Former

Deep scratches might need more than paint but if you're good at such stuff or you find somewhere decent you can get a good finish, might involve some filler or such like, I've no idea, I'm more silver wheels and 80 or 70 profile tyres that protect and hide more, and I'm old I prefer steel wheels. 😀

That's good to know. As you're writing in a second language what you put before didn't come across well, it was just a mistake, we all make mistakes and most of us know we make many different mistakes everyday, that is human.

I'm no expert, just looking at the12/2016 brochure I have - if your car is a 'Colour Edition' and it has stock wheels 16" wheels the same as my brochure they are listed as "16" Anita Black Alloys". The photo in my brochure is very small and not too distant to me eyes but they look the same as yours. As always, always double or treble check any information from any source (including manufacturers) with a couple of other reliable sources, don't just trust some bloke on the internet particularly if they're old and forgetful and often wrong like me. HTH.

Luckily it wasn't your final answer. Just to let you know if you had just driven off in this country that would have been deliberate animal cruelty which AFAIK is against UK law. Not that it matters if it is legal law. If I was there I'm sure I'd have helped with persuading you not to just drive off without me or someone else looking, even if I was the only one there. You are old and experienced enough to know what attitude to at least adopt and when.

Much sterner than here. If it's just the driving in the emergency lane that's reported at most it's the 3 points (and perhaps the fine I'm not sure) and you can have up to 12 points on your licence before you lose it but insurance premiums can be affected by those 3 pionts. IIRC for the first two years after passing your driving test it's 6 point limit, can't remember when that was introduced as it was many decades after I passed my driving test. I'm not sure there was a points system here when I got my licence endorsed as a lad.

@Thefeliciahacker these things are really minor and of little importance except your constant excuses for making a minor insignificant mistake at the time. 1st point Yes the 500 driver cut you up a bit but you are in control of your car, you look in your mirror and brake if required to get the required gap between the 500 and your car and what you have put now and the video add more weight to you were thinking about the manoeuvre you wanted to record on the bend more than the current road conditions. And it also shows you don't know how to properly set the car up for the manoeuvre you wanted to show off. The fact that you don't care is fine for me I'm not over there but it shows your arrogance and as already put your ignorance of setting the "Alfa Romeo Brera (Somewhat) Aggressive Turning", somewhat aggressive is still aggressive isn't it. You do care about numbers so, looking at your video again you not only crossed into the emergency lane you travelled in it, you were only full in it for a short distance but I was giving you the benefit of of some doubt before of when you first crossed the solid white line, again as you like numbers using a fixed point on the dash and wiper arm you and running the video at quarter speed you crossed the line at 12 seconds point, not 14, so using your calculations that's about 60m instead of 40m. 2nd point. You really are sounding like a teenager again. I don't know Greek road speed regulations but I can't imagine the same principle here don't apply there. So here, speed sign on motorway gantry can have speed camera directly behind it for rear facing cameras with, formerly at least, markings to verify vehicles speeds the road directly after the sign and an electronic sign has variable speeds that can be put up on it. The speed limit applies at the sign, drivers need to adjust the speed before the sign so as to pass the sign at the marked speed, basic driving lesson stuff. See at 4:32 in the following video (link) for UK at least, earlier in the video it reminds that it's the driver's responsibility to know the speed limit on any part of any road even if there aren't signs to remind them. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0eY0FfQ1rs The speed limits, and other regulations, in any country are not made up by individuals and apply to all whether they care or not. 3rd point. Who cares depends on what the regulations are and what results happen from doing so. I have said I also have that bad habit, you and I should try to break bad driving habits, I try but don't always succeed but you seem to me to be taking it as some sort of right for yourself. As I put before if you continue in your life inside and outside of work with this attitude, and of feeling superior to others you may get away with it, especially if you are able to "pull rank" in a work situation, for some time and perhaps to some extent but it will you open to reactions of micky taking at best, perhaps social dismissal and perhaps slightly aggressive, or more, reactions from some. Are you a follower or supporter of the likes of Andrew Tate or others similar to his views?

@Thefeliciahacker dismiss it, and/or tell me to stop, if you want but I only continue with this as trying to help you and help you understand and not just with the driving. Time to tune in and read below or tune out and don't bother to read below, you decide, tell me to stop now, you decide. If it's 40m and that doesn't matter does 60m matter, what about 80m or more, is it generally understood that 40m / 60m / 80m or more doesn't matter or is it just for you, or for all, or you and those you approved of to also do it. - There is very clear marking where the emergency lane finishes and the turning off lane begins. Perhaps a roads engineer designed this with parameters for type of road and its use and the contemporary legislation, legislation which was probably drawn up including relevant engineers' design work. In this country if someone is being very strict then that might be considered continuous driving in the emergency lane which is illegal and could get you penalty points and/or a fine. I only cotinine with this as I think, and I could be wrong myself, that you continue to be over-defensive about this and at the same time not fully accepting your mistake and doing this in your in your present and future life inside and outside of work (or when you might be wrong or when you are wrong) often doesn't give good results from you and those you interact with. Asking questions, putting your side, debating all are fine and good, even arguing can sometimes be good. To remind you, you initially blamed the 500 driver and not yourself for crossing the solid white line. - I sometimes drive with one hand by force of bad habit but if I said I only done this when I felt it didn't really matter that I did this that would show some level of arrogance and perhaps ignorance as to when it actually really does matter, that's all the time I am driving the car. Now you must admit that shows, as most of us have, some level of arrogance, I hope you would accept if you were caught doing so that you have done wrong and not give the same manner of explanation, excuse and attitude as with the solid white line and instead say "it's a fair cop, guv" and you were going above the posted speed limit without justifiable reason. If you think the speed limit is wrong for that short stretch of road you as an engineer should be able to present a case to the relevant authority to get it changed (before you break the law and accept the consequences) and whatever their decision is you either accept it or accept any consequences of not doing so. You are gonna need to change the title of your video then. 😁 Stick with me for the next bit as you're probably not going to like it at the start. In your video, and with it being available, it might be suggested that the reason you crossed the solid white line early was because your mind was more on the upcoming manoeuvre than the road you were on at the time. Believe me I can guess most of the ways you could answer that to deny or to suggest otherwise and they may be all true, or not. Imagine if that was me driving and made the video and commentary and cutting the solid white line would you think about that action in exactly the same way for me as you do for yourself. Then imagine if that was me driving, making the recording and doing the commentary at the time and I ran into you and your car and you viewed the recording of me on that recording and making the commentary would you think about those actions in exactly the same way as you do for yourself. If you read this far you don't need to give a reply (not that anyone ever has to) and if you dismiss it all and/or want me to tell me stop trying to help you that's fine as I can't think of any more to do, on this at least. Cheers. 🙃

I think you would be better posting in the Skoda Octavia Mk II (2004 - 2013) forum as this one is less well visited and generally about scan tool type matters. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/28-skoda-octavia-mk-ii-2004-2013/ I don't know if you'll find my other comments welcome but here they are - generally for stuff on car repairs best to video with the phone at landscape rather than portrait as that will get a wider perspective and more information into the frame, when diagnosing turn the radio off as generally it's less distracting and you can hear more (perhaps not need in this case though). Cleanliness of the oil is more important that having it right up to maximum (regular timely oil & filter changes and you'd want a good, or very good, oil for VRS type driving). Take a photo or leave the coolant level as it is until tomorrow's (today's?) video (and you could leave the oil level too for that video). Mention about both in your post and how much oil and coolant has been lost over what period of time/mileage/type of use. The combustion test appears to be fine, I assumed you warmed the engine before test, best check is oil temp as coolant gauge is usually biased to 90 (unless you have a scan tool that reads various temperatures at various points). Sorry topping up will do nothing for that noise but perhaps it's not as bad situation as you might fear. Good luck.

Sorry I missed these and feel you need to know. Even a thicko like me can explain - assuming the car was correctly engineering designed and built and all components and parts suitable and correctly maintained and used within its parameters no car will ever understeer or oversteer - that is all down to driver input (or lack of) it's that simple.

Looking at both video again, my apologies to you in the first video your gear changes are just relaxed or casual rather than over lingering, it's only in the second vid that you are caressing the gear lever. As you like figures, second vid, of the 15 seconds of the vid there is only 1 second with both hands on the wheel, from 3 seconds to end your right hand is at gear lever, at about 11 seconds the car appears straight on the road. You would say you only needed one hand on the wheel for the spin and were going through the gears after getting the car straight - fair enough. I was going on my overall impression rather than maths (timings). Like me you have a bad habit of only having on e hand on the wheel even when the other is not occupied. Video 1, 3 seconds in before you put your left hand on the steering wheel, at the end of the video you dropped your right hand off the wheel to your lap and the video faded out, so for all I know you could have immediately returned your right hand to the wheel a fraction of a second after the video finished. BTW there's no captions or translation that I saw on the videos. I ran the videos at half speed as I'm not bothered about too much accuracy on such a matter as this but as you like numbers you could run them at the quarter speed available. I don't know how accurate the video timing is as obviously there are no frame codes or timings to calibrate and confirm a second, or part of, of time - but you could do approximate maths for the following. You know the speeds you were going at certain points, and allowing for deacceleration - you appeared to cross the solid white line on the right at 14 seconds shown and appeared to be fully across that line for 3 seconds before the full width of the exit lane. How many meters does that make it that you were too early in doing so? I'm joking. Give yourself rests from engineering and maths, there's more to the world and life than just engineering and maths. I think you might be using the word aggressive with a mechanical engineering slant rather than the common use of the word over here. The second video where you are messing around on a public roundabout would perhaps by some be nearer to (somewhat) aggressive but even then it wouldn't be the description used by many or most over here. Enjoy your cars and yourself.

The road looks great and great fun.. Different kettle of fish though, closed road racing, most of those cars could have gone up sideways on, the big engine'd American stuff probably did. 😀 I didn't see any small British sports cars probably the MGA as the smallest but I did note the BMC Austin Mini triumphant again showing you don't need a big car with big horsepower to be fastest, at least two Minis could have gone up sideways, a small family saloon embarrasses heavy metal again. The Jagg 120 on crossplys was a credit to the local guy, to be fair to the rest the 120 was still a fast car in 1956 unless you had a 140.

Yes I realise this and that's what you should have done so were correct, cutting the lane a bit early isn't the crime of the century, lighten up. I didn't see it, you mentioned it, I put I'd not no idea what you meant, I didn't think your Alfas would have such gauges, you are the engineer and interested in figures I'm neither. - Speed limit has nothing to do with it, nothing to me what you do no need to be so defensive and serious. If you done that in the UK and a Ploice car was nearby I'm sure they would have a word with you if they could spare the stop and time and be able to explain way better than me. Depends what you crash into, and your self-learning rather than learning correct procedures from a trained tutor. As I put it was just an example, there are opportunities of free courses and experiences sometimes here, there's a free scheme for 12-17 years for all sorts of driving training and experiences -only an example, in the UK, not necessarily available in Greece. I'm surprised there aren't some schemes for studying engineers like build track vehicles (only an example) or something. Sometimes you have to look and ask around about opportunities. Are you sure you're not a teenager, I put when possible and I wasn't suggesting quick changes look again your hand isn't on the gear lever or heading to or from it - and I repeat I'm not a driving instructor or good driver. Ease up on yourself you are being too serious and defensive you're not sitting some exam it's just general discussion on a forum but please don't act like a teenager and deny and be totally dismissive, have joke about it but also accept it a bit or just say I've got it wrong, people make mistakes, me all the time, and you too make mistakes, if you made any very minor errors in those videos they were very minor, quite insignificant not the end of the world. These things don't need explaining in an engineering maths equation or formula and I would never have the first clue about such but you give me the feeling that's all you're prepared to accept, believe it or not there's more to the world but there are people who can put everything into an equation but still explain in a wider way. Enjoy yourself, worry less, life is very short, the rest of us were 25 years old only the blink of an eye ago, despite what any maths would say. 😄

No, not at all I meant better to keep both hands on the steering wheel when possible. Yes I could see you weren't off roading, I only thought about captions after I'd watched the vid a couple of times but 0.45g would have meant nothing to me (a typo perhaps). That's for lane changing not turning off but as it was (finally) a dedicated lane I see what you mean. Sorry but not so, he cut you up a lot earlier and was well in front of you even though you were gaining on him, look at your video again. I'm not a driving instructor, or a good driver, so you do as you please, though I do like to respond to any questions or comments made to me. I should say on a public forum don't be power sliding on a public road, you would probably respond there was no one else there and you had everything under control which may be is fine until it isn't. I am a bit surprised you would do such things as you have so much sympathy for your cars (well Felicia at least) but I am not your keeper and in the past done silly things on public roads so not trying to be righteous. If you could get road training I think you would enjoy it, the technical aspects, the heighten observation, it would only involve power sliding if done off-road, doesn't have to be a wet slid pan can be on dollies. Just as an example only, local winter UK driving course but can be applied to dry driving on slippy roundabouts and tight bends. -

Well they should have done that's what the horn is for, to say I am here. More fun as you can hear the engine and suspension and depending on car induction noise, gearbox, back axle (whine), exhaust (but not tyre noise) and you are think about the road and possibly hazards and other traffic, using your brain and senses, the steering wheel (15.5" (39cm) in a Midget), clutch, gears and hopefully not too much braking, you are driving the car rather than in more modern cars were they do most of the driving for you. You are enjoying the road, the scenery and the car, not just the car, you can go round (and round and round . . .) on a track if you only want to enjoy the car.

Yes but the title on the video should have given me. a clue. 😄 On second watch it wasn't a great video because somehow the camera angle flatten everything out and it was more like another pass in Wales really. I don't think I've ever heard of the Welsh pass as Hellfire Pass which probably added to my confusion, I was thinking of but couldn't remember Pass of the Cross. I remember see a sign that said it was an Austin test road so it was quite apt when I took the Spridget being Austin A30 based. I also learnt after driving it for a few years that another road was called the Devil's Staircase, another favourite of mine but I think these names became more popular when lycra clan men on pushbikes without mudguards became weekend cyclists had to say they'd cycled such places. When we were full-time cyclist (no car at all) and in the Cycling Touring Club we often had a good country pub as our destination and only racers wore lycra, now even the old boys with pendulous bellys (as I've had) in the CTC wear lycra but each to their own. We just used to tour round no overnight stays booked just head towards the best looking weather and find the white (unclassified) roads in the road atlas and see what we found, no mobile phone when we first start and lots of lack of signal anyway when my wife first got one. A lot of the Welsh roads aren't as fast as many in Scotland so suited the likes of a Spridget, a lot of the empty (at the time) Scottish roads were more faster cars territory but they're not the roads I prefer.

The following is the road I meant to link to, it's only about 13 miles (21km) long but you can link in with other great roads nearby and make a good morning drive, stop for lunch and go to and link in other similar roads yo make a great afternoon before returning to the pub for games, evening meal, a couple of ales then bed, that got earlier as the years went on. Great to be in the area when they are training (often overseas) jet fighter pilots. This isn't a great video and only shows a small part of the road which varies a bit from what's in the video, and you need to mute the sound, but it gives an idea. Even in Wales it doesn't always rain in fact most years were sunny and warm, we went on the roads in both directions more than once each day let alone each year of most of the 10 years we had our own Wales tours with just our friends in a wider Toyota Supra (Midget is 1.37m wide, Supra 1.81m), we often had to wait for the 3 litre turbo car to catch up with our 1275cc na, especially on some of the other roads if other vehicles were coming from the other direction. Note the Audi driver (of course) needing the whole road and four wheels on tarmac, same for the posh 4X4s even on wider roads, local drivers and proper Landies (Land Rover) usual went by with hardly slowing down and wheels off tarmac.

B*gger, I linked to the wrong place, should have realised by the snow poles and all the water, I've mixed up my country roads (and countries). I've only been over that six times times, three times each way, first times in early 90s and last times in 1999. Third time I left my wallet at the pub in Applecross after pub lunch there on a club tour but I didn't realised until the afternoon tea stop by which time we were about 80 miles away and had another 40 or so to get to our hotel to book in, Next day was a do as you please day so I could drive back to the pub to collect my wallet so I asked if anyone else want to go back with me but no one did so my wife very reluctantly went with me, she doesn't like "pointy-roads". On the way to the pub the day before on the steep bit I was gunning it up as usual (I love going up, but not so much coming down) halfway up she said she could smell oil and as I'd had the car serviced shortly before (engine oil and filter change, I insisted they used the Mobil 1 I bought) I thought I'd better check on the flat bit after. Of course everything was fine, just an alternative to the verbal handbrake. We had a new Mk2 MX-5 1.6i then, easily capable of such routes (V8 might have been even more fun). Before the car was a year old I changed the Yoko tyres fitted to Rain Experts as the car and Yokos overflattered my (lack of) driving skills and I prefer extra wet grip and less dry grip.

A quick look at the video (no translation) those look a much longer and sustained higher roads don't seem as varied though, some are two--track roads and another I saw without a car on so can't judge the road with. The roads over here are not risky, there are even guard rails on higher bits with steep sides, more risk on local roads you know well with two-lanes, or more, full width lanes, you drive to the circumstances.

It does if below 20kmh is required, plus do you know how accurate your speedo is at 20kmh (errors are not necessarily linear across the range) I don't expect it'll be much but some old cable driven speedos have wobbly needles and speedo had/have inaccuracy from the factory anyway.. Looking at the speedo is a distraction in itself and eyes and attention off road, car and handling time. You are not doing the same in the same various circumstances so you can expect different results. Sorry, it might be the perspective of the first video rather than the real experience in the car but I didn't seen anything aggressive. Thumbs hooked over steering wheel spokes and right hand off the steering wheel but not on the gear lever with too much lingering, I thought not anything aggressive with turning - but I'm not a good driver so could be wrong. The car in front cut you up, not sure about your indication for turning off, and you crossed the solid white line on the right far too early and started the exist lane earlier than road marking. I've no real idea of speed other than you might have made a 6 to 4 gear change, doubt 4 to 2. If that was a 'Give Way' at the end you didn't look over your shoulder just glanced at the door mirror. But all seemed well within the car and your capabilities. Second video, again it might be the video perspective and that I'm used to rhd car driving on the LHS of the road but I didn't see anything that aggressive, and again I didn't like the right hand lingering on and around the gear stick and the position of the hand on the steering wheel (particularly if you were on a public road) but I'm not a drifter and much more used to RWD cars and (slight) power or unintentional (a couple of times, very) oversteer. My wife had a car which could be provoked into crazy understeer at very mild speeds (on a private road, not that there is such a thing in the UK if the general public are allowed on it). If you want to you could perhaps learn power understeer (and and power oversteer) with courses off of the public roads, personally I'd not recommend using your own car for this as the basic principals are the same on a similar car of different make and model. Or better still perhaps advanced and smooth road driving course. As I have put before I have been out as a passenger on public roads in a a few powerful cars being driven by professional tack instructors and professional magazine test drivers and the things that are most noticeable is how smooth and relaxed they drive and handle the car, it actual makes it feel as if you are going slower than you actually are (always obeying the road speed limits). The one time I went out on a classic car track driving experience day (in an racer E-tpye, Mk2 Jaggg, and another I can't recall at the moment) one of the instructors with me told me off for going too slow. Whoever was driving it looked like the car was going in reverse when a Junior single-seater came by and cut in front for the track line. Best for me was the going out in a two-seater fully open track special, as it was raining quite hard they said they would have to ask the driver if he was willing to go out luckily he was. He said my seat would be very wet but I explained I was used to driving reasonably powerful fully open cars on the road and getting wet sometimes. The non-drivers seat was wet, it soaked my trousers for me as soon as I sat in and the rest of me was soaked by the time the harness was on and checked. Big puddle on the way out of paddock, car aquaplaned over that, very wet on track entry road and more wheel spinning, then up to speed on the track was great, very settled with just a few twitches from the car perhaps braking or down-changes, I think the driver was putting in a bit more for me based on what I had told him. I'm sure it wouldn't have been as much fun in the dry, or lighter rain.

Was that correct or just a bit too much - I don't know I wasn't there or driving (not that I am a good driver). Was that amount of turn already too much and the understeer happening before you noticed it - I don't know I wasn't there or driving (not that I am a good driver). You say yourself you don't drive the car at anywhere near it's limit so why you know when you are (regardless of actual speed or where needle dials point) too fast has no real lower speed limit, other than zero perhaps, all depends on the various circumstances - I don't know you or car or your driving experience or abilities and I repeat I am not a good driver. (looks like) Down hill very sharp turn unless going very slow indeed the car won't be at level (not ground level) balance, perhaps a clash of engineering theory expectations and what happens with real world variances. If you can say for certain that a trained and experienced driver would meet the same result if they had been driving at that time taking your car round that sharp turn, then yes it is the car that can be found lacking in this instant.

Which road is one way? The video I posted shows a one-car-width, two-way road (with some passing places), with high snow-poles to mark out where the road runs - didn't you see the larger van and five cars coming in the opposite direction? That's a wide road, did you not see the narrow road (just over one car width, with some passing places) with walls or other (hedges, trees) higher than the car on both sides of the one-car-width, two-way road. On some bits you have to guess if a car is coming the other way or if you saw them much further up the road how quickly you will going in opposite directions or if they have pulled over somewhere waiting for you or not paying enough attention to have seen your when you saw their car or other vehicle. All more difficult when in a lower set sports car, not so bad in a Land Rover, SUV, 4X4, motorhome, bigger van., tractor, motorbike, idiot delivery van driver blindly following a car (tw*tnav) satnav system -

Sounds like you made a classic mistake(s), we have all done it, see this article. - "Once you’ve realized that you are in an understeer situation, calmly return the steering wheel to straight. If you are in a corner, turn into the direction you are skidding slightly. This will align the wheels with the direction the vehicle is moving, allowing the tires to start turning again to create grip." - https://www.wikihow.com/Correct-Understeer-During-Cornering ETA: ABS is for braking and steering, if you don't need to brake unnecessarily you don't need the ABS or need it.

So annoying when you get a no-show especially if they don't let you know beforehand and don't contact to apologise at any point, perhaps something happened that prevented all this, otherwise it's the usual level of professionalism from some professional tradespeople (well men almost always). All being well it could be something quite minor, a higher level commercial scanner suited to VW programs should help more, may still be something basic like wires or connections. If you need to replace a sensor don't go for cheap new unless you're certain it'll work fully and reliably for a reasonable amount of time, paying more for original as fitted at factory can sometimes work out cheaper in the short, medium and long term, even perhaps second-hand factory original are better than cheap unreliable new but of course s/h can be a gamble. Fuel pump or relays (depending on relay) is usually just get a good reliable make, Mk2 owners and others would know about this for your model whereas I don't. The battery charger maintainer will still be a good investment, pass it on to your daughter, if she doesn't pay the electric bills at home she may think a car's electric supply is limitless and can be consumed as fast and as much as she wants at anytime - or fit a coin slot-meter off the car's battery. 😄 I hope you'll instruct her to check the tyres and brake fluid. To clear the whole car of snow and not just turn the wipers and stereo on and drive off - and if she's borrowing it to return to you with at least as much fuel, if not more. 😄 Let us know how you get on with car in the end, daughter I expect will be ongoing. 😄 Good luck.

I don't see a problem with the roads in either photo but I do see perhaps some poor quality overtaking if both the car and bike are travelling towards your car travelling in the opposite direction to you taking the photo (video). One of my favorite driving roads in Wales, helped by the fact there are also more great and different driving roads nearby and the likes of the general Porsche/Audi drivers go on the other faster but less interesting roads advertised by the type of TV, magazines and websites they read and watch, and plenty of great British classic pubs selling and keeping well decent ale cask ale and a lot of locals like rally driving so yoy are more likily to hold them up rather than the other way round. This vid gives you no idea of the climbs or drops, the lumps, humps and jumps in the road or the unevenness pf the surface sometimes and holes - and it's not raining or very wet from previous rain fall(s). Still gibes some idea. -

With old stock or new brought bulbs it's best to test them when new and before fitting - I usually remember this just after fully securing the lens cover. New bulbs tend to be pretty poor now I try to get the X2 or X3 life bulbs because 'off the shelf' ones don't seem to last even if they work 'out of the box'. Old cheaper bulbs can vibrate to death if kept in car or cars for many years, or were faulty when they were new anyway. Before swapping over bulbs test both sides are working, with the lenses covers off, putting the hazard on for indicators, then test after swapping the bulbs over sides with the lenses covers off. I once had a neighbour new brake light bulb that when the brake pedal was dabbed was fine but when the pedal was held it went out, the filament broke away from one end with the sustained heat and then dropped back on when cooling, not something you'd think of, and I didn't possibly one of those things you had to see to believe, but it happened. I've also had an intermittent fuse but that's another story. Let us know how you get on.