vehdyn

I'm sick of the over-damped and appalling ride of my 2012 Octavia VRS 2.0TDI and wonder if I can swap the suspension dampers for softer replacements that would be for the standard 2.0 litre car. I've heard that, maybe, the internal (female) spigot diameter of the bottom of the front dampers (that fit onto the male spigot on the hub carrier) are different between the two models. Does anyone have any relevant knowledge or experience?

Cannonball, did you solve your problem? I have a 2012 Octavia VRS estate that I bought in 2015 and fitted with 17" rims and 225/45 Michelin Cross Climate tyres. At service last week 23/06/2020 after 27000 miles, all four tyres show even wear across the tread with 3mm tread depth remaining at front and 5mm at rear. The garage did report though that the rears show slight scallop wear around the circumference, although I can't see it. Incidentally, on a front-wheel drive car, the front wheels provide both the main braking effort and the traction, of course, but all four wheels provide the cornering force; indeed, on any car, front or rear-wheel drive, the cornering potential of the rear tyres is the most crucial for cornering and straight-line stability, so that is where the "best" tyres of the four on the car should be, contrary to popular belief.

My failed light warning lamp on my dashboard has recently lit up (23 June 2020), every time I hit the brake pedal. Sure enough it is the 3rd brake light that is not functioning on my 2012 VRS Octavia estate. I was dismayed to find no relevant instructions in the bulb replacement section of the car handbook; presumably Skoda assumes this unit will last the life of the car. I'm even more dismayed that I have to dismantle the interior trim of the tail gate in order to replace the unit.

Thanks for that. Hitherto I've looked many times on Ebay and seen only non-Skoda rims, or ones of the wrong size.

I have a 2012 Octavia Estate VRS diesel. I purchased this car in May 2015. It was delivered new in July 2012. It is a 1Z5 type. Currently it has 37k miles on the odometer. It is fitted with 18" rims and 225/40R18 tyres (OE Continentals with 4mm tread and Goodyear Eagle F1 with 7mm tread). I should like to fit 17" rims with 225/45R17 tyres (that have almost the same static laden radius and rolling circumference), but I want genuine Skoda rims. I've scoured Ebay without success. I wonder if there is a member with a car of similar age that has covered no more miles than my car, who would be prepared to do an exchange of wheels with me. My rims are unmarked and, obviously, I would want exchange rims to be similarly unmarked and undamaged. I'm not particularly interested in the condition of the 17" tyres as I wish to fit a set of the new Michelin Cross Climate tyres, which are not available in 18". Any takers?

The brake shoes can be released by levering the adjuster upwards using a screwdriver inserted through a bolt hole. The adjuster is situated at the leading edge (top) of the leading shoe (i.e., the one at the front). I discovered this from my Haynes Manual (Halfords or Amazon). I've only just done the job, and the drum had rusted to the hub. I used a mallet to thump the drum (don't shatter it though!) around its periphery and on the mounting face, alternating with a bit of heat application from a blowlamp (keep it moving!). Eventually the drum came off. When replacing, emery off the rust from the hub and drum (and the spigot hole in the wheel rim) and lightly apply some grease (Copperslip ideal) to the mounting faces. Don't remove the hub, it requires a special tool and renewing of some of the components - and the hub forms part of the bearing I believe.

Vauxhall Omega 2.2 turbo diesel estate; I've owned my 2003 model since 2006 and it's now done nearly 115,000 and seems still to be going strong. Previously I had a 1994 2.0 litre petrol saloon owned from 1997 to 2006 and 130,000 miles. This had been the most reliable car I had ever owned (including new ones), hence the replacement with the estate. Unfortunately this has not been as reliable, requiring replacement of a cooling system valve, crankshaft sensor and both front door lock servo actuators, and a repair to the air con (the previous saloon had no air con.). Nonetheless, it remains otherwise acceptably reliable and with no visible rust even on underbody.

Ok, thanks. Other thought I've had is maybe the instrument panel is faulty. Worst case, is it possible to disable warning lights, or more particularly, the bleeper?

To George with 215 section front tyres and 205 section rear: not a great idea pal, especially if the 215s are "extra strength", as they are likely to have greater cornering stiffness and this will tend to make the car less understeering, or even oversteering (the reason it is illegal to fit radial ply tyres front and cross ply rear). Also, if you are running 215s at the same pressure as you were the 205s, the contact patches will have the same area; this means the 215s contact patch, being wider, will also be shorter than that of the 205s and give them a greater propensity to aquaplane in the wet. Potentially you may be able to address both issues by running the 215s at lower pressure. Vehdyn

I have recently acquired a 2002 Fabia 1.4 DOHC 16v "Comfort". It had a coolant leak which I had fixed with a new thermostat housing (that contains a new temperature sender unit). At the same time the cam belts were renewed and the engine oil and filter changed. Unfortunately, after starting, I stiil have the coolant and oil pressure warning lights continuing to flash, and beeps are sounded for a while too. Admittedly I haven't had the oil pressure sender unit replaced (yet). The previous owner told me that he had been advised by a dealer that to cure these erroneous signals would be expensive, so live with it! Does anyone have any useful views or advice please?