Purpletom

Yes, that is unfortunately true. The MFSW buttons are specific to DSG and then even more specific to the HSW as the right hand MFSW button unit has an extra socket for the CAN info for the HSW (temperature etc). You are much better off buying the wheel with the MFSW buttons already included unfortunately. I unfortunately haven’t got my DSG HSW anymore otherwise I’d look for the part number for you.

That’s right, albeit mine comes on automatically below 4 degrees and if I switch the heated seats on then the wheel comes on automatically and I can adjust the temperature on the screen along with the heated seats. No, it’s a CAN convertor albeit I think we’d know it as a LIN convertor. I can’t seem to get the link to paste into here because I’m on my phone, but cars-equipment sell one - it’s not cheap but it works.

Kufatec do a LHD specific loom - have a look on their website. There should be less strip down required on a LHD car for definite. Regarding the mk4 Octavia wheel - it will fit and work however you’ll need a CAN convertor to get the correct functionality with the buttons. I’ve just fitted a mk4 wheel to my mk3 and it was the only solution to getting the buttons to work.

If you’re 100% happy with the wiring and everything else seems to be ok then I’d say yes, try a genuine control module.

Just to check: - You’ve used a Terminal 30 connection within the fuse box? - You have a fuse in the correct place? - You’ve used an adequate earth/ground point? - You’re happy that you’ve correctly followed and completed the alterations to the pin-outs between the 16 pin and 14 pin plugs? - Or, if you’ve used a Kufatec adaptor, that it’s correctly wired up? If you’re happy with all that and you’ve done the necessary coding then chances are it is the steering wheel control module (clockspring). I used a genuine one and have had no issues in over a year now. Thanks Tom

Hi Adam, I did have this same problem once on my Leon a few weeks after doing the retrofit. I removed the coding then recoded it and it worked fine. But I have also read about issues with the steering wheel control module causing this problem. Where did you get your module from? Thanks Tom

Right, final update to this....and I've sorted it, eventually! The Suplex rear springs I mentioned above arrived and I excitedly got them fitted. Bear in mind they were 15mm longer than the original springs with a slightly thicker coil (12.2mm as opposed to 11.8mm)...I hoped they'd get it sitting nicely. The result was this hilarity: To be fair, that photo doesn't really do it justice! I could get my whole hand into the arch gap 😅 Sooo, back to the drawing board. I ended up taking another gamble on a set of Eibach R11339 rear springs. These correspond to weight range 8 (PR-0YH) and part number 5Q0 511 115 BF. Length 247mm, 12mm wire diameter. I took the opportunity to fit a Clubsport GTi rear ARB (22mm in place of the standard 20mm 245 rear ARB): As well as making sure all four camber/toe bolts were moving freely: New ARB drop links and bottom arm bolts and I got it down off the lift. Finally, the height I was after, ride unaffected and handling improved with the rear ARB: So, to bookend this whole thing. Weight range 8 (PR-0YH) seems to be about right for a 245 vRS retrofitted with a variable boot floor, rear towbar and with a spare wheel in place of the original tyre gel kit. Thanks to @Carlston for all of this advice throughout this thread. Got there in the end 👍 Tom

Ah yes, thank you, that is something that rings a bell from the research I did before starting the job. Definitely worth checking what airbag you’ve got before committing to the retrofit because you might already have the right one 👍🏻 Thanks Tom

Erm...sorry, just realised this should be in the 'how to' section 🤦‍♂️ Mods - please can you sort? Thanks

Hi, I've had several mk1 Octavia's over the years but a few years ago owned a BMW 3-series with a heated steering wheel. Wow...what a thing to have and a real solution to the raynaud's that I suffer with in the winter. Anyway..I sold the BMW and ended up in a mk3 Leon for a bit. I managed to retrofit a HSW to that car and wrote a how-to guide on the seatcupra.net forum. The Leon has now gone - because obviously I wanted to be back in an Octavia - and I have completed the same retrofit in my 2017 FL vRS, using some of the same parts. Got to love MQB platform sharing! So this how to guide is basically a rewritten version of the guide for the Leon, utilising some of the same pictures, albeit the Skoda specific ones are included. I'm going to say that this will work on any MQB platform Octavia, but I'm thinking you will need a 'high' level BCM to get it to work and probably heated seats as a minimum. Can't be 100% certain, but it was a straightforward fit on my vRS (with winter pack). Anyway...here goes: It's actually a really easy retrofit once you get the right parts and if you look around it needn't be mega expensive. The total cost for me to do this retrofit was in the region of £450. So it's not the cheapest by any stretch however if you keep an eye out on eBay and other selling sites the parts do come up for sale at reasonable prices. *I'm not writing this as an idiots guide and won't include how-to's for things like removing the glovebox, airbag, steering wheel or other things. There are guides for that online if you need them, but please only attempt this if you're competent to do so* This retrofit details the procedure for fitting the HSW from a mk3 Octavia/Superb. The mk4 platform wheels may well work however I preferred to keep the wheel and MFSW buttons that matched my car. Parts Required: - The heated steering wheel from a Mk3 Octavia or Mk3 Superb. They are available in both manual and DSG however if you want a flat bottomed one then it'll be DSG only as far as I can tell. I couldn't find a manual flat bottomed HSW anywhere. There are a variety of part numbers but as an easy reference you're looking for the tell-tale two-pin plug that provides power to the heating elements, like this: I bought one from a manual Octavia and sent it off to Royal Steering Wheels to be retrimmed in vRS leather with red stitching (you can see the plug in the below picture too). It's worth noting that if you want a retrim you will end up with a slightly thicker steering wheel because it's not possible to remove the leather from a HSW without damaging the elements. So the retrim leather is laid on top of the existing wheel. The heat still penetrates through without issue: - The HSW specific airbag for the steering wheel - part number is 6V0 880 201 T 1ZY. God knows why but Skoda, in their wisdom, use a different airbag because the wheel is a different shape at the top. This picture shows the differences - the HSW specific airbag is at the bottom of the picture: - Steering wheel control module (also known as clock spring or slip ring) - 5Q0 953 549 B or 5Q0 953 549 D. The 'D' suffix is the newest part number, supercedes the 'B' suffix and is available new on eBay for around £150. These control modules have a different type of plug (14-pin as opposed to 16-pin) which has larger power and earth pins for the HSW, pictured here: - Kufatec MQB heated steering wheel retrofit loom - the Kufatec part number for RHD cars is 43696-1. OR* - 14-pin multiplug so you can re-pin the existing 16-pin plug - 5Q0 972 726 * if you choose to repin the existing plug (as I did) then you'll need to sort out some wiring and pins to suit the power feed and ground wire needed to power the HSW. The Kufatec loom makes it pretty much plug and play. Tools needed: Standard workshop tools including Torx bits 12mm triple square (splined) bit for the steering wheel centre bolt VCDS (or equivalent) for coding - Hex-Net or Hex-V2 as a minimum for MQB coding. Procedure: - Grab a quick VCDS snapshot of the long coding on your current steering wheel module in case you ever return the car to standard. - Disconnect the battery - Remove the airbag, steering wheel, column shroud trim, glovebox and centre console side trims, something like this: - Remove the steering wheel control module. - Unclip and pull out the fusebox - Run the Kufatec loom from column to the fusebox using an appropriate routing where it won't chafe on anything - Fit the power feed and earth of the Kufatec loom to the fusebox and surrounding area according to their instructions (if building your own loom, you can use fuse position SC24 or any along the same row - they are a terminal 30 feed) - Refit the fusebox - Fit the new steering wheel control module - Plug the Kufatec loom into the steering wheel control module (if building your own loom, now is the time to re-pin the original column plug into the new 14-pin plug - this is well documented on other forums however the pin-out is as follows: Pin 1 (16-pin) red/white to Pin 2 (14-pin) Pin 2 (16-pin) brown to Pin 4 (14-pin) Pin 3 (16-pin) orange/brown to Pin 5 (14-pin) Pin 4 (16-pin) orange/green to Pin 6 (14-pin) Pin 5 (16-pin) black/white to Pin 7 (14-pin) Pin 6 (16-pin) black/red (if present) to Pin 13 (14-pin) Pin 7 (16-pin) purple/red to Pin 12 (14-pin) Pin 8 (16-pin) purple/blue to Pin 14 (14-pin) Pin 11 (16-pin) blue/grey to Pin 9 (14-pin) PIn 14 (16-pin) black/grey to Pin 10 (14-pin) Pin 16 (16-pin) black to Pin 11 (14-pin) Pin 1 of the 14-pin plug goes to a 15A fuse protected terminal 30 feed Pin 8 of the 14-pin plug goes to earth. - Refit the centre console side trims and steering column shroud. - Refit the glovebox. - Fit the heated steering wheel - Fit the new airbag Double check you're happy with everything, then reconnect the battery. Should look something like this: Fire up VCDS again, do the relevant coding. Module 08 (HVAC) - Coding - Long Coding Helper (and say "yes" to the "trying experimental features" to see more descriptions of bits) - Byte 11: Add a tick to bit2 and bit3 - Byte 13: Choose whether you want the wheel to come on automatically with either outside temperature or wheel temperature or not at all. Done! Enjoy a little HSW logo come up on your HVAC control screen (press the 'menu' button to access this screen) : Enjoy the extra settings for the HVAC where you can alter the temperature of the HSW, decide whether you want the HSW to come on automatically (3 degrees C or below if I remember rightly) and choose if you want the HSW to come on automatically with the heated seats. Also, if you do switch the drivers heated seat on then this option comes up where you can quickly choose the temperature of the HSW as well: Sorry about the dust and fingerprints on the screen....it's due a clean inside. Check on VCDS to see what's going on in the measuring blocks within Module 16 -Steering Wheel: Look forward to having warm hands come the winter. NB - Mine is a 2017 manual vRS so I didn't have to worry about any coding of the DSG paddles etc. All of the steering wheel buttons worked on my car without any issue. Yours may not be the same, but any issues would be easily solvable with the relevant coding alterations I'm sure. Thanks Tom

@Carlston - thank you for your comprehensive responses to this issue! I'm not ignoring you and I really appreciate you taking the time to reply and assist with this.. In answer to your questions - I changed the rear springs myself on my lift and the upper and lower underlays are both in good condition - no signs of deterioration or even any wear on them really. I'm unsure about the front springs but the rest of the car is standard so I can only assume they are. I agree it looks high at the front but I'm not sure that might partly be because it's down by the rear and that might be accentuating it. After much deliberation though I've decided to try a set of 5Q0 511 115 BH rear springs. Those correspond to PR 0YK (weight class 10) which is the highest weight class listed for my car (Kombi with DCC) With that, I've found some Suplex springs that match the BH part number - with an overall length of 357mm and wire diameter of 12.25mm. That's 15mm longer than the current springs and .4mm thicker in the wire diameter. I'm hoping that'll mean it'll bring the rear end up by about 15mm (give or take) and result in it being slightly stiffer. My logic is that with the spare wheel, towbar and variable boot floor there isn't really much else that can be slung over the rear end from the factory so there's a reason they specify those springs. They should arrive in a few days and I'll update then 👍 Thanks Tom

Quick update, I fitted the Eibach springs (S) tonight; this is the before: This is the after: There isn’t really much of a difference. More research shows the 5Q0 511 115 AA as being the highest load rating listed for my car. That P/N seems to coincide with Bilstein 36-301904 which I’m tempted to try next. Thanks Tom

@Carlston- thank you for the reply. I have ordered the ‘S’ equivalent Eibach. After searching for and talking to suppliers round here it seems they are struggling for stock as much as anyone else. That and I haven’t turned up in a 992.2 GT3RS wanting to spend 30,000EU on suspension so they’re not really interested in helping me 😕 I’ll update this thread once I’ve got them fitted 👍🏻

Thanks Crasher, funnily enough I have been researching part numbers and contemplating that this morning. There certainly isn’t a shortage of suppliers in this vicinity. Still haven’t decided on the R or S but truthfully think I’m leaning towards the S. Cheers Tom

Blimey, thanks, it’s been a while 😂 I’ll sort that now. I think it’s because I’m posting on my phone, the signature isn’t visible for me. EDIT - Can’t do it on my phone. Sorry @PetrolDave- will have to wait until I’m back from Germany and can get on my laptop. Tom

@Carlston Thank you for that comprehensive reply - really useful. I’ll be honest though I’m less fussed about cost and more interested in getting the right springs of a decent quality. Would you say the ‘R’ springs would still be sufficient given the additional weight I’ve added to the rear of the car with the towbar, spare wheel and variable boot floor? I know it’s not much relatively speaking but I bet there’s an extra 20kg there now. @Crasher - I meant to ask, do you have the ability to decode the VIN to find out what the PR codes for my car are? I was disappointed to find out there is no build sticker on the later mk3’s and no service book with a sticker in either. Thanks again, Tom

Hi, Thank you for the responses. @Swirly182- had a good read of your thread after being recommended it by @toot - very interesting. I don’t plan on towing a caravan with mine but it might occasionally pull a ton trailer. Thank you for the advice. @Carlston I’ve grabbed a picture of the spring: So that’s 5Q0 511 115 R which refers to PR code: 0YE = Weight range 5 installation control only Do you reckon that going up 1 would be enough? That would be 5Q0 511 115 S which is weight range 6. I’m keen to get it back to a decent nose down rake and proper rear ride height. It looks horrendous on its arse at the back 🙈 @Crasher - the VIN is - TMBKU9NE1J0205253 - if you still need it? Thanks again for the quick responses 👍🏻 Tom

Hi, I’ve got a 2017 FL vRS 245 Estate. I’ve owned it since April and it’s without doubt the best car I’ve ever owned - I’m dead happy with it. It’s nicely optioned with almost of the stuff I was looking for including DCC. However it was missing a few bits so since owning it I’ve done the following: - Retrofitted a variable boot floor with all the associated parts - Fitted a Westfalia removable neck towbar - Sourced the correct 18” spacesaver spare wheel and toolkit in place of the compressor/tyre gel pack. All of this has added a fair bit of weight to the rear end, leaving it sitting on its arse a bit, like this: I’m currently over at the Nurburgring, did a lap last night and found this picture online of it: To me it really highlights the ride height difference between front and rear. So I need to sort the rear springs. I live in Derbyshire, the roads are rubbish and I want it back at standard height at the back. I’ve had a look on the online parts catalogues (ilcats.ru) and there are 9 spring options for cars with DCC - the PR code on each option are associated with ‘weight range’ going from 2 to 10. Logic would suggest I might need weight range 10, but I’m struggling to narrow it down to be honest. I know it’s an obscure question, but can anyone assist me with this and offer any knowledge above what I’ve been able to find out already? Thanks very much in advance Tom