TheFozzy

I've seen a few Fabias running 18 inch alloys on Instagram. 8j alloys will fit, however you will need a relatively low ET, or alternatively you can always use spacers. I have my Fabia lowered with the standard 16 inch monte alloys with 215/45/16 tyres, however the front is running 15mm spacers and the rear is running 20mm spacers to widen the track and have the wheels fit flush to the arches. With 18 inch alloys, you'll need to use 215/35/18 tyres i believe, which is a very low profile, and with coilovers that may make for an uncomfortable ride. That being said, 18s will be fine as long as you avoid rough roads and potholes.

I know I'm a month late, but that sounds more like a maintenance issue if the car feels less powerful and more sluggish, checking the condition of the spark plugs, oil and air filter should be your first troubleshooting step.

Theres a reason the ali express downpipes are cheap, the welds are usually terrible using a process called "cold welding" Its not really cold, its just a weld that doesn't properly penetrate the metal leaving a weak joint prone to failure.

Most likely, however the cost of having custom rods and pistons designed and cnc machined, £2000 for a polo gti engine from ebay starts to look pretty cheap lol

edit to previous post

I know con rods exist, whilst they say for the 1.4 TSI EA111/EA211, the con rods in the 1.2 should be the exact same as both the 1.2 and 1.4 have the same 75.6 mm stroke: https://www.spikespeed.com/product/1-4l-tsi-ea111-ea211-h-beam-steel-con-rods-zrp/ There are pistons for the EA111 1.2 and 1.4, but also the EA211 1.4 as all three of those engines have a 76.5mm bore: https://www.spikespeed.com/product/1-2l-1-4l-tfsi-ea111-high-performance-pistons-kit-wiseco/ The EA211 1.2TSI has a 71mm bore and im yet to see any pistons for this. If anything it should be possible to bore out the 1.2tsi to 76.5mm as they use the same engine block, but at that point, it makes more sense to buy a 1.4tsi or a 1.8 tsi to swap in considering how much you'd be spending.

That's fair enough, I'm still yet to see an e10 pump in the uk.

This will probably be down to icy brakes. It's below 0C in Scotland so any water left on your brakes has probably frozen. Considering that this only lasts for a few depressions, it would seem that ice is the issue. The same sort of thing happens when you wash your car and the brake disks develop some surface rust, it can take a few pumps of the brake pedal to clear the disk. Also, the engine running for some time wont really effect braking.

I doubt the UK will get this option, there aren't many places to fill up with alternate fuels like LPG or in this case CNG. It seems that only now we are starting to see the reintroduction of e10 fuel, which will help reduce emissions slightly, but also have the result of a lower fuel economy, costing more in the long run.

From what I've heard, there is some speculation that a larger, more powerful engine may be available, but most likely only for the Monte Carlo given the high popularity for this trim level. But no return for the VRS sadly.

Yeah, at that point a polo gti 1.8t makes more sense

I believe its possible to fit an IS28 turbo, however it also entails having a custom exhaust manifold, intake, and custom downpipe

With the emblems from ebay, I found that the black ones with a coloured background are usually off colour by quite a few shades. If you want a paint matched logo, its worth the extra to get them from superskoda, but the all black ones from ebay look great. Only thing with the ebay emblems is, the guide pins on the back dont actually collapse once you seat the emblem in place, so you may need to cut them off first.

I believe it is just held in with clips, you should be able to lever the chrome surround away from the grill with some trim removal tools. I haven't done it as I have a MC which comes with the black surround as standard. You can also get an OEM black surround from superskoda.com, but at €80 I'd personally go for a rattle can.

This is true, however there are more common tyre sizes which are a lot cheaper for the same brand of tyre. A 185/60/15 Michelin tyre is considerably cheaper than a 215/45/16 Michelin tyre. Another option would potentially be a 205/55/16 as that is the most common tyre size, however the circumference of that size is about 4 inches larger, so it could cause some rubbing, but also change the speed readout on your car. Eg. when your car reads 70mpg, you'll be going 74mph. There is a way around this, which is to change your tyre size in VCDS or OBD11 which will adjust your speedo.

I assume you mean the flap that closes the HVAC intake to recirculate air inside the cabin? This is located under the scuttle panel on the passenger side.

Shouldn't be too hard to do, you just have to swap some of the pins around, and the coding can be done in vcds or obd11 pretty easily

Who said anything about budget LED strips I'm planning to get some addressable Neopixel LEDs from Adafruit.

As many of us know who have looked into modifying our Fabias, there aren't many options for visual aftermarket parts, specifically for the MK3 Fabia, which makes sense as its less popular for modifying than it's VAG counterparts such as the Polo and Ibiza. I tend to spend an unhealthy amount of time on Photoshop playing about with different concepts and designs. The latest edition being an aftermarket headlight and tail light design which take design cues from existing products for previous generation Fabias and other new cars in the Skoda range. Now this is of course a concept, not a real product. However I do plan on creating some prototype in the future, it just requires some saving up For the headlights, the idea here is to place an LED halo around the projector light with the option of being RGB, then the chrome highlights in the existing light would be replaced with backlit acrylic strips like in the current Octavia, Superb, and other models in the range. There's also the new LED DRL strip in the same style as the ones which can be found on aftermarket MK1 Fabia lights. As for the indicator, and standard DRL placement, this would be converted to a dynamic sweeping LED indicator. As for the rear lights, the base would use the facelift LED rear light clusters with some modification. The main changes with this light being the additional LED light bar serving as a dynamic sweeping indicator. The rest of the lights remain unchanged, however the existing location for the indicator would be repurposed as a retro reflector as the facelift LED lights don't include this with the reflectors now being located in the rear bumper. This would make it legal to use on pre-facelift Fabias. This is all of course, just a concept. However what are your thoughts on the idea of these aftermarket style DIY lights.

The service booklet which should have come with your car will have an options sticker in it with a series of codes. There will be a Q code for how often your car needs servicing, the service booklet will explain it too.

I went to my local dealer for a quote on changing the timing belt as my car just turned 5 and is on 96k miles (Skoda recommends changing the belt every 80k, whoops) Skoda charge £449 for just the belt, and £549 for the belt and water pump. I've also just got a quote from a local garage which will do it for £363 for parts and labor. As much as I want to change it myself, I dont have the time and I can't afford to have my car off the road for more than a day currently. Also got a major service to do myself along with new brakes all round.

Mud flaps are definitely worth it. Keeps the car cleaner for longer, especially in the winter. You can get OEM ones on ebay or from superskoda, or alternatively you can go for universal rally style mud flaps which require some cutting to shape.

I've got an earlier 1.2tsi pre-facelift model, so i cant comment for the 1.0tsi. However, I can say that generally the ea211 engine platform which both the 1.0 and 1.2 are part of, seem to be perfectly reliable, and very capable little engines. Mine is now on 96k miles, never had an issue with the car, and it turns 5 today. Only thing I will recommend however, is to go for the 110bhp variant as it comes with a 6 speed, rather than a 5 speed.

For water to come through your hvac like that, you must have gone through some significant amount of water at some speed. From experience driving in mud, it usually gets kicked up from the wheels, through the gap in the engine bay where the abs module is and then up through the scuttle pannel. The hvac system is just under the scuttle pannel, so that will be where the water came in. (see below image) Best way to avoid this is to set your hvac to recirculate air which closes the flap over the fan.

There is actually a small intercooler attached below the main radiator, however this is to cool the coolant which flows through the charge cooler.