16 minutes ago, BGB said:

EU or not you still have to follow the regulations set by EU. 

 

Trust me. 

That must be why all the European drivers that arrive at our warehouse from Europe are wearing flip flops they couldn't give a toss about EU regulations despite living there.

33 minutes ago, shyVRS245 said:

That must be why all the European drivers that arrive at our warehouse from Europe are wearing flip flops they couldn't give a toss about EU regulations despite living there.

 

Or are happy to park on the hard shoulder to have their lunch and have a jimmy riddle 

 

In years to come, I am aiming to go on a few track days around Europe and I would want to make sure I'm legal. I've come out the chunnel into the path of the waiting police  Wouldn't wish to give them an excuse for an on the spot fine.

I don’t want to continue the Brexit debate but there are rules set for the height of the tow ball with good reason, having the ball too low and your trailer excessively nose down is not a safe way to tow. Maybe a small unbraked trailer or a jet ski you would get away with it but this car tows a 6.5 meter rib and we have been after a caravan for some time and the van I have chosen as the likely candidate is 1330 kgs MTPLM so I wouldn’t want the van sitting excessively nose down. It should be as level as possible, slightly nose down is not an issue so I would want an adjustable suspension setup if I were to deviate from factory. If we are going for a van I would want to get my use out of it and we live in a great place for local camping, we also get a lot of use out of the watercraft over the summer due to living on the coast so I expect the car would stay at factory height all of the time. If you just have a towbar for a bike rack for example it’s fine to leave the car lowered, I doubt anyone is going to measure it if you don’t have a trailer on.

After lapping Donington and deciding that the already large 340mm front brakes on my car were simply not enough, I had to go multi pot. Sadly I have no money for an off the shelf upgrade but I do have the internet and lots of time to search Polish eBay for cheap exotic car parts. Welcome, friends, to the closest I am ever going to get to owning an Aston Martin, a pair of DB9 brembo calipers and yes they are proper AM ones as evidenced by the logo which is embossed on both. These were a total bargain and the exact same model of brembo caliper used on the 8J TTRS and thus bolt onto the Octavia with the correct Audi carriers. This is stage one of the brake upgrade, stage two will be 370mm discs to match but these are still usable with the 340’s for now. Just have to touch the paint up and get them on the car 😀

 

 

 

Brake upgrades is something I really like. Get them on

I assume a quick lick of paint is just to get rid of the Aston Martin badge?

3 minutes ago, tunedude said:

I assume a quick lick of paint is just to get rid of the Aston Martin badge?

No way! AM badge is staying, touch up is just to get rid of worst of the marks and chips.

1 minute ago, SashaGrace said:

No way! AM badge is staying, touch up is just to get rid of worst of the marks and chips.

Time for a V8 engine transplant to give them bad boys a serious workout.Go for 503bhp version.

I wish, but sadly the power output isn’t likely to rise. TDI is limited to not much power due to the head design.

Got my VC finally and VIEW button with heating option. Going to install it over the weekend hopefully 🤞🤞🤞. 

I’m curios, does staging (needle sweeps) works here? Does the option exist on VC?

24 minutes ago, ccosmin said:

Got my VC finally and VIEW button with heating option. Going to install it over the weekend hopefully 🤞🤞🤞. 

I’m curios, does staging (needle sweeps) works here? Does the option exist on VC?

It doesn’t sadly. Would love to hear more about the wheel upgrade, would love to go heated on my car next!

I bought from cars equipement the VIEW buttons for the steering wheel. It only said it's compatible with DSG but by the serial number it had to support also heated steering. Took a chance and got rewarded  Now I will also have the VIEW button. for more configuration options. I already had the heated wheel and did not want to lose that option. Great for cold winter days.

I cannot wait for the weekend now :d

I would love to know the part number if you have it please, would be very helpful now I am gathering parts for my heated wheel upgrade

OEM 3V0919719H WHS Multifunction Buttons

Thanks  I need to get the wheel now...

This one already has the buttons:

https://www.cars-equipment.com/en/shop/flat-bottom-steering-wheels-16/oem-565419091m-hth-flat-bottom-heated/

 

or this one  - this is mine and extra to buy the buttons:

https://www.cars-equipment.com/en/shop/flat-bottom-steering-wheels-16/oem-flat-bottom-heated-steering-wheel/

 

It all depends on color preference.  I searched for a year before I found the heated one with paddles. 

You will also need a new airbag, I understood it's a bit different for heated steering. 

Did you change the airbag as well? 

 

These are supposedly different for the heated steering wheel.  

I already had heated. Added the paddles initially and now adding VC and VIEW buttons.

1 hour ago, Gizmo said:

Did you change the airbag as well? 

 

These are supposedly different for the heated steering wheel.  

I may have to find this out myself if I can’t before I get all of the bits.

If you check the link for my steering wheel (second one) it says so on the description that it needs a different kind of airbag then the normal one. 

 

 But then again they also said that the multifunction buttons with the view button does not support heating and it does. 

 

 In the end you might need to take a leap of faith and buy the steering wheel and if the airbag doesn’t fit buy the airbag

That’s the plan!

On 26/06/2019 at 10:33, SashaGrace said:

Yes it’s still wired in the Skoda. BMW offer wireless CarPlay but it still a plug in job in the Skoda. I have plugged phones into cars for years so it’s a non issue for me. I don’t always use CarPlay because the Columbus is so good so the phone is often sat charging on the Qi pad.

 

And BMW is going to start charging a subscription for Apple Carplay....the idiots. 

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/bmw/107492/bmw-makes-apple-carplay-a-subscription-service

 

You should try Apple Carplay with iOS Beta 13, it's massively improved. I can't do without Carplay now. 

Edited 24 July, 20196 yr by Grc
Additional comments

Reading back through the thread noticed that you already have tried iOS 13... Kudos to you 🙂

5 minutes ago, Grc said:

 

And BMW is going to start charging a subscription for Apple Carplay....the idiots. 

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/bmw/107492/bmw-makes-apple-carplay-a-subscription-service

 

You should try Apple Carplay with iOS Beta 13, it's massively improved. I can't do without Carplay now. 

On my first BMW in 1994 they had the nerve to charge me extra for a radio on a £20,000 car. Some things never change, the Germans and their love of taking the pith out of us Brits.

The thing that irks me about this is that Apple doesn't charge a subscription fee for Carplay and you now have a car manufacturer set out to 'milk the cow' and make profits off gullible folks who buy their cars.