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And the winner was the older car, for the simple reason, the other one was sold before I could make my mind up. I just need to sell my 2014 Focus Zetec diesel, anyone interested? Thanks for all your input.

It depends on the LED. But 5V works—that's correct OEM is just a neat solution, I think.

Yes of course. Difficult to judge tone through text. 😃 I took a judgement on cost and hassle vs reward and chose to try out a cheap option. If the brackets had fit, it would have meant I ended up with OEM brackets and lights and if I wanted to upgrade to OEM I would add radars and wiring loom. Chatted it through with @Cairus and seeing others who have done it I think the coding for OEM is beyond my remit. Next project is all OEM! 😉

OEM led are 5v 2 wire. Ali express kit is 5v 2 wire. I’ve bought a spare set of plugs and will plug them in and see how it goes.

They can do whatever they want. I’m still entitled to my opinion, though. I upgraded from the OEM 5Q0 to the 2Q0 myself, so I know exactly what the job entails

That is, provided the control units can actually drive the OEM LEDs. Since it’s not the OEM control unit, you don’t know how the LED is powered

Not an old debate but industry data coming out all the time. Data from a few weeks combining several large studies of car fires, first webpage below .... Simple summary is that EV fires are far less common, by a factor of as much as 80 but when they do go, if not checked by the standard fire fighting tech for EVs ie fire blanket, then consequences can be bad. EV fire blankets are now big business ie multi million pound business in many countries and supported by numerous industry big firms. One of our multi million pound UK firms is Fire Cloak of Sheffield. Link and demo of use below the EV fire risk data webpage... Energy Saving TrustAre electric vehicles a fire risk?Current research indicates that the chance of an electric vehicle catching fire is considerably lower than petrol or diesel vehicles.Fire Cloak™Fire Cloak™ – EV Fire Blanket – Contain Lithium Battery F...Protect against EV fires with Fire Cloak™, the electrical vehicle fire blanket that deploys in seconds, contains lithium battery fires, and safeguards people, vehicles and property.

Plan is to loosely fit the led that came with the kit near the a pillar inside. Then if it works well enough I’ll replace with led in the mirror housings for OEM look.

And 2 Warning LED each Side ^^

Hi! I tried but nothing; any other suggestions?

Dankuwel! Ik denk dak even wacht en het dan probeer😅

You’re more than welcome to for your car. This is my project to pass the time as my hobby on my car. If it works great. If not then I haven’t wasted a lot of money. It’s a nice to have. All of it is reversible.

In that case, I'd rather have OEM control units than the AliExpress knock-offs

Today I started the blind spot detection project. Trying out a basic AliExpress kit for £50 rather than OEM for £500. Bumper is a pain to remove thanks to two awkwardly angled torx screws under the wheel arch which requires the car jacked up to access. First problem after that was that the OEM radar brackets I bought from eBay to make mounting the radars easier didn’t fit. Turns out I had bought hatchback ones rather than estate so they didn’t fit! A bit of fettling and the brackets that came with the kit were made to fit, mounted onto one of the studs that holds the plastic trim on. All set to the correct angle. Cables routed into the car through a couple of grommets. Bumper back on and that’s the first stage done.

Today I started the blind spot detection project. Trying out a basic AliExpress kit for £50 rather than OEM for £500. Bumper is a pain to remove thanks to two awkwardly angled torx screws under the wheel arch which requires the car jacked up to access. First problem after that was that the OEM radar brackets I bought from eBay to make mounting the radars easier didn’t fit. Turns out I had bought hatchback ones rather than estate so they didn’t fit! A bit of fettling and the brackets that came with the kit were made to fit, mounted onto one of the studs that holds the plastic trim on. All set to the correct angle. Cables routed into the car through a couple of grommets. Bumper back on and that’s the first stage done.

Or you can go "All in" With an All-in Plan you can relax in the knowledge that you'll get two services, two MOTs, two years' Roadside Assistance, plus a free Warranty (when it's over 3yo)worth £626** for £959.76 Valid for vehicles with a 2.0L engine or less and under 100,000 miles at activation. Excludes electric vehicles and vehicles with an existing Service Plan. Vehicles that have been out of a warranty (that has been provided by Skoda UK or Skoda Financial Services) for more than 30 days will have a no-claim period of 30 days at the start of their All-in Plan. Volkswagen Group provides the All-in Warranty free of charge following purchase of an All-in Plan. The All-in Warranty does not cover any vehicle already covered under any other guarantee, insurance, warranty and/or gesture of goodwill. All-in Plan validity is dependent on required payments received. Škoda Financial Services.

@ilkosl thanks, this is exactly the kind of detailed reply I was hoping for — really helpful. First, answers to your questions: Roof bars — I only removed the crossbars; the longitudinal rails are factory-fitted and still on. Good point about the end caps, I'll tape those. Panoramic roof — no. Tow bar — yes, factory tow bar, but it was retracted during all my tests. Wheels — 16", never changed (205/60 R16). Grille shutter — I had a good look and I don't think I have one. I can't see any shutter mechanism or actuator behind the lower grille, just the radiator/intercooler directly. I'll confirm via VIN/PR codes through my dealer, but visually it doesn't look like I have active shutters. If that holds, the shutter can't be our common cause, since I get the drone without it. Dealer — yes, they drove it with me. The mechanic just said "it's the tyres" by ear, nothing measured. So I swapped the complete wheel set (summer → winter) myself — drone unchanged, same 129 Hz. No TPI/bulletin result was ever mentioned. I've since sent them a written report with the frequency analysis and asked them to escalate to Škoda and check for other reported cases. Two things seem to line up across the affected cars, and I'd like to narrow them down: DSG — mine is DSG (DQ381). Is everyone with the drone on DSG? Engine power — mine is 110 kW (150 PS). Can those of you with the drone confirm your output? @Gogich thanks — your 85 kW manual with no drone is a really useful data point. If it turns out everyone affected is 110 kW + DSG + Combi and the manual/lower-power cars are clear, that's a very specific pattern to take to Škoda. The higher-output DSG version has more to cool up front (gearbox oil cooler, higher heat load), which could change the airflow/thermal picture at speed on hot days — and would fit the temperature dependence without needing the shutter theory. Mine measures a fixed 129 Hz — if anyone can record and FFT theirs, let's see if we all land on the same frequency. Please do try the recording if you can; two or three independent measurements at 129 Hz in different countries would be very hard for Škoda to dismiss.

and this

Klopt! En ik vermoed zelf van niet. Worst case doen ze een update van je MIB en overschrijven ze de boel. Dan moet je gewoon het gehele proces opnieuw doen. Het is maar een vermoeden dus als je nog garantie hebt en je wil het risico niet lopen, zou ik nog effe wachten 😄

New: Dealer or Skoda-parts.com (for around € 1100) Used: Scrap yard

Some one might correct me, but if you don't already know, it tends to be the heads of the backing plate covers that get bonded with rust to the backing plates, once that bond is broken you should find that the threads are clean and the screws can be unscrewed by hand. Stupidly I considered that the same situation should/would be the same when taking the disc dust covers off my 2011 Audi S4 - not so, some design clown made sure that one screw hole was open at the back so I snapped one screw head off - I only did that on one side! Edit:- ah yes, the one that is tricky to get a tool onto - I had properly established what the correct size/version of bit was to fit onto the easier ones, then using the correct 1/4" bit, got that fitted into the cleaned out recess in that screw head, then wedged/jammed it down in there by driving maybe 2 small screwdrivers between the lower face of the hub and the top of the 1/4" hex bit - then used a small adjustable spanner to turn the 1/4" hex bit - that worked for the tricky one on each side.

don't understand that price two services from Skoda is £546

One of the screws isn't possible to get 'square onto' with bearing/hub in place, so a bugger to do anything with once corrosion has taken its toll on the head.

Thank you so much! Fellow Dutch speaker it seems from the vid haha. Lifesaver! Does stuff like this void warranty? Still got a year on mine so should I wait a year?

Thanks for the part numbers. You're right about back plates as mine have definitely seen better days. I was hoping to remove them to give me more access to the speed sensors but the screws were really badly corroded in and I was short on time as my wife needed the car. I'm going to order a pair of plates up and will probably end up drilling the screws out and retapping the threads.