kgreenhough

Hi, I wonder if any one can help with a bit of info? I want to get a full size spare for my Superb II. It came with the 16" steel spare, but as it's the SE (which has 17" rims), that still doesn't count as full size, so it has the 50mph stickers on it and basically means that if I needed it, I would get out of immediate trouble, but not really be able to go far - I drive across Europe fairly regularly, so the thought of being stuck at 50mph for potentially 100s of miles or having to find a new tyre in Germany at the weekend isn't a good one!! So, two questions: If I get a 17" alloy (I don't think they do steels?) then firstly, what size would I need to match the originals? I've found a 17" wheel from a 2005 VW Passat, which is 7.5J and 47ET. The guy can't find the stud pattern size, but is definitely 5 stud, a bit of google research suggests that all recent passats are 112. Is this basically the same wheel as the original spec on the Superb SE? Second question: will the bigger wheel fit in the space in the boot? I realise that the overall diameter is the same, it's the depth I'm worried about as the 16" spare is 205 and the 17" wheels have 225 tyres. Just wondered whether anyone has tried fitting a 225 in the boot and if so, whether the boot liner will still go flat... it's only an extra 20mm, so I'm hoping it will be ok? Thank you to anyone who can help and save me going out in the cold to take a wheel off and have a look!

I think this is correct as it looks like you have the elegance, which has 225/40/18 92Y as standard spec. I guess the lower profile is stronger as there's less to flex... I'm no expert, just going off the Skoda website, under Facts and Figures, then Standard and Optional Features, Wheel/tyre size is at the top of "Exterior", so you can flick between the S, SE and Elegance.

I'm sure they should have been 94s - check out the spec on the Skoda website. As far as I know you should never down rate a tyre for either load or speed. The lower weight rating could have contributed to rapid wear and probably invalidated your insurance... I wouldn't go back to that dealer!

Hi all, thank you for your replies. Just wanted to update that I have sorted the problem, it was a dry leaf!! For future reference for anyone who has a similar problem, the glovebox comes off easily - 3 screws inside the door at the top and 2 screws underneath. Then it slides out and you need to unclip the cable for the light (on the right hand side). When it's out, there are two further wiring connections into the blower unit, which is now in front of you - both need unclipping. There is a foam insulating cover that needs to be moved out of the way - one fixing underneath. Then the heater blower unit can be removed by undoing the 2 retaining fixings on the bottom of it - they are nut head fixings. The unit then drops out in two pieces. Next time it's serviced I'll ask them to be a little more careful not to drop **** into the system when they change the pollen filter, which must have been the cause of the problem

Hi, I wonder whether anyone can help? My 6 year old octavia I has suddenly developed quite a noisy heater blower - it sounds like something might be stuck in the fan causing a high frequency clicky sound. It sounds like it's coming from under the glovebox, which I think is where the blower unit is located? Changing the fan speeds etc doesn't seem to make any difference. I had the car serviced last week and I know they changed the pollen filter. I haven't had any daylight to look at it so I'm not entirely sure how it's set up, but does anyone think that anything to do with changing the pollen filter could have caused the noise? Especially bearing in mind that the noise didn't start until a week after the service and I did 500 miles in that time? It's not easy to find time to get back to the garage, so if I do I want to be reasonably sure it's not just coincidence. I'd like to get a look at the blower unit (to see if something is stuck) - does anyone know if it's possible to get access to it without having to take too much of the inside of the car apart - the Haynes book talks about taking the glove box out, for which you also need to take the centre console out... which seems like a lot of work. I've got quite a bit more driving coming up next week, so would like to sort this before it drives me nuts - it's a very annoying noise that can still just be heard even at 80 on the motorway, with the radio on. Any tips, ideas, suggestions very gratefully received... cheers Kevin.

There's a big connector plug that goes into the door control unit. Water gets in and sits there and rusts the pins until they just crumble away. As far as I know you have to change the whole control unit, which is fairly pricey and it's a lot to have it done at a stealer as quite a bit of labour. It's changeable yourself, although it's quite fiddly getting the door apart etc. When mine went wrong I cut the control unit side of the connector open, identified the pins that were corroded and soldered a bypass in to crimp connectors straight into the wiring loom - then sealed it back up well! This wouldn't always be possible - depends on which pins are gone and how accessible they are. Bad luck anyway... it's a complete pain caused by a considerable design flaw that still exists on current models. The VW Golf uses a similar control unit, but it's at a different angle inside the door and I don't think is suffers the same problem.