travs

Not if it’s OE spec - pattern parts are used in non-dealers all the time and they’re designed to do the exact same thing. Even something that was originally designed for an Arteon, if it’s within the same tolerances and there to do the same job then I don’t think it’s an issue - i.e. the rule of thumb is if it’s not there to change the performance of the vehicle then it’s not an issue. 2 things come into that though - what defines changing the performance of the vehicle - engine output is an easy one as it’s definitive and measurable but something more subjective such as OE size brake pads of an improved nature may mean (a) nothing at all, (b) that the driver requires something to stop better so perhaps he’s driving faster (c) that the driver merely wants to have better braking as it’s increase safety. Entirely down to the insurer which way they want to look at it. Which is the second point - it’s all speculation when in reality it also depends on the insurance company, what their risk modelling is, what they profit margin is, how they view drivers as opposed to vehicles etc.

Yeah you're right - This one is indeed ALOY008K. Selected from Superb, but for compatible vehicles it then doesn't list the Superb. Amateurs.

Superpro do have alloy for Superb LCAs. However...only seem to be upto 2019 so pre-facelift but I didn't think there were differences to FL (although MQB/MQBEvo), they're £800 without bottom ball joint, and they increase caster so won't be OE replacement setup.

Cheers @Awesam - yep calibration will be on the cards afterwards for sure. The guys at the Phirm are switched on having done these all the time. Just need to go through and make sure I’ve got all the necessary side bits - top mounts, bearings, maybe bolts and all that sort of thing

Are they talking about aluminium as opposed to an alloy? Surely aluminium will flex more than steel naturally?

What’s the benefit - lower sprung weight and increasing stiffness? That part number in Autodoc seems to think it is the same part across VW models…but it’s also the same scattergun approach of thinking it’s not compatible for the Superb. So make of that what you will. Although they are all MQB or MQBEvo, there must be some minor differences in parts; for example the resonator delete that you could get for the pre-FL Superb was a better fit for a Cupre Formentor rather than Golf. Where the differences are or what parts they are relevant to I don’t know.

Cheers for the feedback. Getting rid of the boat feeling is perfect tbh. Confort is fine on rubbish road surfaces but any actual weight shifting and the thing doesn’t stop moving. On a dual carriageway at speed it feels almost dangerous if you’re on a bed and there’s an undulation. Just hope it’s not so stiff the Mrs (a) notices and (b) hates it. I’ve got decent guys working on it so any little tips and tricks they’ll know for sure although I thought @AMD87 was talking about the subframe - or am I wrong? Can’t find on internet in general about B16 knocking except for a few instances of spring problems as you’ve mentioned Jusseppe

Sorry it’s off topic. B16 DTC? I’ve got them in a box waiting to go on. How do they feel? And what ride height did you go for?

Don’t assume that the paint has been well cared-for on a brand new car. It looks good as it hasn’t been there long enough to get many scratches. But let’s face it, from the end of the production line to your driveway it’s been handled by a number of employees who aren’t paid quite enough to care much. It’s just another product to them. When you say “the” decontamination spray, there isn’t such a thing per se. There is a fallout remover and a tar remover which are the two decontaminating chemical groups. Either way, yes use those products first. The mantra for any detailing is “least aggressive first”. Meaning use a chemical product before manual intervention. Or use a softer ph-neutral product first before an aggressive strong acid or alkali (ph14 Sodium Hydroxide is just as damaging as ph1 Hydrochloric Acid). So yes, pre-wash and clean the car, then use fallout remover and tar remover to get rid of any iron/tar spots that they can, then on occasion use the claybar to get rid of more stubborn contaminants but claybars will cause swirl marks as they’re abrasive. If you’re not going to polish (as in, get a machine polisher with compound), then a claybar is unnecessary.

Just on these paragraphs: The point being sealant won’t bond as effectively is there are still contaminants but if a sealant isn’t hydrophobic straight away then the car is still dirty to the effect the sealant hasn’t bonded at all which I’ve never seen. On a contaminated paintwork it’ll reduce the longevity of it but not to the point of being straight away. Snowfoam/prewash on a wet paintwork isn’t an issue in reality. Technically it changes the dilution ratio but it would have to 99:1 to be changed to 100:1 and that just wouldn’t have an impact. Point being a wet car is fine. Most times it’s been pre-rinsed to knock off loose dirt anyway. You don’t let chemicals dry as sometimes they’ll bond, and sometimes they’ll create additional run-off. If the paint is hot then the outer layer bonds have broken and there is a danger of absorption in the same way coatings cause to happen by design. Wheel cleaners don’t cause discs to rust, water does; mine go orange after I’ve driven in the rain. Bilt Hamber does a product that you spray on to stop it (which no doubt has been tested not to reduce friction) but I wouldn’t bother. You can just roll the car forward and back a couple of times but RE Performance also noted that R8s are prone to seizing-up because the car isn’t driven enough to drive water out of the nooks of the caliper and actually driving to warm the brakes and dry them out fully is needed. Maybe aluminium parts… Not all tyre dressings are over-rated. Just the silly jet-black super-glossy ones that don’t dry and sling lots of stuff all over the wheel arch. I use Carpro Darkside which is a little bit on that side. But tyre dressings can also act as UV inhibitors stopping the tyre wall from drying out. You can actually see where mine is wearing off though which sorely needs cleaning and reapplying when I get the time!

Ceramic coating can be done any time. It absolutely does protect the paint - but it depends what you think the preotection is from (or what's marketed as such); it's not bulletproof. Paint protections basically have developed by chemists as follows: Wax - we all know wax. Originally paste, but spray waxes developed for quicker easier application Polymer Sealants/Paint Sealants - Artificial version of a spray wax with a different chemical left on the paint Ceramic Wax/Ceramic Spray/Hybrid Ceramic Wax etc etc - development of the above with the inclusion of Silica/SiO2/Silicon Dioxide (all the same stuff) as the protective component. Lasts longer but, and the detailing industry cannot stress this enough, it is not a ceramic coating Ceramic Coating - the strong solvent carrier (the fluid that has the protective component suspended in it) breaks the bonds of the outer layer of the clearcoat so that the ceramic molecules crosslink with themselves on and, critically, partially absorbed within the clearcoat. This alone is unique to coatings and aids in the longevity. PPF - clear (or coloured if you want) film that sits on the outside aka Wrap. You can get self-healing versions which, under heat, melt and swirlmarks disappear. Ceramic coatings will protect from chemicals, grime, bug splatter, birdbombs, sap etc. You can remove all of these without the coating degrading but you can still run the car down a country lane and cause shallow scratches. As said, it can be done any time - you just want a long-lasting paint protection to be on paint which is looking its best so getting a detailer to clean, decontaminate and machine polish the paint will have the swirlmarks minimised, the paint look clear and with full colour depth so you can maintain that condition under the coating. (Btw I'm IDA-certified - trained at UK Detailing Academy and ran it as a business for a while)

When you worked for a detailer before you met me you mean. Hydro2 will definitely hold better but it’s pretty pricey. The concentrate stuff does last as you dilute it 6:1 and you don’t go through much on the car; but the 1litre bottle of concentrate was about £70.

Getting it wrong and trying to take credit for brake discs which you were dead set against because you thought they were fakes and I'm going to die. Oops... And get a new cannon if you're going to use a LSP in it. Last thing you want is contamination between pre-wash to paint protection. Also, I use Carpro Hydro2 because its easy and lasts fairly well (car's currently filthy but still beads so its still on there) - but you could also go for this which is a snowfoam version of it. Seriously, how hard did you look?!? (for anyone else, I know this idiot which is why I talk to him like this)

Technically you could also count a Pre-Rinse as the first stage too, before the Pre-Wash - a good technical method is to knock-off anything with the jetwash that stops the colour of the paint showing - mud splatters, birdbombs etc. Knock those off with water so the prewash product has less obvious dirt to remove. As far as prevention - yes you want to minimise the amount of dirt that gets moved across the paint to prevent marring as much as possible, but also removing the amount of dirt/grime that the shampoo has to cope with as well. Synthetic Sealants are part of Paint Protection - I did a topic on that in the Styling and Car Care Forum: here Just to clarify (pun unintended): Water Beading/Hydrophobicity isn't an 'aim' as such, its a by-product. It has become the go-to look for a clean wet car but having water bead means it sits there on the bodywork and if it isn't DI water then you're going to be left with water spots. Ideally you want water to gather and sheet off, leaving as little on there as possible. You also want to aim for a product that protects the paint as best it can - you then decide whether you want something quick and easy which you'll repeat; or a bit more involved (such as a ceramic coating or PPF) but lasts longer. On Microfibre cloths - they're very very small fibres made of 2 types of plastic - Polyester and Polyamide. One is good at picking up water, the other is useful for picking up oil. That's why they're better than terry towel or chamois etc. etc. But...because they're plastic, you have to wash them at max of 40 degrees so the plastic fibres don't melt together, and with no other materials as the shed fibres will be collected and clog up the MF cloth. You're welcome

Just to tidy up a few things: There are 3 methods to decontaminating the paint: Iron Fallout remover - removes tiny iron filings stuck in the clearcoat from brake discs or railway lines. Works by dissolving the iron and turning red/purple. Tar/glue/sap remover - organic hydrocarbon (ie a petroleum-based product) which dissolves little tar spots which are flicked up from the road and stick on the paint. Pity us black car owners. Clay bar. This manually removes both types of contaminants from the above as well as any others. This will cause damage to the paint as you are rubbing across the paint. The above is decontamination. As opposed to just cleaning. For that you want to do 2 stages: Prewash - this can be in the form of snowfoam, a citrus prewash or a traffic film remover. You don’t need to do more than one, get the dilution ration right and it’ll be fine. Spray on, let it dwell without drying and give it a good blast off with the pressure washer Safe Contact wash. 3 methods - 2 bucket method (clean suds and rinse water), and 2 x single bucket methods: either using a pump spray to put the product on the car and a rinse bucket. Or a clean bucket and 7 or 8 microfibre wash pads/washmitts. Get one out; use it on a panel, then leave it aside not in the bucket. Get the next one out etc etc.

What year and trim/engine Martin? Is it still in warranty? When I first picked up my car it was with a rubbish version of MIB3 software (v276) and amongst the MIB being rubbish I also used to get Emergency Call button going inactive and a message. Odd trick was to press the button and when it barked a call was being made, you press the button again to cancel the call as it had reset itself. Skoda kept talking about having the car pretty much the whole day for an update so left them to it. Have recently potentially concluded it wasn't the MIB update that took the time to update and the issue with the Emergency Call button. More recent software updates have taken 10-15 mins at home. But if you research the OCU (Onboard Connectivity Unit) I've found reports of that potentially taking a lot longer. So my suspicion is the OCU may have packed up and needs either a revised firmware or replacement.

Hi, MIB3 wireless carplay - I just want to understand how it connects partly out of curiosity, partly as we're travelling to France in a couple of weeks and as my O2 connection utilises UK allowance and I have 12Gb it would be great to get the family to tether. So I've read on google that it uses Bluetooth to create the initial connection and then hands over to wifi connecton for data; funnily enough mine always drops once every time I connect after a couple of minutes so I wonder if that is this the handover not being seamless. With respect to a couple of things in mind: If I'm connecting to Carplay does anyone simultaneously create a hotspot for others to tether to (e.g. kids with tablets with no mobile connection) If not, can you create a hotspot if connected to Carplay by cable? When I first bought the car and set it all up, everything was fine. I changed the SSID of the car wifi to the number plate (just mucking around) - from that point, when the phone connected to the car outside the house, all seemed to work; but when I drove off, the car seemed to lose data. Seemingly the car was connecting to the phone for carplay, but connecting to the house for data; as it lost connection to the house, it seemed to just do nothing until eventually the phone asked if I wanted to use mobile data; like the phone was getting from the car rather than the car from the phone? Was that something else I did? It doesn't do it anymore and that may be after the last MIB software update reset but just curious if there was some setting that I did... Cheers - appreciate these are a bit niche - but someone might happen to know.

Off-topic - had the same on an E36 328i (and 323i) - if it ran rough but didn't stall it was camshaft position sensor (easy change), if it ran rough and stalled it was the crankshaft position sensor (not easy change). Just reminded me reading this through. Glad there was some solution and hope its a long-term fix OP.

Unless it turns out yours need 10W-50 and then we’re all in the dark

That’s frustrating but ok, another avenue shot down. If it’s definitely CJXA then this was the pre-GPF original 280. The only other way to tell irrespective of anything is look under the car. The downpipe comes off the turbo, immediately has the catalytic converter and then does one of 2 things: Additional bulge for the GPF (also known as OPF) (DNUA engine code) Just a wire mesh (CJXA) I sense this is probably overkill but hopefully there’s clarity there. Picture attached - don’t worry that they refer to different engine codes, the first three letters are the same for the same physical build, the 4th is just the software determining the final power output.

Not sure how you could summarise that the oil for my DNFE is the same as your CJXA. My point was an alternative way of finding your oil: my oil is quoted in my service history. So if you check your service history you might find which oil has been used.

The other thing that doesn’t help is that there isn’t “a” 280. There are 3. Initially was code CJXA EA888.3 without GPF. Then they added the GPF (and maybe other minor changes to accommodate) which brought top end down to 272 and the engine code changed to DNUA. Then with the facelift from March 2020, they upgraded to the EA888.4 which is engine code DNFE and a different generation of engine with quite a few changes. I’m not saying this to confuse you…it’s to highlight that websites and motor factors don’t realise this. There are a plethora of websites which state 2.0 TSI 280bhp 2015- which shows they aren’t aware of the nuances and therefore their advice loses gravitas. I’d agree sticker or speak to Skoda. Alternatively, mine is also mentioned in service history “VW 504 00 (0W-30)” which is right for ea888.4. Best of luck!

Think I stayed previously - Ozone won’t work on non-organic smells. The Ozone machine basically splits Oxygen molecules and adds them changing O2 molecules to O3 I think. This means it’s unusable to organic organisms, including bacteria, and they die. It won’t have any effect on a chemical smell. It might mask it for a bit (as Ozone has a distinct smell apparently but have never smelt it) but you shouldn’t be breathing it in anyway and should air out the car after an Ozone machine session. I think you’re definitely doing the right thing by getting into nooks and crannies. Other options might be taking door cards off and cleaning behind those. Or even taking the seats out to make sure that the seats can be cleaned thoroughly as well as all the little gaps underneath and around.

tbh it’s less hassle to just download and install the full package. Once downloaded and on a usb stick, plug it in the car and drive around a few days and by that time it’s done its thing in the background and maps are updated.

^^ definitely rear ARB. The front gives limited effectiveness but a rear one is very effective. Hardrace 25.6mm. Potentially Superpro 24mm. Whiteline 24mm although heard the quality on them may have dropped (although I have one and it seems fine). Plenty of reports on VW forums that anything thinner being a bit underwhelming.