Mouldy

My vRS came with a space saver spare, which in my opinion is infinitely preferable to goop and a compressor, however I secured a full size 18” Gemini alloy from eBay and fitted a standard size 225/40 x 18 tyre, which fits in the boot, albeit by raising the boot floor a couple of mm. As for the polystyrene insert, rather than butchering the standard one, again eBay came to the rescue with one from a breakers, complete with tools. Over the past three years, I have suffered three punctures and every time have been thankful that a few minutes changing a wheel, has saved the inconvenience of waiting for the recovery services to attend and my journey has continued without travelling at reduced speed. Whilst I recognise that weight reduction is allegedly the reason for not fitting a spare wheel, along with the quest to fit ever larger rims to even the most mundane of vehicles, with nowhere to store them, to me a spare wheel is a necessity.

I got lucky and managed to get a new grill from eBay, which was fitted by Gary at Cosmetic Autocare in Northampton.

Unfortunately not true. The screen on my then 16 month old vRS was badly chipped by a stone thrown up last December, which was too big to fill. Having checked my insurance docs (the car is insured through Admiral) I made an appointment for a new screen to be fitted and duly took the car to the Autoglass fitting centre in Northampton, which turned out to be a man in a van working out of a bay in Kwik-Fit and went for a wander and to do some Christmas shopping. When I returned, the fitter was still trying to calibrate the camera and about an hour later, gave up saying 'see how it goes.' As you can imagine, I wasn't impressed and my attitude didn't improve when I noticed that the screen was a Pilkington item which had been badly scratched under the camera housing. I called Autoglass, who were actually very helpful and arranged for another screen to be fitted at their centre in Bedford. Admittedly, it was a bit of a pain having to go there, but they'd arranged for a genuine Skoda screen to be fitted and the experience was a whole lot more professional than that which I had been subjected to previously. I am aware that Progress Skoda in Northamton do not have the calibration equipment there, but use Tyres Northampton to undertake calibration work on their behalf should they need to use it.

One from me:

Spent a bit of time last Sunday giving the car a wash and quick wax. I've been using some Alien Magic 'Bling' shampoo lately, which to me seems little different in performance to Megs Gold Class, but does smell much nicer. The car was dried with a Monster Microfibre Purple Monster Edgeless towel, before using Alien Magic 'Argon' spray wax. I've been using the product for a few months and find it very easy to apply and buff to a decent shine. It doesn't leave marks on plastics and although it needs reapplication every few weeks, it is so easy to use, I don't find it an issue. The interior was vacuumed, windows cleaned with Autoglym Fast Glass and tyres dressed with Megs Endurance Gel. I've used various quick waxes over the years, but am quite pleased with the Alien Magic product. I may try some of their other products as I run out of my usual favourites to asses how they perform.

I acquired a chip in mine last month, a couple of days after we had snow in Northampton. It was the residual grit spread on the roads that was the cause. Tried the filling route, but was told the chip was too big to fill, so had to have a new screen. The fitter who put it in, managed to scratch it as well as struggling to recalibrate the lane guidance camera, so had to have another one fitted at Autoglass premises in Bedford. Fortunately, they made a good job of it this time and even fitted a genuine Skoda heated screen to make up for the inconvenience. I watched the performance recalibrating the camera. Talk about b*llache!! I can see why they charge over £250 for the recalibration. Good job the insurance covered that too!

I'd not used a drying towel before, always being slightly old fashioned and using an Autoglym synthetic leather. However having bought a black car and fearing for the potential for damage to the finish, I purchased a couple of these: Http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/washing-and-drying/drying-towels/monster-microfibre-purple-monster-edgeless-xl/prod_1297.html I'm now a convert and find the towel to be quicker than the old method and far kinder to the paintwork.

So something has gone wrong with my Photobucket account - I'll try this way:

Eventually got round to trying one of the Alien Magic products received a couple of weeks ago. Washed the car and dried it as usual and went over it with the Megs DA and a white Hexlogic pad using Menzerna 3800 Super Finish Plus before waxing with Alien Magic Ultra. The website states that it can be applied by machine, but I found the best results were by using one of their yellow m/f cloths to apply the wax and polishing off with the super soft green m/f, as in the photo on my last post. Well pleased with the results - time will tell how long it lasts and I'll update again when I have more info.

I called Alien magic and spoke to the owner regarding his products and it seems they have been on the marker for less that a year. I ordered a couple of small bottles to see what they were like and was pleasantly surprised to find a couple of freebies had been added and now have some liquid wax (Ultra), a spray on wax (Argon) and some fire clay and clay lubricant (Nano) to try. There are also a couple of yellow microfibres and a green one, which is incredibly soft together with a foam applicator pad. Unfortunately, due to holidays at work, I will be completing an eleven hour shift on Sunday, so won't have the opportunity to try them this weekend. However, the weather forecast isn't great, so I may be as well being at work anyway. I'll report back when I've tried them.

Prices are cheap enough, for example: http://alienmagic.co.uk/argon---high-gloss-spray-wax--easy-spray-on-wipe-off-formula--nano-protection--extreme-water-repellency-235-p.asp It's cheaper than most similar products I've used, so if a bottle only last six months it would still be relatively inexpensive. I'll give it a go and report back. Wish me luck!!

We usually take our annual holidays driving in France. Because I don't fancy sitting on the side of a French motorway with a flat tyre or suffering a long journey at 50mph, I have bought a full size spare wheel for each of the three vRS's Ive owned so far. I currently own a mk3 with 18" Geminis. Complete with a 225/40 18 tyre, it fits in the spare wheel well with no problems. There are always spare alloys on eBay and they can usually be bought at a fraction of the price of a new one, even if a refurb is required. The only issue is getting the correct polystyrene insert for the tools. The one that came with the spacesaver supplied with my car was too big, so I managed to find a suitable one on eBay too.

I've been looking on eBay for some foam alligator pads and came across some products from a company called Alien Magic: http://alienmagic.co.uk Has anyone tried any of them and if so, were they any good? Interested to find out more.

I've used Hoselock connectors like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hozelock-2291-Double-Male-Connector/dp/B000TAW626/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1500137648&sr=8-2&keywords=hose+connector With the appropriate end connectors for years with no issues.

Taken during a recent trip to France: [/URL]