Camlobe

To put things in conext, it would have been nice to know the age/mileage of the vehicle. My suspicion and probably that of a couple of other resondents is thatyou've had sticking pads. There is nothing very urgent to worry about here, although you may be heading towards a slightly painful/expensive next MoT. It is odd that the picture of the disk on the right looks so clean, while the other looks really quite poor. For me, sticking pads often become common once thhe vehicle is over five years old, usually for reasons that I don't really understand, rear first. There are several 'work-arounds', none of them perfect. If with your wheels, you can get a stick in to the disk, and you can bang it, a bit, you may be able to get some dust to come out, and, if you do, that's a good thing. An alternative is to look for when the fuel consumption is suspiciously poor, and run the afected side over catseyes, There is usually just enough play in the wheel bearing to push the pad back a little. To asses this, you really need a flat bit of road, and cruise control. I'd entirely understand if you felt that the suggestions made earlier were more likely to give you a long-term solution.

That AS2 should be 4S2. There a useful review here: https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/2022-Tyre-Reviews-All-Season-Tyre-Test.htm

I assume exploted = exploded, rather than exploited. I have Hankook AS2's (that 2 should probably be a superscript, but I've seen both) and I am quite happy. They last and the only disavages I see is that they are a bit noisy -probably typical for all seasons tyres, and there are ceretainly worse- and have no rim protection.

Sorry about not replying earler - got distracted by some personal issues - but my car does yjis thing of switcching between the hors setting and the minutes setting.

Thanks for the quick reply, but it didn't quite work for me. I can get to the time settings, no problem, I have (accidentally) reset the trip mileage, but of miles to service, there is no sign. Well unless it is zero. I need to dig out the bill, but this is a garage I haven'y used before, and the oil is fdirtier than I'd expect, if they had done the work. Ideally, I want to have my 'ducks in a row' before I go backto them.

I'm sure this should be obvious, but I can't spot it from a quick flick of the manual. Can you see, from the dash dislay when/how many miles it is predicted until the next service is due? I should be on variable service intervals (I should have been before, but I wasn't) and the garage who did my Mot should have changed the oil/filters, etc, but I suspect as there was more work in the MoT than they or I expected, they might have overlooked it, so I'dreally like to check what the due date/miles are showing, if I can.

I doubt I'll be able to help, but, to get helpful answers, you should be more specific. What did you install, what vehicle did you install it in. Did you install it, or did a professional installer do it, and does everything seem to be working apart from sound output?

I don't consider 80 k to be a big mileage, but - The bigger the mileage, the more you have to consider service history to be valuable - pref done by someone who knows what they are doing. Partic using the wrong oil is a no-no. Some colours are frankly undesirable, particularly the dull-ish maroon one, although you can spot them from a distance in a car park, which can't be said of every colour. Do not buy one of the bigger-engined petrol ones without reading the sticky thread called something like '1.8 and 2.0 litre engine failures.' I have some concerns with DSG gearbox - nice drive, in a relaxed kind of way, but I'm not that convinced by long term reliability, although that may be largely a preventative maintenance issue. The radio (Bolero, usually) isn't particularly well liked, but you have to remember it is a fairly old design, and a more modern ('unknown' oriental brand) radio could have more features, but some of them are reliable, and some aren't. In my view, the speakers aren't brilliant, in terms of bass. They perhaps do surprisingly well for their size, I suppose, but are small. If you have more specific issues, please ask. Not sure I'll be able to answer, but if you don't ask,you won't find out.

Potentially, assuming you want to do a good job, there is a lot of work, there, and there is not information as to whether that is likely to prove worthwhile. If you want to do a minimal job, that's probably significantly less work. I think if you ask the tester how much they'd want to clear it up, you'd probably be shocked by the cost, and decide it wasn't worthwhile, at their rates. Rust has a habit of coming back. as the conditions that caused the rusting, first time, are usually still there, just second time, it already has a bit of a head start. Sorry to take such a negative approach, but superficially I think the 'minimal' approach looks like the only one that has much chance offering reasonable. cost-effectiveness Is this on a 2008 car?

I'n pretty much on the same page as Ken on this one. I have used engine flush in the dim and distant past, but wouldn't now. While engine flush is in the engine, it has to act as the lubricant, and I have no evidence that, as a lubricant, it is good enough. You can perhaps minimise any damage by not leaving it for long, but then you'd be concerned about whether it does enough flushing. Broadly, if you are using shorter oil change intervals - which you are already - that should be enough. And yes, Diesels are dirty, but that's the way it was during engine development, so should be already taken into account.

When I originally got mine (petrol), the previous cheapskate owner had fitted a Halfords-branded 42 AH thing. This had a two year guarantee and predictably outlasted the guarantee period by about five minutes and was generally marginal. I looked at the Tayna (so spelt!) website, and they had a Varta 60 Ah number with a longer guarantee than the Halfords inadequate thing, delivered, for less money. Not a difficult decision to make. One warning about battery fitting is that they are not lightweight items, and if it is possible to have a mate around when fitting, that can be helpful. Generally, Varta and Bosch offer very similar products, but the Varta item is usually slightly cheaper. I'd have also considered Yuasa, but they didn't really have a competitive option when I looked.

Broadly, I agree with Warrior. The cranking voltage is definitely on the low side, and that probably explains why cranking is sluggish, but that just changes the question to why is the cranking voltage low and what can you do about it. My assumption is that the battery itself -decent brand, relatively recent - is unlikely to be the cause, although you can go around the circuit looking for where the voltage drops are. It is probably also worth noting that, since this is a fairly rapidly changing voltage, you can get a different absolute value depending on how closely you, or your test equipment, looks. I'd be tempted to re-look at the cleaning of the high current connections. Remember, with the high currents involved, it only needs a slightly suspect connection to cause a problem. Potential clue: if any part of the circuit gets warm after cranking, concentrate your attention there. Alternatively, you may have detectable voltage drops, although looking for those may be a two-person job, due to the need to have the dexterity of an octopus, all while the engine is cranking.

I'm not trying to be deliberately unhelpful, but my answer to the initial question, is no. Looking at tyrecompare (https://www.tyrecomp.co.uk/car-tyres/225-35-r19.htm) there is very little choice in that size - as close to no choice as I remember seeing. I'm currently running Hancook AS2s, in 225/40/18s and I am quite happy with them. The car was initially on 205s, but I wanted all seasons, because there are some circumstances under which I have to make journeys, and I don't have the option of waiting for the weather to get better. Knowing that you give away a little grip in changing from 'Summers' to 'All seasons' my solution was to put a bit more rubber on the road, and that part seems to have worked well. The Hankooks are a bit noisier than the best summer tyre would be, but I'm prepared to live with that. One thing that did surprise me was how good the Hankooks are with respect to wear (I'd guess the same would be true of Michelins, but generally these are not the soft rubber /high wear tyres that I was slightly expecting). Habitually, I would have used summer tyres and had to change fronts after slightly more than a year. I'm currently on about 20 months, and the fronts are probably a shade over half worn. In an ideal world, I'd have put 17's on rather than 18s, and had a bit more comfort (it isn't bad,but that would have been ideal) but I couldn't find the wheels cheaply. HTH

On my elegance (so a way down the model range from a VRS) I can do stuff like adjust the volume or skip tracks from the left, or step through the various display modes (consumption, speed in kph (why?), distance travelled, remaining range on the left, and while what is displayed is 'tweekable' in the settings menu, I am surprised that a vrs doesn't have at least these available

I don't want to come across as a killjoy, but I have a concern that you may be underestimating the difficulties. Firstly, one of the difficulties with the android audio kit is that not all of the models are reliable. So the first thing is to find a reliable one, and probably the best thing I can suggest is to look for one that someone else has had success with. Sometimes early examples of a particular model have odd software issues that the supplier has to sort out, and I doubt that you want that. The steering wheel change is probably slightly physically difficult, but not impossible, by any means, but I'm not sure that I'd advise that as the first bit of serious mechanics that you start on. When you say that you want 'buttons', I would have thought that your VRS should already have them, so could you explain what you want, that you haven't got, in detail, please?

I don't personally know much about this subject, but there is something called t'internet which has info from those who claim to For example, there is an article here https://www.autoguide.com/best-brake-caliper-paints where they start with "1. Editor's Pick: G2 High Temperature Brake Caliper Paint System " Which sounds like a good place to start (colours: black, orange, silver, blue, red, white, purple, pink, green, gold, lime green, mustang redfire, mustang vista blue, and mustang windevil blue). I note that you don't explicitly what criteria you are judging your colour on. I'm guessing anyone who is primarily interested in dissipating heat will go for as dark as they can, others will be wondering what those two Mustang colours are, among other things.

When I bought my Elegance, it was on 16s. I have since put it on 18s, and I don't find it too bad. Just to go in to a bit more detail, I don't find it too bad at dual carriageway/motorway speeds, except when a bit of the road goes missing, but at 30/40 mph on a potholed roads, the thump from a pothole really is a bit excessive. Given much more driving on Motorways/dual carriageways, that's not too bad, overall. All that said, I was looking for 17 inch wheels, and I didn't find anything at sensible price, and I am sure 17s would have been a much more acceptable compromise on back roads. As usual, YMMV.

I'm sorry, but if you do it right, it cannot be the case that it will sit appreciably higher. If it did, the gear ratios and speedo reading would change. Ok, they will, a bit, but it'll be so small that you won't notice. If you go to the kind of site that allows you to compare the rolling radius of tyres, you'll be able to check that this is the case for your target set of tyres, and this should be pretty small. (The tyre sizes that are the best value for money, in terms of purchase price, are the ones that are in volume usage, and those are often the ones that have pressures listed in the fuel filler cap, because they are the standard fit ones.)

Check brakes for sticking, particularly the rear. Often overlooked.

I've got a DSG, so no comments on the gearbox from me! But I would certainly agree with Golf-Fiends comments on calipers (although my latest issue was sticky sliders rather than calipers). In general, brakes can be a bit weak, short of a pad upgrade, or the bigger brakes, fitted further up the range. This probably should not put you off an otherwise good car, as iy is all fixable. Also good service history is more important as mileage goes up. Also check the spec, as some cars have bluetooth, some don't, wheels are often different. Also headlights can be a bit poor, but that may be a negotiating point, rather than a show-stopper. (Check also rear wash/wipe, as the water supply often disconnect and the water goes in to the boot, which can cause issues)

Given the blue-ish colour of those bulb capsules, it is worth bearing in mind that there is an MoT requirement for the light output to be of the same colour. I'm sure what the colour of the light out of those would be, but if you mix 'n match bulbs, the colours could be a concern. That seems sensible, but it was something I didn't know, so thank you for passing that on.

I think I'd try: H7 OSRAM Night Breaker Laser 150% Next Generation 12V 55W (Pair) (sorry about the formatting) There is a light output increase, but not so extreme that the life ought to be short. and the price isn't too unreasonable. These are cheaper, but lower light output increase, and should probably therefore last a little longer, but, having had decent experience with Osram. I'd probably still take the first: H7 OSRAM Night Breaker Silver Bulbs +100% 12V 55W (Pair)

While you have a good point that higher light output bulbs can be a bit delicate, I'm with Mike on using Nightbreakers. Just be aware that there are several variants of Nightbreaker, with a slightly different balance of longevity vs light output and colour. I would argue that unlike some cheaper brands, they are all good, but some are a better fit for your requirements than others. Autobulbs Direct usually have a good selection, and sometimes offers, too, so I'd have a look there to start with.

I can only say that on my Bolero-equiped one, it didn't. If you were really paranoid about it, you could get a 'battery maintainer' which keeps the voltage up for a while, and that should work, provided you don't make the mistake of trying to start it.

Those are not, of themselves, useful oil descriptions. If you have a manual, it should state one, or more, VAG specifications. You want an oil that meets the appropriate VAG spec. If that fails, a site like 'Opie oils' (https://www.opieoils.co.uk) will let you search for oils suitable for your car registration. You are likely to find that there are two types (for fixed servicing intervals and variable) and for Diesel and for Petrol, although most oils meet both the Petrol and Diesel specifications. I think you are most likely to be on 504 00 or 507 00 specs, but your manual should tell you. Well, not generally. My caxa-engined one hardly uses any, but other engines and abused examples may well be worse.