
it’s not exactly ‘new’, anymore) bumper
isn’t
as ‘hard’ as it was on the original. I
finally couldn’t stand the black spots, so I went over them
with
touch-up paint—now I have silver spots on a silver car
[/sigh]. Oh well, I lack the
patience to do a proper
job of it.
2
April 2006
It’s
been almost a year
since I’d last applied a coat of Klasse SG. I’m
very impressed (and thankful!) for the durability of the Klasse AIO/SG. Nevertheless,
I’d decided to try
something different—Blackfire
Gloss Enhancing Polish
and Blackfire
Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection. I
think the wetness of the shine is better
than the Klasse twins, and I hope the durability will at least be close. I
uploaded a lot of pictures today as evidence
of my hard work ;o) Check out Wash
& Wax and Exterior
pictures
for the pictures.
31
March 2006
When
I had my cold air intake
installed I opted for including the AEM bypass valve.
With
the K&N positioned so low, I wanted the added
insurance against hydrolock. I’ve
finally uploaded a review of the AEM BPV—the link is found
under
the description of my CCAI.
As
a mini-celebration to
myself for finishing my R, I decided it was high time I replaced my old
GTI monster mats with .:R-line monster mats.
Updated
Favourite
links.
I
uploaded a couple pics of
some of the official VW R32 ads/promos that used to be on the VWoA site. I
placed the links under R32 General
Information.
25
March 2006
Project complete!
All
the performance
modifications I wanted for my R32 have now been installed :o) Hurrah! When
I
first purchased this car, I ultimately wanted to get three things:
HIDs, upgraded suspension, and a rear sway bar. Due
to fortune (of the good kind!) and a change of mind, I went a little
above and beyond that. In order of
installation:
 EIP
short shift and lower rear
transmission mount (July 2004)
EIP
ECU upgrade (April 2005)
VW
OEM HIDs (May 2005)
H&R
21mm RSB (May 2005)
EIP
CCAI (May 2005)
HPA
Motorsports SHS coilover
suspension (March 2006)--installed Monday this week.
Having
driven it for almost a week, now, I don’t
know why I was initially hesitant about installing it.
Anywhoo,
more information on Parts
& Accessories.
Any future
modifications will be purely cosmetic :o)
On
the R32
information
page under General Information I’ve included the MkIV fuse
list—originally posted on VWvortex—because I found
it very
useful earlier this week. I also updated
my personal fuel consumption data for this year.
This
weekend is the Cherry
Blossom Festival in Washington, DC. Because
driving in DC is a chore and pain at anytime, especially this weekend,
I found my own cherry trees in a less crowded location.
Check
out Exterior
pictures.
15
February 2006
Last
weekend we had a pretty
big snow storm. I took a few pictures
after I had some fun :o) The pictures are
in Exterior
pictures. I
really need to get an ice
scraper. There’s no
way I’d
use it on the paint, but glass is fair game.
5
February 2006
I
updated my fuel consumption
data on the R32
information page. I
split them into
years: 2004, 2005,
and 2006.
30
January 2006
Last
weekend I replaced all
the wiper blades on the R. For more
information on this engrossing and exciting development check out Parts
& Accessories. ;o)
29
January 2006
Wow. It’s
been too long since my last update. That’s
what you get for being lazy :o) I updated
some links on Favourite
links, including my blog
which includes stuff
that may or may not be R32 related.
There’s
another article
on R32 reviews
from European Car, “My R32
Blues”.
I
added a picture of my HID beam pattern
on Parts
& Accessories.
Last
year, VWoA thoughtfully
sent me a decal exempting the R32 from 2-wheel dynos, for obvious
reasons. I had no idea it was
missing. It’s on Parts
& Accessories.
Some
more exterior shots. Check out Exterior
pictures. Hey,
it’s been a while!
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