Ballin' On a Budget: 2009 Volkswagen Rabbit 2.5S "Snowbunny", a newbie's first foray.

[thebornotaku]

Firstly, Hello. My name is Mike.

I have a 2009 Volkswagen Rabbit 2.5S that I affectionately refer to as the "Snowbunny". Why, you ask? Because it's a Candy White VW Rabbit and, well, look it up on UrbanDictionary.

First, a little background. I got my first car in 2007, a 1985 Volvo 245DL that I daily drove for 6 years. Over the course of those six years I did a lot of dumb things with it, the dumbest probably being cutting the springs literally in half and driving around on the bumpstops for two or three weeks:


It looked mean as fuck but since it was done on a shoestring budget of $0 I never took the time to do shit like align my rear axle, or change the pinion angle, or consider proper anything in regards to geometry, spring rate or dampening. So a few weeks later I realized I valued my spine and raised it back up.

It saw a bunch of other iterations, wheels ride heights, etc... until I eventually settled on this:


complete with "slow 245" license plates, those were 15" MSW mesh 1pc wheels that I got for $0 off of a car that was sitting for years. Cleaning all of the shit off of the wheels was "fun" and ultimately pointless.


(photo credit: Tony Bird)
here's how she sat just a few months before I sold her. That car's story continues on with it's new owner (a buddy of mine) who still daily drives it, but this thread is about the new hotness I picked up a few months ago.



Day one, right after driving it home from the dealership.


First mod was the stereo, not pictured is the amplifier + subwoofer combo that I put in it as well. This is a cheap deck but it's worlds ahead of the stock VW unit.


Installed in the car.


Next up was the BFI heavyweight shiftknob, and the single best photograph I have ever taken.


The car got yellow FTP/high beam bulbs, as well as yellow 194 city light bulbs for that "euro" look.


Next was the crown royal bag as a shift boot, I rocked that for a minute but the purple was a little too loud in a sea of anthracite grey interior and silver accents, so it got changed out for a black Crown Royal bag. Since I legitimately actually drink that stuff, I figured why not.


Just a picture I took with a friend's landlord's car,


Plastidipped behind the rear VW emblem, looks way cleaner white instead of black.


Got some LED tails, but the one on the left kept throwing errors so they got returned. They'll be back though.


Got a big commission check from work and ordered up some Solo-Werks S1 coils, 034 Density mounts, all new hardware from the VW dealer for the suspension install and got to work.


I didn't get a lot of pictures of the install process, only this one showing the nice shiny newness inside the wheel well.


As it sits now, I have better pictures on my Instagram (@thebornotaku) but it's nothing special yet. Coils still have adjusters and helper springs in, plus another inch or inch and a half of downward travel yet. The plan for now is to save up and get some wheels in the beginning of next year, then lay it out when summer comes.

Upcoming plans:
Wheels. I want either 3SDM 0.05s, 0.06s, Rotiform BLQs or Fifteen52 Tarmac RSLs.
Color matched trim on the front bumper and doors.
Fog lights
Front plate relocation kit.
Possibly a Votex lip or something.
Possibly mudflaps/splash guards.
LED tails again, likely Valeo this time for euro-spec instead of the Helix ones I had.
Upgraded stereo, I'm talking new component speakers, a 4ch amp to drive them, and a Pioneer AppRadio

Planned performance mods:
AWE Touring exhaust
either a Neuspeed P-Flo or APR Carbonio intake with the 2.5L engine cover from a beetle
BFI 65a durometer engine and trans mount
dogbone mount insert
single mass flywheel, probably a South Bend or something
ECS Geomet rotors and Hawk HPS pads are going in the rear soon, I plan to do the 312mm GLI front brake upgrade with Geomet rotors and HPS pads up front possibly in the summer

Plus who knows what else.

Stay tuned.

Thanks,
Mike

[Peeunit]

Looks like you're off to a good start mate.
Rather than colour coding those bump strips, couldn't you look to get a donor bumpers from a GT or GTI or something?
anyway, keep up the good work.

I wouldn't get 3SDM's though, they're a bit played out on golfs I reckon, but you do what makes you happy

[qoshipgo]

plan to do the 312mm GLI front brake upgrade with Geomet rotors and HPS pads up front possibly in the summer

[thebornotaku]

Looks like you're off to a good start mate.
Rather than colour coding those bump strips, couldn't you look to get a donor bumpers from a GT or GTI or something?
anyway, keep up the good work.

I wouldn't get 3SDM's though, they're a bit played out on golfs I reckon, but you do what makes you happy

I suppose I could find another bumper. I've been debating with that, if I do it'll be a Jetta bumper or a euro Golf GT bumper, not the GTI because I'm not about pretending my car is something it's not.

3SDMs are nice, I wouldn't say played out but certainly "well researched". Honestly my first choice is the Tarmac RSLs because they look tough as fuck without being too overbearing or garish, which I feel matches the car perfectly. Another batch of options are a small handful of TSW wheels including bronze Nurburgrings, as well as others.

I have also been debating wheel color / wheel bolt color, possible lug stud conversion and then what kind of lugnuts to run...


Coming from a car with such limited aftermarket and especially wheel options like the Volvo, to a car with a slew of bolt-on, readily available aftermarket options.

[Reebay89]

Another option with the bumper is to shave the bump strips along with the sidemarkers as well instead of getting a different bumper. It looks amazing with CW and keeps the whole Rabbit look.
Just an opinion, good start though!

[thebornotaku]

Another option with the bumper is to shave the bump strips along with the sidemarkers as well instead of getting a different bumper. It looks amazing with CW and keeps the whole Rabbit look.
Just an opinion, good start though!

Thanks!

I love the CW, if there was a way to make the Rabbit have way smaller strips like the GTIs that would be nice without running the GTI bumper. I do like the Rabbit bumper because it's different than the Jetta and GTI fronts that almost everybody seems to be running.

Some pictures I've been meaning to post:

for starters, the black crown royal shift boot:

Looks way more appropriate than the purple one imo.



Back shot from a rainy day at the mall, I like the sticker stack but the TwoKings one is probably gonna get taken off and I'm gonna replace it with a smaller one so it looks cleaner.


Same day, decent shot to show how the car sits now. Not super low but lower than stock, it's barely tucking tire in the back and there's still a little gap up front.


Getting in the Christmas spirit!

[trozhaiha]

Looks like you're off to a good start mate.

[thebornotaku]

Oh hey, what's this?


(yes I know my floor is dirty shut up )


Small box contained Hawk HPS pads and miscellaneous brake hardware.

We all know bigger boxes are more interesting though...


Ooh...


Good shit!

I've only had the car a few months, the local VW dealership dicked me around regarding the brakes as I bought the car used. They told me $500 for rear brakes parts+labor, I bitched at them for failing to notice that the brakes needed done 4 months ago before I bought the car. They agreed to cover parts if I pay for labor and still gave me a quote of around $300... so I spent around $200 instead, bought the parts myself and I'm gonna do it in my driveway. Brakes are easy, especially when you're actually an ASE certified tech and not some talentless hack like the VW dealer thinks I am.

I plan on getting the fronts to match, I will eventually go with the ECS Tuning GLI big brake kit that converts the 280mm diameter front rotors up to 312mm using nothing but special caliper carriers so you can reuse your calipers and pads.

Stay tuned!

[thebornotaku]

superminor update: got brakes in.



old and busted


new hotness.

[thebornotaku]

So sometimes it helps to know people.

I got a set of Khartoum wheels for $0, straight swapped my Magny Cours 16" stockers over for the 17" Khartoums, with nice deep rubber. I only have one pic and it's complete garbage:



All four are curbed/scuffed/fucked up but none of the damage is too bad, I'm either going to pay the wheel refinishing guy at my work his fee in order to get them redone, or say fuck it and put my car on stands for a day while I paint them myself.

Probably option #2, these are just cheap rollers until I get whatever nice wheels I want, and they look worlds better than the bummy 16"s.

Also I need to figure something out for my trunk space, having two 12" subs is kind of retarded in how little cargo area I have:


and since I don't have anywhere else to post this, I helped my buddy Grayson lower his 1969 Standard Beetle today, so here's some pics from that too.

His car is kind of a rat, I started off "helping" by getting artsy:



wailing on the ball joint to get the spindle free:


and using a pickle fork tore the shit out of the boot:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/jyHQKcI.jpg]/img]

but we said fuck it and carried on, after not finding anywhere that sold just the boot.

Front shot with that side disassembled:


more artsy crap with my mk5 in the background:



45 year old car with a hodgepodge of wiring



And we're done:


It looks high off the ground still... the front tires are shorter than the rears by a lot, and this is on 2.5" drop spindles. OG Enkeis, yes, real Enkeis. In 4x120 or whatever.

and we were gonna put this spoiler on today, it's a fiberglass Kamei repro but we ran out of daylight after getting burritos:


That's it for now, for pictures anyway.

Since I got the 17s, wheels have dropped as a priority. The car is probably going to stay as it is for a little bit, maybe some minor stuff (let's face it... probably will do some stuff at least) but nothing too crazy. Next on the docket now that wheels are less of a priority is the GLI front brake upgrade to help fill out that wheel well. Also painting calipers, and I'm debating getting the backing plates powdercoated a nice deep metallic black. Brakes are going to be black carriers with colored calipers, still haven't decided what to do yet.

[SouthCarolinaGuy]

Burritos are worthy of time

[thebornotaku]

Burritos are worthy of time

Fuck yeah they are, and living in California means we get bomb-ass burritos. We were gonna just cannonball it and get the lip spoiler on but it was getting cold and we were pretty pleased with even just getting it lowered, grayson especially.

We actually put the drop spindles in last year but he had really tall tires that rubbed like a motherfucker and he was too much of a bitch to cut his fenders out for clearance, so instead we took the long route and put the stock spindles back in... five hours of work or so, and his car was just as stock height as it was when we started.

But it's down now, and he said if it rubbed he was committed to hacking his fenders up since he has weld-on metal flares now like a man.

Thankfully that was a non-issue anyway, and hopefully I'll coerce him in to getting a narrowed adjustable beam so he can put that beetle down where it needs to be -- on it's ass.

[thebornotaku]

Better picture of the new wheels:

[Kinghorn]

Looks solid. Needs some real low's though. and a lot less stickers.
but the old brick wagon was nice

[thebornotaku]

Looks solid. Needs some real low's though. and a lot less stickers.
but the old brick wagon was nice

Yeah it needs to get wound down more. I'm waiting on a skid plate though mostly, but I'm pretty happy with how it sits anyway.

Through the next year I'll probably lower it some more, we'll see how far down she goes on the coils it's on now. It's staying static though for sure.

I like the stickers, the TwoKings one is probably going to get taken off and replaced with a smaller one that's not as "in the way".

I do just like stickers though.

Oh, and because apparently two cars isn't enough for me, I'm looking at another... maybe.