You shold have gone yesterday I bumped into Chrispy at ABC yesterday

Yup, we had a good natter/ moan whilst ABC fitted my front tyres.

Wonder if track arms will cure my knocking noise.

You shold have gone yesterday I bumped into Chrispy at ABC yesterday

Bah!

What were you there for?

Wonder if track arms will cure my knocking noise.

It didn't cure mine mate I replaced almost everything excluding the rack and I still had the issue

Bah!

What were you there for?

Tyres. Fronts were down to the markers and wobbled at speed. Something it's still doing actually despite fresh balancing. Wondering what else is going on there.....

They also claimed that ABC won't have access to these settings.......pfft....I think Snap On would have something to say about that.

Buhaha... good one. First of all Skoda dealers never visited ABC (unless incognito) and havent seen the equipment.

Second - setup is 1 year old so it comes with newest vehicles setups. It also require to understand alignment facts and figures not just DO JOB to spec.

While back we wanted to discuss option of co-operation with Skoda - we never had an answer from Skoda local dealer. Even after few emails and phone call attempts. Nothing.

On other hand... despite so many Skoda with alignment problems I dont see this as a problem. How come other cars with same suspension setup dont have those problems? Its more then just one factor and you have to look at those cars individualy.

On other hand - Im glad we can be at help with solutions for those problems

Ok update. Skoda are paying for the 40% of the 2x new track arms and for a 4WA. How good a job they do of the latter remains to be seen but they assure me they're using the proper kit that Audi have and it's not them doing it but a specialist. Bet ABC can do better but hey ho - they still might get it in to check (and to fit some new control arm bushes) soon anyway......

It was going to be £174 for the track arms but that included a front alignment. Now the 4WA is free I'm hoping that will be even less.

Booked in with them on Wednesday to have this done.

Going to ABC on Tuesday morning to have the 2x rear tyres replaced so the car can have the alignment done with a full set of new boots. Made sense.

Car is also due road tax and insurance. :( Costing me an arm and a leg at the moment........this will take it to £1489 not including the tax in the last 4 weeks. Sigh....

I would be hoping for a lot less than £174. The dealer is at it with their prices

Bah!

What were you there for?

I was just popping in to tell them Andy (Auric Goldfinger would be popping in, I was only round the corner when he rang( Owlcoates) and big crash on the ring road( road closed, so might as well go back that way

I would be hoping for a lot less than £174. The dealer is at it with their prices

Agreed but pricing it up separately for 2x track arms, labour and a 4WA would come to more so it's by fluke they're getting the work to do. After this however it's no more dealer for me, ever - they originally priced it up at £250 to fit a single track arm including tracking. Utterly mental.

Agreed but pricing it up separately for 2x track arms, labour and a 4WA would come to more so it's by fluke they're getting the work to do. After this however it's no more dealer for me, ever - they originally priced it up at £250 to fit a single track arm including tracking. Utterly mental.

Dealer pricing is bonkers, and seems completely inflexible.

I asked for a quote to replace my PCV valve the other week, when the car was due in for a service anyway, which included an air filter change. Given that they were already removing the engine cover to replace the air filter and once you've got the engine cover off you just have to disconnect a couple of hoses and unscrew 4 torx screws and then fit the new valve, I was expecting a quote of the price of the part (£35) + a token amount for the labour.

They came up with £153! (Around 2hrs labour + the part!)

I questioned this (obviously!) and the service manager more or less said that they simply put the job into the computer and that's the price it came back with, then shrugged his shoulders. No consideration for the other work that would make it more straight-forward or anything.

Edited 28 June, 201213 yr by chr1staylor

Keep us updated on the noise mate.

Will do bud. It's there right now having the arms and 4WA done. I'll know by this evening what the score is and will post up.

If it's no better I'm going to leave it till next year now and get a new rack as that's all it can be after this. Also need new wishbone rear bushes so I'm getting some poly ones in there, and a new wheel by the looks of things too. Bloody expensive these things - I'd be better off with a Kia! And I've have 7 year warranty,,,,,the Germans are lagging behind on that front now, probably because they know their cars don't last that well.

I had new drop-links and poly rear bushes fitted there when they fitted my Koni fsds I had an annoying squeak

The poly ones come with lube - did they use it I wonder? The Audi solid ones HAVE to come with the brackets meaning it's over £100 for the pair and you throw the brackets away once you've pressed out the bush. What a waste and a stupid idea by VAG to rip us off when the bush alone would be a few quid. :(

Will do bud. It's there right now having the arms and 4WA done. I'll know by this evening what the score is and will post up.

If it's no better I'm going to leave it till next year now and get a new rack as that's all it can be after this. Also need new wishbone rear bushes so I'm getting some poly ones in there, and a new wheel by the looks of things too. Bloody expensive these things - I'd be better off with a Kia! And I've have 7 year warranty,,,,,the Germans are lagging behind on that front now, probably because they know their cars don't last that well.

I think my rack is gone too but will try a few things first.

Desperate to get rid and get into a Hyundai i40 tourer.

I think my rack is gone too but will try a few things first.

Desperate to get rid and get into a Hyundai i40 tourer.

Hmm, well the drop links were done at the weekend which got rid of a few other noises but obviously not this. After the track arms there's only 2x things left - rack and UJ. I'm thinking rack if this doesn't work today but we'll see, you never know......

Just had the call - it's ready..... Soon as the Missus gets back we'll go and collect.

Managed to get to ABC on saturday, really nice couple of blokes, guy with glasses talked me through the alignment process, showed me where all the tweaks are done and let me have a good look around under the car while it was up on the lift.

Did anyone else notice the slightly disconcerting massive carving knife stuck to the back of one of the car lift posts though? :|

Ok update time. Car has been fitted with 2x new track arms and had a 4WA done by Skoda dealer. Total cost to me £57.41.

Has it fixed the knocking? No. :(

So all that's left is the rack - what I thought it was at first, what ABC said it was but what Skoda insisted it wasn't. Dealer is getting no more business from me for anything other than parts and even those will be very select ones at that.

It can wait now until next year as I'm sure I can live with it until then. There's no slack in the steering, just the noise. At least it didn't cost me the earth.

Hmmm well i'm not bothering then lol, typical Skoda dealers useless as ever.

Get out while you can mate.

You can tell when you're dealing with them that they're not that clued up - glorified fitters. if it's not obvious or the computer has not told them so then their diagnostic capabilities are extremely limited. :(

From now on it's normal garages all the way (or I'll do it if it's simple) and ABC are going to be seeing a lot more of me.

Update number 535 part 2, section 7:

After filling in the customer service questionnaire the other day, and being rather scathing I received a call from the service manager at the Skoda dealer that's been working with me on this. I explained that my issue was not with the customer service folks who helped me but with the fact I was given back a still broken car without anyone actually testing to see if the work they had done had fixed it. It doesn't take a full on road test to diagnose this - just get in and wiggle the steering wheel whilst stationary.

So I returned this morning and they took another look, this time with the car on its wheels and parked up where the noise was very apparent. It's now booked in again with them on the 23rd for 2x days (whilst I get a courtesy car) so they can take a "proper" look and potentially order the parts they need to. Be interesting to see how it goes money wise with this as SUK are not involved yet to my knowledge.

I still insist it's the rack. Don't think it's the column.....

Just been doing some research on this - faulty steering rack with knocking when moving the steering wheel from side to side is a common fault on early MK2 TT's, Audi A3's and Golf MKV's - all of which share the same components as the Octavia II.

http://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=256309&p=2275368

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-sportback-8p-chassis/63608-steering-rack-noise-normal.html

Going to point this out to Skoda on Monday as the noise has developed into a knock at low speed when going over rough ground/ speed bumps etc just like described in the posts I've found. HAS to be the rack. Had drop links and rear wishbone bushes replaced (the latter with poly ones) and it's still there, clear as day.

Yep it's a common thing I have the same knocking noise but have gave up fighting I just don't have the strength and the last time I asked about it thy we're questioning my springs which are a Skoda part but as it wasn't fitted by Skoda they kinda washed there hands of it like the clutch thing.

I've noticed the last 6 months the amount of people that have had issues right across then VAG range is incredible