# USELESS X Motormavens Feature



## tamtam (Feb 18, 2004)

Hey fellas, 
So I Know its been a while since I posted anything on the Forums, and so I promised the guys from the USELESS crew that I would post pics from their photoshoot that I did recently, here goes nothing.. 









These are some of the cars we are working with ... starting from the left ( Edris, Frankie, Alex, Jonathan and Ricky) 
I've actually been meaning to get a photo shoot with all of the crew but some of the cars weren't in attendance or were being worked on that day, so they missed out, I guess another time then. Not to be mistaken for a car crew or a club, USELESS is just a group of guys who just know how to hang out and have fun. 

































Lets start with Frankie's car. 
Frankie's ride is a 2009 Volkswagen Rabbit: 
Some of the parts that make the ride are a ABD cold air intake and a magnaflow exhaust cut back. 
As far as his air ride system, Frankie opted for Mason tech front struts up front with some fabrication to the front sway bar to get the height frankie wanted. Rears consist of Air house one with koni shocks. One 480 dual compressor system with a polished 5 gallon tank. AVS switch box- with 8 valves( side to side and up and down) 

Wheels: Audi Flat Fives 18x8.5 all around et 35 paired with 15 mm. spacers 










































Next up is Edris Ekhlas and his 2007 Volkswagen GTI 

Exterior: 
R32 rear bumper 
Euro-Spec Led tails 
Rear-wiper delete 
votex front lip 
jetta front grille assembly 
color-matched sidemarkers 

Interior: 
euro-spec dash tray 
oem mfd2 navigation 
GTI monster mats 

Engine: 
Neuspeed Intake 
3" Atp Downpipe 
3" autotech/eurojet catback 

Suspension: 
Fk Highsport coilovers 

Wheels/tires: 
Fully polished MAE Monoblocks 
18x8.5 et32 215/35/18 (all around) 


The Jazz blue GTI - of the 2003 20th GTI Owner- Jonathan Lim 

































Suspension: 
FK Streetlines with helper springs removed in front, and rear perches 
out. 
Front Stress Bar 
C-Pillar Bar 
Frame Notch 
Removed Front Sway Bar 

Wheels: 
Rial Daytona 3-Piece (I wanna say custom lips, cuz I dont think rial 
sold daytona with those big of lips) 
18x9.5 +22 225/40 
18x8.5 +22 215/40 

Engine: 
Neuspeed Flash 
AEM Cold Air Intake 
Forge 007 Diverter Valve 
3" Downpipe with 2.5" custom piping to stock exhaust. 
Interior: 
HKS Turbo Time with custom face plate 
New South Performance Boost gauge 


































Next up in the MK5 Sliverstone grey GTI is owner Ricky Deng 
Wheels/ Tires 
Work Equip Voggard 17x8/9 et47, 15mm Adaptec adapters, Falken 912 205/45/17 215/45/17,full polished inside&out 

Suspension: 
-AirLift XL suspension with EasyStreet AutoPilot digital management, Frame notch 

Exterior: 
OEM Euro Lip, color matched side markers, s2000 antenna 
-Neuspeed P-Flo intake, Resonator Delete 



















































Finally we have the guy who started it all.. Alex Udarbe in his 2008 Volkswagen R32 

wheels: 
Autostrada Modena 
17 x 8.75 et11 
17 x 9.75 et 16 
tires: 
Yokohama S-Drive 
195/45/17 
205/45/17 

suspension: 
Bagyard supreme front struts 
Bagyard rear bags 
Easystreet autopilot controller 
Easystreet manifolds 
2 3-gallon tanks 
2 Viair 480 compressors 
Neuspeed Rear Sway Bar/endlinks 
k-sport camber plates 

outside: 
Shaved rear emblem 
Shaved bumper sidemarkers 
Shaved hood notch 
Molded US Spec rear bumper 
Ibis white with Silver/Ice Pearl top coat 
Euro Spec LED tail lights 

engine: 
Milltek catback exhaust 
VF engineering intake 
Haldex upgrade 
Revo Stage 1 


In the words of Alex Udarbe and what Stance, USELESS, And his car means to him . 


"My name is Alexei Udarbe. I'm a graphic designer hailing from Orange County. I'm not really into driving fast, or really into the latest trends, I hate things that are overdone, and I despise elitists. I do like long walks down the beach, sandwiches and other various hand-held type foods, brunettes, spinners, music without words and simple-looking things. I'm moody, a dog-lover and I love to roleplay on the computer and in the bedroom. 

I bought my car in 2008. I originally was looking for a GTI but the package I wanted was a few grand less than the R32, so I went with the R. My previous project was a body-dropped Toyota Tacoma and I told myself that I will keep this car simple with just coils and wheels. Once I put the coils and wheels on, I found myself turning my coils down a turn or 2 every weekend. If something rubbed that week, I would grind it down or cut it out and then test it for that week. Come the weekend, I would turn my coils down 2 more turns and get what ever rubbed out of the way. This went on for a month or 2 till I messed up my fenders. 

Bored with my ride height, I sold my 19" Work VS-XX to buy some 18" iForged Marquis. The cycle of coil adjustment and rub adjustment went on for a few more months till I decided that I should look into adjustable suspension. I was debating between hydraulic and air suspensions and I decided to go air because of my experience with the truck. Of course, I got a lot of flak from the R32 guys and other tuners because of how low the car was. I'll admit, I kind of liked that negative attention. 

Yes, the car was not done "the way it was supposed to be done" and that's where the whole "useless" thing started. On the way to Dubfest in Las Vegas, I had an airbag blow on me because of rubbing on my rear axle. I had to pull over–armed with only a widowmaker and some 3/8 drive tools–to replace the bag. Replacing a bag isn't a big deal since everything is bolt on, however, the widowmaker tilted on me and dug a huge hole in my quarterpanel. A few months later, I decided to get get the body repaired and try to squeeze in some custom work in there. From there, I ended up buying a set of 17" JDM wheels, I think the wheel size is perfect for our cars and have been running 17's ever since. 

I do not like the word "stance" so I will refrain from using it but lately, I've been focused more on wheel-fitment rather than getting the car as low as possible. It's great to see the whole wheel-fitment thing spread out through all makes/models of cars. It's a game of millimeters and to get the right number is a lot harder than people think (unless you're one of those people who troll around the forums begging people for their wheel specs.) That's probably one of the more favorable things about the car; how the car sits. It looks aggressive and clean. However, MY most favorite part about the car is the fact a lot of people have helped get the car to where it's at today. I can't think of how many times my friends came through in the clutch to lend a hand." 

:: TAMER OMRAN 
Staff writer 
Motormavens.com


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## Skin88 (Oct 16, 2008)

cool


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## jdotlim (Jun 2, 2008)

sweet!


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## webbstarrs (Mar 4, 2004)

Nice shoot Tam and good looking cars guys :thumbup:


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## GermanExklusiv (Jan 25, 2011)

Cars are looking good fellas!!!


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