grahamar

I thought this made an interesting read .... http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/car-servicing-repair/coil-springs-breaking.html graham

Hi To date, I've had two sets of Nokian WInter tyres on the Yeti. The second set new on this winter. I replaced the first set after they got down to 4mm wear mark. These were purchased via mytyres.co.uk. I figured if they work o.k. in Finland they should be o.k. for Aberdoomshire. Have same brand on the Fabia too. They make a world of difference where I live, atop a steep hill, on bendy road. The ride is softer than Summer tyres - and dont forget to give then more air pressure ( in my book it states an extra 0,2Bar). graham

Hi Tim, Indeed it seems like yesterday that the Yeti was a babe monster and here we are at 3 years. Re the Coil Spring and Golf V part numbers. The garage fitted the following part: 1K0511115DK - Coil Spring, along with some packing and spring support bits ( these begin 1K too) I dont know if that's helpful or not :think: Meantime the monster iis confined to barracks. Snowed in today. Drifts waist high for 300 metres along the road. Hopefully we'll get back on the road tomorrow now that the tractors/ploughs have been to work. Regards graham

James I good idea to get it checked. Mine wasn't like that with the spring gone. Only when that side of the car was loaded/unloaded did it not feel right. One of those things that now I know what to look for I would notice it again ( I dont wish that to happen!) . The sort of symptoms you describe I have seen to be with tyre pressures being inconsistent and/or the tracking not being aligned ( easliy done if you bump a kerb or hit a pot-hole perhaps ) This is just my personal view - I'm not a mechanic or car specialist. Either way - best to get it in for a check up I would say. graham

HI James I re: "did you notice any difference when you were driving ?" When only in hindsight! After I had the news that it had failed I went through the - ah that might be why the back near side tends to wander a bit, especially so around bends . Since the repair it's noticeably more solid on the road. I had first put this wayward wandering down to worn tyres, and was a little surprised when the winters went on the the car handled in a similar way. Then I just blamed slippery/naff roads! So I suppose its hats off for the MOT as I would have carried on driving it like that.! I've got the broken spring in the boot - so I can recycle it again. It's broken at the top where its secured in - normally! graham

Hi, Just got my Monster back after failing it's first MOT last week @ 32K miles. Rear near side spring broken - most likely got done-in driving over our fabulous Aberdoomshire roads. ( Our roads appear to be worse than the Martian surface if the NASA images are anything to go by) Rear discs also badly scoured - not an MOT failure - but got them replaced + pads while it was in the garage. Excellent Service from Victoria Garage at Maud - as always - a highly recommended Skoda garage. Monster should be fit and ready for the weekend supply of snow thats due. graham

Check it's got a valid and correct Tax disc. The dealers often leave them off the car "til the last moment". Easy to drive off without it. Hope to see you around the 'shire soon! Graham

Hi, what to do with those Winter/Summer tyres+wheels when not in use? I stack them using a device like this ... Tyre Tree you can get a cover too to prevent dust etc. I'm sure there are other products out there - this is just one example. I found stacking them on top on each other ( wheels + tyres ) in my shed caused a fair degree of condensation on the lower wheels during the winter months of storage. The tyre tree seems to allow the air to circulate a bit more and reduces/prevents this. Might be of use to others. Graham

Thanks for the tips on getting the strips aligned and how to sitck them on. I was thinking about using the Tar Remover - so that's a confidence boost! I am hoping to make the most of the warm weather expected for the weekend ( even for us up here in Aberdeenshire! ) so with luck I wont need the hair dryer! Graham

Thanks for the Info... I'll go order - nice job for the Weekend! Graham

Hi, Just got a second hand Fabia 90 PS 1.6 CR SE. My wife and I really like the car and are very pleased with it. One thing we'd like to do is protect the doors from getting bashed by other people banging into them at car parks. I have been looking at the side protection kits, like this here Has anyone fitted these already, if so how easy/diff are they to fit. i.e dothey stick on, or do you need to drill into the body work? Thanks in advance. Graham

Sure - that makes sense to me. The difference in my case was that I had paid for: 1) factory fitted towbar electrics and 2) Dealer fitted towbar. So given that scenario - I expected it to work as described/sold to me. Which it now does with the added benefit that I found a really good Garage to do the serviciing going forward too rgds Graham

Yup just trying to get all the tiny bits of glass out of the car now ... :yes: Expect that will be a few days/weeks yet! Graham

Just to close off this thread. The Dealer where I bought the car from - ( who subcontracted the tow bar fitting to another company ) - finally came to an "arrangement" with my now local Skoda garage on who should for foot the bill to put this right ( hint: it wasn't me!) So today - care of those awfully good folks at Victoria Garage in Maud, I have the Skoda supplied/fitted towbar electrics with 13 pin socket ( and 7 pin adapter) and all is working as it should. Thanks to al the tips/advise about this - and to Scunjee who recommended the Garage - excelent service. Graham

Thanks TP, Yes the Yeti is off to Scunjee's recommended Garage, and so far they too have been first class - thanks for the tip Scunjee!! So I'm looking forward to some more "Customer Service" shortly. Graham

Good news,... :yes: A very nice and professional chap has just fitted a new tailgate glass, at 21:00 this evening. As a near neighbour he did it as a last job on his way home, else I would have had to wait another 4 days. Didn't gert chance to take pics aka TP with his front screen, but interestng to see the wiring for the antenna and heater elemenets etc, and how cleverly allthe plastic fits together. The repair comes with a 3 yr warranty - which I hope I don't have to use. Auto Windscreens was the company, first class service in my opinion. Now the Yeti is off to the garage on Friday for the towbar electircs to be sorted! Graham

I recenly went to Halfords to get a new set of number plate screws, I have a trailer and wanted to fix the number plate. But the screws they sold were only Yellow and White, i.e. not black. On enquiring why Halfords only sold the screws in yellow/white I was told it is now illegal to drill through the lettering. So you either have yellow (rear) or white (front) screws to choose from. If as in my case you find the holes predrilled in your trailer mean they would come through to the black lettering on your number plate what do you do? Either dispense with the screws and go with the unltra sticky double sided tape, or buy some of the black plastic screws off e-bay!! btw - My Yeti both plates are screwed on.

Thanks LP - that's the way I looked at it .... the 3rd one over and done with!. At least I don't need any air-con with the rear window missing. Graham

Glass is "on order" as expected not in stock. Will get an update next week. Good news is that the nearest fitter is .... a neighbour!! - so I hope I get a good job done! Graham

Moriss Marina - ah my first car! in "Damask Red" ..... I'm sure I put more oil in it than I did fuel, but as a student it kept me going till eventualy there was more rust than metal. As for the A2 glass shattering - yes that is exactly how it is ....ding,ding and no matter how many times you sweep up there still more on the floor. Good tip on the glass in the boot will look out for that....!

Hi, Interesting thought. If you look to the left of the rear wiper you can see the lower half of the impact of the stone, in fact on close inspection (not inthe photo) the metal work is slightly (very) deformed here where it asorbed the impact aftet the glass shattered. The whole glass shattered into 2mm size pieces.My view on the edges is that as these are not held in place - that as the glas breaks they fall away. Awaiting a call from autoglass...... fingers crossed Graham

Indeed! a kinda freak accident. Irony is I had just arranged for the Yeti to go into the garage next week to have the towbar electrics sorted - since the original fitter put in the wrong 7pin socket rather than the skoda 13 pin socket. Now I have to get the glass fixed and then get back to the towbar .... Thanks for the kind comments. Graham

Hi, Did a quick search and nothing found. So it seems as if I'm the first to have the rear glass smashed into a trillion tiny pieces. How did it happen?, a stone thrown up by a passing vehicle (tractor) hit the back glass ( Yeti was parked) Broken Glass Now awaiting news from Autoglass. I hope won't mean it's off the road for too long, but I doubt if they have much of this kind of thing in stock. Graham

Thanks for the picture - I look forward to seeing that! For me I get the orange and blue bars as if you were about to reverse into somethng, and the continuos beep that warns you of the same. Clearly the system isn't recognising the trailer is connected to the tow bar. I'll speak to the dealer and see what they recommend. Graham

Hi, thanks for all the comments, The tow bar and fittings are all Westfalia - pukka fit for the Skoad I think.. I don't know why a seven pin socket was fitted and didn't realise the relevance of it until I've gone and tried to hitch up the trailer. What is this "download" that is needed? I'm pretty certain the dealer didn't do this, as the reversing sensors weren't working after the towbar was fitted and I fixed that myself by finding and fitting the connector that was off one of the sensors. For me the beeping is an irritant when reversing - it takes away your concentration when trying to reverse. I'll give the dealer a call on Tuesday and see what they say. Thanks again! Graham