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Yes, it's a long post. Aren't they always?
Ok, the good news. I ended up going with the paint it yourself
method on the surrounds, and I'm pleased with the results.
http://rintintin.colorado.edu/~frechett/stuff/spaint.jpg
It was a lot of work though. I sanded the bumps out. Then I did three
coats, then sanded it smooth with 400 grit wet/dry, then another 2 coats
and more sanding with 400 and 600 grit.. more coats.. a couple big
mistakes (runs and such), more sanding with 600 grit and when I was
finally happy with the base, a couple coats of clearcoat.
It's not perfect, but it was a learning experience. I don't really
recomend this procedure to anyone who lacks patience. I almost lost
it a couple times.
Ok, now for the bad news.
They don't fit. The hardware doesn't mount correctly, the surrounds
don't fit in the space, and it looks like it's going to take some
major modifications. When it's all done it may still not look
quite right.
See http://rintintin.colorado.edu/~frechett/stuff/Pzwo.html
for pictures of all the mount points and the fitting problems.
Looking at the right side (face on) here are the problems.
Upper right - Yes the bracket had to be bent from vertical to horizontal
outward toward the front of the car. But now if you line up the hole
in the headlight hardware with the original hole in the car, the headlight
frame is too wide to fit in the car.
Upper left - As a consequence of the problem on the upper right, the upper
left has a 1/4 inch of overlap. We're talking very solid metal at this
spot on both the headlight assembly and the frame of the car.
No amount of wishing, or bending is going to fix this. With the overlap
the upper left side sticks out forward a full 1/2 inch.
Not only that, but even if it did all "fit" here, with the new hole drilled
1/4" below the existing one, there's still a problem of the surround
screw. It runs into the metal there as soon as you stick it in it's
own hole. That means drilling a second hole in the car to give the screw
some room to.. well.. screw. The hole would be through the edge of a
spot weld.
Lower Right - With the extension, it seems to be the only point that will
mount correctly. Ultimately, it doesn't matter though because it has
room to move in all directions.
Fitting problems:
Left - The curve of the surrounds doesn't match the curve of the grill.
This means that the gap will never look consistent all the way around.
Far right - Here's the big killer. The surrounds are just too damn long.
With the left side touching the grill, the right side hangs out over the
fender. I tried sticking it inside the fender but then the overlap is
even bigger, and there's no way it'll fit like that with the headlight
assembly behind it.
The only solution I can see is to cut the outside edge of the surrounds
about 1/2 inch. I was not prepared for this and I don't have the tools
for it. I'm not sure but with an even bigger cut, I can probably
mount the upper right side of the assembly on the second hole in the car
frame, which will let the upper left side fit right. (In fact I already
bolted it on this way, but of course the surround is way to the right
then.)
Now here's the more bad news. I'm pretty sure that whatever method is used
to cut the plastic will screw up my paint job. What a pain in the ass.
I have had it with paint.
Has anyone on this list, ever mounted these things themselves?
Has anyone seen them mounted on a '98 yet?
What does VW Sport have to offer for an explanation? I was prepared
for some pain, but not major bodywork.
BTW, I used wire taps so I didn't have to cut the stock plugs off, which
means I can put the stock headlights back in. Unfortunately I did
bend up that one bracket and I doubt it can take much bending back
and forth. If I bend it back for the stock lights, it'll surely break when
I make another attempt at the Pzwos.. I may see about mounting to the
other three stock mount points and wiring the fourth.
ian
98 GTI VR6 lightless edition
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Sat Oct 24 21:04 CDT 1998
