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20200909_153011 by geof worrall, on Flickr ready for take off

It's gone now, but this was my favourite: Some more:

Starting to split hairs here chaps, I've used copper grease on wheel bolts for forty years and then torqued them and never had one come out or even loosen slightly and that includes van wheel bolts at 240Nm. Because they're in and out so much it makes sense to protect them from seizing, you can always tell when they've been put in dry and used through the winter because you need the big bar to get them out and they make a horrid screeching sound as they crack off.

Errr, I think you're misunderstanding the basic purpose of greasing a bolt. Lubricating a clean bolt prior to tightening ensures that the bolt will tighten more easily and that final torque will be more accurate as a result. Copper grease is just fine because it leaves a residue of copper powder on the threads even if the grease itself is washed out or cooked off by high heat. Only loose bolts come undone.

There are obviously mechanical differences between engine sizes and 2wd and 4wd when comparing anything in the Yeti range But Monte Carlo is purely a trim level so a 2.0TDi 4x4 will be Mechanically the same whether it's a monty or SE or SE-L etc. What changes is the amount of equipment and the trim etc.

My old Octavia Scout on winter rims/tyres. Its was actually very dirty .... But hard to tell on Denim metallic.

That's cheaper than mine 😉

I finally manage to compose tutorial on how to repair Skoda Superb II electric tailgate struts. In this video you can find how to open electric motor, clean all rust, fabricate new springs and glue all back together.

Just a little note to thank all for their input. Some very helpful thoughts. In the end I have secured a 272 Sportline fully loaded. About 11 months old. Should have it in Ireland by the end of next week. Very excited. Once its here I'll post some pics.

Hello Fellow Briskodians hope you are all well! For those that don't know I had a little Suzuki Swift Sport as my Daily for the past 7 Months and before the Swift I had a MK1 Fabia VRS TDI for 3 Years which was a cracking Car, As time has gone on with the Swift I have never really got on with the 1.6 Revvy N/A Motor and have missed that effortless Driving Style that a Turbo Diesel offers. I have looked for something to replace the Swift with on and off for a few Months but was not 100% Sure what I really wanted, I have owned 2 x MK6 Golf R's in the past and really liked the MK6 Golf as a Car so began looking at the Market. As you can imagine there are a lot of MK6 Golf TDI's about however finding an example that would tick all my boxes proved a little difficult. I wanted... 2011/2012 Reg 2.0 TDI with the CR140 Engine 5 Doors Manual Gearbox Less than 80K Miles Full Service History (Not longlife) Well Looked after Cosmetically Grey or Red Colour With a few Toys fitted if possible I didn't want a GTD as I am going to be getting a Second Car as a Toy so my Daily doesn't really need to be anything too special but I still wanted a nice Car and didn't want a shed. I decided on either Match or GT Spec and depending on what came up first I would go for. I viewed 2 x Cars a couple of Weeks ago and neither were up-to my standards so I walked away. Then I spotted what looked like a nice example on Autotrader at a Small Independent Dealership in Tamworth, I sent a few Emails and asked all my usual questions and decided that it worth going to view so I had a Drive down in the Swift. First impressions were spot on, The Golf was well presented and had clearly been well looked after, I went for a little Test Drive and when I got back to the Dealer we discussed some figures and I did a Deal. The Golf was up at strong Money but I did feel it was worth it based on its Condition, Low Mileage, Full Service History & Spec. They took a real interest in the Suzuki too and made me such a good offer I ended up trading the Swift Sport in and basically it was a straight swap! Happy Days. The Car... MK6 Golf TDI in Match Spec 2.0 CR 140BHP Engine 2011/61 Plate 1 Previous Owner 50600 Miles Full Service History, 9 Stamps in the Book done every 12 Months Manual Gearbox United/Steel Grey The Car is also pretty well specced and has Full Leather with Heated Fronts, Cruise Control, RCD 510 DAB Head Unit with Bluetooth, Dual Zone Climate Control, Front & Rear Parking Sensors, Front Fogs, Folding Mirrors, Genuine Mudflaps, Genuine Boot Liner, 2 x Sets of Genuine Floor Mats Carpet & Rubber. The Dealership also put a fresh MOT on the Golf and also had an Oil & Filter Service Carried out with a Brake Fluid change too. I collected the Golf Yesterday Morning and drove it back to Sheffield from Tamworth, Within 10 Miles I instantly knew I had made the right decision and the Golf will be absolutely perfect for my needs as a Daily. I have cracked on an given the Golf its first Detail, Spent 3 Hours on it Yesterday after the Car had cooled Down and another 6 Hours Today so around 9 Hours in Total. Happy with how the Car has come out to be honest, Its not a Show Car but for a 9 Year old Golf its not bad. Still have a few Jobs left to do including Brake Caliper Paint, Replace the Centre Caps & Wheel Nut Covers on the Alloys as they are discoloured but that can wait until Next Week. What I did... Yesterday... I glanced into the Wheel Arches and could see a fair amount of Mud in there just from general use but obviously not an area that has seen much attention from the previous Owner so firstly I... : Place Car on Axle Stands, All 4 x Wheels Removed, Wheel Arches Fully Deep Cleaned using pressure Washer and various Brushes, Then APC and Rinsed again. : Alloys thoroughly Cleaned using Bilberry and then Washed by Hand using Microfibre Mitt. : Refitted Wheels : Tyres Dressed using Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care, Wiped with Microfibre. Today... : Full thorough Rinse of entire Car using Karcher K2. : Pre-Wash using Autobrite HD Snow Foam Lance and Magifoam, Left for 5 Minutes to Dwell. : Full thorough Rinse. : 2-Bucket Wash using Meguairs Gold Class Shampoo & Lambswool Mitt. : Towel Dried using Elite Car Care Plush Drying Towel. : Paint Decontamination using Carpro Iron-X fallout remover, Left for 5 Mins, Agitated with a Soft Sponge. : Thoroughly Rinsed. : Towel Dried again. : Full Tar Removal, Applied Carpro Tar-X, Left for 5 Mins. : Thoroughly Rinsed. : 2 Bucket Wash again. : Clayed using Meguiars Medium Clay and Quick Detailer Spray as Lubricant. : Rinsed. : Towel Dried. : Poorboys Black Hole applied with Soft Applicator and left for 10 Minutes to Haze, Removed with Microfibre Cloth : Waxed the car using Collinites No:845 liquid insulator wax, The bottle was placed in warm water to help separate the wax and turn it into liquid, Then given a good shake before application. Using a soft applicator to apply, Left 30 mins to cure and Elite buffing towel to remove. Other Exterior... : Autoglym Fast Glass on all Windows. : Autoglym Glass Polish on all Windows except Front Screen. : All Plastics, Mudguards, Wheel Arch Liners Dressed using Aerospace 303. : Engine Bay given a mild De-Grease. : Dressed using Autolym Vinyl and Rubber Care and Microfibre to wipe off excess. I also did a couple of checks on the Car as its New to me, Checked all the Tyre Pressures and adjusted them including Spare, Checked all Fluids, Oil/Coolant/Brake Fluid/Screen Wash and Fitted some New Bosch Wipers. A couple of Pics of my efforts... Pre Wash Decontamination Iron-X Tar-X Clay, This removed a considerable amount from the Paint. Obviously done in Sections working Top to Bottom folding the Clay each time and using multiple pieces. Glaze & Wax Bosch Wipers Engine Bay Finished Article...

Spent a happy afternoon disassembling the front passenger door on our 05-plate Fabia, after repeatedly observing the following behaviour. If the car is unlocked with the fob, and just the front passenger door opened, it re-locks itself after a short while as if it doesn't know that door has been opened. Not 100% of the time, but more and more often. Also; and noticed as long ago as a year back, is that sometimes when driving, the car either attempts to or actually does lock itself, partially or completely, and sometimes immediately unlocking again, often when braking or cornering. Locking and unlocking behaviours without any active input. All a bit random. I've made previous attempts to fix this second symptom, but all unsuccessful. One involved repairing wires with cracked insulation in the drivers side a-pillar bellows, together with cleaning up and replacing some pins in the connectors at that pillar, as there was some corrosion evident, likely caused by water ingress past a poorly re-fitted rubber boot/bellows. Another was inspecting and 'contact cleaning' the same pins/connections on the passenger side. Yet another was an extremely optimistic (i.e. pointless) spraying of contact cleaner into the general area of the door-open microswitches, with no disassembly, just through the holes on the back edges of the doors. For today's attempt, I was expecting at least the door open microswitch would need replacing, but wasn't really sure that that alone could explain both symptoms. Not done enough testing at all to be sure that what I found does cover both, but optimistic for now. Here's the lock, fully removed as per @Tech1e's guide for window regulator replacement; plus a bag containing a genuine replacement microswitch. I didn't fancy grafting that switch into the existing wiring, following a bad experience of having to revisit this work on my Polo after trying this shortcut. Two inline crimps are supplied with these microswitches to make such a technique easy. Soldering the wires directly to the pins of the connector on the topside of the circuit board was successful back then, on that one, at the second visit. Can't really remember why I didn't completely remove the old wiring from the board, possibly reluctance to do that final bit of disassembly to get at the reverse of the board, 'twas a few years ago, I forget. This is what the board looks like before complete removal. And this is the underside after removal, showing the connector connections and microswitch solder joints, all coated in a thick layer of brake-cleaner-resistant conformal coating of some type. I couldn't really see much of the joints through this dark brown coating, but did think I was observing a little more movement than expected - when waggled gently - of the connector relative to the board. Cleaned away by scalpel a few bits of the brown coating to get a better look, and one joint was particularly grim. It's the earth connection, which goes to the door open microswitch and some other places... Here's a very brief video of it being waggled: 20200910_155143.mp4 I swapped the new microswitch in as well, as it made no sense not to. Everything's pretty much back up together again now, but only 3 out 10 rivets replaced, and no door card yet. I will await feedback from the owner on both types of misbehaviour before finishing it off, I think.

Thanks, few for the Octavia but not the superb. Might have to be a dealer visit!

Next year , enhanced with carbon nanotubes and then the year after buckyballs. Sounds like a marketing only term to me.

common engineering knowledge Never lubricate threads or bolts unless stated by the manufacturer. Its not the fact they "may" come loose, it's that lubricating wheel bolts means you will apply a larger load to the bolt to get the same torque figure as there is less friction on the threads so there is always a risk of stripping the threads and or stretching / weakening the bolt. You won't notice it when torquing them up as you just wait for the click of the torque wrench, but the damage that "may" occur you simply won't know / see. Just clean the threads and fit dry.

Winter tyre compound is normally softer than that used for standard tyres. This is why the wear rate is higher if road temperatures exceed 8 degrees C.

Don't forget to option in your £1000 heat pumps. Essential.

10/9/20... Small visual update, Bought a set of Genuine Skoda Yeti Tailpipes a few Days ago off ebay. Part Number 5L0071910 Really smarten the Rear End up and a cracking OEM Upgrade too. Before After

Mine has the 'lump', but mine is petrol. It's unlikely Skoda produce different wheelarch liners for different configurations, especially the rears.

I smell sales and marketing

My cars steering creaks, can't be bothered with trying to find out where it's coming from.

"It is worth noting that as part of tyre manufacturers’ compliance to environmental responsibility legislation, there are increased restrictions on the materials used in tyre construction." Seemingly the suggestion here is that eco friendly legislation has increased the propensity of "crazing" in modern tyres. I've personally never experienced it before but then these 2016 tyres are the newest I've had to date. I really wouldn't have expected it on these tyres which are around £80 each. Certainly none of their explanations as to why it may have occurred seem to be the cause in my case, and definitely not the suggestion of too much exposure to sunlight in the UK !

Thanks for the heads up, I’ve just signed up as well. Will at least soften the blow with now only having to pay MOT, Haldex Service, brake fluid change next year, and MOT and DSG oil change the year after.

This was the day it arrived, and having waited until the 3rd March to get the new plate enough snow (Southerner alert!) fell during the previous 2 days that I wasn't sure if it would be delivered. Turns out it was and I wasn't the only one who was happy about it!

What ever you do dont put copper grease on the wheel bolts. You never want them to work loose.

I followed the wiring diagrams and a 12V power supply of course.

Each to their own. 🤷‍♂️

Just what i look for in a new car purchase, the interior ambient lighting. Mine has foot-well lights in the front, two LED's which are always illuminated at night above the gear stick, along with the usual ceiling lights when the doors are opened. 2015 elegance hatch

Yes I am in the UK. I wanted the new Octavia BUT only DSG and basically the car is not available -- I only lease and I was offered one car but the dealer wanted almost £6.000 initial payment and then 200 per month. I said OK it is too too expensive so I will give you a factory order -- he said no, it changes nothing -- they still want nearly £6,000 initial payment. Even then the dealers seemed unable to tell me the build time for the car -- so my logical conclusion was to move across to VW where they gave me better prices and build times.

I got brand new OEM 18” wheels to my combi

Yes. Good tyre. Quiet, I guess... I had them on my Brera, but sold the car before I wore them out, so can't comment on durability.

Oh BMW what are you doing, I was just starting to get used to the new M4 look, even liked it a bit, but then I have seen this!! https://www.carscoops.com/2020/09/this-could-be-the-new-bmw-m4-gts-complete-with-unique-center-quad-pipe-layout/

This picture should help You. It's hookeb by small clips. Remove the rubber bumpers at the edge first, then uncrew the holder for manual closing in You have one. Then pry it out, using plastic removing tool. The picture source is here: https://allegro.pl/oferta/oslona-tapicerka-klapy-skoda-superb-iii-15-sedan-9596786890 TAKE A BEER OR TWO and be very patient during assembly. I hate when doing it.

Yep I have one as well, didn't realise you meant inside the wheel arch. It's moulded into the wheel arch liner, so it's obviously meant to be there. I don't really care what it's for .

Apologies to @domhnall for this ever so slightly OT post but I was visiting the council tip recycling centre at the weekend and a Tesla pulled up nearby. Two people got out of the car and I had a double look as I thought the lad had got a familiar face. It didn't click until after I'd left but it is this guy who (amongst other things) happens to vlog about Teslas and actually lives in the same town - something which I wasn't aware of!

Up to the facelift (68 plate) they all had pano roof as standard. in facelift it was changed to an optional extra with led lights being standard.

Fixed mine with that WD-40 (I think non wet version, just "PTFE"). I tried from passenger and driver side when car was at ground. Did nothing. Today I tried it again when car was at crane, this time I sprayed more like from 2 direction (front & back). Couldnt do it same way wihtout crane. Seems like it helped.

Finally got the floor finished, I used the garage floor epoxy resin from Resincoat, two thick coats has seen it transformed. So, no excuses to get back on with the yellow one..... he says hopefully. In other news the Black daily vRS Fabia is moving onto pastures new, i'll update that thread accordingly. Cheers Matt

My 272bhp has done about 35mpg over the time I’ve had it which is a mixture of 20 mile commutes and short journeys. On a run, it’ll do 38-40. However, I only do 11k miles per annum. With your projected mileage, I’d be tempted by the diesel. It’ll have plenty of mid-range urge and a remap should liberate a few more horses without ruining the economy. I don’t really understand the logic of buying a high power petrol model and then crawling round to get high mpg numbers. If you drive the 272 as it was designed, you won’t get much change out of 30mpg.

Yea, but you don't need to tell them that. All that matters is that due to a QC issue in manufacturing your vehicle was delivered with insufficient battery coolant, and they have a record of that, and of having to do an "urgent" repair on it. So if you have any battery problems bring it up, like most companies they will try to avoid doing free repairs unless you have them over a barrel.

No problem, happy to help where I can.

Couple more taken with phone ,the southern hawker same time last year ,the peacock during lock down .

The wiring loom on the oil level sensors sometimes get watèr in and corrode the pins on the plug which causes a short and the fuse to blow. The yellow oil light flashes and beeps 3 times on start up to indicate a fault. Also, as I discovered, there are 2 different types of oil level sensor, both look the same but they are not interchangeable.

I suspect your post helped many people, but as their problem goes away they quickly forget to say anything to acknowledge the person who’s info helped most. This is a bit like the inverse of consumer complaints. You only hear the complaints but never the satisfaction or pleasure of resolution. Funny old world. The worst ones are the humans.

@ColinD do you think it would wind up Tesla fanboys if I put a Briskoda stiker on the model 3? :-)

So day out a crail on sunday first time the car been drag racing since the new engine has been fitted. No real aims as i knew i'd have to re learn how to launch the car. Managed 13 runs all day with the fastest being 14.043 @ 110.3mph , fastest speed was 111.4mph so the car does not hang aroung. Had a few runs at 14.0 so seem to be a glass barrier for me as i couldn't break it. Traction was the biggest issue, car didn't get any traction till 3rd then it just seemed to take off as you can see in the videos vs M135i vs Stage 2 Fiesta ST vs Polo GTi vs Focus ST250 vs LET Corsa vs 310bhp stage 1 308 GTi couple of random runs and a shoot danny from Darkside Developments did

Took this a while back. We got more sunshine and it opened up further, but we're back to rubbish weather again

The ali bits on my roof rails are a bit tatty, what with flaky paint and a white furry finish, so I wanted to refurb them After much searching on here and the internet in general, It seemed everyone had only half the story, some would say bolts were on inside, others said they were on the outside, but only on the Mk 2 onwards, so I had to find out for sure. I apologise if someone has in fact said all this already, but I couldn't blooming find it. Are the rails fastened externally? YES, BUT, the fasteners appear to go into some kind of top hat nut that isn't captive. If you push on the fastener, you push out the top hat arrangement on the underside of the roof meaning headlining removal to re seat. IF you are lucky though, you can pull on fastener while doing back up and nut thing on the back will grip to something, enabling you to nip up and forget about the whole thing. How do I reach the bolts on the rail? If you must, The curved ends are plastic covers, as well as the one in the middle, they lever off from the inner side with a small flat bladed screwdriver, just be careful, if you have the touch of Rose West you'll dent them. So can I refurbish my rails? Yes, just mask off large areas around the rail mounts and choose a windless day. So there, that's that. I hope it is of some use to someone somewhere.

In the style of Jim from Friday Night Dinner.... "Hello All....." It's been a while, nearly 12 months in fact since I gave a proper update, it's been a busy old year. We moved house mid November 2019, not far, less than 2 miles in fact but we have gone from renting to owning again after a few years. Needless to say, the house that was pretty much perfect, move straight in etc has occupied every single hour of spare time and money and the poor car has sat under cover in the new garage. Good news is the house is pretty much finished and the enforced COVID-19 lockdown period has allowed me to finish 5 years worth of house DIY in 6 months! Some of you may remember the slightly bigger garage at the new house, in fact it's a usable large tandem garage that has been significantly enhanced in the period we have been here. I have insulated the roof, plasterboarded, 7x new 6' Twin LED lights, cut and installed a large double glazed window where there was a plain wall, new composite door to the patio as well as grinding the whole concrete floor by hand before laying a screed of Ardex K301 concrete floor compound. Oh yeah and a new electric roller door. The plan was to build a lovely space to keep the car / cars and have a well lit, warm and dry place to do detailing & maintenance, so I have fitted the end of the garage out with units and worktop/tiles to finish it off. Here is how the garage looked to start with.. Fast forward many months of graft, DIY injuries, late nights, early mornings and we're nearly finished now... Coupled with the internals, we have had the front of the house changed, new driveway, fences, as well as rear decking - and I though cars could absorb money.... Upshot is, if anyone's still reading, is that i'll be back on the car soon, getting some more part from TPS the weekend so I've no excuse now to get stuck into it. Just need to Epoxy resin coat the garage floor first.... Thanks for reading! Matt