10 hours ago, logiclee said:

It's a personal choice but I hate those things with a passion.

Each to their own…but i have to agree…I had an Arteon company car for three years, and that CC panel along with the touch sensitive controls on the steering wheel were the worst interface ever fitted to a car…at least the CC panel was backlit, unlike the controls at the base of the later infotainment screen….teams, TEAMS of people of people got paid to c*ck that up so badly!

1 hour ago, CubbyQ said:

Each to their own…but i have to agree…I had an Arteon company car for three years, and that CC panel along with the touch sensitive controls on the steering wheel were the worst interface ever fitted to a car…at least the CC panel was backlit, unlike the controls at the base of the later infotainment screen….teams, TEAMS of people of people got paid to c*ck that up so badly!

I’ve retrofitted the mk4 wheel on my car so that still has proper buttons

On 01/08/2025 at 09:24, travs said:

Could hit the visor with steam at least.

Most other options like Ozone, an odourbomb, or an enzyme cleaner are usually for bacteria and mould. They kill living organisms which smoke residue isn’t. Any that are scented like the odourbomb might be which only mask the smell in the shorter term, but they’re all about disinfecting.

I dropped Airvidox a note this morning asking their advice as the whiff’s coming back.

They reckon that some of the treatments I’ve used have masked and pushed the nicotine back into the materials, so have offered to send another kit for the cost of postage and to really give it a deep clean before setting off the bomb - great service from them.

I did pop the steering wheel cover off this morning (the bit that covers the column to underneath the instrument panel) only to find a load of ash behind there - I’m going to pop all the trim off the dash at the weekend and am sure I’ll find more ash buried in there…eurgh!

The previous owners must have spent more time smoking in there than driving it, as it’s hardly covered 20k in the 5 years they owned it, but feels like a pub that’s not been cleaned for 50 years - filthy barstewards…

Edited 6 August, 20256 Aug by CubbyQ

3 minutes ago, AMD87 said:

I’ve retrofitted the mk4 wheel on my car so that still has proper buttons

Nice!

Was there any coding to do, or was it just plug-n-play?

I’m sure you’ve read about my cigarette smell woes and am looking at replacing the steering wheel…more facelift wheels seem to be on eBay than the original, so would be great if it’s a straight swap.

Edited 6 August, 20256 Aug by CubbyQ

3 minutes ago, CubbyQ said:

I dropped Airvidox a note this morning asking their advice as the whiff’s coming back.

They reckon that some of the treatments I’ve used have masked and pushed the nicotine back into the materials, so have offered to send another kit for the cost of postage and to really give it a deep clean before setting off the bomb - great service from them.

I did pop the steering wheel cover off this morning (the bit that covers the column to underneath the instrument panel) only to find a load of ash behind there - I’m going to pop all the trim off the dash at the weekend and am sure I’ll find more ash buried in there…eurgh!

The previous owners must have spent more time smoking in there than driving it, as it’s hardly covered 20k in the 5 years they owned it, but feels like a pub that’s not been cleaned for 50 years - filthy barstewards…

20 minutes ago, CubbyQ said:

Nice!

Was there any coding to do, or was it just plug-n-play?

I’m sure you’ve read about my cigarette smell woes and am looking at replacing the steering wheel…more facelift wheels seem to be on eBay than the original, so would be great if it’s a straight swap.

Yes and no

It fits up fine and all the buttons work bar one which is the bottom right button on the right side of the wheel. That’s the menu button that allows you to change to view the sat nav or driving data or what’s on the radio. That’s cause that uses linbus rather than canbus.

You can get a module for it that you just plug in they are 95 euros.

Me personally I never switch between the screens I always have it on driving data then you can still scroll through that perfectly fine.

Edited 6 August, 20256 Aug by AMD87

Got four new tyres fitted today. The previous Pirelli Cinturato P7 did a fantastic job and covered 65k miles, and while they still had plenty of tread left over the majority of the tyre in places they had worn through to the inner layer - that explains the noisy and lumpy drive I've been experiencing lately.

The car had Bridgestone Turanza T005 on from new and as soon as the Pirelli's went on I lost up to 5mpg so I've gone back to these, the Bridgestone won't last as long, originals lasted 35k, but as the car will be going to a new owner before that it's not something I have to consider.

Also booked it in for it's first MOT in a couple of months, current mileage is 98300 so it will be well over 100k when it hits 3 years old.

Still Superb by name and nature - looking a a Superb 4 as a replacement.

@cnc that's a worrying wear pattern, it suggests there might be a damper or top mount issue. If that's not resolved you'll likely see the same again in new tyres.

Was it like that on just one tyre or both sides?

26 minutes ago, rgrigsby said:

@cnc that's a worrying wear pattern, it suggests there might be a damper or top mount issue. If that's not resolved you'll likely see the same again in new tyres.

Was it like that on just one tyre or both sides?

That was the rear offside tyre, the fronts had also become slightly out of balance giving some vibration through the steering wheel (I'll forgive them that given the 65k miles). The rear nearside wasn't affected.

The tyre depot suggested there could have been a defect in the rear offside tyre since new, but can't say for sure, the inside of this tyre was perfectly normal which we weren't expecting to see after if was taken off the alloy wheel.

The two fronts were worn slightly more in the centre suggesting over inflation but I always put in the recommended 2.5 bar (36psi) for the 18" wheels, so the lower of the two pressures as shown inside the fuel filler flap.

It's in for its first MOT in a couple of months so I'll ask the Skoda garage to take a look.

It's a really odd failure, I've seen faulty dampers or top mounts cause uneven wear but normally you'd see that all around the tyre, not just in one place. It can just effect one tyre though.

@Setesh I’ve looked at my paint code and it is LF3K Corrida red.

1 hour ago, Windybum said:

@Setesh I’ve looked at my paint code and it is LF3K Corrida red.

I appreciate you taking the time to check. So it's not the same. Anyway, still very nice! ;-)

I have owned three cars so far, all of them were red :-D

Updated the mib2 firmware to 2.5 and fitted the bigger screen also changed the trim piece as with the mib2.5 you need the wider one

Replaced front discs and pads which has cured the brake judder I was suffering ☺️

A bit more time spent removing evidence of smokers...not sure it's helped any, but can't be making things any worse...

Removed the long piece of trim along the dash above the infotainment screen, removed Columbus screen, removed front side, and dashboard air vents, rear air vent, cleaned front window door rubbers more thoroughly and got into the gape between the door card and internal window seal...

The only parts I've not been able to remove were the big centre air vent, and the air vent/speaker cover on top of the dash; any suggestions on how to remove those greatfully received! I had a go, and things felt a bit 'snappy'!

The amount of ash, dirty dust and the odd piece of unburnt tobacco that was hidden away was surprising, and really shows it gets in everywhere...

That rag was clean before I started. To be fair, the really grubby mark was from the outer window door rubber, but the rest is from the interior window rubbers and air vents!

The top of the screen, which you can't get to without it being removed was grim; this photo was taken after I cleaned it.

I've been down a rabbit hole this weekend, investigating best cleaning practices, and there have been a few suggestions that cleaning the interior when it's hot is best as the smells are apparent and the material pores are open.

With a little luck, the second Airvidox kit is arriving tomorrow, so I'll let the car get hot during the day, and clean the panels and seats tomorrow evening before dropping the bomb.

The nuclear option after all this is an ozone generator...

Let's see what happens over the next few days.

Cheers,

Nick

Edited 10 August, 202510 Aug by CubbyQ

On 09/08/2025 at 10:34, AMD87 said:

Updated the mib2 firmware to 2.5 and fitted the bigger screen also changed the trim piece as with the mib2.5 you need the wider one

I notice the Passat/Arteon climate controls, is that a straight swap.. as in it clips into the existing housing?

13 hours ago, 337 said:

I notice the Passat/Arteon climate controls, is that a straight swap.. as in it clips into the existing housing?

Clips into the existing one then you need to change the coding to suit your old unit.

Think I stayed previously - Ozone won’t work on non-organic smells. The Ozone machine basically splits Oxygen molecules and adds them changing O2 molecules to O3 I think. This means it’s unusable to organic organisms, including bacteria, and they die.

It won’t have any effect on a chemical smell. It might mask it for a bit (as Ozone has a distinct smell apparently but have never smelt it) but you shouldn’t be breathing it in anyway and should air out the car after an Ozone machine session.

I think you’re definitely doing the right thing by getting into nooks and crannies.

Other options might be taking door cards off and cleaning behind those. Or even taking the seats out to make sure that the seats can be cleaned thoroughly as well as all the little gaps underneath and around.

Today I had the air con condenser replaced on the L& K. Nice and cold in the car again.👍

On 11/08/2025 at 10:22, travs said:

Think I stayed previously - Ozone won’t work on non-organic smells. The Ozone machine basically splits Oxygen molecules and adds them changing O2 molecules to O3 I think. This means it’s unusable to organic organisms, including bacteria, and they die.

It won’t have any effect on a chemical smell. It might mask it for a bit (as Ozone has a distinct smell apparently but have never smelt it) but you shouldn’t be breathing it in anyway and should air out the car after an Ozone machine session.

I think you’re definitely doing the right thing by getting into nooks and crannies.

Other options might be taking door cards off and cleaning behind those. Or even taking the seats out to make sure that the seats can be cleaned thoroughly as well as all the little gaps underneath and around.

Thanks @travs , that’s really helpful.

No point investing in the ozone machine if it’s only going to give a temporary masking to the smell.

When out the other day, I did set the fans to full speed, directed to front and closed the individual vents so air was forced through only one open vent at a time and a small amount of dust and debris popped out of each, so that must have helped.

I think you’re right with regards to removing the door cards, as there’s no doubt ash hiding in them, and probably behind the speaker grilles too. I can also clean the door frames and might take the opportunity to stick a bit of Dynamat in while they’re in pieces.

I’ve already unbolted the front seats to vacuum all the nooks and crannies and I wiped down the frames as best I could; maybe I need to give them a deeper clean, as it only takes a few minutes to unbolt them.

I’ve got a couple of days off in a couple of weeks, so a job for then.

Thanks for your advice!

Nick

9 hours ago, moley said:

Today I had the air con condenser replaced on the L& K. Nice and cold in the car again.👍

Dare I ask how much?

Obviously not repairable & presumably stone damage?

7 minutes ago, Colin170CR said:

Dare I ask how much?

Obviously not repairable & presumably stone damage?

When I had the car serviced in March I asked them to check the air con and regas if required. They came back and said that they had carried out a leak test and there is a leak, but they didn't know where the leak was. The cooling got worse, so I contacted a local guy (15 miles away) who came out did the leak test and confirmed that it was the condenser. He fitted a genuine VW condenser for £390 + vat. I don't know how that price compares, but he turned up when he said he would and did the job with no fuss. He charged me what quoted me.

On 07/08/2025 at 19:34, rgrigsby said:

@cnc that's a worrying wear pattern, it suggests there might be a damper or top mount issue. If that's not resolved you'll likely see the same again in new tyres.

Was it like that on just one tyre or both sides?

Either that - or really bad flat-spotting under brake lock-up - which shouldn't happen if the ABS is working correctly.

Edited 14 August, 202514 Aug by Warrior193
added information

3 minutes ago, moley said:

When I had the car serviced in March I asked them to check the air con and regas if required. They came back and said that they had carried out a leak test and there is a leak, but they didn't know where the leak was. The cooling got worse, so I contacted a local guy (15 miles away) who came out did the leak test and confirmed that it was the condenser. He fitted a genuine VW condenser for £390 + vat. I don't know how that price compares, but he turned up when he said he would and did the job with no fuss. He charged me what quoted me.

Not too bad. I was expecting you to say more. My AC seems OK at 67k miles & to my knowledge has never been re-gassed or leak tested. 🤞

10 minutes ago, Colin170CR said:

Not too bad. I was expecting you to say more. My AC seems OK at 67k miles & to my knowledge has never been re-gassed or leak tested. 🤞

Of all of the Skoda's that I've owned this is the 1st one that has required a repair to the air con system.