oldstan

All noted. You're right when you say the 16 inch set up offers those advantages. Hence being swayed in that direction. The car's 12 years old and, whilst it remains in cracking condition with no car park dings, I honestly don't mind the look of the steel and plastic. The older I get I seem to be be more pragmatic as opposed to picky. I admit to being a little bit fearful of the DSG failing as I realise a repair could be horrendous so I continue to treat it with utmost caution and just live in hope. Ta.

I did look and a set of OEM is £91 delivered. Nice as they are I think I'm happier to stick with the ones I have (at £12 for the set). It's not that I can't pay for them but they're vulnerable to mishaps and The ones I have do actually look good enough for me. Ta

All noted, Expat. Ta. I haven't clarified that the OEM alloys and the summer Dunlops that are on them (from new, and which are now permanently stored in the garage wrapped in blankets) won't go back on the car until such time as I sell it. I honestly couldn't decide what to do, I could have got shot of the steel wheels and the 12 year old winter Dunlops that are currently on them and put 4 new All Seasons on the alloys - or do what I've done. I got fed up swapping the summers and winters over twice a year and in all honesty my usage doesn't dictate that I must have summers and winters in place, but a set of decent All Seasons is a sufficient compromise for my purposes. There were maybe 3 or 4 premium quality All Season makes that I'd have been happy with and went for the Goodyear Vector Gen 3 as they get consistently good reviews and were available at a comparatively decent price at Black Circles, fitted by a local, trusted, company. As it happens the Vectors would have been a bit cheaper if I'd put them on the alloys (and that would have meant I need not store them any more) but sods law woud have dictated that I'd have kerbed them as soon as I replaced them on the car and they definitely aren't cheap to replace. They are currently as new and whoever gets the car in X number of years time will be pleased with them, albeit they'll definitely need new tyres by then on age grounds ... even though there's 4 or 5mm of tread left in them.

Here's one of the wheel trims - not bad for £3 each, eh? 🙂

Having not been able to find four OEM covers at a sensible price I finished up with 4 after market covers from Trago Mills. I think they might have mispriced them, or perhaps they were end of line but at £12 for a set I was quite happy especially as the Skoda emblems from the old set transferred over a treat and, to be honest, they look fine. After all they're purely cosmetic and serve no practical purpose at all. Additionally I decided that as the tyres were over 12 years old I should replace them with 4 Goodyear Vector All Seasons Gen 3. They're ordered and will be fitted in a couple of weeks.

Thread resurrection alert!! It's that time of year when you might start to think about tyres and colder weather etc. Current situation :- The Yeti (2011) came with 17 inch Dunlop summer tyres on the "Dolomite" alloys. They're still on there, and at present stored in the garage wrapped in blankets and now well over 12 years old. I bought 16 inch steel wheels from the main dealer when the car was new in 2011 and fitted 215 / 60 / 16 Dunlop winter tyres on them. Total cost at the time was £620 (£155 per corner). As with the Dunlop summer tyres the Dunlop winters are still in place, but on the steelies. There's still about 4 or 5 mm on all of them. But they're well over 12 years old. I decided a while ago not to bother swapping every Spring and Autumn and to keep the alloys (with the summer tyres on) in the garage and In view of the age of the winter Dunlops have ordered, from Black Circle 4x Goodyear Vector All Season Gen 3 All Season at a fitted cost of £530 (£132 each) These are to be fitted locally and will stay on the steel wheels all year round. The look of 16 inch steel wheels with plastic wheel trims (secured with cable ties) doesn't bother me at all and whoever, eventually, buys the Yeti will have immaculate alloys and can do as they choose with them ... plus I haven't got to swap them over twice a year. Black Circles were (are?) offering 15% off when I placed the order. They threatened a "Midnight" end of offer but, as is the case with these things, the offer got extended the following day ... etc etc. But nevertheless the finished price was the best available to me at the time. I could have had Michelin Cross Climate for a total of £39 extra but am happy enough with what I've ordered. I could have got four Nexen All Seasons online, had them delivered and fitted locally and it would have been cheaper ... they would have totalled £350 fitted ... that's £180 less than the Goodyears. The main reason for going for the Goodyears is they are apparently a better performing tyre and I opted for the (maybe/hopefully?) safer option). The Hankook 4S2 All Season was no cheaper than the Goodyears. There were loads of other All Season alternatives ... Tyre Reviews on Youtube has lots of useful information but I felt I needed to change the old tyres and did what I thought best. Others will have done something different - maybe they would care to comment, I won't mind if they disagree with my thinking .....

Just to conclude :- I won't be living without our two cars anytime soon, no matter what the mileage. I use one or other of them pretty much daily and don't like public transport. I live in a small Devon town where public transport isn't an option if you value the ability to go anywhere at a time of your choosing. I don't need two cars but I can afford two cars. I don't need a new car as I'm happy with what I have ... but if I fancied a new car I'd go out and get one. I think we've gone as far as we can on this one .... ta muchly.

Understood. Ta. It spends most of its resting periods in the garage - but, yes, I'll continue to look after it. And, yes, the other, little used, car in the household which IS left mainly on the driveway did develop cracks in the Goodyear Vectors after about 5 years. And, I'm sure you're right that low mileage might not ultimately benefit cars but they're inanimate objects to be utilized for our use and gets as much or as little use as is required. 👍

All received, ta. I've thought a bit more and almost decided to keep the alloys (and their respective OEM Dunlops) and wait until the winter tyres on the steelies have worn down a bit more then get All Seasons of one sort or another. Camskill sell Nexen All Seasons for about £77 which is half the cost of Goodyears or Michelins. I'm not entirely sure they're twice as good and as my mileage is so low the Nexens will probably see me out 🤔 But I'm thinking I'll delay the matter for a while. I've fitted new plastic wheel trims, secured them with cable ties and cleaned the steel wheels. That'll do for now .

I'm in a dilemma. I bought new 16 inch VW/Skoda steel wheels and new Dunlop winter tyres when I bought the Yeti in 2011. They've been swapped over annually as one does with these things. Neither the summer Dunlops that came with the car nor the winter Dunlops that are on the steelies are worn down beyond about 4 or 5 mm (my total mileage is only 45.000 miles) but obviouisly they are old and probably ought to be replaced. I'm no longer too bothered about continuing with the annual swap and will buy 4 Goodyear All Seasons or Michelin Cross Climates. I'm uncertain whether to put the All Seasons on the (absolutely unmarked) original OEM alloys that came with the car - OR - put them on the steelies. If I put them on the alloys that means I can get shot of the steelies (along with the aging winter Dunlops that are on them) and free up the space in my garage. But sods law says if I do put new tyres on the alloys and run with them I'll catch a kerb or hit a pot hole and it'll cost me a fortune to replace. I'm quite happy with the look of steel wheels and plastic wheel trims. Any thoughts what steel wheels sell for? I believe you'd pay £250 for a new set but I coukld be wrong. I still have the invoice from the VW / Skoda dealer and it says they are V3C0 601 027 M0 3C and I believe they're 7J 16H2 ET 45. They are the ones the main dealer recommeded as being for the (1.2 petrol) Yeti at the time. Thoughts welcome. Ta.

I'm hearing what you're saying, Colin. I sort of spotted references to Superb etc but wasn't sure the fit is the same. I have black painted steel wheels from a Skoda dealer so feel more confident now. Strangely, after having owned the wheel trims all that time, yesterday I foolishly hit a kerb and broke one, so the matter is even more focussed as we speak. I will also be thinking about a new set of tyres having had the present ones on there for 11 years. (that should start a few tongues wagging).

Thanks for taking ther trouble ^^^^^ I had wondered about stopping by at my local main dealer (much as would pain me to darken their doorstep and encounter the sharp suited 21 year old woman who I expect would drag herself from behind a computer and sidle over to me whilst cursing me for interrupting her schedule .... yes, I well remember the days when you queued at the parts counter of a Standard Triumph dealership and would place your order courtesy of a microfiche projector with a 59 year old parts man in a brown coat who would withdraw to a well stocked repository stuffed with a myriad shelves groaning under the weight of a million bits each with their own number and emerge with something that you know would take ages to fit but was necessary in order to get it through the MOT. Anyway ...... the wheel trims illustrated above are a bit too "open" for me ... I prefer the more "closed in" design of the RIF. I'll keep the ones that are on there (and have been almost from new having been sourced at Maccess - before they, disastrously, went out of business) and brace meself for the outlay of a £100 and expect them to last another 12 years. Thanks again.

Drew a blank there ... my Czechoslovakian is a bit rusty and those on Ebay were around £100.

Right you are, I'll look. Ta.

Anyone had recent experience of buying a set of plastic (ideally proper Skoda) wheel covers (16" steel wheels). The original ones were called RIF . There has been posts on here but some time ago ... am after a set but not keen on paying £100 Ta.

I don't have an newish Octavia - just a 2011 Yeti. It most definitely doesn't receive infotainment updates over the air, or from anywhere else to the best of my knowledge ... it has a radio tuned to Radio 3 or 4 and that's it. I use a Garmin Satnav with a built in camera and that's the extent of my technology. There's 43 pages here on this thread, much of it way above my head. It doesn't encourage me to update to a newer Skoda. Are all new Skodas as complicated? in fact are all new cars (Toyota, Ford, Dacia etc etc as prone to technical glitches as the Octavia that I read about here?

See the above post entitled Electrical. Yeti 1.2 Petrol 2011. I had my wiring loom for the drivers door changed earlier this year - cost me £239 parts and labour at my local trusted independent. Peel the rubber boot away from where it secures to the metal of the body and see if there's a broken wire visible. If so take it to wherever you normally go and get it done. If you're competent then there are guides here to help you DIY, but that'll be up to you to decide. Lots of electrical problems originate from the broken wiring loom issue. Pointless complaining to anyone, just change it and be done with it.

Got to admit I admire your tenacity. I used to have a bit of a fiddle in the days of Anglia and Morris 1100s when you could get away with tinkering whilst not knowing exactly what you were doing ... but not now. Well done you.

I fear we're all straying away from the topic of "Replacing the Yeti" .... and I was part of the deviation too - sorry.

You probably don't need to be told but the mix of old engine oil and diesel is, apparently, carcinogenic. To be honest I mix creosote or (the newer version called creocote) with engine oil, be it old engine oil or a drop of new .... and brush it on my shed and side gate etc and I'm still here - but I'm not sure I'd be happy to spray the stuff on .... that might be a step too far, even for me. I love creosote but, as we all know, you can't buy it unless you're a registered business that needs it and you can only, now, get creocote, which is probably far less effective, hence me thinking engine oil might make it a bit more long lasting.

That raised a smile. I'll say no more.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Ta muchly, XP.

Among the many failings, deficiencies and shortcomings I can claim to have acrrued in life is "being the last to find out what everyone else already knows". And when I said earlier that I might re-investigate the pros and cons of a Seat Arona alongside the forthcoming facelifted T Cross when it arrives I wasn't, at the time, aware that there has been a fair smattering of speculation that Seat might not be around in its present form for ever. I shouldn't sound surprised - if Woolworth's can go down the drain then so can just about anyone. Wilko apparently included. So perhaps The Arona might not be shortlisted after all. It still pains me to think I might have to run the gauntlet of sharp suited, smarmy, pointy shoe'd, ill informed individuals sitting condescendingly at their laptops and iPhones in brightly lit, anonymous establishments with VOLKSWAGEN adorning their fascias. But, I guess worse things happen at sea. Just look at the Fremantle Highway.

No, strangely enough, I don't say the same about the Kia Soul. I was in one just a few weeks ago and could easily have been tempted had they still made one with a petrol or petrol hybrid engine, but they don't, and I don't want an EV. The Toyota FJ . :- * Isn't available in the UK (and isn't manufactured anywhere any more) and most of the subscribers to Briskoda who have been discussing the alternatives to the Yeti are in the UK. * It's got a 4 litre engine in it which does 16 miles per gallon. * It's 4670mm long and 1900mm wide compared to the Yeti which is 4223mm long by 1793 mm wide. The Jeep is much nearer the mark except in the UK it generally gets poor reviews for being less safe, less reliable and less acceptable to drive ON the road. It does, however, get praised for its OFF road performance and it's better than average ability to wade through deep water.

Sensible thinking. As opposed to the two submissions in the previous post (which, I'm sure, were posted in jest). I'm on record as saying I wouldn't darken the doorstep of my local VW (and Skoda) dealer ever again after they fed me untruths whilst wearing pointy shoes. But I, too, saw the reference to the forthcoming facelifted T Cross and it did make me wonder. When it does come out I would feel obliged to go back to the Seat dealer and compare the new T Cross with an Arona. Both have the 1.5 engine available with DSG and both would allow the purchase of extra warranty. If the VW did appeal enough to warrant purchase I would probably ameliorate my stated disapproval of the local VW place by going to Drivethedeal and getting whatever discount was available at the time from them - but use the local deal;er for servicing/warranty. That'll teach 'em.