Mystic Rado

There are a few suspension specialists out there who do rebuilds of racing dampers. Koni lists these guys on their UK site: http://www.koni.uk.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76&Itemid=126 They should be able, at least, to tell you if it's feasible and what it's likely to cost. It might end up cheaper just buying a complete new damper, but it's got to be worth a phone call.

Got a replacement single rear damper unit for the H&R monotube coilover kit from H&R via Eurocarparts who are the UK importer for the brand - they won't sell direct from Germany. Took endless googling and a few phone calls to find out that the parts are all available individually. Once I'd sorted the part number and managed to persuaded Eurocarparts to order the thing, it only took around a week to rock up. Result - new damper to replace the blown and leaking one, no need for a rebuild, cost £140 which is a sight cheaper than buying new suspension all round. Next: MoT...

To be fair, print magazines are going out of business because of a combination of factors: distribution costs add up to more than half of the cover price of every mag sold, news trade distribution is near monopoly with just a handful of large companies controlling the market, local newsagents are being wiped out by supermarkets partly because - ironically - people no longer walk anywhere, but prefer to drive and magazine-type content is available online for free. In lots of cases, if you live in a smallish town, it's virtually impossible to buy some magazines - where I am, if Tesco decides not to stock it, you're basically screwed. But I do admire your dedication to the cause :-)

Oh joy... months later. So... turns out that H&R monotube coilovers actually use Koni technology, but what no-one will tell you and you cannot find on the web is that you can actually buy replacement dampers from H&R. They won't sell direct, but Eurocarparts, who are the UK importer for H&R can order for you. A replacement rear damper is going to cost around £140 delivered, which is a lot cheaper than changing the suspension set-up all round. Only downside is that it's going to take three weeks for the damper to be manufactured and sent out. Neve mind... Also, in the mean time, a Gruvenparts gear change link thing is going on which'll hopefully sort out the reluctance of the gearshifter to find first - the original plastic one, I think, is goosed - and who knows, I might even fit those Samco hoses that are sat in the cellar. At this rate it'll be back on the road just in time for next winter. I am a very bad Corrado owner :|

So... since I got the car back from the paintshop, it's been in for MoT. Dodgy ignition switch in process of replacing plus a leaking rear damper on my H&R coilovers. A few months on google later and I work out that Bilstein UK in Leicestershire can apparently refurb them at around 80 quid per corner as the H&R dampers are mostly modified Bilsteins, allegedly. Anyway, the leaking one is heading off to be refurbished, after which it can get MoT'd and back on the road. Also need to collect my spare Solitude from being refurbished so it can replace the one on the front that appears to be porous, which can then in turn be refurbed and used to replace one of the rear ones and so on... and then there's the small matter of the tyres which I reckon have flat-spotted from standing around in one one place for too long, which would explain the vibration. Bugger.... I'm thinking new Bridgestones and more regular driving in future. And then I need to sort that bloody siren out, again :|

Wow, it's been, erm, a while since I updated this, five years even. Life got in the way and the Storm got sort of marginalised. Oh, and some ******* jumped on the bonnet a couple of years ago putting a terminal dent in it. The good side of that was that it finally spurred me into doing something about the 5/10 paint job, something being a glass out, bare metal respray and a lot of new trim. The car went into my local paintshop almost a year ago and, again, life and mostly moving house and building work after the move got in the way again, to the point where it didn't re-emerge until almost ten months later. Oops, I felt guilty, the paint guys felt guilty, but it was totally worth the wait. The original paint job got more horrible the closer you got to the car, the paint now looks pretty much perfect. I've also got a whole bunch of images and a couple of videos from the prep and spray process. Apparently everything was sound under about 50 layers of poor paint bar a small patch of rot on the passenger door which was cut out and repaired. On the trim side, most of the hard plastics were returbed and look great, but I had a couple of roof trim strips set aside, so they've gone on. Other stuff: the wheels are now screaming out for a refurb and one of them is either porous or not sealing properly plus I reckon the tyres have flat-spotted from sitting around. Plus the siren on the annoying Clifford Concept 300 has died again - I have a replacement ready to go on once the car's back from being MOT'd. Also sat here is one of the Grüvenparts short shift kits which may or may not help with a slightly woolly shift at the first/second end of the gate, we'll see. I guess realistically, the Corrado is almost going to take second place to my bikes - pedal-powered ones - but I love driving the thing and can't wait to get it back on the road. It's never going to be a show car, just one for driving on sunny days and weekends. New tyres? The nasty steering flutter and vibration says yes, probably four of the things. Standard Solitudes and wondering about either Conti Premium Contacts or Bridgetone RE002s, which seem to get good reviews on the VR6. Still haven't refurbed those 288mm brakes yet - I have the hoses - for them and I have a bit of a yearning for a Schrick manifold, but I'm finally happy with the way the car looks and slightly skint, the two not being unrelated. Anyway, will post some process pics in the next few weeks and some proper shots of the car outside. Next post due in around 2020 on past form... [ATTACH=CONFIG]82331[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]82332[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]82333[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]82334[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]82335[/ATTACH]

If it's anything like a Mk2 GTi - nasty flaking foam backed stuff - it's a pain in the backside to fix without taking the whole headliner out, cleaning off the foam, then recovering it, this sort of thing. If you try to re-stick it with the headliner in situ, it just sags again. I guess it depends on how dedicated you're feeling, I wasn't and got mine sorted out by a car trim and upholstery specialist locally - Jim the Trim in Denton, Manchester if you're near the NW. Cost me around £200, so not cheap, but they did a brilliant job of it, far better than I'd have managed myself.

More last week than today, but picked up the Storm from the paint shop after a full back to metal, windows out respray and took it over to my regular garage to be MoT'd. Looks absolutely mint, chuffed to bits - all the crap 5/10 paintwork and flaws and the dent where some dickhead jumped on my bonnet are gone, mix of new and refurbished trim. Can't wait to get it back and on the road. I'll stick up some pics of the respray etc in the next few days.

Yep, I'd be interested in a silver one.

Seen two recently - black with cobwebs parked up in sunny New Mills and a gloriously low and svelte purple blue violet stunner rolling through Glossop town centre a day or two back. And there's an aqua blue VR, I think, that I clock regularly every couple of months. Always good to see 'em.

Not quite today, but... put the Storm back on the road and got it MoT'd - only fault was a split drive-shaft gaiter. Bought a bonnet to replace the one that some bastid jumped on a couple of years ago leaving a terminal dent in it. Sorted out an appointment for a quote for a respray from the local paint-shop. Drove lots with the window down and sun-roof open and listened to the exhaust bouncing off dry-stone walls. Oh, and actually today, replaced the antenna with a new one, gasket thing to go on later, pulled out the blower motor and replaced the thermal fuse using a soldering iron and a heat sink, also lubed up the motor shaft so it spins more freely. Now back in the car and heater blower runs on all four speeds. Pondered whether the mild steering wheel flutter is because my tyres have flat-spotted while the car was SORNed and standing for 18 months. Bugger :-/ But great to back driving the 'rado again. Forgotten how absolutely freakin' brilliant it is :smug:

Sorry for the slow reply mate, sorted on the bonnet front now. And yes, jumped on it. From the roof of the Mk5 Golf TDi parked in front. It's hard to know what to say really. I like to think that someone that stupid and/or drunk will eventually be taken care of by Darwinism. I actually find it hard to feel any real malice towards them, it must be tough being that stupid...

Yep, that was me. I'll talk to my bodyshop guy on Monday and PM you to sort out the details.

Cool. Scratches aren't an issue - someone kindly jumped on my bonnet from the roof of a neighbour's Golf and put an industrial-sized dent in it - it's going to need respraying in Mystic Blue, so as long as it's otherwise good, that's ideal. My local body shop, which is doing the work, reckons they can sort collection. I don't know about any additional packaging requirements, but if there are any, I'll obviously reimburse you for those. Will get it bought and drop you a PM to sort the collection details. Cheers Jon Edit: Done: will be in touch probably Monday.

Morning, I'm after a VR6 bonnet, yours looks spot on. I'm down near Manchester, but my local bodyshop could arrange a collection from you if that's feasible from your point of view? I guess it would have to be a during working hours thing. Please let me know if that sounds possible. Or if there might be a way round it? Cheers Jon

HIDs actually run cooler than standard bulbs, so that should be fine... Chances are that the headlights will be okay. Looking at that thread, I think you'll have effectively a high powered wiring loom running direct from the battery but switched by relay, but I can't see exactly. I reckon you'll need to either source new caps for the rear of the headlight - the ones that now have wires running through them or seal the hole, the standard ones have a sort of concealed vent though, so you may be better off looking for some second hand caps - disconnect the ballasts and HID bulbs and remove. Stick standard, preferably decent H4 Halogen bulbs in the headlights - the Philips +90% Xtreme Power ones are good. And reconnect the standard plugs from the high-powered loom directly to the headlight. Whereabouts are you? If you're not sure, a decent auto-electrician should be able to sort it out easily enough, but if the upgraded loom still uses standard OE plugs or the stock loom is still in there triggering the upgraded one, it should be simple enough to just strip out the HID kit and go back to halogens. Just looked at the beam pattern pics in that thread. Not surprised it failed the MoT like that.

Hello, do you still have the bonnet and if so is it dent/rust free? Not fussed about the paint as it'll need re-spraying anyway - someone jumped on mine, which was nice... And I'm assuming that it's the late bonnet with the bulge?

Funny mix of stuff: I can remember the first time I saw one driving through London and did a proper wtf is that thing, kind of love at first sight. And the way it drives, obviously. And I hate modern cars with their identikit, splodgy looks. I can barely tell the new Scirocco and a Vauxhall Astra apart, the 'rado looks like a CAR. And don't get me started on Audis. And I like that most people have no idea what a Corrado is. And those who do have a certain respect for the things. And that ridiculous VR6 howl that has you driving down country roads with the windows down so you can hear the exhaust note bouncing back off dry-stone walls. And there's something ace about the rear lights, they remind me of stained glass for some reason, just this wall of lights with black leading. And there are really only three cars I want to own: Mk2 GTi, the Corrado and a 911. So yeah, to sum that I up, I have no real idea, just a bunch of randomness, but I do seem to own one.

Back from the dead... anyway, three years [eek, four years...] later. I did sort the battery pack on my siren, but the car's had a quiet existence for the past couple of years and now the siren is 100% dead either way - no chirps, no alarm, which I suspect means the siren itself is dead along with the rechargeable battery pack. As I understand it, the rechargeables in the siren only charge when the car's being driven, so if it's just standing, even with a trickle charger connected, eventually the battery just dies. Which is a nice touch. Anyway, if anyone wants to replace the battery pack in their Clifford alarm, it's pretty straightforward and takes about 20 minutes or so. You can get the battery packs on eBay - search for 'Clifford Siren' - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/clifford-battery-back-up-siren-515u-replacement-battery-pack-lost-chirps-/261016292778?pt=UK_Car_Accessories_Safety_Security&hash=item3cc5c88daa There's a really detailed walk through with images that someone's done at: http://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/car-audio/502106.html Anyway, hope that's useful for someone. I'm going to see if I can trace the siren fuse for mine, just in case it's that, but I suspect it's new siren time. Will probably just solder join and shrink wrap the wires one by one, but need to have a proper look later. Hope that's handy for anyone having similar Clifford siren / non-chirping issues. Oh, and fwiw, you can set the alarm to silence or quieten the arming chirp - details in the alarm user manual.

Yes, if you want HIDs in your spots, you'd need an H3 kit as well. Good luck with getting a half-decent beam pattern with the standard headlights and HIDs btw. I tried it and the results were chuffing awful. The same kit worked surprisingly well in a Mk2 GTi. If you simply want more light, you're better off with an uprated loom and decent bulbs like the Philips Xtreme waddya call 'ems ime. Also lots of noise about MoTs cracking down on aftermarket HID kits about.

I think the argument of the guy who'd looked into this in a slightly obsessive way was that in this case, it went beyond just compliance. But ultimately what matters is that standard bushes work very well in that application, poly ones are significantly harsher. Similarly dubious when used in the wrong places up front.

I had Powerflex in my old Mk2 GTi and they were proper harsh. Somewhere out there, I think on VW Vortex, is a very scientific thread on why you didn't ought to use Powerflex in that application. The gist of it is that they bind under load, which makes sense to me given that fitting them to my Mk2 made it feel ridiculously harsh at the back. When I did the Corrado, I went with standard VW bushes and I'm dead happy with 'em, doing the same on my new Mk2 as well. I was really surprised at how solid the rear felt on my Golf. Not good.

Took off the driver's side headlight which has a condensation problem, rinsed it out with dish-washer detergent, rinsed, re-rinsed with de-ionised water, dried slowly with a hair-drier, still couldn't get the inside of the lens clean, so popped it off and cleaned it with glass cleaner and did some more drying, sealed the likely entry point - long story involving relayed spots - with silicone gunk and stuck the headlight back on with no more condensation. And picked up an SWG scuttle panel that Parcelforce left at my neighbour's place. Thought about replacing the siren battery in my aging Clifford alarm, then decided to do it another day instead. Drove it and grinned like an idiot. More light too without the condensation (relayed with rally bulbs) :thumbleft:

Gliptoned the front seats and, in the process, discovered a small pool of water in the passenger footwell. Swore lots. Ordered a new seal for the foliage filter housing thing. Cursed snow-melt. Crossed fingers that it's not the door membrane - taking door cards off isn't my thing. Muttered darkly at stone chips.

I like Mystic Blue and Solitudes look nicer than Speedlines to me, so I bought a Storm. I had a Mk3 GTi in Mystic Blue with Solitudes as well, but it was a completely different car, though amusingly my next door neighbour couldn't tell the difference between the two. So don't buy a Mk3 Golf whatever you do, they're quite nasty, even the Mystic ones. I'd be just as happy with a standard VR6, but I do like the colour and people who know nothing about Corrados assume there's something special about Storms, which - as per all the above posts - there isn't really. But anyway...