AnotherGareth

If you want to be able to use snow chains you may need to change to using 195/65R15 -- the link TP supplied to the Skoda pdf includes a column to say whether snow chains may be used with a particular tyre/wheel size. This may also save you some money, although in some cases by going to an H-rated tyre, good for up to 130 mph, instead of V-rated. If you are only getting 4 tyres and don't have a proper full-size spare I normally recommend the directional Goodyear tyre mentioned earlier. If you are getting 5 then either the Vredestein, also mentioned earlier, or Hankook Optimo 4S would be a better choice since they are asymmetric so the spare could be correctly used on either side. One thing to be aware of if you are ordering from Camskill is that sometimes all-season tyres aren't listed in the all-season tyre section but are included in the winter tyre section. A case in point ...

Not sure if it's worth saying but Skoda (and VW) say that wheel bolts should be dry -- that is, not greased. The risk is that they may be over-tightened very easily if they are greased.

Some European countries require winter tyres to be used in the winter. Of those, some define winter tyres to be those that have "M+S" marked on the sidewall. The AA have a summary page. For Austria it says "All vehicles driving on snow covered roads must have winter tyres (or all-season tyres marked M+S*/mud and snow) during the winter season (from 1 November to 15 April) and if roads have a covering of snow, slush or ice outside these dates. Tyres must have a minimum tread depth of 4mm." And ... "Germany introduced regulations in 2010 requiring all passenger cars and motorbikes including vehicles from foreign countries to be fitted with winter tyres or all season tyres on all axles when conditions are wintry. Winter tyres (or 'all season' tyres) should bear the mark M+S* or the snowflake symbol on the side wall." And ... "Winter tyres, marked M+S* (with or without spikes/studs), with a tread depth of at least 3mm are compulsory from 1 December until 31 March for Swedish registered vehicles and trailers and also for foreign registered vehicles." Tyres that are marketed as all-season tyres may also be winter tyre using the definitions in these countries, (besides which they probably carry the snowflake / triple-peak symbol).

When people talk about upgrading their brakes I often wonder what problems they've found with the oem parts. Pretty much all standard brakes can lock up the wheels at 70 mph, after all. Different for regular track-day usage, of course.

I believe this part of the BTMA quote is incorrect. The vehicle manufacturer will specify minimum load ratings to meet the maximum axle weights, including a margin to take into account the likely range of vehicle usage. They may fit tyres with a higher load rating out of the factory though, depending on what is available to them at the time. The minimum load rating for each Skoda car is listed here (pdf). Mind you I've not been able to relate the numbers in the index to the specific cars we have ... I've just looked for the correct model. a matching engine output and the wheel/tyre sizes.

I often wonder whether those who have always managed without winter tyres and say they're not needed are at all choosy about the tyres they buy ... Do they always just buy the cheapest available at the tyre fitters on the day they go in? I'll lay odds that most actually try to find the best tyre within their budget, asking their mates or on forums for suggestions. Strange, then, that the underlying logic goes out the window when it comes to choosing rubber that works better in colder and slippery conditions.

Only have pictures from garage advert, so can't post those. The reason for asking is I'm looking for potential causes of a wildly low castor angle, as calculated by a laser alignment machine, so precise numbers would be most helpful ;-) In case it's not widely known, castor angle isn't measured by these machines - they do a calculation based on how the camber changes with steering deflection, (as explained by a suspension designer friend).

I think a number of all-season tyres do. I know that Goodyear Vector 4Seasons, Hankook Optimo 4S and Vredestein Quatrac 3 all do, so in that regard that could count as winter tyres! Although it's probably not a good model, I picture tyres as having a preferred temperature working ranges. These ranges overlap as you move from winter, through all-season, to summer tyres. A knowledgeable friend once told me that most 'normal' tyres have a working temperature down to +7C, is mentioned in the manufacturer's specifications, (although I haven't been able to get hold of this kind of detailed information for any tyre).

When I first got winter tyres I asked a Swedish colleague for advice. He said it was common in Sweden to just have four winter tyres and rely on the spare for 'getting to the nearest tyre fitters', so I did the same for the first year. By the next year I thought about how difficult is was to get replacement winter tyres during the winter, so decided to get a spare. Currently for the car with winter tyres we have 5 steel wheels fitted with winter tyres and a new unfitted spare in a shed. For the cars running on all-season tyres we have (or will have) 5 standard sized wheels fitted with asymmetric all-season tyres and an unused spare spare in the shed. As an aside, I'm loathe to buy a car that doesn't have room for a full size spare, not least because of the problem of where to put the road wheel if you need to use the spare. In addition I don't see the point in having a 'full size' spare that is different to the standard road wheels and thus imposes a 50 mph speed limit. How crap is that? ETA: using a summer as a spare with three winter tyres ought to be treated the same as using a space saver spare - I think all fwd cars specify that the space saver should be fitted to the back, and the top speed must be severely limited. I would do the same if using a summer tyre like this.

What is the standard non-lowered ride height and where should it be measured? I'd refer to the Haynes manual but it doesn't seem to have this information, and even if it did I wouldn't be able to trust, being as it mostly seems to be a rather poor cut & paste of the Octavia manual If I wanted a second bloody Octavia manual I'd have bought one!

We paid a similar amount recently for a slightly newer car with a much larger mileage, fsh, cruise control, 6 CD-changer, factory xenons, in good condition, and with a warranty.

Resurrecting an old thread because my opinion has changed ;-) ... and in case anyone searches and find this. I've started to think that the vRS might not have a specific setting to allow for the larger overall diameter when compared to other trim level cars, since 205/45R16 is an option for any Mk1 Fabia. If that's the case, 205/45R16 is already 2.25% larger than the standard wheel size for most of the range, 185/60R14. This would mean 195/55R15 would further increase the inaccuracy of the speedo. I'm now strongly favouring 185/55R15, being the standard alternate size. The official Skoda tyre sizes documentation says that 83 is the minimum load index, but this provides a much lower margin than Skoda normally specify, so I'm also thinking that XL tyres in either standard size would be a safer/better option.

Of the ones I've seen, the maximum axle weights add up to a bit more than than the maximum vehicle weight, (assuming my maths is up to scratch, which we've seen it might not be). For example, the weights listed for our Octavia are 1900, (gross vehicle weight), 3200, (gross train weight), 1000 and 1000, (front and rear axle weights). On the Fabia in question the numbers are 1720, 1720, 960 and 800. The second figure seemed odd; if the car isn't permitted to tow I'd have thought it should be zero, but having the gross train weight the same as the gross vehicle weight suggests that if the car isn't loaded then, theoretically, it could be used to tow a very light load. So far as margin of tyres is concerned, if the load across an axle isn't evenly distributed, you'd need tyres rated for a higher load to handle the imbalance. Cornering at speed is one instance where the weight might not be spread equally! Against that, though, I think the Load Index for a tyre applies at the maximum speed for that tyre, so for H-rated tyres if you don't go at 130 mph there's some extra margin, although I don't know what the margin varies with actual speed.

Oops, but still not much margin ... I'm thinking tyres with 86 or 87 load index would be a better choice, (being the standard XL tyres in the two sizes specified by Skoda). BTW this compares with about 23% margin specified for tyres on our Octavia.

I have always understood that tyre load ratings need to be at least capable of supporting the maximum axle weight of a car, as marked on the ministry plate, and that normally car manufacturers would specify minimum tyre load ratings to include a reasonable margin to allow for uneven loads across an axle. Today I looked at a Mk1 Fabia vRS -- the plate in the engine bay says the maximum permitted weight across axle-1 (front) is 960 kg, and across axle-2 (rear) is 800 kg. Skoda's official documentation says that minimum load index for each tyre is 83, which is equivalent of 487 kg. The maximum evenly-distributed load supported by the two front tyres, therefore, would be 874 kg, substantially less than the 960 kg maximum axle weight on the plate. Can anyone explain this?

I still think you're over-stating. The first two videos you linked aren't much help in the debate. In the first, the chances are that all the sliding vehicles are on normal tyres. So far as the second is concerned, 'all season' can mean different things in different areas. What I think of as 'all season' are manufacturer designated tyres that carry the snowflake-mountain symbol, so are classed as winter tyres in jurisdictions that have a legal requirement for winter tyres, while at the same time being designed to be suitable for use all year round in the UK and other areas with a similar climate. Examples include Goodyear Vector 4Seasons, Hankook Optimo 4S and Vredestein Quatrac 3. The worst I came across was water on ice during a thaw, and I found when facing uphill, stopped with the handbrake on, there was an almost imperceptible backwards slide that stopped when I pressed on the foot-brake. Conversely, facing downhill the handbrake worked as expected, with no sliding. This was in a fwd diesel with identical winter tyres fitted to all wheels, (Vredestein Snowtrac 3). My conjecture for explaining the difference was that the tyres had more grip in one direction than the other. In motion, though, there were no perceptible problems in accelerating or braking.

My experience of winter tyres on fwd and rwd cars is that they can provide a surprising amount of grip on road surfaces that are almost too slippery to stand up on.

Assuming you are aware that the load index requirement for Mk vRS is 83 -- the standard load index in this size is 82 so you need to be looking for XL tyres.

We've not noticed any problems with lack of grip using Vredestein Quatrac 3 in the summer, despite some seriously spirited driving. They're not available in the size mentioned by the OP, but Hankook Optimo 4S are -- we're almost certainly going to be using them for our furby. ETA ... now have 5 Optimo 4S tyres stacked up in the hall waiting to be fitted!

Agreee with Jeeves; there's precious little point in going for a tyre speed rating that's significantly higher than you're going to use. If you car doesn't go faster than 130 mph you're covered if the tyres are H-rated or better. The load rating is another matter; it's a legal requirement to use tyres that together are able to support the maximum axle load indicated on the ministry plate. I've noticed that manufacturers seem to specify about a 20% margin on this -- the minimum tyre load specified by the manufacturer is at least 20% larger than half the maximum axle weight -- presumably this is to cover transients where more of the load is carried by one tyre.

Look inside the fuel filler flap - the other size mentioned is 185/55R15. I'd wondered whether this was to allow space for snow chains, because otherwise 195/55R15 is closer to the standard wheels & tyres, but now I'm beginning to think that the speedo on the vRS is calibrated the same as other models in the range, in which case 185/55R15 makes a lot more sense, (since it is less of a stretch from 185/60R14).

Where are you located?

I think the sticker is there because the spare is steel and the standard road wheels are alloys. The problem is that if you use the spare there will be a weight imbalance across the axle.

A good thought, thanks. While I've been driving today I've been trying to pay attention and get some idea about whether the fall to ---.- is approximately even. Also been thinking through a range of other possibilities ... if anything specific comes to light I'll report back.

Has anyone come across a fault with PD Tdi engines in which the engine braking is reduced when the engine is fully warmed up? Not at all obvious when the engine is cold, completely obvious when fully warmed to this owner, but not a sudden step change as the engine is warming up. This isn't gross enough a difference to convince a VAG specialist that the problem exists or is anything other than general wear on an old engine, but is big enough to interfere with driving pleasure. I'm beginning to think it must have something to do with how fuel flow is regulated ... but have no idea really!