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]

The grill on my vRS was mysteriously broken whilst parked earlier this year. I managed to obtain a replacement from eBay an took it to a local body shop, whose owner I know. The hardest part is removing the bumper, in particular the bolts on the inside of the front wing behind the headlamps. I watched how the old grill was removed and the plastic welds were cut away to leave what was left of the locating lugs, so it was possible to lift the grill off. With the replacement located, the lugs were melted with the tip of an old soldering iron to secure it in place and the bumper refitted. The whole process took about an hour and a half to complete and I am very grateful to Gary at Cosmetic Autocare in Northampton for his help.

Bought my current car from progress, Northampton in November. It was dealer owned and had 8,000 miles when I collected it and the paintwork was generally in good condition, but there were a few swirls as might be expected from a dealers cleaning regime. I didn't want to go too heavy with a compound, so took some advice from a certain supplier of detailing products based in Huddersfield and purchased some Menzerna Super Finish 3500 and Menzerna Powerlock. The weather over the weekend was ideal for giving the car a seeing to, so following a thorough wash, the Superfinish was applied with a Hexlogic white pad on my Megs DA, followed by a coat of Powerlock, again applied with the aid of the DA, but on an Hexlogic blue pad. Tyres were dressed with Megs Endurance Gel. I have to say that I have never used such an easy to apply product as Powerlock and the finish is stunning (in my opinion). I didn't realise that there were so many colours in the flake of Black Magic paint. See what you think:

Hi All Has anyone fitted Superskoda 'hood power dampers' to their mark III: http://www.superskoda.com/Skoda/OCTAVIA-III/Octavia-III-hood-power-damper-set-KI-R If so, do they work and are they worth it? From the pictures on their website, the location of the fixings towards the screen end of the bonnet looks to generate a lot of pressure on them, due to the weight of the bonnet. Your thought? Thanks.

Thanks all for the replies. As previously stated, I managed to secure a replacement grill from eBay which turned out to be genuine, but equipped with stickers that indicate that it was from a non UK car (not that that matters!!). It even had the 'Black Pack' trim, to match my car!! I went to see someone I know in Northampton who runs a motor body repair shop (specialising in 'smart' repairs) and he stripped the front bumper off and was amazed and disappointed to see that the grill was welded in. Being extremely resourceful, he carefully cut the excess welds from the inside of the grill, leaving what was left of the positioning lugs on which to secure the new grill and with a gas soldering iron, spread the lugs back over the back of the grill to secure it. Once done, the bumper was refitted to the car and it is now back to its previous pristine condition. He estimated that to buy, paint and fit a new bumper (and grill), it would be circa £800 - £1000, but including the replacement grill and his time, I got away with it for about £200 - still enough, but a lot less than it could have been. I am now in the process of writing a letter to Skoda expressing my concerns over the manufacturing process and potential repair costs that are now faced and asking for an explanation or justification of the same. I will update with any positive progress. Not holding my breath . . . . . . . . . . .

Thanks all for the update. Looks a right pain in the ar$e to do. I've been told by the local Skoda dealer that the grill is only supplied with the bumper, but I've managed to secure a grill on it's own (which may or may not be OE, but looks okay). Is the original grill plastic welded to the bumper, or once the bumper is off, can the grill be replaced? From the availability of a honeycomb insert from Superskoda, it seems that they should, but I am slightly concerned. I can imagine some insurance companies won't be too wild about claims for a whole bumper/grill assembly when just the grill is required, as if I can't separate the two parts, it will probably have to go through the insurance.

Has anyone had to replace their grill in mark 3 Octavia? I noticed mine was damaged this morning when washing it. It looks as if someone in 4x4 with high bumpers has reversed into it and damaged the insert. Fortunately there doesn't appear to be any other parts that have been touched, so it could have been much worse. I can see four torx screws across the top with the bonnet open, but does anyone know what else needs to be undone?

They are 28" GeminI in anthracite and diamond cut, which were standard in the car

It had actually covered 80k - it was three years old and had covered 34k when I bought it in 2013. Stonechips weren't too bad to be honest, although there were one or two quite major ones which almost needed filling rather that touching in. I couldn't use standard fuel in it either. I didn't find out until after I had bought it that Revo Technik had worked their magic on it and it was pushing out just over 250bhp, according to the dyno chart that was in the paperwork that came with the car. I didn't use the available performance all of the time - I couldn't afford to, combined with the fact that I am now over 60, but sometimes the red mist fell and I quite enjoyed the occasional traffic light 'Grand Prix.' There is no doubt that I will miss the car, but a diesel vRS will still satisfy the 'boy racer' in this particular grandad and I think it looks rather good.

Parked on the drive just after collection from the dealers: After three years and 46,000 miles in a petrol vRS, it's a return to diesel this time - £60 per week at the local Shell garage was becoming painful to the wallet!!

Having become tired of pouring £60 of petrol a week in my 2010 vRS TSi, I made the decision to go back to diesel and collected this the Saturday before last: It was registered in July this year and has had four months of dealer washes, so although it is not too bad overall, there are some light swirl marks that need to be addressed. I called Clean Your Car, who advised some Menzerna Super Finish 3500 on a White Hexlogic pad for my DA. The products have arrived and I am now awaiting the chance to try them out, when I have recovered from the dose of Manflu that has laid me low since the weekend!! Perhaps the winter months aren't the best for detailing, but I am looking forward to trying out a new (to me) product and seeing what difference it makes.