Today I got my Superb back from the wheel people having had all 4 wheels stripped, checked and powder coated metallic grey. At last the awful diamond cut finish is gone

 

I guess its now just a matter of time before the first ding on these, but at least now I can just touch it in with the right colour paint!

5 minutes ago, edwards said:

Today I got my Superb back from the wheel people having had all 4 wheels stripped, checked and powder coated metallic grey. At last the awful diamond cut finish is gone

 

I guess its now just a matter of time before the first ding on these, but at least now I can just touch it in with the right colour paint!

I feel your pain & apprehension. After refurbing a couple of my diamond cut alloys after my wife managed to curb them, I decided to get them power coated instead (same cost). I now have gloss black Trinity wheels to go with the Black Magic bodywork. Well, they would be gloss if they were not currently covered in brake dust & road grim which makes them look matt black. I call that a result because they don't look obviously dirty like a silver alloy would. 

No excuse really the car does need a clean but can't quite bring myself to do it when I know that within a day it will be dirty again. 

@Colin170CR My missus curbed one but I was responsible for the other two. Only little dings but coupled with the clear lacquer letting go in a few places they just looked a bit tatty. I've never loved the diamond cut wheels anyway so no real loss - I think I prefer the new solid grey metalic colour. Its pretty close to the Skoda grey on the alloys anyway (actually BMW Orbit grey, useful as I can easily get touch ups) so looks reasonably 'OEM'. 

 

The wheel people I use charge about 2/3rds less for straight powder coat than diamond cut which is another reason why.

 

My car is white so it always looks dirty, this time of year I just resign myself to it.

17 minutes ago, edwards said:

@Colin170CR

The wheel people I use charge about 2/3rds less for straight powder coat than diamond cut which is another reason why.

@edwards May I ask how much and from where?

@john999boy

 

maxpowder.co.uk in Apsley. Prices inc VAT below. Extra £10 if you leave the car with them.

 

I got mine powder coated here (Milton Keynes). Choice of colours & customisation options. 

 

Mine were repaired, black powder coated, balanced with new valves for £67/wheel excl Vat. Cash is King.😉 They also put on two new tyres which I left in the boot & disposed of old ones.

 

No extra for leaving car with them. 2-3 day turn around.

They are very busy  so 7-10 day lead in time is normal. 

I gather most of the local car dealerships use them.  

Cambelt and waterpump change plus MOT pass to celebrate the cars 5th birthday. Went to a local garage with a good reputation, they were adamant that the cambelt interval should be 10 years/120k miles but I got them to go ahead anyway.

16 hours ago, D402 said:

Cambelt and waterpump change plus MOT pass to celebrate the cars 5th birthday. Went to a local garage with a good reputation, they were adamant that the cambelt interval should be 10 years/120k miles but I got them to go ahead anyway.

How much did it set you back? 
just wanna make sure my pricing is still competitive 😛 

 

And yeah you were right to get it done, 5 years or roughly 130,000 miles 

2 hours ago, ApertureS said:

How much did it set you back? 

£425; Skoda quoted £599, the local VW specialist £650 and another local garage £598. Hope that's not too competitive!

2 hours ago, D402 said:

£425; Skoda quoted £599, the local VW specialist £650 and another local garage £598. Hope that's not too competitive!

Wow that’s a very very good price for Skoda directly. Normally they quote £700+

 

I charge £410 with the electronic water pump and new coolant so yeah I’d say what you’ve paid is a good price!

After the Conti All Season tyres were fitted on Tuesday, the tyres were so disgusting being covered in fitting lube, I decided to clean car for the first time in two months yesterday. So Tyres first, using Gyeon Q2M Tire Cleaner. 
Wheels next; pressure washed to remove the light brake dust, then cleaned the alloys using two buckets filled with filtered water and Poorboys Superslick, using a noodle glove and EZ wheel brush.
Then I Snowfoamed the entire car - twice - with a medium pressure wash down in between.
Then I shampooed with Car-Chems 1900:1 Pure which, if you haven’t used it, is the slipperiness shampoo you’ll find and, at 15ml to 25litres, it lasts and lasts.
I used a Race Glaze filter on the final rinse, dried down using my pet drier (just as good as the very expensive yet remarkably similar dedicated “car” units!) and fluffy microfibres and finally I topped-up the TW Graphene Wax on the bonnet, door tops and boot-lid. Unfortunately I was too cold, in too much pain wiv me poor ol’ back, cold to the bone and knackered to do the roof and doors and to dress the tyres. Still three hours well spent and it looks much better for it. 

7 hours ago, D402 said:

£425

Blimey! I paid £695 on our MKII 5 years ago at a Skoda main stealer. 

On 03/12/2022 at 15:41, D402 said:

Cambelt and waterpump change plus MOT pass to celebrate the cars 5th birthday. Went to a local garage with a good reputation, they were adamant that the cambelt interval should be 10 years/120k miles but I got them to go ahead anyway.

The time they said it should be changed is correct if you’re anywhere but UK, but we clearly have different parts fitted to the ROW (yeah right…)

Passed its 1st MOT with no problems

Anyone know if the water pump on a date/mileage schedule on a 2016 280?

5 minutes ago, numskull said:

Anyone know if the water pump on a date/mileage schedule on a 2016 280?

Not sure but I had mine replaced earlier this year (55k) due to a small leak - same year as yours. Not cheap. 

1 hour ago, Colin170CR said:

Not sure but I had mine replaced earlier this year (55k) due to a small leak - same year as yours. Not cheap. 

Great. 🙄 Do you recall how much it was please, Colin? 
 

Hopefully, ApertureS my know re. my question. 

1 hour ago, numskull said:

Great. 🙄 Do you recall how much it was please, Colin? 
 

Hopefully, ApertureS my know re. my question. 

Supply & fit new Water Pump & Thermostat assembly = £734.26

And that was at a VAG independent / specialist in M.Keynes.

 

At the same time I had a interim service = £130 &

Supply & fit new rear disks & pads = £190.

Sub Total = £1,054.26

+Vat = £210.85

Total = £1,265.11p - 😖

 

Holy feck!!! 😳

3 minutes ago, numskull said:

Holy feck!!! 😳

I did say "not cheap". TBH my initial reaction was similar. Apparently a main dealer would have wanted north of £1,100 just for the W.pump & Thermostat! 

Water pump leaks are a known problem on many VAG engines - apparently.

If yours ain't leaking them maybe leave it alone for a bit longer & start saving!!

Yeah, I’m just thinking ahead. Given the last full service, DSG, Haldex and diff fluid changes came to over a grand, I suppose I should’ve realised it was gonna be expensive.
As an aside, our son has a 2004 Mercedes CL500 (he’s getting avg MPG of 27mpg which is not too shabby and has just got 35 on a run from here to Bath) and it needed the suspension and ARB bushes replaced recently at a Merc specialist (which has given a massive improvement in handling which is great) and that work, plus a big service was £1,600; would’ve been £2,400 at a main dealer if they actually knew what to do. He mentioned to them he was thinking about getting an SL500 and the guy said, well, that service and suspension work would have cost you £3,500 on an SL. Ridiculous. Yeah… he’s keeping the CL! 

12 minutes ago, numskull said:

Yeah, I’m just thinking ahead. Given the last full service, DSG, Haldex and diff fluid changes came to over a grand, I suppose I should’ve realised it was gonna be expensive.
As an aside, our son has a 2004 Mercedes CL500 (he’s getting avg MPG of 27mpg which is not too shabby and has just got 35 on a run from here to Bath) and it needed the suspension and ARB bushes replaced recently at a Merc specialist (which has given a massive improvement in handling which is great) and that work, plus a big service was £1,600; would’ve been £2,400 at a main dealer if they actually knew what to do. He mentioned to them he was thinking about getting an SL500 and the guy said, well, that service and suspension work would have cost you £3,500 on an SL. Ridiculous. Yeah… he’s keeping the CL! 

After a certain age ICE cars are a black hole for money which kind of forces you to keep them for longer in order to justify the cost you have invested in them. It's the reason most companies replace their lease cars after a year or 25k before the big bills start rolling in. It's also one of the reasons I'm considering switching one of our cars to electric which have much lower maintenance requirements - engine parts at least. Add to that next year we will be able to charge it for free from solar & it all starts to make a lot of financial sense. The question is which car to sell / trade in & what EV to get. I'm an estate man but apart from the MG5 there are no affordable decent sized estate EV's out there yet. As such I'm not ready to give up my 280 estate yet so it may have to be the wife's Karoq that gets the chop. But what to replace it with? She doesn't really need an SUV so a 5 door hatch for local driving will do her fine so, I'm considering the MG4 or something smaller like a Corsa-e or E-208. Decisions, decisions.    

I had a genius idea…

 

so people complain of the wireless phone charger overheating a lot.

 

so my solution.

 

where the pipe leaves the heater box to run to the glovebox to cool it (always cold air) T off of it with a 6mm silicone tube and route it 30cm or so to the back of the phone charger pad, small 8mm hole in the back of the cubby area and you’ll have constantly cold air running across the pad and phone.

 

would be completely out of sight and look no different but with that added benefit 

 

 

just a passing thought

Brilliant idea! 👍🏻

Good idea.

With the classic wire solution, when charging my phone, I put it horizontaly on the top of my Columbus in front of the left center air vent. No mod to do, and I can even adjust the air flow / air temp 😜.