The RAD Roadtrip

370 miles, several UK towns, cities and motorways later, and we're back from a mini-weekend break that involved bolting-up a few new parts to the Caddy.

First up was a Friday morning blast down to RAD: Reflex Auto Design in Brixworth, just north of Northampton. Job one was to fit a sliding-door rail cover, painted in Raven Blue this more than finishes off the side of the van:

Next up (while the paint is in the gun), a rear spoiler to finish off the rear end:

And finally, a sump-guard is bolted up to replace the original plastic unit and allow us to run the ride-height a little nearer the tarmac without the worry of speedbumps.

All excellent products and RAD have been a pleasure to deal with from initial emails to driving away. Quality is high and they take pride in what they do.

Just before driving away we caught a glimpse (well, had a good nosey around) another Caddy that was in for some last-minute tweaks before Ultimate Dubs. I'd seen this van before in Magazines and on the forums, but to see it in it's new guise, show-fresh and ready to roll left me absolutely awe-struck. More info on this in the next post...

Wheels and tyres are on!

The long Winter-wait is at an end; the Helios are finally on.

Tyres were sourced from Camskill - great value for money on brand-name tyres, good stock availability and cheap, quick delivery makes these my first choice every time for buying tyres.

Money saved here has meant we can jump up a level, quality-wise; spec'ing a set of four Falken FK452 in 235/35/19 to perfectly match the 19x8.5 wheels without any impractical stretch of the previously fitted wheels. These also have little effect on the speedo being within 2% of the same rolling diameter as the stock 15" steels.

But who to fit them? Our local tyre-fitting shop don't seem to like us walking in with our tyres - there's no money to be made for them - so after some inquiries and a word-of-mouth recommendation, we got in touch with Stuart at Unique Tyres.

Stuart turned up in his kitted-out Merc Sprinter, fitted a brand new head to his fitting machine and had the four wheels built-up and balanced in no time. For the total sum of £60, a cup of tea and plenty of v-dub chat, the wheels were then checked and mounted in a matter of minutes.

Visually, the front needs to come back down a bit - maybe the back a touch too. It's also apparent that the rear wheels are pulling forwards in the arch; common for modern lowered Volkswagens with a beam rear-end. Hopefully a quick trip to see JC at JC Motors should rectify these.

I'm absolutely over-the-moon with the way the Helios wheels have transformed the look of the Caddy. They keep that whole 'factory' OEM look - and the rarity-factor of not seeing many sets about appeals in a world of endless BBS replicas and cheap Supermarket alloys.
In particular, I like the way the centre-cap matches the centre of the steering wheel - the way VW would have done it if they were building a Caddy without budget constraints:

So there we have it; just a few more lows and a tweak of the stance and we're almost there! Time to turn my focus back to the interior...

Retail therapy

The hammering of the credit card has begun!

Well, not quite. I've made some tentative enquiries with Reflex Auto Design for a few things (hopefully) before Ultimate Dubs in March. Firstly a sliding door rail cover, painted in Raven Blue. A rear spoiler, bought as part of a forum group buy, painted in Raven Blue at the same time then fitted. And finally a sump guard so I can wind the front suspension back down a little and not clench every time I see a speed bump!

The spending didn't stop there. Today's trip to Dubfeeze has seen us pick up a new tax disk holder, some replenishments of Meguiar's cleaning products (roll-on Spring!) and a set of UK-legal pressed metal plates complete with German dealer surrounds:

There didn't seem to be many Caddys kicking around at Dubfreeze, but then again, it was too cold to go searching for any length of time! Here's a couple:

Fingers-crossed I'm sorted for a tyre-fitter too, so the Helios could be on sooner than expected - there won't be any more snow now, right?

Bike mount - part two

The trial fit.

Here's the RockyMounts DriveShaft temporarily in place.

There's loads of room around the bike (you could easily have the driver's seat right back in the rails and still have enough room) and putting the bike in the van before carpeting has given me an idea for storing the front wheel and other associated bike bits - more on this later!

All I need now is a way of attaching the lateral bar, that the DriveShaft will be bolted to, to the two tie-down loops at the back of the van.

Bike mount - part one

As readers of this blog and my T5 blog will know, I'm a fairly keen mountain-biker. And whilst it's easy to carry the bike around the back of the T5, the Caddy seems less accommodating for the bike and other gear that goes along with it.

Bike and Transporter in perfect harmony

I've seen a few homemade bike carriers for the Caddy; some better than others, but in my quest to keep things looking as 'factory' as possible I didn't want anything too obvious-looking (if that makes sense?).

My other predicament was that I run a front fork with a 15mm bolt-thru axle (a bit like a motorbike) and all I keep finding are bike mounts suitable for quick release wheels...

So after a few months trawling the internet I found RockyMounts, based in Boulder, Colorado. They've been making ski and bike racks for years and I was particularly interested when I saw their DriveShaft mount that was specifically designed for universal mounting on any truck bed. The DriveShaft model is designed purely for bolt-thru axles (or a bolt-thru adaptor) in standard form for 15mm axles or 20mm with a set of nylon shims. I'll let the pictures explain:

The DriveShaft in open position...

...drop the front fork in...

...close the clamp, pull the handle and lock in place.

Being lockable is another bonus as I plan to leave the bike in the van whilst at work - the lock is an added deterrent for any would-be bike thief.

I'm still quite a way off this being fitted; carpeting has ground to a halt while the weather is too cold, and the floor will need to go in after carpeting.

Right, now to find a solution to storing the front wheel...

The fins are in...

With one last trimming session using two more lower side inserts to 'blend' the edges to the existing bumper, we're finally ready for a coat of black plastic paint and pop into place. Bonded in with a EvoStick's Time Bond contact adhesive and then finish up any gaps with Black Sikaflex, I'm hoping that nothing falls out on the way to work in the morning!

Here's the end result, much better than the gaping hole that was there before:

Not a bad job for someone that has a dislike of working with plastics, spray paints and glue! I did mention in the previous post that I was looking into something different for the finish - well, I've decided against it at the moment... I was thinking of stickerbombing the two horizontal fins but then thought this might attract too close a glance at my handywork (and the whole stickerbomb thing is a little 'last year'), hence I'm leaving them black... for now.