InSaNeCaT

A quick search didn't provide easy to spot answer to this question, so could I ask how many miles all you punters with TFSI vRSes got out of the first set of OEM brake pads? Please also state your driving style (OAP/Average/BRISKodian ;-) Mine have done 23k and look and feel ok still... perhaps noticing that they don't feel quite as reassuring as usual on occasion. Just pondering on getting some ordered for fitting at my 2nd service (variable) which should be in around 3k miles. Thanks guys.

Could always see if they can fit the lip spoiler from the "sport" model. I had one before I got the vRS and thought the spoiler on it was actually very tasteful(subtle) but purposeful looking. ofc I'd never change mine now... I love the vRS spoiler... it looks so *rar* ^_^

wierd. I got a pair of falken FK452s on my fronts last year when my Potenza S-03s couldnt handle the remap, especially in the wet. About 7k miles later and they are hardly worn but giving phenomenomemenenol grip. When I recently rotated them to the back so I could try and wear the S-03s out on the front again over the summer (so I can get new 452s to replace them and have FKs all round :-) ) I noticed that with about the same amount of miles done on the fronts the S-03s are about twice as worn as the falkens, even though they seem to be a harder compound... I'm usually lucky to get 10k out of a set on the front (s-03s certainly heading that way) but reckon the FK452s should be good for 15k+ which will be a new record for me My previous worst record was when I had a civic type-r a few years ago and managed 14k in total out of the four oem potenza re040s which I rotated

For an idea of servicing costs, rather than use a main stealer I used Star Performance in Kirkcaldy, Fife. Don't know how near you that is, but was well worth the 60-70 miles each way, trip from Glasgow for me :-) Cost about £120-odd iirc and much better chance it gets done properly Vs. skoda dealerships. re tyres... oem dunlops were very average, at first opportunity I got Bridgestone's top of the line "Potenza S-03 PolePosition" for the fronts which were a marked improvement (they are standard fit on TVRs etc). Then I got car remapped at Star Performance and was getting wheel spin/traction control flashes in 4th gear :eek: (in the wet). So I rotated original OEM dunlops from rear to front again and S-03s to rear to try this but still cack, so immediately got Falken FK452s for the front at my tyre guys advice (he knows his stuff). Can not believe how good the grip/traction is with these babies, wet or dry.... over a wet scottish winter season. So a couple weeks ago I rotated the FK452s to the rear (and took note that they are hardly worn after about 6-7k of hard driving (usually I'm lucky to get 10k out my fronts :P )) and S-03s back to front to wear them out over a (hopefully) drier summer season so I can get FK452s on front again and have them all round. My first observation... even when trying to put the power down on dry roads.... "what's that fecking light flashing on my dashboard?!?!" I'd almost forgotten I had traction control *lol* Holy crap... I didn't realise the FK452s were *that* good. imho anyway. Hope that helps...

I've been running my FK452s on the front for about 6k miles now and still can't believe how good these tyres are in both the wet and the dry. I checked the wear recently expecting the worst as I usually get 10k miles out of a set on the front and couldnt believe that they hardly looked worn at all, even the smaller grooves that were about 1mm deep when new are still visible. Incredible for the hammering they get I'm gonna put my Potenza S03s back on the front for the dryer (lol - if there is such a thing in scotland) season coming up and try and wear them out so I can get 452s all round come next winter. I thought the S03s were stunning (certainly are in the dry) when I got them but they suffer from the usual Bridgestone wet weather grip (or lack of). The sidewalls are super-stiff and do make the car handle very nice. The problem was that after I got my remap I was getting wheel spin in 4th :eek: when the roads were very wet at the start of last winter. Rotated to back and put 452s on front... problem solved As others said, they are very progressive... unusual for a tyre with such immense grip to give away so gracefully when they finally do lose it, but just back off and you're back in control. So yeah, another vote for the FK452s here.

Yeah, they know fine it's their fault, if there was nothing wrong they wouldnt have issued the bulletin. That imho is acknowledging the flaw. If they had any sense they would swallow the cost on the people who notice this and make a claim. For the cost of an alignment check (and two tyres if needed) they would generate a lot of loyalty and good word of mouth advertising (the best type?). As it is they are p***ing a lot of people off, who will be telling a *lot* more people about the Skoda owning experience... short sighted and dumb, and unfortunately not unique.

I pray to the gods of motoring that I never have to find out So sorry, can't comment on that *touches wood*

DL wanted about an extra £150 for declaring performance air filter and remap adding up to 20% power increase. So I called Adrian Flux for a quote and now pay about £30 less with mods than it was standard with DL :confused:

Another vote for Falken FK-452s here. Cannot believe how good they are, the price is just a bonus, would buy these over Michelin/Pirelli etc even if they cost the same.

Aye, it seems Skoda dealers are useless in this respect. When I was buying a used Octy vRS off St Andrews Skoda in Glasgow I asked them to check the rear camber settings as I'd seen the sticky on here with the revised camber settings. I asked again that it had been done when I picked the car up, "yep everything is perfect" I was told. It wasn't until about a week later when I hunkered down under the car that I noticed about the 1st 10% on the inner edge was severely worn (approx 1-2mm tread left), while the remaining 90% of the tyre surface looked like new. This was with 9k miles on the car btw. Note to self: don't be shy/lazy and check these things more thoroughly before signing for a car in future. After noticing this I immediately phoned them and explained that this was not right and was symptomatic of the very problem I asked them to check. The sales guy got the service manager who confirmed again that they checked it and all was fine. i.e. not really interested and fobbed me off. So, booked into Star Performance for a 4 wheel laser alignment check and setup and the camber's were just about as negative as they could be. They set everything up correctly (to the revised settings listed on here) and it not only fixed the uneven tyre wear problem but tranformed the handling too :-) As a result I'll never use the skoda stealer again and it was my 3rd car in a row off them, with all my servicing being done there too. But I now make the nearly 100 mile each way trip to Star for all my servicing, knowing it'll be done properly. Check out the before and after rear camber settings on attached pic.

Same as what most people are saying.. I only ever use v-power or tesco99 myself. On the odd times when no super stuff available for a tank or two, have also noticed that the engine sounds a fair bit rougher on 95RON, as well as a bit less responsive/powerful. Was the same scenario when I previously had the 2.0FSI "Sport", perhaps even more pronounced on that car actually :confused:

Yes common problem. Happened to me too. Get a 4 wheel laser alignment done. Will solve tyre wear and improve handling. Did for me at any rate

Interesting issue. When I had the Fabia vRS I got pee'd off at how manky the chrome exhaust got after having a CTR with shiny twin chrome that didn't need special attention to keep clean. When I switched back to petrol I thought it would be nice not having to scrub my exhaust so hard again *ooer* but with my 2.0FSI sport and even more so with the TFSI it feels like I'm cleaning a diesel's exhaust again ffs :eek: Still.... better to have that crap on the outside of the car than still in the engine I spose They joys of a decent route for my daily commute meaning it gets driven hard on an almost daily basis Question for the boffs... do the added cleaning agents in shell optimax *cough* I mean V-power help reduce the likelihood of the engine coking up?

Had Falken FK452s on the front for several hundred miles now and am very impressed indeed. Had Potenza S-03s before that and they were light years ahead of the stock Dunlop Sport 01As, but the FK452s are even better Only thing I preferred about the S-03s was a slightly stiffer sidewall but the falken's grip is significantly better, with amazing feedback and progressive when they do finally start telling you they are at their limits. They can cope much better with my remap than the S-03s did too... much less complaining while using WOT - in any gear... even in the damp/wet. Think it'll be the first tyre I buy again when they are worn... so I've seen a *few* makes/models of tyre in my time A few ppl mentioned Hankooks... they are surprisingly ok for a budget tyre, replaced the stock Potenza RE040 on my EP3 CTR with Hankook Ventus Sports K104 and they were slightly worse in the dry, but slightly better in the wet... they are still a budget tyre IMHO, even though their current pricing would suggest Hankook are starting to believe otherwise

Dunlop Sport 01A (stock = pants) < Bridgestone Potenza S-03 (waaay better than the dunlops) < Falken FK452 (ZOMG these tyres PWN)

Just fitted these Halfords set 102s on my vRS today as been getting lots of smearing with what I can only assume are the original wipers (car about 1.5years old with 16k on clock). Don't know if they suck compared to the Valeo or Bosch wipers but they are a tremendous improvement over the old ones, leave the window perfectly clear now Hope they last at 25 quid a pop for some own brand jobbies....

Fraid not :( Although I am assured the GIAC sets flash to 0 each time you switch Also really impressed with how quickly it switches between maps, you could change while car is moving if you really wanted to...

Sorry not got a linky as got it from a local car parts shop belonging to my mates cousin, so cost price He sells tonnes more K&N than Pipercross apparently and has never had any complaints for K&Ns but has had a few from people getting Pipercross. I know this goes against popular theory from other threads I've read on here but there ya go...

Quite nice but I think they would look *stunning* in black. Would also negate the need for centre caps perhaps? Get em powder coated ;-)

Ok, think I had the same problem when I got my used 06 vRS. For the 8 months prior I had a 2.0FSI Sport (so same suspension but no turbo ) and it handled brilliantly I thought. The vRS felt twitchy to say the least and I couldn't believe it didn't feel as planted as the "Sport". I had read about the camber/alignment on the known issues page so I asked the stealers to check this for me before I picked it up and they said they had and it was fine. After a couple weeks of not being totally happy with the handling I hunkered down behind the car and looked closely at my rear tyres... the inner edges were *very* worn while the middle to outside edges were like brand new. Also have to say that even to my eye the rears looked overly negative camber. So I phoned the dealership again and they said they *defo* checked it and it was *fine*. Not happy with this I booked it in to Star Performance in Fife for a 4 wheel laser alignment and sure enough the rears were on insanely negative camber so they fixed my alignment to the revised settings and it transformed the car. Best hunner quid (not including the fuel to get there lol) I ever spent Also a reminder not to trust a word the dealerships say lol.

Just used your guide to replace my H7 bulbs for the dipped beams tonight, while parked outside my parent's house. Can't wait to drive home to test them out :-) I also went for the Halford's Super Brilliance on 2 for 1 so £20 for hopefully a much improved lighting over the OEMs. Thanks again for taking the time and effort to make an easy to follow guide.

Recently got mine remapped by Star Performance using the GIAC switchable setup. Totally transformed the car. My previous fastest car I've owned was a Civic Type-R(EP3 - previous shape). It now "feels" as quick as the CTR did, but is actually faster ;-) By that I mean it was almost as fast as a CTR when standard but power delivery was too smooth to give you that kick into the back of the seat the CTR did when going on cam (VTEC) i.e. grin factor. I could just about keep up with my mate in his EP3, maybe a car length in it up to license losing speeds. Post remap I now affectionately call his CTR "The Slowmobile" ;-) I also have a K&N panel filter btw. I put that in just before the remap and even that on it's own made the car more responsive, pull slightly better and sound a wee bit nicer too so would defo recommend that if nothing else, but add a remap and you'll be grinning from ear to ear. Fuel economy seems to be same as before. It has capability to burn fuel faster if you use the full rev range/power band but I find with all the torque lower down I rarely need to go higher than 3500rpm on 'normal' driving and even then it feels bloody quick ;-)

Funny you should say that. Happened to me for the first time once this week too. Maybe the cold/wet weather? Although mine's an 06 too so maybe gonna turn out to be a common fault when they reach a certain age... :(

Sorry for being a spud, tried using search but had no luck. Can anyone tell me where I can find the Engine no. on the vRS. Is it somewhere on the sticker in the service book or do I need to go look under the bonnet? Cheers...

Thanks for info guys. I was all set to order one tomorrow but I might give it more thought now as it seems a lot of money for a 25-30bhp gain and I don't want to get modding silly :eek: Although they offer a 7 day money back policy if not happy so maybe worth a try anyway :confused: