patrick.waring

An update, I have a set of steel wheels with snow tyres now, but would still be interested in a swap of my 16 inch for 15 inch alloys (changing four wheels twice a year is not my idea of fun.....)

I might be interested for my upcoming trip to the Alps in a nearly new fabia III SE L - the stock 16 inch alloys require a profile not available in winter or 4 season tyres. My hopes for a deal through the swap forum seem to be coming to naught, so a second set for winter is the next best option! Where in the country are you?

Sorry, I used the wrong link above. See the pictures at https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1EoGWB53S9STnFBM0xjQm1jMms&usp=sharing

I want to take my recently acquired 6000 mile Fabia 110 SE L to the Alps in a few weeks and need to fit winter certified tyes. My initial investigation shows that the car has 16" 7J 215/45 alloys with original Dunlop SP Sport Maxx low profile tyres (pictures at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1EoGWB53S9STnFBM0xjQm1jMms ) and a 15" 6J steel spare. For this particular use low profile wide tyres are inappropriate because of poor snow performance and high risk of wheel damage from kerbs hidden by snow, with the additional worry of an unmatched and ironically (in this case) superior spare. Sourcing suitable low profile winter tyres seems also to be problematic/expensive. I have already started a discussion on the Fabia III forum on getting a second set of steel wheels matching the spare and putting winter tyres on those. However there is possibly a better solution, which is effectively a swap and me using 15" 6J alloys from an SE 110 and fitting all season tyres with the mountain/snowflake symbol so loved by gendarmes at the bottom of snowy mountain access roads. I have found these sort of tyres to be very good over the past five years on an Octavia where I got 40000 miles out of them. If there is someone out there with a 110 SE on 15" alloys (preferably with well worn tyres as I will just ditch them) who wants to do a swap to upgrade to 16" low profile as fitted to the SE L, then perhaps we could do a deal at significantly less cost than the factory fitted option, with my nearly new tyres thrown in. This would all depend on condition and practicality as I live near the Beds/Herts/Bucks border and occasionally visit Kent/Sussex and the Coventry area. Penzance might be too far afield to sort this out. I would be grateful if anyone can tell me of their experience in trying to do this sort of thing and if anyone is interested in discussing how the 'swap' might work, please message me, I think you just address it to patrick.waring using messenger accessed from the envelope symbol above.

I am about to get a nearly new Fabia 110 SE L, which is obviously very exciting. However I want to take it to the Alps in a few weeks and need to fit winter certified tyes. My initial investigation shows that the car has 16" 7J alloys with low profile tyres and a 15" 6J steel spare. For this particular use low profile wide tyres are inappropriate because of poor snow performance and high risk of wheel damage from kerbs hidden by snow, with the addition of an unmatched and ironically (in this case) superior spare. Sourcing suitable low profile tyres seems also to be problematic. One obvious solution is to get a second set of steel wheels matching the spare and putting winter tyres on those. Any comments on the practicality of this or what follows are welcome. I would be grateful if anyone can tell me of their experience in trying to do this sort of thing (I note from another thread to beware of brake caliper clearance on steels otherwise to spec)

I have a late 2001 octavia 4X4 which continues to serve me well, especially skiing in the alps, and I try to keep it in top condition with the help of our local independent VAG garage. The front tyres were nearing the end of their lives, and in my most recent visual check I saw that they were seriously worn on the inner shoulders and needed immediate replacement. This was my fault really - the outer shoulders had always worn before, and I had had the tyres reversed on the rims at the front to even up the wear. In September 2011 I had a Beissbarth wheel alignment carried out to try to even things up a bit, and still have the before and after data sheet from that time. I should have paid more attention to the full width since then!! I would note that this alignment eliminated a tendency of the car to fish-tail in really slippery snow when not braking or accellerating and I have some confidence in it. So I found a local tyre fit specialist who can supply the all season winter rated tyres that have served me well, and got them to do the work. They phoned me up to say I could pick it up when they completed the wheel alignment which I had specifically said I did not want (my normal garage was lined up to do it.) They said they had to, because the nearside front toed our 5 degrees, offside out one and a half, so totaling 6 1/2 degrees total toe out. Frankly, I do not believe them, the car was handling fine and had achieved over 40 mpg on a trip down the M1 two days earlier. They did assure me that they had checked the suspension in case there had been some recent catastrophic failure, and found nothing other than replacement lower arms, which shows they had checked because that happened with the previous alignment! So, is it even possible to drive a car with so much toe out? Or is that a reasonable explanation for the tyre wear when the car had done twelve and a half thousand of miles since the previous and presumably honest alignment?

Thanks for that, roo. The cable is ordered, now I just have to wait for it to arrive!!

I recently forked out tens of pounds at my local garage to have a sticky turbo valve code cleared on my late 2001 OctyI 4X4 and be told to wait and see what develops. Can anyone recommend a cheap way to be able to do this for myself (I have computer, so just need cable and s/w)? I do not want the very latest, just something that gives me basic checking, so perhaps a clone cable would do. Any advice gratefully received. In the mean time, could anyone in the Luton area with a cable etc. do a check for me, as the wretched engine warning lamp has just come on again after three weeks!

Thanks for your quick response and offer, which hopefully I will not need to take up. The car was first delivered to a Skoda manager in September 91 and we bought it when two years old from the old (now defunct) Luton dealer. Chassis No is TMBKL21UX28546015. It currently has three 06B 905 115Hs and one 06B 905 115L. I have contacted my local dealer again and I am picking up an 'L' revision coil pack this afternoon to get me going again, as they have plenty of those. I asked why the computer parts system did not suggest this, and they said it was the chassis number that drove to the 'N' revision and then bounced on to the 'Q'. I am now praying that my ex Skoda company vehicle is not some nightmare experimental lash-up! It would be interesting to know what these N and Q versions are.....

I had this problem on my Octavia 4X4T after two weeks in a car park while holidaying last year. I have just come back from a one week holiday, and guess what? It is doing it again! So having read this thread I thought it was time to change the remaining three (only cylinder one changed before). Local Skoda dealer say that I need an 'N', but when they try to order it the system says it has been replaced by a 'Q'. There are none in the country, they are on order being shipped from the factory as they are made and even as an emergency order I have no hope before the week after next. To give the garage parts people their due they did check the N type (none available) and will ring around tomorrow to see if they can source any and ring me up if they can. In the mean time I have a car which I cannot use, possibly for weeks. Does anyone out there know of a good scrap yard in the Beds/Bucks area which might provide an unreliable but available part to tide me over or have an old one which they have removed from their own vehicle to replace it with a supposedly better one? I would pay postage or collect locally. Finally, I would be very interested to know if anyone can explain why VAG has arrived in a position where a significant number of cars in their range cannot be fixed for weeks if they suffer what is known to be a common fault!

We didn't use the chains in 2004/5, but they were required by the Gendarmes in 2005/6 as we went to both Samoens and Tignes. We used the cheap Motorists centre ones on five separate occasions (snow is good this season!) and imposed upon ourselves the requirement that the chains must be fitted perfectly flush (no twists anywhere) and on maximum tightness, try to keep speed below 20mph and never over 30 and only ever use one turn of wheel away from centre to avoid full lock. No damage to car suspension occurred over many kilometers of motoring, some of it in challenging steep uphill conditions. Perhaps the real damage occurs if a chain breaks, so we also checked carefully that the chains were not becoming badly worn.

Hi everyone, I just discovered this excellent site while trying to sort out options for going skiing in the Alps in my Octavia 4X4 this winter. The French now insist you have snow chains available in the car when visiting the Alps, even for 4X4s. That is easy at