thelioncub

Thanks for all the tips everyone. Actually it turned out that I knew the theory of changing a wheel, only I lacked the sheer strength! The jack was easy, but it took me and OH an hour to get 2 of the 5 nuts off - we jumped on, kicked, and hammered before the damn things loosened! Then another hour to get the wheel off and spare on - it seemed to have welded itself on! The fact that I couldn't even lift the wheels didn't really help either. :( The kerb tip def made a lot of sense - just a shame the kerb was on the other side of the car in this case (and not in a place where I could turn it around) All in all, job done fairly well considering. Spare is on now as the water test shows a leak between the tyre and the wheel - on the edge (seal?) Now just waiting for garages to open. Thanks again - hope you've all had a great Christmas.

Yeah good plan!It's patchy ice, so I'm hoping that it's not too bad directly under jack point. Def gonna try and shift that first tho - and might ask the neighbour to move his car parked right in front, just in case mine does slip off! (He won't be happy with that - even getting off sofa is too much effort for him.. lol)

Not patronizing at all.. I totally agree with you... only I have no choice :( I have hope that the tyre is ok - when someone let the last one down I'd driven quite a bit further before I realised what was going on, and that tyre survived ok. There isn't anyone I can ask - the local garage who helped last time will be closed by the time my boss lets me go home, the neighbours can barely walk to their own car, never mind jack mine up. Everyone else has pretty much left already. Gonna have to give it a go.. wish me luck!

Thanks for that vid - am watching it now. It's the front wheel, so I'll put it in 1st gear as well.

Hi all, I'm in a complete state today and can't find the right threads to help with a very simple questions. How do I change my front pass side wheel using only the tools that came with car? My boss insists I work today until we are all sent home for Christmas, which could be as late as 3. 2 weeks ago some *****hole let me wheel down and I got stranded. Today I got 2 mins from home and the other wheel is now flat. I couldn't pump it up (wouldn't take the air) so had to drive home on the rims. (Because we have no breakdown cover, and suspect they wouldn't help until after Xmas anyway) The car is parked at home, on ice, and I need to get the spare on tonight because we'd actually like to see our family for Christmas! - also because if the tyre can be saved, we want to save it now as leaving it as it is will surely damage it? (Garage isn't open until 4th so no help there) Can anyone help a very depressed girl by finding some pics of how I do this, or perhaps give me some tips. The manual says something about a block of wood with a groove on it, but we don't have that - do we realllly need it? Thanks in advance!

Ok... So I've finally got my car back. Failed MOT sheet says : - Nearside & offside suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.3) Here is the breakdown of cost, including the extra bits I asked to be replaced at same time: - Labour (4 hours) £240 (so slightly less per hour than I thought/Skoda garage) Lower arm bushes £31.98 Anti roll bar link arms £28.78 Anti roll bar mounts £5.68 Total = £306.44 VAT = £53.64 MOT £50 TOTAL = £410.07 Will be eating stale bread and soup from now on! Thanks to everyone for your help. I know I possibly could have got it done in less hours at a Skoda place, but it's 6 and two 3's really. I might have saved £60 on labour, but I'd have paid another £50 on MOT and possibly ended up with more faults being 'found'.

I'm not a troll! *sigh* I don't know what is on the MOT sheet because I haven't seen it yet - it's still at the garage WITH the car. I'm getting the work done there because I trust this garage to not 'find' more things wrong whilst they do the work - which is something I know our Skoda dealer did with my last car! I don't know about drop links etc - I found all that out from the helpful people on here. Plus, as I believe I already explained - the garage explained the problem to my dad, so that he could 'translate' better to me. That made understanding the advise on here a bit easier. Anyway.. the drop links didn't arrive yesterday, and the garage is only open until 12 - so I won't get the car back until next week now. :( Makes driving to Bristol in 2 hours a little tricky!

Car is still at the garage :( They are ordering parts and getting a quote together. He's said they're estimating 3 hours max, and I've asked them to change the drop links and anti-roll bar bushes at the same time. Should know more later today/tomorrow - but it looks like it's going to be in the region of £300 with MOT

Are they made of plastic? The guy def said something about plastic when he was describing the problem. Darn - I wish I paid more attention to the details! lol

I don't have the MOT sheet - I dropped the car off this morning, then I spoke to the garage later on when he told me it failed. I've not been back, or heard more since. They still have the car, and the failure sheet - while they source parts and build a quote. I've not paid for anything yet, but I know that they will retest for free if it's brought back within 14 days. Should I even dare ask what drop links are?

Ah.. but I never said I was a woman in my first post, and you all replied anyway. Maybe your squeaky breaks aren't exciting enough?!

If this is the console bushes, and I did ask them to change the anti roll bar at the same time, would it add much more onto the time it should take? I do see your point, but right now I need this to be as cheap as possible. Do anti-roll bars need changing every few years anyway? I seem to remember my last Fabia had a problem noted about the anti-roll bar, but then it got written off and all that became insignificant anyway. :(

I think this garage might cost a little bit less per hour. The £80 per hour I know for definite is the cost a Skoda garage will charge - I used to work at one many years ago (and they've since shut down so I can't go there) and this is what the 'going rate' was. Hence why I'm reluctant to take it to any of our local Skoda dealers!

Darn it! And how much is that likely to cost? He definitely talked about suspension though. I got him to explain it to my dad (who builds cars for fun - but happens to live in Germany) and my dad didn't say anything about the anti roll bar either.

I wish I knew what any of that means.. but.. it sounds good. Even with double the hourly rate here and an increase in parts prices, I reckon this could still come in close to my £300 budget.. plus £50 for the MOT. Still.. I can just about afford that. I was thinking this was literally going to cost thousands. Thanks for all the speedy replies.. I'll be able to sleep tonight at least.