Phutters

A knee-trembler. I remember them. Sigh…

This might be of use to anyone thinking about changing their moderately hopeless Dueler HP Sports to something better. It goes without saying that the decision to fit all-seasons instead of the standard tyres - what to get, mainly - involved many, many hours of careful research, most of which was undertaken while sitting on the can. Comfortable, to a point, and no distractions. "What are you doing in there?" "Looking at car parts. Just looking at car parts." First thing was whether or not I should go from the stock 225/45 19s to the other 'Skoda approved' size for this car; 245/40 19s. Benefits were mainly getting more rim protection as you can see on the pics, and a greater range of offerings than the measly choice of 225 alternatives, as well as the fact that on average the bigger section tyres were cheaper. Potential downside was that most of the bigger ones were extra load 98s rather than the Dueler's 92 and the consequent implications for ride quality. Not that the Duelers were particularly noteworthy in this regard anyway, though they were somewhat better than the skinny 225/40s fitted to smaller-engined Karoqs with 19" wheels. I didn't want to change wheels. I like these Sportline wheels. Yes, they are vulnerable to kerbing damage, and their size means having low-profile tyres, but I can live with that. I bought the car because I liked the way it looked, wheels and all. If I'd bought something for purely practical reasons I wouldn't have bought this car at all. My heart ruled my head. Slave to fashion? Sure am. The Turanza All Seasons I did choose in the end are in the bigger (alternative) size for this car. Thoughts after a thirteen or fourteen hundred miles are as follows: The ride is a tiny bit firmer, but it's barely noticeable. Honest. Part of the dead-legs late night research involved what pressures to use in the bigger-section tyres, the result of which is dropping the pressures by no more than a couple of psi all round, and that probably helps. They aren't any noisier than the stock Duelers except on one short oddly-surfaced stretch of the M42 near Solihull, but since I don't go on the oddly-surfaced stretch of the M42 near Solihull very often it doesn't matter. The wet-weather braking is better than the Duelers, and the dry-weather braking at least as good. I'd had a set of Vredestein Quatrac Pros (225/45 17) on an A3 2.0TFSI before this Karoq, and there was a noticeable drop-off in dry braking on that car with them fitted so I had a yardstick of sorts with which to measure these Turanzas, and they are much, much better. It hasn't snowed (well, it did the other day but I couldn't be arsed to get the car out just to see how they were) so I can't say how they are in properly crap winter weather. Other than that I have no regrets about having spent a not inconsiderable amount of money on four new tyres when there was quite a lot of life left in the Duelers. I was lucky that National Tyres had a special on these Turanzas at the time though, which dulled the pain somewhat. So there you go. A proper no-reservations recommendation.

This does work. Well, it has for me anyway. I’ve used it successfully with three very different cars, and do a kind of ‘brake tune-up lite’ version every couple of weeks. The brakes always feel keener afterwards. It isn’t an illusory thing like buying petrol from Sainsbury rather than Morrisons and convincing yourself that the car goes like a scalded cat and pulls like a John Deere after you’ve filled it up. It really does make a difference. For what it’s worth, I think if you constantly brake as if you’re carrying a chandelier in the back you never really give the discs (or pads) the kind of workout they’re designed to cope with and risk a slow but inexorable build-up of corrosion as a consequence. I’m not entirely sure that trying to eke them out for as long as possible by driving like Tinker Bell is that good an idea.

I used these people. Very good.

Hello Mr Toot. I dithered for a long time about whether to post this or not, and it isn’t because it’s comprehensively off-topic. It’s in part because some of the readership seem unable to distinguish between a benign tongue-in-cheek comment and a dagger dipped in vitriol (and also, to be honest, it’s because fronting up to a forum bigwig is pretty intimidating). However, applying the rule of thumb that the only truly stupid question is the one you never ask, here goes. Judging by the photo above, it would appear that you use sheets of polystyrene insulation instead of carpets in your house. Or maybe you have giant ceiling tiles on the floor. Is it true? Now you could probably argue that it’s none of my business. The counter argument would be that the act of posting a photograph of your floor cracks open a door for anyone to lean on. Polystyrene or white carpets?

If you want to have the taillights on it's a straightforward tweak with Carista (and probably OBDeleven as well, though I don't have that so I can't be sure). And you can choose the brightness level. I don't really understand why the taillights aren't on at the same time as the front DRLs by default - it seems like a much more sensible (and safe) arrangement. Why would you not have something that makes you easier to see? If I had a tenner for every car I'd seen tootling along in the gloaming with nothing but the front DRLs on, I'd probably have quite a lot of tenners. .

Mostly I do it just to wind you up. Seems to have the desired effect most of the time. Can’t be idling the afternoon away. I need to get out and play with the big girls and boys in their rigs with eco tyres or whatever it was you said.

. Of course. You really think I'd have sold you a pup? Get out of here 😎

.. Me. The car's a 2021 Karoq 2.0TSI with an Amundsen MIB3. It's never worked. Not once. I've tried sending a destination from both the portal and the app; I've checked and re-checked all the privacy settings umpteen times to make sure the little man in the black hat isn't stopping it working, but he isn't. I've spoken to customer services too. They've been tremendously sympathetic; gave me my own case number and everything. They even elevated it to the boffins at the factory (at least that's what they said they'd done) and followed it up with several requests for me to twiddle a knob and try it with a different setting on something or other. They said to try it on a Thursday afternoon with the ignition on; on a rainy day with the ignition off; with the bonnet slightly open and a gentle breeze blowing from the south west; with me wearing rubber-soled shoes and again with no loose change in my trouser pockets. They even asked if I had a dog, though I'm not quite sure why that might have made a difference. I did everything they asked, including not having had any solid food for eight hours before trying again. All to no avail. The contacts with customer services became sporadic. Desultory, even. They plumb ran out of ideas. I gave up in the end. Life is too short. These days I just have a look at my twenty year-old map book and make mental notes, reassuring myself that if I forget the mental notes I can always stop, roll the window down and ask somebody when I get somewhere near. Just like we used to in the previous century. I can forgive the car its occasional navigation-related quirk, because otherwise it's the dog's doodahs. .

. Can't argue with that. I use it quite a bit on two other cars, so it's pretty good value for me and saved me quite a bit of time and money over the years, not least in being able to wind back the rear caliper motors to do disc and pad changes. I've got the beta testing version. You can get old episodes of Hancock's Half Hour and The Goon Show on that 😎 .

You can do it with Carista. It will also allow you to adjust the brightness. I'm guessing you want the tail lights and not the number plate lights as well. If you do want the whole lot, Carista will do that too. It's called Scandinavian DRLs or something. .

. The instructions imply a degree of complexity that just ain't there. The tool doesn't disengage or release the clips per se. The bent end hooks into the hole in the body of the vent behind each clip as per the instructions above and you pull it to ease the vent straight out of the dash a corner at a time, as it were. They're spring clips, that's all. I knocked up a hook to do this from a bit of brazing rod I had kicking about, bending the business end at a right angle and putting a rudimentary handle on the other. It looks like a tent peg puller but with a short bent end. I filed the burrs off and put a bit of heat shrink on there to protect the vent. Works fine and cost nowt.

. They do.

There are usually loads on eBay. People whose cars have them as standard somehow seem to forget to put them back in the boot when they either return or sell the cars. You could argue that it’s a bit dishonest flogging something that really belongs with the car, but I can’t be too sanctimonious about it because that’s where I bought mine.

It's to hold a warning triangle (in its case) in place. The case sits in the recess behind it. I think the warning triangle is optional. Doesn't make much sense, because you don't have the choice as to whether you need a warning triangle or not. .