nta16

Why bother, it's just a reminder, if you're getting it done next week what's the problem. A fault code scanner or scan tool can tell you very little or a great deal, it's as much about the operator as the tool, don't just go on error codes in themselves, computers are very stupid in many ways and are easily confused.

Sorry I thought I got the wrong end of the stick, I'm not sure the labels are completely meaningless but possibly sometimes not far off it, so as a consumer system not that great. TBH I was thinking of Camskill being out Kimbolton way, the Jap car/engine people not Whitehaven in Cumbria, former Jennings before Marston's took over, when Snecklifter was a fine ale drank with respect. Sometimes you have to wait for progress to catch up with the past.

Didn't know this, but I'm lost with it, are you saying these aren't errors but the tyre manufacturer can declare and the importer can declare a different set. Vredestein is harder on its own tyre giving it a 'D' whereas Camskill give it a 'C', is that because Camskill want to sell them or they disagree with Vredestein's rating, or UK is more lenient with standards. I take the tyre labelling with a pinch of salt, the labelling could be based on VW computer programs! 🙂 When they first came out tyres I'd used and found good in say grip had lower marks than others I found to be not so good so either the compounds had changed or changes had been made to the tyres to look good in the test parameters (you can get software for that sort of thing too I believe). 😄

Above is a good example of which database do you trust Camskill's or Vredestein's, in my experience either (or both) could be wrong. Camskill show the 175/65R14 as 'C' rating for fuel economy (rolling resistance) whereas Vredestein UK show it as 'D', same for the 185/60R14 (but I don't understand this recommendation) - I know this is only a minor thing but it shows you need to cross reference any information you get - just about all databases have errors and omissions in my experience. - https://www.vredestein.co.uk/car-suv-van/tyre-finder/tyres/product/3/885-quatrac-5 QUATRAC5-8714692315701.pdf QUATRAC5-8714692315947 (2).pdf

Good point. Do bear in mind with that video that the gentleman with the biceps is driving a heavy VW Golf and the tyres are 205/55r16 going from 91 (load index, weight) H (speed rating) to 94 V XL (extra load, I think that's so the tyres can fit a wider range of vehicles)) on a test track so is only generally applicable.

If they cost less in 165/70r14 then get them in that size, I've no idea which of the two is the most commonly sold but usually there's more competition in popular sizes so lower prices and better available of makes and model of tyre. A wide tyre is necessarily a good or better option, much is just fashion but the difference between 165/70r14 and 175/65r14 isn't worth worrying about. - https://tiresize.com/calculator/ Whereas 165/70r14 to 185/6070r14 is more noticeable, generally a thinner tyre will be better for the wet and snow, less rolling resistance - but that all depends on the tyres make up and compounds too, a grippy 165/70r14 would possibly out handle and ride an average 185/60r14. 70 profile use to be low profile until the fashion for ever wider tyres and bigger wheels and now small cars are so much bigger and heavier than they used to be they might need one wheel size up from yesteryear but none of the boy/girl-racer stuff that comes as fashion standard now. Wider tyres on heavier cars make more noise to so this has to be addressed in the compound. Oh, dear, I wander off there, For comparisons you want as near like to like with your car model and its fixing, your driving style and needs and same size of tyre even too, and recent reviews as the same make, model, variant and size of tyre a couple of years back can be different now. Sorry I can't help with that info, £55 would be a good price for tyres for me. The last two set of Michelin (Energy EB1, 14580r13) were OK but not brilliant and dry-rotted well before tread wear so don't just go by big brand names you know.

Just remembered a Citroen story, in the 80s I knew someone that did casual cash in hand work and could do mechanics (untrained), one time he worked for a place, next to a scrap dealer down a rough road near the railway tracks, they done some servicing work for the local Citroen dealership.

I know decades back Ford workers got very good deals on cars and would sell them on to family and friends, IIRC family members could get the deals direct, there was a limit within a certain time period, I forget the details now. I know a couple of decades back when I went to a group interview at the local Ford dealer (which was then on the Bedford Rd.) we were told x% of regular sales were still like this and to get on with these 'employee' buyers. The massive Ford Parts distribution centre is (was?) in Daventry which is nearby. Some dealer cars are actually used by the staff, obviously some will take more care than others and some of the cars are only with them for a short time and have to be lent out to others. We had The Car Shop early on in Northampton and they had a higher turnover of staff than even usual and the 'stories' of the activities there probably accelerated where we are today but certainly from the very little I know the way some mechanics were trained in the '70s promoted the attitude of ripping people off and customers being the lowest of low.

My wife's car is serviced and MoT'd at Marshall's, Bedford Road, since it's been at that site (2019, Progress was there before that) and I can't say I'm over impressed with Marshall but it's my wife's car. I actually actually put in for a job as a Finance Manager with the local VW dealership (I think the job title was confusingly Business Manager) I'm very glad I didn't get passed the initial interview (which was actually the second after the agency interview for a vague and unspecified job with an unspecified employer) I'm glad I got no further as I'd have totally unsuitable for the job as I like to help people not get paid at all costs. A number of years later I actually worked at a different small dealership for a couple of weeks to be a salesman there but I quit as I couldn't accept the Service Manager's attitude and actions to customers, like something he'd just trod in. A mate had a Superb years back and it was certainly a luxury car then, it replaced or was replaced by (I forget which now) a loaded Jaguar XF (diesel) in very dark grey, very powerful car but so boring reminded me of a Funeral Director's car. We were supposed to be checking a route for a classic car run in his TVR Chim, I had to tell him if he ever turned up in the Jag again he'd go by himself, I lost a fortnight of my life that afternoon in the Jag.

Given the very unusual wear I'd think that it might have been used by the Dealership personnel, perhaps even as a Manager's company car and possibly lent out to the rest of his family. This might explain the uneven wear. And why, if it's the same Dealership, the dealer thinks this wear is quite reasonable.

Well you have unusual wear, very unusual if not over-inflation, so that could be a big factor in the wear. If allowed, have you rotated the tyres in that 8,900 miles? Be interesting to see how you get on with different tyres but obviously if there's a problem with the car it will need sorting first.

These high mileages are good but do take into account that although the legal limit is 1.6mm across 3/4 many consider 3mm a good minimum tread to cover weather and road conditions, remember the tyres are the vehicle's only contact with the road and all the manufacturer's electronic aids will not overcome real world physics. Slick tyres are OK for dry sunny times but as we live in the UK we know that there will be wet weather along, perhaps a matters of days but often minutes, sunny here now, showers this afternoon.

With my even less knowledge of the ancient technology that still powers most cars (my engine is only just 1950s technology) I'd go along with before taking the engine out take the head off, even as you strip down for that you might discover possible causes. Good luck.

The only thing I can help you with is notifications (possibly). Top right corner of this page, click on the bell symbol, this gives a drop menu with 'Notification Settings' at top right, click on that and complete as required. HTH.

40k on all four tyres is even better. The cars being different is a big difference as the wheels and tyre sizes were different too, so as I put before, same make and model of tyre can vary even within the size range and one set of tyres was presumably (always dangerous) made at a different time to the other set so compounds or manufacture may have varied or even changed in the intervening time. And in the last couple of years there's been a few factors that might affect a production even more so than usual. But well done again on getting that 40k. 👍

No problem, you don't need the img in brackets at front and back, just the hyperlink. Computers are pretty thick so they can get confused by over elaborate programs, that VW seem to specialise in, (I wonder why?) so I think perhaps if you could get someone who knows what they're doing with a deeper level scan tool to reset whatever parts of the program(s) are required and start from factory default sort of thing it might help (gawd knows where you find these people). Or perhaps having the battery disconnected for x amount of time (overnight or longer whilst recharging the battery) might be a reset like "switchin' it off 'n' on agun".

(forget the coding) If something is really good for sale you do need to snap it up, having put that poorer stuff can be chased and go for higher than expected. Cleaning under the seats of modern cars with all their electronics can be a very good idea (cleaning and protecting connector plugs and sockets) whereas on older cars it was just thorough cleaning or later 'detailing', you might even find money and other strange stuff too. A valuation over the top that drops is still a higher valuation, one in the hand is worth a thousand imaginary in the bush, unless you're buying a higher value vehicle a high price now, even if dropped, is worth cashing in on, bubbles burst unexpectedly soon sometimes. Get shot of an Audi before it starts playing up.

Happy birthday. I can not allow wine as an excuse as a real ale drinker, but cake and rum is a different matter, especially the cake. Enjoy! 🥳

10 drain plugs have arrived (2 times, x5) and they look to be fine, I've no need of fitting yet so can't confirm that but the one I opened to inspect looks good. Just over £13 for ten (inc. P&P) so about £1.30 each - £6.75 for one lot, £6.55 each for two and less for three and four-plus. I know it's wasteful but buying a small quantity of decent loose copper washers is a bit of a pain now. I'm no more than a satisfied customer. - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174613262625

You might be using the car's torque more with the bigger wheels as they slow the acceleration, plus all the tyres and driving circumstances would have to be (reasonable) the same for a comparison and even if the tyres were the same make and model they can vary in their make up in different sizes, then add in over time the composition of the tyres might have changed even if same make and model. If you're comparing different types or makes or models of tyre 17" to 19" tyres then the wear figures could vary a lot. Having put that it's a big difference so the cars must have other differences(?). 40k, where they slicks when you changed them, rear wheel use only I'd guess, but well done on 40k out of them (if they weren't slicks of course). 👍

I wasn't having a go at you, the 6.5mm is unusual usually 7-8mm I think, just a figure to show they're not all 8mm. My thought was that cheaper tyres don't bother so much with grip going for mileage which some prefer. Of course a cheaper tyre is actually more expensive if it doesn't do what you want and you have to replace it sooner. Many tyres can craze and crack from lack of use and get splits, the really cheap ones I've seen have cracks at the bottom of the treads, date of manufacture just about 3 years, but very low mileage use on them. Many people only know the big brand names to this country so may think other brands are small companies and inferior products (some are inferior but might be from massive companies). It depends on your use and driving style but a second level tyre brand (often owned by better known prestige brands) could well be a very good tyre but in "last season's" design or tread pattern. I've seen that perhaps it's the bigger brands changing their compounds more struggling to use different materials on ever wider tyres even on family shopping trollies that rarely get out of town or above 30mph and the roads are full of deep potholes where smaller wheels and more sidewall tyre depth would help. I'm not sure how you got to the overall of 23k though, surely (don't call me Shirley) given 2.5mm wear in 8,900 miles, if you took off another 2.5mm (assuming same wear rate to tyre) you'd be at 1.5mm left for less than 18k overall, unless I've missed something, as I often do. With all these fancy cars now I don't hear so many moans about not getting 45k miles out of a tyre, they're still there but not as much must be the work of all theses surface-dressing multimillionaire pushing council contracts. 😄

Sorry but I'm going to disagree I'd expect cheaper tyres to last more miles, if they last otherwise. A good tyre could easily be one that wears the tread fast, it depends on what the tyre is used for. There are far too many variables, as ApertureS pointed out, to say how long a tyre might last. As with vehicles, manufacturers of tyres might have very good and not in their range but it's doubtful that you can blanket their whole range as either. Models change too so the No.1 tyre last year might be beaten by the competition this year and the last couple of years the compounds seem to have changed so what was an excellent tyre a couple of years ago now may have changed its characteristics. Like a lot of things with cars there's also fashion to consider (not only the decades-old fashion of having over-large and over-wide wheels and tyres with very low (side) profiles there's also tread pattern fashion. Also there's seems to be a belief in absolute figures rather than nominal tyre dimensions, like 8mm tread depth when new, this isn't so it can vary. Only recently I bought some tyres that started with only 6.5mm from new, which seemed to catch other purchases out and annoy some thinking the missing 1.5mm was part of the wear. Also the wear on a tyre needn't necessarily be an even, linear wear over it's life. 3.6mm in the centre and 4.5mm at the edges, would that equate to 4mm had the wear been even over the width of the tyre, I don't know but the difference in those figures does seem odd to me and as KenONeill has put would normally suggest over-inflation. Unless Black263 use the vehicle for regular serious street drag racing down at the supermarket car park. Still be very interesting to hear the Technician's explanation of the tyre wear, not dismissing it.

I didn't mean escalate the tread depth thing but the main issue. I don't know but wonder if it just a done thing to help get through the work, possibly too much is expected of some employees and/or they're not given the right amount of time to all the things they're asked to do and it's an unwritten agreement that they need to cut corners to get the cars through. Having dealt with the motor trade I can say some in it view customers as something they've just trodden in. Not all there are some people with good attitudes but often they move on as they don't fit in or can put up with it. Very much the English problem, English management and company owners, this remained the problem even if you went to the very or much more reliable Japanese cars the English dealerships, Lexus dragged up the luxury marques when they first set up in the UK but that was decades back and Lexus extended their range of cars widely.

Well I think the term is "escalate", ask how you can "escalate" the lack of resolve and sorting of your start/stop and limp home mode, they will have a "procedure", do they still have "Dealer Principal", what about Skoda UK (though they'll probably just say go to the Dealer totally missing the point that you've already done that). As for the report as I put before I'd guess it'd be explained as a typo, or error. I've no idea of job titles and what they might mean but some of the ticklists we've had have shown a signature for "Person responsible" which makes more sense to me, it's only old fashioned snobbery that thinks a job title means a higher level of service.

I'd be tempted to disconnect at battery if the car went into limp home mode again, but of course that might be too late to help or your wife might not feel confident doing so especially if she has to limp the car through traffic looking for somewhere safe to pull over to lift the bonnet to do so. Thing is doing this doesn't find or resolve the issue only firefighting but on the other hand disconnecting at the battery may prevent the car going into limp home mode if the problem is within the start/stop, there's not enough information to be sure of anything which is why a thorough investigation of any proper scan is required to be sure that you don't get limp home mode again. Looking at any results could lead to the resolve, something that doesn't seem significant could be. Some errors may not be recorded because they are below the threshold of the computer program's parameters but as I keep putting error message on Infotainment and going into limp home mode must have related error codes (surely?).