2015 golf TDI Build/Progress thread

Hello all,
I’ve owned a few gasser Vw’s in the past, and when it was time to buy a new one after selling my much missed mk4 Lagoon blue gli, I found myself in love with the mk7 golfs. Driving my parents mk4 tdi for years before owning my own car I knew the benefits and awesomeness a TDI can offer so I decided to look some up.

I’ve always always “built” my cars in a clean OEM + style, so when searching for a car I wasn’t too worried in finding one with all the options (highline seats, lights ... etc) as I knew I’d end up swapping stuff down the line anyways ahah

The only requirements I had was for it to be 6spd. Easy as that!

So in saying that...

The suspect : 2015 golf TDI comfortline + , midnight blue, with around 50,000 kms, and yes of course 6 Speed manual.




So as you can see, bone stock. Normal black leatherette seats and what not.

First things first, picked up a set of mk7 golf weather tech mats off Kijiji. $80 for the full set, especially considering they looked brand new.

I would also like to add that I am by no means “mechanically inclined” I try to do as much as possible, and with the help of places like this forum I learn a lot.


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Okay so Next up, probably one of the most simple things I could do that I Love to see was to debadge the back. Pretty simple and straightforward !



One thing I despised about this car was the stock seats. No bolstering, whatsoever and coming from the mk4 gli recaros, these were horrible.

So after a few months of searching on Kijiji I managed to pick up a set a MINT brand new looking Plaid GTI seats. I had posted this in the “what did you do your mk7 today” already, but here it is again.

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Overall install was super easy. Straight forward swap. There was an airbag light that came up, I believe it has to do with the passenger side. All I had to do though was clear the code an reset it. My good friends at SEM Motorsport helped me out with that, as I don’t have vcds.

The seats look, and feel amazing ! Overall probably my favourite mod of the car. Completely changes the driving experience.


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Suspension was next on the list of things to do. After debating on whether to do springs + shocks combo or coilovers I decided to go with coilovers. ST coilovers to be exact. After doing some research and hearing many good things about these I decided to pull the trigger.



Honestly in both my previous mk4s I had KONI fully adjustable coilovers. They felt amazing, but I can honestly say the STs feel great. Not too harsh, not too soft. They handle perfectly. I can truly say they are the best bang for your buck in terms of coilovers on these cars. Price wise they pretty much come out to the same price as the H&r springs + koni or bilstein strut combo that I was looking at as an alternative.

Overall I am really happy how they looked, and felt. Finally reducing the body roll, and allowing me to “enjoy” the nice bolstering of my seats



I know it doesn’t look great with the stock wheels, but they are after all my winter setup.


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With the coilovers in, and with the warmer and better weather spring around the corner I was in the market for some new wheels.

Like I mentioned before I like the clean look, oem wheels was definitely something I wanted for this car.

I always liked the Austin’s that came on the mk7 gtis. I searched for a while and had a hard time finding MINT condition wheels. I went to see a few but finally found a legit 10/10 condition set of Austin’s



Unfortunately the tires weren’t too great. They have a season or 2 left in them, but I’m planning on putting some new summer rubber on them anyways so it was okay.

After giving the wheels a good clean I out them on and... I was super super happy with how they looked...










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Aesthetically the car was coming along the way I like it. Eventually down the road I’d liken to get upgraded headlights, gti lips, and the PLAN for the exhaust afterwards would lead to the gti dual exhaust rear valence.

With aesthetics taken care of for now next was a long awaited and much needed power upgrade.

Knowing that I would be re tuning the car with future deletes and what not, I bought Malone’s flashzilla v3. Along with that I purchased Malone’s stage 2 tune.







Very very simple to install the tune. Any questions I had Owain at Malone helped me out right away. Very good customer service I would highly recommend them.

As for the tune itself, truly changes the car. It
Makes it feel completely different. In saying that i literally have one had it installed for about 3 hours before writing this post.

However so far it feels great. Much more power, in such a useable way. I’m no longer worried over taking cars on the highway, it pulls with ease. I think im going to drive it for a few days and may give an update on here. I’m also thinking of making some YouTube videos reviewing the tune and certain tdi parts that I have/ plan on getting. I noticed there isn’t much out there for those of us who have these cars. I had/have a hard time finding stuff at least .

Mark Malone also included the eco tune for me. That will be for the future as I definitely plan on doing the deletes.


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For now the cars going to stay like this for a bit. I’m happy with where it’s at, and with the purchase of my new house I can’t be spending too too much on it unfortunately [emoji22]

However I do have future plans for it...

I would like to do all the deletes on the car. I’ve spoken to a few shops on what it would cost for a full turbo back + install. Honestly not as much as I expected.. but I do know that not ALL shops are willing to work on these diesels. At least in Ontario that is.

I’m hoping when the time comes though that I have the knowledge and the courage to potentially try the install my self though. Hopefully someone on here comes up with a thread based on there experience on the install lol

I would also like to upgrade my brakes. I’m wondering if I can swap gti / golf R brakes on these cars.

GTI/ r lip kits

Spacers to flush out the wheels, however I may try and put 235s on these wheels rather then the stock 225s, so that may help with the flushness. I try and avoid using spacers.

As for the rest, I guess I’ll just see as we go. My goal for this car is to have the ultimate daily. Fun, reliable and oh so fuel efficient




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I also have austins on my golf s. Added to them Mich pilot as3+ and they are great. 225/40/18

Sub'd

Keep up the good work

awesome! Looks great! Is a skid plate in the plans due to the lowered ride height?

alext91 said:

awesome! Looks great! Is a skid plate in the plans due to the lowered ride height?

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Thanks! Honestly haven’t really thought about it. I haven’t had any issues with the height so far either. It sits perfectly in my opinion, and is still perfectly functional for around town!


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broazona said:

Thanks! Honestly haven’t really thought about it. I haven’t had any issues with the height so far either. It sits perfectly in my opinion, and is still perfectly functional for around town!


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Awesome! Your roads must be better than ours here in New Hampshire!

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Stance and wheels look perfect man. Exactly how they should look from the factory (don't take that as an insult).

Are you still happy with them? Anything pop up over the past few months since installing them? I just bought your doppleganger...exact same color with similar plans in mind, and I'm trying to decide what coils to buy.

Looks great! It’s like you read my mind in order of modifications. I’m on the fence on the deletes though. You still considering?


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treyh95 said:

Stance and wheels look perfect man. Exactly how they should look from the factory (don't take that as an insult).

Are you still happy with them? Anything pop up over the past few months since installing them? I just bought your doppleganger...exact same color with similar plans in mind, and I'm trying to decide what coils to buy.

Click to expand...

Hey man! Thanks for the compliment, don’t worry I didnt take that badly lol

Im very happy with the coils so far, great bang for buck imo. Even my mechanics at SEM were very impressed with how they ride. I would definitely recommend.


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carrythezero said:

Looks great! It’s like you read my mind in order of modifications. I’m on the fence on the deletes though. You still considering?


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Click to expand...

Thanks you!

Im currently on the fence too.. definitely won’t be doing it this year before the winter anyway... I would love too, but I’m also considering leaving this the way it is, without doing anything else much major... I’m kinda leaning on saving some $$ for a weekend warrior project ahah. But we’ll see, I’m sure I would love the sound, power and all the benefits of the deletes though


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broazona said:

Hey man! Thanks for the compliment, don’t worry I didnt take that badly lol

Im very happy with the coils so far, great bang for buck imo. Even my mechanics at SEM were very impressed with how they ride. I would definitely recommend.


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Click to expand...

Definitely leaning towards the ST's now. How much adjustability do you have? Can you go lower than where your sitting at now, or is that as as low as they go?

Last question, and not really relating to those specific coilovers but just ride height/wheel combo in general, but do you get any rubbing? Able to fit those wheels as-is or did you have to roll the fenders out a little?

treyh95 said:

Definitely leaning towards the ST's now. How much adjustability do you have? Can you go lower than where your sitting at now, or is that as as low as they go?



Last question, and not really relating to those specific coilovers but just ride height/wheel combo in general, but do you get any rubbing? Able to fit those wheels as-is or did you have to roll the fenders out a little?

Click to expand...

The front can go a tad lower, and the back has another 1/2” id say.

As for the ride height and wheel combo, no rubbing at all. No need for rolling the fenders either. There’s also plenty of room for some spacers, or to run 235s which I may do in the summer.


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broazona said:

Suspension was next on the list of things to do. After debating on whether to do springs + shocks combo or coilovers I decided to go with coilovers. ST coilovers to be exact. After doing some research and hearing many good things about these I decided to pull the trigger.

Honestly in both my previous mk4s I had KONI fully adjustable coilovers. They felt amazing, but I can honestly say the STs feel great. Not too harsh, not too soft. They handle perfectly. I can truly say they are the best bang for your buck in terms of coilovers on these cars. Price wise they pretty much come out to the same price as the H&r springs + koni or bilstein strut combo that I was looking at as an alternative.

Overall I am really happy how they looked, and felt. Finally reducing the body roll, and allowing me to “enjoy” the nice bolstering of my seats

I know it doesn’t look great with the stock wheels, but they are after all my winter setup.


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Click to expand...

Did you go with st x or just st sport?

Last seen almost four years ago; I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for an answer.