The car was mechanically always fine, now the cosmetics also match the mechanical condition.
BHPian 300 KMPH recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Complete Cosmetic Restoration at 1,72,000 km
Hi all. Hope everyone is doing well. We are finally winning the battle against COVID and things are almost close to normal now.
Anyway, my Vento has been lately sitting idle at my residence as it is not a daily driver anymore. We all know how quickly German cars depreciate especially.
Since the car was always busy doing highway duties, we never really got the time to pay attention to the cosmetics as the mechanical condition was always our priority.
It was in early 2022, I had decided to restore this car but was not really sure. I always felt that if I again start daily driving the car, it will get filled with scratches and dings.
But my brother asked me to go ahead and pushed me to make the car cosmetically perfect and presentable in such a way that it should resemble the year 2013 again.
My car never visited anywhere outside apart from Volkswagen Service Centre but my friend Aakash was very confident about a neighbourhood garage as he was already doing bodywork on his W204 C-Class Kompressor there.
I visited the garage, and the garage owner seemed very confident in what he was doing and did not take me for a ride which unofficial service centres usually love to do. I also some lovely imports being restored cosmetically and mechanically up to my level of expectation and decided to go ahead.
As 28th March was the car’s 9th birthday, I thought it would be a good initiative for the car and for me.
I took a quote and went for the following repairs:
- Front and Rear Bumper repainting and realignment
- Front RHS fender repaint
- LHS and RHS Running board repair and repaint
- RHS bottom part of doors to be repaired and only bottom part to be repainted
- Boot sill inner lining to be repainted
- Rims to be repainted
- RHS quarter panel trim to be replaced
- Both headlights and LHS taillight to be replaced
- Fresh set of number plates
My main goal was to make the car presentable. Now bodywork isn’t rocket science, so let the pics do the talking:
A minor leak was also found due to rat-bite giving a hissing sound for the last 72,000 km approximately, which was fixed. Again, not the car’s fault. Those lines were in connection with the turbo. So the turbo was spooling at around 2100 rpm, now it properly spools at 2000 rpm.
Some final pics with a DSLR Camera
The car was mechanically always fine, now the cosmetics also match the mechanical condition.
Also, it also reminds us of the time when diesel motors were the top priority, unlike the petrol motors. Now, the beautiful TSIs have taken over the TDIs.
I am sure you would also be having more amazing stories to share. I am waiting for them to read!
Keyword: VW Vento TDI with 1.72 lakh km gets a complete cosmetic restoration