artichoke273

Ah yes, from memory most models use the HV-199515 for £123. I can't recall when the £204 set come into play. Granted they were still more than the Grayston set for £86. I went by positive caravan site reviews and MAD seemed to have edge. No one had done a back-to-back test so it was all subjective, but it sounds like we're both happy with our choice.

I've had MAD Progressive spring assistors fitted to mine for a year or so. I had the same problem with the jockey wheel hitting the ground. They make a big difference to rear ride height when towing or with a fully loaded boot and a bike rack. No noticeable difference to the ride when not towing. I told my insurance company and they were fine with it, as they don't rate for them. http://mad-suspension.co.uk . They were very helpful answering questions prior to ordering and afterwards for advice on fitting.

The mk2 was launched in 2008 and as far as I'm aware has never had a 2.5 v6. The mk1 did get a facelift in 2006.The GPS antenna is in the fin on the roof, to access it you need to remove the rear of the headlining. I believe that's the same on the mk1.

I tried the bumper protector, delivery was fine but I was disappointed with the edges considering the price. No response to emails, so I had to file a Paypal claim to get a response. To be fair they were then pretty quick to resolve the issue - which involved me sending them a photo of the protector bent double and them issuing a full refund (including postage). Ironically when I bent it back you couldn't see the bend, but I still wasn't happy having it on my car, even though it hadn't cost me a penny.

All good here. I notice the same bars under a different name are No.1 bestseller on Amazon.co.uk at the moment. If you filter through the negative reviews due to them not fitting a Zafira and bad experiences from dodgy sellers, they seem well received. Only approximately 1 in 100 purchasers write Amazon reviews and as a nation we're naturally inclined to review when we have a bad experience. I can therefore guesstimate that Amazon are selling roughly 400 a month. This is the third batch I've seen in Lidl in the last two years, my store had about 20. 600 Lidl stores in the UK, 12,000 sets per batch, all sold out. I think if they were flawed or not fit for purpose then the internet would be awash with bad experiences. Just my humble opinion of course.

Sorry I'm an idiot - the front bar is clamped to the roof rail just behind the front foot next to the join and the rear bar is clamped just in front of the middle foot.

It was possible to add a secondary speed display in the form of a digital readout in mph which sat in the middle section of the MFD and still retained the kmph in the lower section using VCDS. I tried it a few times on mine (manufactured May 12) and I couldn't get it to play ball.

Further back makes them quieter but I have the front bar as far forward as possible (just in front of the middle foot that joins the rail to the car) to minimise the weight on the rear section of the roof rails, and in turn the weight on the rear axle. The reason is that when I'm using mine, I also have a boot full of luggage, plus a trailer applying 40kg of downward force on the towbar and I like the car to sit as flat as possible.

Preston Motors in Forest Gate certainly renewed my faith in car dealers. Don't put their distance from you put you off, they will arrange delivery to anywhere in the UK. Very competitive and definitely the first place I'll be calling when it's time for a change.

Make a quick call to your local dealer's parts dept. Also, I'm not sure what glue you tried, but it might be worth trying an epoxy adhesive like Araldite - if the surfaces are properly prepared (no old glue, grease, etc), and it's given time to cure, then the bond will be as strong as the clip.

Just to confirm, the 'Variable boot floor with aluminium rail & partition system' does result in a completely flat load area with the rear seats folded. I guess it's still out of the question at the price, but I thought I'd let you know.

Excellent, thank you. That's very useful info to consider. The manufacturer of the bike carriers recommends a cable lock through the bikes and the car's roof rails for security, so I think this worthwhile for added safety. I absolutely agree that should the roof load come off, it would be the vehicle travelling behind that was affected and that has always been my primary concern. The same with trailers and towbar mounted bike carriers. Having had another conversation with the metalurgist about steel grades, I'm happy with my set up for the load I'll be carrying. Though I complete understand your original concern and I'm very pleased that my original post didn't go unchecked, so that others can make the same decision under their own circumstances.

Well, I wasn't trying to silence any critics with the views of my friend. I almost left that comment out of my post, as I could see it might be inflammatory, but I wanted to give you as much information to make an informed comment. It is your learnings from the University of Life that I was hoping to tap into. I understand your point about 4 x 17p bolts, but that is the going rate for a 8.8 bolt. The t-track system from Thule uses four M5 bolts, that can't be improved on without drilling more holes in the roof box / bike carrier, which will presumably weaken that. Do I need to find some £10 bolts? Could I ask what you use on your roof bars?

That is interesting. I'm no engineer but I can't help thinking that one of us has our units mixed up (and it could easily be me). The M6 bolts are 8.8 grade with a tensile stress of 800 MPa (81 kilogram-force/square millimetre). Even if they were 10.9 grade they would still only be 1040 MPa. I can't figure out how wide a bolt you would need to have 800 kg in tension, if indeed we are talking the same units. More worrying, is that the T-track bolts supplied with my bike carrier, that were slightly too wide were M5 cup square bolts. Granted, they might be a higher grade but that wouldn't account for a 1000% increase, or any significant advantage on the other maximum loads. Thule T-track bolts are essentially M5 square head bolts. It would be interesting to know how the roof rails are bolted to the car roof. Finally, I ran my plan past a friend who has a PhD in Metallurgy & 40 years experience of non-destructive testing metals for the MOD. His thoughts were that it would be absolutely fine. Anyway, the bikes were due to be attached for their maiden voyage tomorrow morning, I certainly don't want to do anything dangerous when it comes to roof loads. So if you can let me know your thoughts based on the above extra info before then, it would be appreciated!

The u bolts supplied with my bike carrier were annoyingly 1mm too narrow to fit around the aero bars (which are 46-47mm I think), which is why I had to use the T-track. Also, the u-bolts I had were designed for square bars and the instructions stated they weren't suitable. I imagine that this is because all the tension of the horizontal section of the u bolt would go through the centre of the lower curve of the bar. If you have curved u bolts that fit then I can't see a problem. If not, then probably cheaper to use the roofing bolts and washers above (£6) in the T-track, than hunt around for some different u bolts. The M6 roofing bolts are normally tested to 50kg-75kg tensile strength each, so with four in use, they should withstand any forces they might encounter.

Just to share my experiences. Pros: Fitting is very straightforward, taking less than 5 mins. Solid fit and solid build for the price. I reckon the mechanism will last well if treated well. Time will tell. The section that clamps to the rails is a pliable plastic which doesn't seem to scratch or mark. Cons: They do whistle over 40 mph, but some twine wrapped around should solve that. There is a T-track on the top, but it is smaller (14mm wide) than the ones on Thule, Atera and Whisperbar. I solved this after several trial and error attempts. M6 roofing bolts 20mm such as: http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/nails-screws-fixings-hardware/nuts-bolts-washers/roofing_bolts/Roofing-Bolt-AVF-859250-Pack-Of-10-W-M6-x-L-20mm-9708660?skuId=10079397 M6 shake proof internal washer such as: http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/nails-screws-fixings-hardware/nuts-bolts-washers/washers/-specificproducttype-internal_tooth_lock_washers/Shake-Proof-Internal-Washer-AVF-860652-Pack-Of-25-W-M6-9708789?skuId=10079526 The above slide into the T-track. Then your roof box/bike carrier/etc. Followed by: M6 spring washer such as: http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/nails-screws-fixings-hardware/nuts-bolts-washers/washers/-specificproducttype-spring_washers/Spring-Washer-AVF-860744-Pack-Of-25-W-M6-9708798?skuId=10079535 M6 nut - standard, square, security or wing nut, depending on how easy you want to make it to add or remove. The shake proof washer adds enough friction to allow you to tighten the nut without the bolt turning as you tighten the nut. The links above are to B&Q just for ease, you'll find cheaper and smaller pack sizes elsewhere such as eBay. I hope that saves some of you a few hours of frustration!

I recently took mine to Meadens in Sway with similar symptoms (21 months old and 17k miles) and the clutch pack was replaced without any question. I wasn't sure whether to travel east to Meadens or west to Westover, looks like I made the right choice. I suggest a trip to the New Forest to see their service department, who were excellent. However, my concern remains that the warranty for the new parts runs out at the same time as the rest of the car's 3 year warranty. In another 17k miles it will be 6 months outside of warranty and Skoda UK will be offering a partial "goodwill" contribution. For a known manufacturing defect, I believe Skoda UK should extend the warranty on DSG gearboxes as other VAG brands have in Malaysia, US, etc., to 7 or 10 years. If they are confident in the technology then they should have no qualms extending the warranty, as they won't have any claims because the technology is sound, right? So, I'll have three choices (I need an auto for health reasons and I don't like traditional slush boxes) 1) Ford get my business on a Powershift model 2) Shell out for an extended warranty every year - never felt the need to do this before. 3) Risk it and then pursue the supplying dealer for compensation if it fails again - which would be very unfair on the supplying dealer, who were fantastic at time of purchase.

Auto-unlock settings made in maxidot are key specific, so if SWMBO's key is used then it might behave differently. The same is true for climate control, radio settings, DRL on/off, alloy wheel kerb damage, etc.

I'd recommend searching this forum for tow bar/towbar. You might need to work through a few posts but you'll glean some good advice. Decisions to make would include: Fixed versus detachable - Fixed are convenient but you can catch your leg on them when loading the boot. Detachable have a max vertical ball weight of 75 to 80 kg I believe, so you would need to check what the down weight of the caravan was at the tow ball. Electrics depends if you need split charging for a caravan battery / keep a fridge cool. Integration with the CANBUS - a basic (cheap) installation can be done which scotch locks onto the rear light wires, etc. and not connecting to the CANBUS. The car will buzz when indicating and the parking sensors (if fitted) will sound a continuous beep when you select reverse, and they might pick up the tow bar even when nothing is attached. The car's rear fog light will still shine which can dazzle the driver as it reflects off the front of the white caravan. A proper installation runs the wiring right through the car underneath the trim (which can apparently take half a day in itself) and connects to the car's CANBUS. The benefits of this method means:- 1) Rear parking sensors (if fitted) adapt their beam shape so they still work if the tow bar is in place (with nothing being towed). 2) When something is attached to the electrics it will disable the parking sensors and cars with a Columbus system will show a picture of a trailer to remind them, when in reverse. 3) The car's stability software adapts to include anti-snake. 4) If the car is locked and alarmed, the alarm will sound if the electrics are disconnected. 5) Only the trailer/caravan's rear fog light comes on. There's probably more considerations and some conflicting views, so it might be worth giving your dad a printed voucher on his birthday and working through his needs before you take the plunge.

Being able to pull the steering wheel closer, so I can have the seat set further back to make the most of all that S-Class beating legroom and still reach the steering wheel comfortably.

On mine, the on/off button on the torch seems to have three settings, full brightness, half brightness and off. If you're still stuck it might be worth cycling through those options and seeing if it makes a difference. Also, an obvious thing, but when putting the torch back into place, the torch LEDs needs to be pointing towards the front of the car with the three charging contacts pointing towards the rear of the car.

I think the Themisto are polished/machined and then lacquered. If so, then I would only give a refurb around 6 months before it comes back worse. The few places that will do it tend to only offer a 3 month warranty for that very reason. I always vowed that I would have my Luxons resprayed at the first sign of damage to avoid going down the polished route.

I'm coming around to Eagle's after reading some negative user comments elsewhere about soft tyre walls of the EfficientGrip. Could I ask anyone with Eagle's if they have a decent side wall protector moulded in i.e. part of the tyre sticks out further than the wheel to protect against low speed kerb damage? The ContactSport 2's have that in their favour and have saved my alloys on many occasions.

I'm just about to replace my original SportContact 2's with Goodyear EfficientGrip. I've never been particularly happy with the front traction on acceleration in wet conditions, nor was I impressed with 16k miles (to 1.6mm) out of the SportContact 2's. It is of course a big front wheel drive car, so I have kept my expectations low. You might have seen this: http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2014-Auto-Bild-Top-15-Summer-Tyre-Test.htm If you Google "Auto Bild Sommerreifentest" you can use Translate to get more facts and figures, which is what lead me to settle on the Goodyear, hoping for better wet grip and a few thousand extra miles. Ideally I'd have gone with Michelin Primacy 3 but they don't do it in a 225/40 R18. I appreciated that the patterns and compounds have come a long way in the last couple of years thanks to the labelling and I think the SportContact 5 has a lot of good feedback, there's very little in it in the review test. But to answer your original question, I've only had Goodyear Eagle A2's on a Golf GTI and they were average for a premium brand. The trouble is that people are always changing from 1.6 - 3 mm to 8-9mm of tread when they change tyre and probably with a compound & pattern update, so it's impossible to do a back-to-back comparison unless you are a car magazine! Sorry, if that's all stuff that you know already!

Could you have all your music on the HDD in folders and then put all the same tracks in the root folder of an SD card. Then, if you want random - select SD, if you want to search - select HDD.