i have 18,002 miles on the 07 gti now. the bridgestone potenza re050‘s aren’t really holding up. the driver’s side front is bald in the middle tread and the passenger’s side front is almost there… i’m comparing a few at tirerack right now, definitely getting a set of all-seasons. it’s not much fun trying to drive around in winter with summer performance tires.

a quick check at the customer survey results and i think i have an easy pick… the bridgestone potenza re960as pole position‘s. there’s even 35 reviews from volkswagen owners with an average rating of 8.93. there is one bad review from a mkV owner but i think i’m going to give these tires a shot anyhow. can’t be any worse than the re50′s that came stock, and with 400 tread wear rating (to the re50′s 140) they should hopefully last somewhere around their 40k warranty.

i’m really impressed with the quality of the awe mk6 2.0t vent mounted boost gauge. they included everything needed to get the gauge installed, well minus a flashlight. overall it only took about 2-3 hours, the instructions say about 1 hour, but if you haven’t taken off the engine cover expect it to take longer.
[ deviant speed : removing the engine cover ]
[ vwvortex : awe gauge install ]
[ awe tuning vent mounted boost gauge kit $189 ]
[ my.flickr awe boost gauge install ]

holy crap! i want one. 650hp/533 ft-lb torque, 202mph top speed, mid-engine [ twin turbo 6.0l W12 ], 0-60 (well 62mph) 3.7 seconds, and a carbon fiber roof. it lists a six speed automatic gearbox, i wonder if it’s dsg. supposedly the current dsg in the mkV gti can’t handle over 258 ft-lb of torque. oh yeah, and this one is rwd (rear wheel drive) not fwd or awd like normal gtis. [ vwvortex ]