chrisgreen

Grabbed a pic of my headlights for reference. Couldn’t get any of the bulbs out as it’s freezing out there and I was struggling a bit with my hands trying to I clip them.

Hi all Was out in the Fabia this evening (it’s a low spec 1.2HTP - no front fogs, don’t think there’s anything fancy with the headlights it has), driving down quite a few unlit country roads. TBH, prior to inheriting the car, I had mostly only ever driven it in the daytime or, if driving at night, in areas that actually had street lighting. So, the fact the bulbs in the headlights are about as useful as two tealights, I need to do something about it. Need to fit something much brighter. I had the same issue 10 years ago when I bought the Spaceback. But also mindful that bulb tech has hopefully improved in that time, not to mention the possibility of LED bulbs. So, my questions are: 1) recommendations pleas for the brightest conventional halogen bulbs to fit to the car. 2) does anyone have experience of replacing the conventional bulbs (I think they are H7s in these, need to pull one and check) with LED equivalents? Are there any that are any good, do they fit, how did you deal with the extra cable and/or transformer box that some seem to have? Not an issue I have with the Superb, which has factory LED headlights that are like someone has captured a pair of neutron stars in a pair of headlights. But I really need to improve the headlight performance on the Fabia. Genuinely concerned driving it this evening in the dark. Thanks Chris

So, ended up ordering a Bosch S5 005, which is arriving on Wednesday. Got a good price on Amazon for it - just over £70. One last question - what’s the best grease to use on the terminals?

It’s the first time I have put a Varta battery in a car and I won’t be using one again. I know it’s not a regularly driven car; but I agree the lifespan of the Varta has been very poor. It replaced the factory battery and that was 8+ years old by the time it was done. My Rapid Spadeback was 9 years old when I traded it in, still had the factory battery in it and it was fine.

Evening all The battery on my Fabia II Combi is on its way out. Not surprising sadly. It's currently using an 027 Varta, fitted in 2020 during the pandemic, and the car has only done an average of 3,000 a year since. Was warned in June when I had it serviced that it was on its way out, and in the cold it's really struggling to crank. Any recommendations on what to replace it with please (in terms of brand, CCA etc.) given the car gets only occasional use and low annual mileage (my daily driver is my Superb). Car is stored on the drive, so it is open to the elements and the cold. Thanks Chris

Which ones in particular, there’s a lot I’ve referenced in this thread and they’ve come from a few different outlets.

As some above have said, if you are in need of new boots, go with all-wather tyres. I would recommend either Goodyear Vector 4seasons, or Michelin CrossClimate - have had both fitted on my cars recently and both have performed well.

Completely agree - Dunlop SportMaxx tyres are horrendously noisy - I had them as the factory boots on my Rapid and the sound was beyond belief. When I eventually switched to the Goodyears, the road noise drop off was incredible. Same more recently when I had a set of Goodyear EffecientGrips put on my Fabia II Combi. A significant reduction in road noise.

Price now reduced to £20

You don’t have built in sat nav? I didn’t think any of the Superb IIIs were sold in such a low spec? What head unit does your car have? Also, what instrument cluster do you have - is it MFD or Virtual Cockpit?

No, you were just sent mats for a different car. Probably a Golf or possibly an Octy. Most likely a Golf. All based on the same MQB platform so the mats are the same, just different lengths in the back.

That's the thing, had it been heavy rain I wouldn't have given it a second thought, as I would expect something like the front radar to be impacted (exactly the same way a Sky dish drops out in heavy rain), but on this occasion it was quite light rain, not enough I would have thought to disrupt the radar, which is why it stuck in my mind to keep watching it. First time it's happened since I bought the car at the end of May (and not the first time I've been out in rain). Fingers crossed it was just a rain-related one-off. Car has been bulletproof otherwise. Good to know you experience this in adverse weather. Makes it less likely there's an actual issue.

Experienced this on Monday - was heading down the M40 from High Wycombe towards London on my way back from Marlow. Doing 70 with cruise control on and had the Front Assist Unavailable warning pop up. Was in place for a couple of minutes then cleared itself and started working again. There was very light rain at the time. will be keeping an eye on it to see if there's a recurrence, if there is it'll be going in to the dealer.

Can’t speak for those boots specifically, but I had Bridgestones out of the factory on my Fabia II Combi and they were not great. Didn’t last very long. Lousy grip. Replace with Avon ZV7s, they were OK for noise and grip, but perished inside three years. Now on Goodyear Effecientgrip on the Fabia and they work well. Quiet, excellent grip, do well in the rain. Currently have factory Michelin Primacy 4s on the Superb. Typical for Michelin they are not the quietest, but are hard wearing and good rain performance. When they are done I will go back to all-weather tyres like I had on my Rapid. Had Goodyear Vector 4seasons on that, which were great.

Still available. Thanks

Still available. Thanks.

Hi With the weather changing and the temperature starting to drop, I'm starting to look at whether my battery is adequately insulated from the elements. My current battery cover is the fabric wrap, with no top cover. Like this (not my dirty engine thankfully): Is it worth replacing this with one with a top cover, like this: I did buy this hard cover off AliExpress, but I cannot get it to fit properly. Just doesn't want to clip onto the battery and I'm uncomfortable just leaving it balanced on the top of the battery. Also thinking the fabric top cover might have better insulation benefits. All advice and views welcome. Thanks Chris

Yes I do. Drop me a line if you are interested please.

That's just for manual adjustment (and it's not 100% exact on both sides), it doesn't make both mirrors auto drop when reversing, that's still only the passenger side regardless of whether sync is enabled.

Alas, it’s only wired up to work on whichever side is the passenger side. Agree it would be far more helpful if it were available on both sides.

The handle is the same regardless of left or right hand drive. Only the actual cubby changes.

I bought a ski bag! But, rather than buying the genuine Skoda one (cheapest I could find new was £50), I bought the Audi one. Exactly the same bag (literally identical, same instructions printed on it and everything), just with an Audi logo in place of the Skoda one. Same applies for VW and Seat, but the Audi one was the cheapest option (guess there's shedloads of them about unsold as Audi owners don't ski it seems) - got it new for £20 delivered.

Mate, have you even tried to find a replacement? One google search for "Skoda Superb Under Dash storage" brought up a shedload of new replacement parts. Entire replacement cubby units for £40 and replacement handles (with springs) for under a tenner.

Not too late and very helpful @Bap33 - thanks for sharing. Roughly how far down from the top of the trim panel is that first clip? Just thinking in terms of where to apply pressure with the trim tool to push the clip out straight without bending or breaking anything. Thanks.

Few more accessory additions to the car over the weekend. Found a dealer clearing out some stuff cheap, so bought the Comfort Pack (2x headread smart accessory fittings, 1x coat hanger, 1x hook, 1x tablet/phone holder (means I now have two of these as already had one), and 1x door bin. Also bout this luggage strap, which is a new accessory that fits both the Superb III and the new model.