Some side-by-sides with the LED kit:

 

Nice looking Treg w/some nice upgrades.
Look forward to seeing/reading about future updates.

 

Where did you get the LED fog light bulbs? I got some a few years ago but had to return them because they weren’t CANBUS compatible

 

Go with deAutoKey

 

Nice upgrades. Thanks for sharing this.

 

Reported.

 

Quit saying CAN bus compatible.... they just have resistors to fake a "load" in the circuit ....

 

Usually that's the extent of it. Yep.

 

Fun stuff!
Starting to amass some parts now for the motor:

Passat style rear lights

• They are surprisingly good quality, but I'm hoping the stupid over-the-top startup light show isn't actually present from the seller's listing, it looks horrendous and I'll do everything in my power to disable it if so!

Some bits and bobs

• Blind spot monitors
• Passenger front door puddle light
• Passenger mirror that I cracked being a baffoon
• Passenger rear footwell light that I broke being a baffoon

Tiguan style LED shifter + gaitor/boot

• Incredibly easy mod and I think modernises the inside of these cars very nicely. Red LEDs to match the stock ones
• Gaitor/boot is due to arrive soon

TRW end links

• I also have a full front set of control arms coming (thank you black friday!) which should completely tighten up the front end

B4 Bilstein rear shocks + top mounts

OEM front shocks (one still to arrive) + top mounts

• I was attempting to get B4 on all four corners but they are backordered for 4 months until March 2025, decided I'd rather push forward and just use OEM

eBay special front splitter, rear valance + hatch spoiler (2nd pic)

• Designed to mimic VW parts 7P0-071-608-96D, 7P0-071-619-B, and 7P0-071-641-GRU respectively
• Will be paint matched and likely bonded/taped on, don't want to go down the bolts/nuts/hardware route unless I need to!

Currently scouring FB marketplace for a cheap set of 275/45/R20 winter tyres, don't particularly fancy dealing with a Chicago winter on Alenza run-flats. It'll probably open the door for me to buy the Cayenne 21s in the spring and mount them with good all-season/summer tyres and do the bi-annual swapsies.

Less fun stuff...
Sadly, glow plug #1 broke off in the cylinder and the guys at the shop couldn't get it out, so cylinder head needs to come off to get it properly sorted. Will be ensuring all 6 plugs come out, go in, and have anti-seize on them for future maintenance. Don't want a heart attack next time the CEL comes on for a glow plug!

More updates to come

 

Loving this thread

 

I saw "Starting to amass some parts for the motor" and then I saw all the exterior and suspension list. Threw me off for a minute.
Definitely would like to see how it looks once all is installed.

 

Hehe apologies - it’s slang from my home country of Scotland referencing the entire vehicle rather than the engine itself.

Hopefully very little parts are required to be collected for that!

 

OK so motor as in motor vehicle. Got it.

 

Suspension pain!

Why so over-complicated?
I don't think I fully realised how deep the rabbit hole goes for Touareg suspension configurations. Options include "normal" suspension, sport suspension, air suspension (for non-US models that is, my centre dash console looks pathetic now I know what all the blanked off bits could be for). There's also dozens of spring colour combinations too which I haven't delved too deeply into yet because I value my sanity.

For those wondering about their own car, you may be tempted to head to parts.vw.com and chuck in your VIN for confirmation. Well, the VW parts site is wrong with its fitment checker, specifically for sport vs non-sport suspension. With my VIN entered, it was absolutely sure I had the non-sport suspension option and was steering me to different and incorrect part numbers. It was only after 5+ separate companies checked my VIN (including the parts desk guy at my local VW dealer) and confidently ensured me my car DID have sport suspension, did I conclusively find the error in the fitment checker online.

Availability woes
After feeling satisfied that I'd deciphered all of this nonsense, I settled on Bilstein B4s for the chosen replacements. I've had B8s on my GTI before and I like the quality of Bilstein products across the board. I could get the rears easily enough, but the fronts were on backorder until April 2025. This wasn't ideal, I'm impatient with my car projects!

To try and get something sorted this millennium, I decided to go with B4s on the rear and instead use OEM shocks for the front. The internet seems to agree that the B4s run about 10% stiffer than OEM and I figured this wouldn't be noticable, or a bad thing, with my future towing plans.

I placed the order 2-3 weeks go and waited for my new shiny suspension bits to show up. The rears and passenger side front shock arrived right on time (see pic earlier this thread). But the driver's side...the shipping date slipped twice and I was finally told yesterday that the specific part was now on backorder throughout the USA with no ETA from Volkswagen. LARGE SIGH.

I again started scouring the web for any suppliers who happened to have the part actually in their warehouse, and not just a storefront with direct shipping. No dice. I even ordered 2-3 shocks from various sellers who claimed they had stock just to get the email "hey btw this is on backorder". Even eBay was not able to rescue me at this point.

Luckily - I've now found a UK supplier who seems to have stock of the B4 from Bilstein UK who are willing to ship to me, so I'm back with my original plan of having B4s on all four corners, but with a healthy dose of PTSD due to all the research and phone calls and pain and swear words mis-direction and returns and cancelled orders.

Now this wasn't just a rant. I want to give back to the community where possible.

Here's what I've figured out in terms of suspension for my particular VIN, and also the hardware if you're following VW's "I know we use stretch bolts quite often but do not re-use any bolt or nut ever" recommendation. All part numbers are for 7P/T3/2013 model.

Part numbers
Front left (US driver side)
OEM non-sport part number: 7P6-413-031-AK
OEM sport part number: 7P6-413-031-AQ
Bilstein B4 sport part number: 19-189697

Front right (US passenger side)
OEM non-sport part number: 7P6-413-032-AK
OEM sport part number: 7P6-413-032-AQ
Bilstein B4 sport part number: 19-189703

Rear
OEM sport part number: 7P6-513-029-BG
Bilstein B4 sport part number: 19-189710
I don't know about the other part numbers for the rear shocks. There appears to be weight ranges with BA, BB, BC whereas mine is BG. The whole thing makes my head hurt.

Hardware part numbers when replacing shocks + torque specifications (PER SIDE)
Front
1x Shock to end link bolt: N10576002
1x Shock to end link nut: N10402904
Shock to end link tightening spec: 110nm

1x Shock top nut: N90966402
Shock top nut tightening spec: 56nm

1x Lower control arm to shock bolt: N10335304 -
1x Lower control arm to shock nut: N10532602
Lower control arm to shock tightening spec: 150nm + 90° additional turn

Top mount nuts (don't need to replace) tightening spec: 60nm

Rear
1x Shock to knuckle bolt: N10592402
1x Shock to knuckle nut: N10402904
Shock to knuckle tightening spec: 90nm90° additional turn

CAUTION: I haven't been able to figure out which of the below chassis to top mount bolts I actually need to use where, this post will be updated once I do the job. Some suggest this is sport vs non-sport suspension, other sources say the front facing bolts are the shorter ones and you have to use a mix of both. Currently TBD!
4x Chassis to top mount bolts: WHT003792 (160mm) or WHT003791 (115mm)
Chassis to top mount bolts tightening spec: 50nm + 180° additional turn

1x Top shock nut: N90966402
Top shock nut tightening spec: 56mn
4x Top mount plate nuts: N90958602
Top mount plate nuts tightening spec: 26nm

Sources:
Touareg Spare Parts Catalog/Diagrams - ETKA
2014 Volkswagen Touareg Quick Reference Specification Book

Hope this helps!

 

If you want to know, I've posted about how to decipher info that's making your head hurt. Use the search function.

 

I feel like it took you longer to tell me to use the search function than it would to just link the thread you're talking about which is a wee bit strange mate, if I'm honest!

I did do a search on this topic but couldn't find anything when searching "spring information" "colour code springs", or similar style keywords, nor does the thread appear to be pinned in the suspension section, which could also be handy going forward.

If you can post a direct link to the thread here, this will help me and other subsequent viewers of this thread to find it directly, rather than having to figure out the search terms?

Cheers for the heads up nonetheless, and a pro-active cheers for the information you've provided previously in said thread!

 

I've thrown you a bone... you could click on the username and find all topics started by me.... but I guess you'd rather type a lengthy reply justifying the need for me to spoon feed you instead.....

Let me know if this is sufficient for you, of if you want to do a remote assist session where I can even click on the hyperlink for you.

I'm here to help

Suspension weight category / range / class / rating & paint marks

 

richmacdonald - 8 posts (will be 9 after this reply) - joined 2024
SaVAGeSoot - 11164 posts - joined 2022

It's almost like I'm new to this and don't know how some of the functions work!
Not sure who shat in your coffee this morning but please, relax.

Your thread title doesn't mention springs, or shocks, or configuration. It's no surprises someone with single digit posts couldn't find it. Have you asked an admin to pin it on the suspension topic? Looks VERY useful!

Again, thank you for sharing and I'll promise to dig through your 11164 posts next time you turn up on my thread with a toxic attitude.

 

I now see where I've failed... my next attempt at making a useful post for the community will also have to implement some sort of SEO logic..... thank you for the suggestion.

 

A link to the thread would definitely have been more helpful. Good to see it's been done.

 

As long as you're happy, I'm happy.

 

I doubt that.

 

How did you install the front LED indicator bulbs? When I replaced the HID bulbs I couldn’t see any way to access the indicator bulbs

 

On my car they are further towards the middle grille area - there's another cap you take off and they actually live on the end of a grey plastic stalk that's a similar size to cutlery. Twist and remove, far less painful than the HID bulbs to change.

 

No updates - Touareg is STILL at the shop getting this glow plug taken care of. 6 weeks and counting at this rate.

In the meantime, my finger slipped while I was browsing eBay and these guys are on their way towards me - OEM Cayenne SportDesign 21x10 wheels. Will be putting Toyo Celsius Sport 295/40/21s on there when I finally stomach the $400+ per corner cost of the rubber.

Aftermarket TPMS sensors look to be a pain in the arse in terms of which frequency they use, or which programming is initially required before you mount them to the car, but I'll work with local shops to get some on there that aren't $200+ each from VW.

 

Nice wheels! I've been tempted to get a set of Porsche wheels for my T-Reg.

 

Curious to know if those led taillights are plug and play or if you need to do any wiring? Do you mind sharing where you got them? either post here or send me message if you can.

Congrats on the project - looks good!

 

They require wiring to be run from the outside to the inside sections of the lights - which will mean removing the trunk/boot lid trim and using a snake to thread the wiring through the various grommets.

Here's the link to the lights - the startup animation looks absolutely f*cking awful and I severely hope they don't actually do that. If they do, I'll be attempting to hardware hack the circuitry to find out how best to remove it haha!

 

Thanks! Looking forward to an update once you have them in.

Cheers

 

Ordered some 76mm VW stickers from AliExpress for the wheels. They look pretty good on there now, even though I did a pretty poor job of making sure they are exactly centered. If it annoys me too much I'll just buy them again and give it another go! Next step for the wheels is to wait for my 295/40/21 Toyo Celsius Sports to arrive. Autel TPMS sensors are already here and will be programmed before the wheels go on.

The shop FINALLY got this stuck glow plug, after 2 months of the being gone. Here's a pic they sent:

I know nothing about glow plugs but it looks a bit f*cked in my opinion!
Picking up the car today (22nd Jan) so work can finally resume on suspension refreshes and other fun stuff!

Rich

 

Couple of small bits done today - noteworthy is the updated Tiguan LED shift knob. I chose to replace the boot/gaiter with a fresh one, which ended up taking a couple of painstaking hours with a tiny drill bit and hand attaching some staples. Had to squash it all in (thicker than stock) and ended up slightly breaking the trim piece but all fits well now and looks good!

Before:

During the boot install - getting all the stock staples out, aligning the new ones and trying to make it as tidy as possible:

And the after - better pics can always be taken (especially at night), but this should give you a good idea:

 

I wanted to this a while ago too, but I haven’t found any that works for the RHD models as the manual shifting is on the other side

 

What a great build, thanks for updating this!