mfreeborn

In the next few months I need to get my rear brakes discs (and pads) replaced, and I was thinking about doing it my self to learn something new. I've done plenty of work on other things/machines I own and have most of the tools required for the job already, but I've never gotten around to doing anything on the car myself, rather leaving it to the garage to do during a service. After a recent run in with Halfrauds and generally very high labour and parts costs, I thought now would be a good time to start thinking about taking a more personal responsibility for my car maintenance. Step one was to source some components: discs and pads. I don't know anything about where to buy actual car parts, but I found GSF car parts and Euro Car Parts; the latter of which I have at least heard of before. I put in my number plate and navigated to brake discs, but herein lies my first issue: I am being present with not 1, but 3 different options for brake disc diameter (253mm, 272mm and 310mm). I was hoping that entering my number plate would be enough to filter that choice down to 1, but alas not. I have a Skoda Octavia Mk III facelift (SE trim) - how can I find out the correct size, preferably without going out in the rain and removing a wheel? Would anyone be able to recommend a brand to go for and where to buy them? I usually like to get not the most expensive, but not the least expensive option; somewhere in the middle of the price:performance curve. Thanks

Please could I have the steps to test out? When I had the doors dismantled, I did turn the ignition on for the radio, so what you say makes sense.

What is the virtual sub and surround sound? I've just received my VCDS and will be playing around with it over the weekend. Further note to the above: whilst unplugging everything in the front doors, I think one of the plugs is related to the airbag, so VCDS is required to clear the airbag error. My understanding is that just unplugging the cable will cause the error to appear, not that there actually is anything wrong with the airbag once everything is plugged back in correctly. This theory will be tested at the weekend when I try to clear the error.

I've now finished soundproofing and upgrading the speakers. Sound Proofing 2 packs of Noico 2 mm 36 sqft (3.4 sqm) car sound deadening mat applied to: Under bonnet Inside tailgate Boot floor Around rear wheel arches in boot Under rear seats Inside all 4 doors 4 rolls 50cmx200cm acoustic foam (the stuff sculpted like egg cartons) applied to: All for door cards In and around the rear wheel arches I only have about 5% of those materials remaining, so the above quantity seems to be just the right amount. Speakers 4x Focal IS VW 165 speakers. Notes: The tweeters connect to the woofers in parallel, which required some soldering (could also use spade connectors). The original cables to the tweeters are redundant. The tweeters don't fit into the existing slots in the doors, so a bit of trimming with a Stanley knife and a hot glue gun are required. The connector on the woofer cables needs to be cut off and the +ve and -ve cables need to be either soldered to the woofers/spade connectors used. The original woofers are held in by plastic rivets which need to be drilled out. M5 rivet nuts are ideal for mounting the new woofers. Overall, I'm very pleased with the end result. The car feels very refined with low cabin noise (granted I didn't find it overly noisy to start with, certainly compared to what I was used to with my previous car). In particular, I find that whilst cabin noise is still present at lower speeds, the difference is that the existing noise remains subdued as one accelerates. A couple of times on smooth roads I've barely noticed creeping up from 50 to 60 to 70mph because the cabin noise doesn't increase at the same rate like it would do normally. The speakers are good. Much punchier. Perfectly loud enough with the original head unit and definitely plentiful bass which can be tuned with the equaliser. Depending on the song I'm playing, I may notice a quiet hiss at louder volumes during lulls in a song - unsure whether that's the media file itself (some of my music is FLAC and some is lower quality MP3) or the head unit starting to become the weak point in the system. I'm not particularly minded to upgrade the head unit but that would be the logical next step.

OP are you talking about this plastic bit that goes below the first aid kit?

Thank you for these replies. I've attached a close up picture showing that it has gone through the paint work in places. What would be the best product to seal the exposed metal?

Whilst giving my car a clean this morning, I noticed for the first time these large gouges on the right side skirt (very clear to see at ground level, but actually quite unnoticeable from standing height unless actively looking for it). The car is reasonably new to us, and it must have happened during the previous owners' tenure - I'm sure it would have been quite an almighty 'thunk' to do that. What would be the best course of action for repair? Is it DIY-able?

Yes, but I don't want to wear out my knees prematurely! There are some interesting replies though, and I learnt that the plural of Octavia is Octavii.

I actually went to the effort of crouching, and took a peek under the car. It turns out that quite a lot of the underbelly is already covered, so I don't need to worry about adding anything aftermarket.

I was looking to replace that strip of rubber not because of algae, but because it is starting to get all cracked/perished. Is there an official replacement part?

May I ask if there is an update for my system?

I contacted Skoda and gave them my number plate: https://www.skoda.co.uk/discover/contact-us-form

It was just something that I came across on the internet. Yea I think that's the sort of thing I came across. Just curious if it was something that was more widely done, or if it's really just a bit niche.

Hi all, I'm toying with the idea of fitting skid trays underneath my mark 3 estate. The motivation would be for improved aerodynamics and thus fuel efficiency. Is this something that anyone else has thought about/done? Or is it prohibitively difficult/expensive for what I'm hoping to achieve?

I just completed this installation on my facelift Octavia mark 3 estate. I used the MQB Wire + Camera A kit. I had to go and get a flexible net curtain rod as suggested by others to pull the cable through the tailgate. Otherwise it was very straight forwards even though I've not done anything like this on a car before. I ordered some bog standard trim removal tools at the same time, which were also a necessity.