Colin170CR

I use old Tabaco tins when at home. Most Faraday pouches I've seen are too small to hold everything on the key ring - especially my wife's. She looks like a prison warden with all the keys she carries.

Famous last words ☹️. Just had the garage on the blower. New water pump needed (had to top up the coolant a few months ago so this is the reason), rear pads at 90% worn & discs not great & new plugs needed. Looks like it's going to be an expensive one.!

Mine's in for it's 53k "inspection" service tomorrow. Hopefully just an oil change. The air filter is washable now (with a big sticker on it not to replace it) & I replaced the pollen filter earlier this year. DSG & Haldex was done at 43k so should be OK for a bit. No doubt they will find something else but the indie garage I take it to are pretty honest & realistic in terms of what needs doing & what can wait.

👍 The local hand wash near me is now charging £18 inside & out for cars & £22 for SUV's. I decided to upgrade my own wash gear instead & save myself around £440 a year. New longer flexy hose for the Karcher, swivel short trigger gun, MJJC snow foam cannon, BH chemicals /polishes, buckets, mits, micro fibre cloths etc etc. The only snag is it takes me at least 4 hrs to do 2 cars as opposed to 20mins each car down the hand wash.

That's the problem at the moment. Can't clean the car because of the heat unless I get the pressure washer out very earlier or very late which ain't happening. I only cleaned mine last week & it's already covered in dust again. I'm going through BH Touchless like it's going out of fashion 🚿

Dare I ask the cost? Mine's just flashed up an "Inspection in 30 days" message at 53k. Not sure what that entails.

Correct - Well across the other side of the M1 in Newport Pagnell to be specific.

We have similar tyre wear on our 19 plate Karoq with 12k miles. However, it's a known issue where I live which has one of the highest concentrations of roundabouts per sq km in the UK. Outside edge of the left front normally has the most wear. That said I'm going to get the tracking checked & / or switch the fronts to the back to make them last a bit longer. I also have a Superb, the rear tyres on which went down to the canvas on the inside edges whilst the outside edges were showing 3mm of tread. Rear tracking was way out of wack from the factory. Hunter alignment sorted it out. It's worth getting the alignment checked. Even new cars are not perfect.

Good project. I have a 2016 L&K estate which has this fitted as standard as part of the L&K spec at that time. When did they stop fitting this as standard & / or make it an option to what car spec? It seems to me like it should be a standard fit item on an estate car or large hatch & certainly for the higher spec models.

They have arrived! Yes they fit. Bit fiddly but they do go on. Only snag is that they didn't come with a larger 24mm circular caps for the locking wheel nuts. I should have checked that before ordering but hey ho. @skomaz Ebay ones might be a better bet is he has a link. Meanwhile I'll now be looking for 4 x 24mm locking wheel nut caps ☹️

Yep there are cheaper ones out there & on Amazon as well. I don't do Ebay so I never look on it & having been bitten more than once in the past I try to steer clear of the "too good to be true" items. I'll see what the Amazon ones are like but at least I can return them if needed.

Will do. Yes I believe it is the 17mm ones we need. Mine are due sometime today - probably later this evening. I'll test fit & let you know.

True. Ali Express, Wish & others have mega delivery times. Even some items on Amazon are 4-5 weeks so I check before ordering. A while ago I ordered some mud flaps on Ali. They took so long to arrive I had forgotten I ordered them! On the plus side they were a 3rd of the price of OEM's & fitted well. That said I like to make use of my Prime membership on Amazon where I can.

👍. Got 20 x black ones coming from Amazon today. £8.99.

I paid £70 per wheel & got them done here http://www.rimtec.co.uk/ I have spruced them up a bit know & put Skoda emblems on the plain wheel centre caps. I think they should also have black wheel nut covers which I will look into. Either way I'm happy with the result.

Well at long last the RaceChip XLR pedal box has finally arrived. 20 days late from Germany. Brexit at it's best ☹️ Took around 15mins to fit. I located the "Brain" box on a ledge behind the small pull down box next to the light switch - hook & loop sticky things secured it with the box dropped right down as far as it will go for access. For now the remote controller went out of sight inside the pull down box next to the light switch with the cable routed through the back of the box. This is my wife's car so she will never have a need to fiddle with the settings. Note that the above remote controller picture is of the one with the Blue Tooth / App option. I got the one without at £151 incl shipping. I see the current price has now increased to £186.🤔 I started the car & all was good with no warning lights. First I tried it on the N / Normal setting & TBH I could not detect much difference, but then I guess it wasn't supposed to have any change on this setting. I then moved up to the S setting. A tiny improvement. Then S+ setting. A bit better pick up. Then S++. Not much difference to S+. Then R / Race setting. Small change from S++ but probably a bit too aggressive for my wife plus, I also think the tick over might have been a bit higher which is not helpful with a DSG - too much creep. I left it set on S+ for now & went out to do a grocery shop with my wife driving. She noticed the difference & said it felt more "eager" than before. It definitely feels more like a 1.5 engine now than before. So I guess in that respect it has worked - to a point. For me there is still a small lag / dead spot when you press the accelerator which was what I hoped it would remove. I have yet to try it in DSG Sport mode as the wife has taken the car out to do some more shopping on her own. So can I recommend this device? Yes & no. Yes because the car does feel more urgent / peppy once on the move & for a fraction of the price of a Tuning box or Remap. However, there is still a small lag / dead spot when the accelerator is initially pressed. My wife won't notice it but I can. So, I guess this piece of kit does do what it says on the tin, it's just I was expecting it to dial out the dead spot altogether. I was thinking of getting one of these for my Superb 280 as well but after this experience I don't think I'll bother.

After 17 days the RaceChip XLR pedal box has now made it to Dartford. 🥱 Like watching paint dry! Maybe arriving someday next week?

Ditto. I should have kept my Viva GT. Rare as rocking horse poo now. However, when you are 20 years old & been used to old bangers & endless weekends under the car keeping them on the road & someone offers you a brand new company car with free petrol & maintenance, what do you do?

I see Aston's regularly as I live in Newport Pagnell near the Aston Heritage works where they used to build them before moving production to Gaydon. No scruffy alloys on the cars that sit out the front of this place. It seems to me that alloy wheel refurbishment is a "revolving door" type industry with an a never ending supply of customers. I can remember the days when Rostyle's & other types of steel wheels lasted forever & tyre walls were fat & high which allowed you to "feel" where the kerb was before doing any real damage. Modern rubber band tyres & alloys that sit right on the edge of the tyre are just asking for it. I remember my first set of alloys. A set of 13" Wolfrace wheels I put on a 1969 Viva GT to replace the original steel ones. Despite some "youthful exuberance" the deep dished wheels & fat tyres keep kept them looking as new as the day bought them 4 years later when I sold the car to start driving a long list of dreary company cars. Hey ho.

That's the problem I was having. Apart from the curb damage by my wife, the diamond cut edges of the originals corroded easily. I think I've had some of the wheels refurbed 2 / 3 times now. Hopefully the change to all black powder coating will offer more protection.

All done. What do you think? Before. After. The only thing I'm not happy with is the rusty inner hubs & calipers. Which means I might have to have a go at them myself. Other than that I think the wheels look pretty good & give the car a meaner look.

The LED Matrix lights are pretty good. My wife can't believe the difference at night between the Karoq & her old Fiat 500 which I think had candles for headlights.

Delivery of RaceChip XLR is delayed! Should have arrived last Monday & according to FedEx it's stuck in Cologne somewhere. Well overdue now.

Mine goes in for 4 x alloy wheel refurb tomorrow (19" Trinity). I'm changing from diamond cut Anthracite to powder coated gloss black & no diamond cut to match the paintwork (nearly). Should get it back on Friday this week🤞. I'll post some pics then.

I'm with you. The 280 Superb is a great Q car. More than quick as standard & is bordering on being a hooligan with a stage 1 remap - Revo in my case. Like you I don't rag mine at every given opportunity but I do like surprising the odd boy racer now & again. I got mine used at 2.5 years old & half it's new price & plan to keep it a while. I'm retired now so my annual mileage is low, 5-6k miles a year at best so the 280 is aging like a fine wine. Like you I think the 280 will become a desirable classic in time.