OccyVRS

A generally surefire way to sort axle hop is to do the lower dogbone mount. That said, it does increase NVH.

Agreed. That being said, I wonder how far the average person really pushes things? I would assume XDS is far more utilised in situations with poor traction (wet, ice, etc) rather than 'handling'. Lot's of people throw shade on it, but as you say, it's not really designed to do anything except augment and improve the driving experience of the average person. A few years ago someone hit the back of my 2016 1.4 Leon FR. I was given a 2021 Golf 1.5 and was very excited to see how the new derivative of the engine performed, since the one in my Leon was so good! To say I was disappointed was an understatement. The whole car was void of any feeling, from the engine to the steering to the clutch. The engine felt rubbish - slow to get going, a lack of low down torque and yet breathless. I will say, I doubt it was any slower or quicker than the Leon, it's just the way it felt. Even the gearbox felt rubbish, despite being the same MQ200. I've never been a fan of these smaller EA211's in cars like the Superb. It moved my Leon along nicely, but when fully loaded things were a bit... sluggish. I'd hate to think how things are in a Superb on the motorway with four people and their bags. I'm pleased to report though, things might have changed. I had a 2023 Polo as a courtesy car last week, and was pleasantly surprise with just how good the 5 speed box felt. In fact, the whole car felt good - really good! The steering was nice, the engine felt really nippy and aside from a rough 3 pot idle, I couldn't really fault the car. This was a bog base spec, but still had ACC, a tidy digi dash, power fold mirrors (unlike my vRS) and a very pleasant, if plain, interior. We liked it so much, my girlfriend is looking at one. Mind you, we bough my mum a 2022 1.0 Ibiza FR DSG that I absolutely love, so I might be slightly biased!

Yes, this is also true. XDS isn't really an electronic differential at all - it just uses the ABS to emulate the effect of an LSD. VAQ is VW's electronically controlled limited slip diff. I always found it a particularly misleading term, as it comprises of Haldex parts and a clutch pack, controlled by electronics, rather than torque sensing mechanical resistance. Does XDS work? Depends on who you ask. I personally found it useless for acceleration, but it did make some difference in the handling department. Ultimately, it's a 1.5 Skoda Superb. It's not meant to do standing starts, even if it does only have 150bhp. I loved my Leon FR, and it drove very well for what it was, but it was ultimately a rigid rear beam 1.4 economy hatchback with some big wheels and a flat bottomed steering wheel. As an aside, I'm surprised you're finding issues with the DSG - I wonder what the manual is like?

I'm not sure I'd bother telling the insurance about that sort of thing. Changing wheels, yes, but a simple refurb, probably not - with Admiral anyway, there's only the option for non-standard wheels. I mean, would you tell them if you painted your calipers red?

If you're running decent tyres then I would probably say it's just one of those things. I remember my Leon struggled a bit below 30mph sometimes.

Yeah, generally the speed vans are jobsworths. On a motorway, the police likely wouldn't bother looking twice below 80mph. Speed vans however, will do you for 73mph because they have nothing better to do (10% + X guidance is not for them). Agreed - also depends if it's S1 or S2, in my experience.

32 in a 30 is tough... do you know if that was a speed gun, or speed van? I only ask as the latter is a 'civillian' operator. I did actually comment about out of date UK laws, but deleted it. I find my local force to be alright with the FAC, but as with everything YMMV. I know some can be very difficult, although perhaps this is for good reason. The average plod wouldn't know anything about these laws, as you have said. An email to a force might get a better answer, but I still wouldn't bother. With the last part, do you think the security lights are effective? I am on the fence. Part of me agrees that if the area is well lit, someone is less inclinced to do dodgy stuff, but by the same token, the number of ignored false triggers often means it just gives someone light to work.

In the same way that they can and will prosecute you for doing 31mph in a 30mph zone - I've never met a police officer that was so rigid. They have better things to do than worry about CCTV placement. Agreed, don't bother with them at all, but if you do, they are still very unlikely to care.

Yes, agreed - however, there is a difference between having a camera pointed at the street, versus having half of it pointing in your neighbours lounge window. One is fine, the other, less so. The legislation in the UK is, like with a lot of other things, outdated and significantly behind the curve. Did you know it’s an offence to be drunk, and in charge of a cow? Heck, until 1960 it was a legal requirement for any man aged 18-69 to keep in regular practice with a bow and arrow. Often, the letter of the law and the practice of the law, are two different things. As long as you deploy common sense with a CCTV system, you’ll be fine.

I've got a sticker up in my window about CCTV. You can't really see it, but it's there. Recording in a public place is perfectly legal, and if you're on my property then you'll be recorded too. Nothing illegal about any of that, AFAIK. I do agree however, that it's not worth the time. They either won't know, won't care, or both. I don't think the police keep a record of who has CCTV and who doesn't. From personal experience, if footage was needed and we saw there was a CCTV camera, we'd get ROCU or local plod to go and knock on the door. You're perfectly entitled to say no and it won't be held against you. It's the same argument as having a dashcam. It's great, unless in the moment beforehand you were speeding and contravening traffic laws. @StevesTruck The information is still relevant! It wasn't us that revived it but hey, I'll offer comment. I personally wasn't arguing, per se - nothing wrong with having conflicting information. Life would be boring if everyone agreed with each other.

Sounds like bearings to me. It is a new(er) car, but it's not out of the question. I've just been told my control arm rear bushes are knackered and that's on a 2020 with 40k on it.

FYI it's still capitalised! FWIW, people tend to use bold or italics for emphasis. The options should be at the top of the comment box. A) This is virtually every car made in the last fifteen years and B) you'll still find that a locked car made in the last few years will due far quicker than an unlocked car made in 2005. That's without app connectivity, Tesla-style sentry systems, etc.

I've used Tapo cameras at houses with great success. I also use them to monitor a property in Spain and India, again, to great success. I've not heard great things about Swann - we went for Hikvision for the home system, fully hardwired. It is better to have a 'proper system', but they aren't cheap. ...such as? Aside from them not caring, there isn't really a reason not to. I wouldn't bother personally - as long as the majority of the FOV is on your property, you're fine. FYI @daroya this thread has been dormant since 2018. Nothing wrong with reviving it though!

That's what 50 years will do. Maybe take a look at the tyres you're running? My 150ps Leon FR had no issues and even my Octavia, with 350ps, had less drama than expecting - trick differential or not. In the wet is another story, but that's with WOT. FWD is indeed limiting, but I wouldn't really say that's the case below 200bhp. My vRS can be quite fun in the cold and wet, but that's half the fun.

Be interested to know how it goes, please! I've got the same EA888 Evo3b with a GPF, and wouldn't mind a bit more (well, some) sound.

Absolutely. From what I can see, you can expect a bump in power to 210-220bhp, and torque to 430-450nm. That's a very healthy increase! The only real reason you'd need a TCU tune is to increase the clamping force of the clutches to cope with the increased torque. Do you know what box you have? I think it'll be a DQ250 (6 speed) or 7 speed DQ381.

Okay. Firstly, nice job on the hubs and replacement calipers. No job is wasted - it's just one more thing to rule out. That being said, I think we have found your problem. In the first video, you get the issue with the caliper off. That sounds to me like it's the wheel bearing. Normally you get a grinding noise, but the squealing can be an early sign of it going. If it was on the front then that's a different story, but IMO I would take a look at the bearing. IIRC I was quoted £380 from Skoda. Picked it up from Skoda-parts.com for I think £270. Cheapest was Fish Brother Skoda Parts in Swindon, which I think were slightly cheaper. Do you have anything planned for the old calipers? Might be worth giving them a service and selling - manual handbrake 310mm calipers are quite hard to come by.

Is your car an 18 plate or 68? Only late model 2018s had GPFs fitted. The cylindrical pipe should be the resonator. The boxy thing is the backbox/muffler. You can have more than one.

The only MQB models to have a valved exhaust are the RS3, S3, Cupra and R. You can often tell on the S3/R as the inboard tips will be blackened, whilst the outboard tips (that are only 'used' in sports mode) are silver., Nothing else had a valved exhaust from the factory, from what I can see. Even the Superb lost the valves after GPFs were introduced.

Diamond cut are useless in the UK. All it takes is a bit of gravel to flick up, or some salt, and it's downhill from there. I have 18" Geminis. Towards the end of the year I will either get them refurbed in an anthracite colour or, whoops, pick up some new wheels in that colour. Diamond cut just doesn't last in the UK, and when it does go, it looks particularly horrendous.

Have a look on Kopacek.

Ah, yes. I must have been asleep when I posted that. The GPF should be further ahead of the cylindrical part (which is the res, I think). A GPF looks similar to a cat converter - it's more on the downpipe than the rest of the exhaust. There's no replacement for displacement, except when there is. I just watched a video where a Golf R (okay, it had the engine from an RS3 in it) absolutely annihilated a 1000bhp SF90. The average 2.0 now makes more power than a higher end 3.0 did a few years ago, and that's without anything hybrid.

Mmmmm. IIRC brands like Citroen are following suit. I'm keen to do 0W-30, but want to make sure first they haven't fiddled with the engine to suit.

Errrrrr... depends if you have the central res (I would assume the 2.0 280 is a very different exhaust to your 1.4). It won't do much for performance, however it will change the sound - just maybe not in a significant way. Here is a video of a GPF car with a res delete, compared to the same GPF car, unmodified (starts at 9:20). Not much of a difference, really, and bear in mind these are tuned 2.0 cars with probably the most lairy MQB exhaust systems (tied with a Golf R). From my understanding, generally - Pre-GPF Resonator delete - nice Backbox delete - horrible Full catback exhaust - perfect Post-GPF Resonator delete - doesn't do much Backbox delete - ruins everything Full GPF-back exhaust - does more, but again, not as much as you think My vRS would sound a fair bit better with a £1600 Milltek system. The issue is, without doing the GPF (which is illegal, I may add, and will void your insurance), it just won't sound good enough to warrant the price tag. It's a tricky thing. When a £130,000, 540bhp twin turbo M4 CS with a GPF sounds like this, the rest of us don't have much hope.

That seems a large difference, even if my understanding of centipoise is basic. Do you know what 5W-40 (Think VW 502) is at the hot end?