Maffu

Protect alloys, everyone's a winner. Think this stems for the American fascination for Winters - where, in some parts, they are more a neccessity not so for the alloys, but getting some serious winter rubber on. Now it's a trend. As long as you wash your car regularly, shouldn't be a problem.

Makes you feel like you've shat yourself.

To add to your woes, 4 years old is cambelt change time. 30k + inspection is what you want, no?

You got left off, having been caughty at over 100mph on a 50[30]? No way...

And regionally locked games, and no GBA game capability...

'55' September 2005 with ~62,000 on it, all mine, from new.

You can get a 4 day break to Budapest, flights + B&B for £150, rather than better throttle response. While I'm happy you're happy, a remap on an engine like that is bonkers!

Well, NY trip didn't transpire, but I picked up a DS Lite for £80 in Asda yesterday.

I just asked, and they said yes. LETS PLAY BALL!!! ...er...cards.

Superb read, this thread.

Pick up a UK mains charger, or UK lite? Okay, so games, not a prob [at all, *cough* ] and a UK mains charger will work without problem on the US console? Excellent. Some nice colours in the US, I've not seen over here... :edit: Cheers chaps.

Yeah, read about the R4 thing. In the process of home-brewing my PSP, but I might have a very last minute trip to NY on Monday, and Nintendo aren't dropping the price of the DS Lite at Christmas, in readyness for the DSi, so figured I'd get a cheaper one in the US - only if the charger will work.

Would I have any issues when it came to charging? Would a UK charger be okay, or would I need a socket adapter for the US charger? Are the games region specific?

The quickest colour: black. [Wish I'd gotten a silver or red one, tho' :(]

Very shiny, sir. Excellent job.

More Fabias! What's the deal with non-Skodas turning up? If JapCrap is welcomed, I can think of a few.

So long as genuine Skoda parts are used, warranty will not be effected. Might have an effect on resale, but you have to weigh up that, over savings made. My car was serviced 6 times in it's first 3 years, twice at a Skoda dealer. I'm keeping it for another 3 more, so I was more concerned about a good job, rather than stamp-adding-value.

One of the best looking Fabia's I've seen.

How many miles have the pads/discs done? Are the within tolerance in terms of wear/thickness? Mine squeal. I think there's a lip on one of the discs or something. Wear is fine, so I just jump on them every so often and the noise goes away. Upgrades: 312mm, or better 288 size stuff.

Impressive! Some of those do look a little painful tho'! Braver than I am.

Excellent - thanks guys, just the answers I was after. Matt - Cheers for the offer. We've got the same model engines, so I'm guessing we'll have similar fitting issues! Have you got in contact with Pipercross to see if it's something that can sort out?

Excuse my ignorance, but would the above cause an issue if one were to go through a half decent puddle? Or what a little water getting through not cause any problems?

Now, even with the quickest of searches it seems installing the PD160 intake and trumpet on the PD130 engine is de riguer. What are the negatives, or downsides to installing this part? Does it provide too much air flow into the engine? Can the engine's ecu happily and easily allow for the increase of air available? I've always had the air filter of my car replaced every 10,000 miles, but I got lazy last time and forgot to request it replaced. Is there any advantage to getting a K&N, Green or Pipercross panel filter aftermarket filter over the standard OE skoda item? What disadvantages are there to an aftermarket filter? Would one of these upset the MAF in anyway? Is there a particular manufacturer of uprated filter panels that works better with the PD130 over the others? I've always like K&N filters, but am approaching this with an open mind. I don't see any real advantage of uprating the exhaust on what is a standard PD130, and will only be mildly remapped in the future. Short of aesthetic improvements, will it do anything for me? I suggest it's money better spent elsewhere - I mean, it's still going to sound like a diesel… - but am happy to be proven otherwise. Thanks for any insight given.

Hehe. It was 'borrowed' Currently having a good think about suspension, which will be first changed. 29.09.2008 The Fabia passed her first MOT without hassle. The T1-Rs are run-in nicely and are a noticable improvement over the Falkens they replace.

I can't say a single word against the F1s I had - save for the steap price, but you do get quality. After some average Falkens, I've opted for some T1-Rs. They're only ~800 miles old, but they feel good. Not sure you can go wrong with any of the tyres mentioned, really.