Shahoff

Thanks. Wheels are Sparco Assetto Gara J8x18 ET35 with Falken 510 235/50/R18

Few more pictures

I did this way

Linked to ACC radar.

Yes, 340/310 brakes are direct bolt on. The only challenging part is rear dust-cover on 2WD cars. I have this topic partially covered here -

Front emblem needs to be black as well. Like in Montecarlo edition

Racing Blue is great!

Finally got time to install everything. Here is the result. Sorry , car is not clean yet. Clearance between wheel and caliper is good huge. Unfortunately there are only two offsets - 35 and 48mm. Mine set is 35 , and I am afraid that 48mm might not work without spacer. Just not to do double work , I did install short-shifter today as well. Brakes, even not bedded, working great. Short-shifter allows me to shift gears with fingers only , without need to move arm from armrest.

This project came to the final stage. Tested callipers with ET45 wheels I have and failed. So I decided to put brand new Sparco Asseto Gara. J8xR18 ET35. So I will use the same tires. Sparco wheels are 2.3 Kg lighter than my current Extreme replicas Wheel design and high ET gives a lot of clearance for brake calipers When I waited new alloys my new light two peace CEIKA brake rotors arrive. I expected them in 2 month time , but CEIKA was unbelievably quick. New disk are 345x30x50 and more than 2Kg lighter that solid 340x30x50. Fully assembled Brembo calipers with brakepads , brackets and bolts weight 5kg sharp. "Standard" calipers from 340mm Skoda Superb brakes weight 9.3Kg Here is few more pictures of CEIKA beauty. Hopefully next photos will be of Installed alloys - brakes. Rotors are directional with cooling

Time to change front brake disks and brake pads. I always had thoughts that my 340mm kit from 280hp Superb is a bit on heavy side. 340mm ATE vented disk Caliper with pads And I decided to assemble kit with better braking characteristics and lighter. So , I took Brembo calipers from Renault Megane 3 RS 275hp Brackets to fit 354mm disk My favourite brake pads + few grams for pins and springs. Brake disk temporary took EBC simple vented , as two peace cost to much for test. This EBC rotor weight 11.800kg Plan is to migrate to two peace rotor later on. ECB tuning 345x30 two peace rotor weight 8.500kg. Ideally some forged wheels later on as well. But will need to rob a bank first Brembo DOT5.1 purchased as well. This calipers better to run on 5.1. In theory everything have to be bolt on , but this is what I think might not be the case, have a filing that bolts a bit to long, but when I install my new brakes , will put here step by step guide for ANY MQB car

Working on my car bit by bit. Got this beauty installed today Love it. Strait from carbon-fibre master from Mother Russia (I am not joking ) . Quality is just amazing! real carbon. #carbonfibre

Started to dig around best quality sound source for Columbus (MIB2.5 as far as I am understand): Investigation of the supported bluetooth codecs just leads me to nowhere as max ACC codec is supported and LDAC is not an option at least now. Aux is not installed by defaults anymore , but looks like it very easy to retrofit. Connection via AUX will be probably ideal if you do have an external portable DAC or portable HiRes player. And looks like I am going to retrofit one , close to USB in ashtray. Another option is Android Auto , which support at least PCM 44.1/16 (CD Audio uncompressed format) via USB. I am not 100% if its supports higher sample rates and 24bit. But both Tidal and Spotify are supported as AA applications and Tidal HiFi giving you 44.1/16 lossless FLAC audio streaming strait in to your Columbus. And the last but not least playing FLAC files from SD/USB. As per manual : FLAC up to 96(/24 as I never saw 96/16) supported with stereo and even 5.1 and 7.1 (I am assuming 5.1 and 7.1 will work nicely in the systems with factory installed amplifier). But I always had some "file with error" message when I tried to play anything higher than 44.1/16. Even 48kHz files did not work for me. But couple of days ago I decided to get to the bottom of the issue and download sample files from here: http://www.2l.no/hires/. And surprise surprise I got 96/24 FLAC working on my Columbus. And to completely confuse me 192/24 working as well! Not that I really need 192 as I do not hear difference between 96 and 192 but difference between 44.1/16 and 96/24 exists and I can hear difference in the car and in my "proper" more less headphones connected to the SoundBlaster Zx. Which formats and sound streaming services you are using ?

My alcantara steering wheel looks and feels nice, but it is very difficult to keep it clean. So , I decided to purchase custom design wheel. Currently waiting for delivery , but looks very nice IMHO Real carbon top.

As I am constantly updating my sound system in my bellowed Karoq , I decided to install semi-custom made subwoofer in the spare wheel. My current small Kenwood underseat sub will migrate to my wife's Tucson. And the new one is based not on my favourite Focal component but Audison Prima APS10D. Got the box from Ebay. Speaker need 10-12 , the box is 15. Put STP sound deadening and damper mats inside. 3Dprinting mount right now. Will add photos and .stl files later. Power palnt will be GZTA 2.500TX. ready one side view box made of MDF Speaker two coils , 4Ohm each, parallel will be 2Ohm , 400W RMS Vents are on the side , plus sub is VERY shallow , mounting depth is on 88mm Grill and all mounting accessories came with speaker Testing fitment Dampening material Mounting pod prototype AMP

As all who who have Karoq without sound system (amplifier) know - the sound in our cars is dull and flat , without any more less decent bass and complete absence of high frequencies details. I decided to fix this issue with minimal possible budget and as less technical hassle as possible. I splitted my exercise in few steps. First two I combined , but even first one will lead to way better bass in your car. 1) I did lite version of doors sound deadening included outside metal , inside metal frame, and door panel wit anti vibration and noise cancellation covers. All materials are relatively light , but effect is dramatic. I did the same with stock speakers on my previous SupMK3 and result was very good as well. 2) This time I decided not to stop on half way and installed relatively cheap Focal component speakers. Rear set was Midbass speakers from integration series IS 165VW + TWU 1.5 tweeters (original from set I lost during house move . This tweeters fits with just a couple of drops of hot glue. Midbass are bolt on bar wires. 3) Front speakers I got Focal PS 165V1 as they do have separate crossovers for midbass and tweeters. So this saved me a hassle to reroute wiring but added additional complexity of tweeters disassembly. Both , rear and front speakers installed at default positions with original wiring ( bar connectors). Probably PS 165FX will be better , but wiring .... I was not mentally ready In a mean time , as I broke one of the A-Pillar plastic cover I decided to change colour to black. Maybe I can reuse old one for proper tweeters podiums one day. The result of all this was already astonishing. For aprox 400(ish) euro + a lot of Russian swearing ( as i did all by myself) I got completely different sound in my Karoq as well as WAY less road noise during daily commutes. But I decided to go extra mile and add Plug`n`Play AMP with DSP and under seat subwoofer 4) Apmlified DSP I got - PUZU PZ-C31. Manufacturer claiming 45W RMS. Not exactly true , but I can now listen the music way launder the with stock speakers and headunit. I definetly can recommend this Amp for everyone who want better sound in their car without rewiring and other complex exercises which can cost you thousands. Got the device here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32943217567.html?af=2679416&cv=72&cn=43q05zx0mp82kh7x0op8amf2p5i286z2&dp=v5_43q05zx0mp82kh7x0op8amf2p5i286z2&afref=&aff_platform=api&cpt=1572400405028&sk=E2Hg0fJa&aff_trace_key=80b893ab41034997a9fbd2d1367de64e-1572400405028-01244-E2Hg0fJa&terminal_id=72a34e7e0dac49a392ffd8d0ce91eee6 Wire loom actually needs to be extended , if you want underseat install. 5) Subwoofer will be Kenwood KBC-SW11 , but I do not have much info yet Any questions , suggestions - welcome! I am also will be happy if anyone share with me image of test disks for tuning DSP ( Pioneer have few different as example)

As its not possible to get car you want from stock in Ireland , I got what I can afford the best and will retrofit as much extra I can afford List is doable for now: 1) ACC as our cars have front radar for automatic brakes , it is possible to recode/swap coding of the radar to work as ACC distance meeter as swap stalk / steering control module. Steering module is on its way. 2) Digital cockpit. Sitting on the table and waiting to be installed/recoded. Got it here https://www.facebook.com/groups/441582886578377 3) Borderless mirror , I had one retrofitted on my SUP3 and its brilliant. Mirror on its way as well. 4) Arches black protective trim. Not purchased yet , waiting for funding 5) Another thing I am missing very much is front parking sensors. Did not purchase yet. Dealer denied to install and offered instead cheap Chinese (no offence ) alternative. 6) In some stupid reason I got Low end low resolution RVC without trajectory :( Need to swap to High end one , but not quite sure if I need new wiring or not. Maybe ( I hope ) just door handle with camera swap. 7) Alcantara sport steering wheel left from Superb. Might need to swap buttons from current steering wheel to sport one due to this "View" Button . 8) And at last but not least will be chip-tuning. Still in the progress of selecting best map. Always have alternative to go to trusted old one garage (where I did already 3 cars) but maybe its time to look at something new , like Powergate3 as example?