Intro, stereo, tyre and squeak

[mangham54]

Hello all,

 

have had a bit of time away from Briskoda I am back after 4yrs. Having moved from Octavia II to a nearly new Seat Toledo and now to an older Superb III (wanted diesel and larger car, but on peasant finances).
 

I know I am throwing a lot into this first post here, so please just shoot me. I have been trawling using the search but constantly chasing items and keep ending up with Octavia and Fabia answers 😞

 

So I have recently purchased a 2016 Superb III SE Business.

 

1. Stereo

I am finding the stereo quite ****e, in terms of Sibilliance and general tone. I have ordered (awaiting delivery) of a an InPhase USW300 active sub, and want a plug and play harness for it, or somewhere reliable to get a quad lock extension lead so I can chop (and solder) into that, rather than the original loom.

 

Additionally though I am tempted (whilst the stereo is out) to wire in an inline amp that will help smoothen take the rough edges off the sound. I have played a little with the EQ in Spotify (via CarPlay) to give the tone a little more neutrality, but would like to generally overhaul the sound without removing speaker components. Would anyone know if this would work: https://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/pioneer-vw-with-quadlock-connector-original-factory-stereo-amplifier-upgrade-kit.html?page=8

 

2. Tyres

The previous owner appears to have been a company car owner, so the tyres on it are a RoadX on the front and some other non-descript brand on the rear. Thankfully in pairs, but crap nonetheless. I keep seeing suggestions of Bridgestone T005 promoted, but I used to have a VX220 on Bridgestone RE040 (ditchfinder / widowmaker as they were know) and found them to be a poor compound in cold conditions. Have Bridgestone progressed, or would something like Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2 be a better option? I do a 22mile each way trip to work (70% on the M1), so want something quiet and compliant for Motorway use. We (family of 4) regular hump 100miles+ each way on a weekend.

 

3. Suspension Squeak
I had this in my 4yr old Seat Toledo (25k miles), but is there a particular item to look at for causes of squeaks over road humps? My employer has 4 rather objectionable bolt down humps on the way through the car park. Unfortunately at times (both this car and last one) so like a students mattress on ‘got lucky’ night.

 

[numskull]

• What “stereo wireless” does the car have - a Columbus? Whilst ours is the unit with the up-spec speakers and sub, but a friend has the same type as yours and I have to say it’s great IMO. 
• I had P7’s for 36k and they were really noisy and hard. I have Conti All Season now and they’re amazingly quiet and have excellent grip. 
• Yep, the ARB bushings squeak and they’re worse in cold weather. A squirt of PTFE spray does help for a while. 
   

[mangham54]

20 minutes ago, numskull said:

• What “stereo wireless” does the car have - a Columbus? Whilst ours is the unit with the up-spec speakers and sub, but a friend has the same type as yours and I have to say it’s great IMO. 
• I had P7’s for 36k and they were really noisy and hard. I have Conti All Season now and they’re amazingly quiet and have excellent grip. 
• Yep, the ARB bushings squeak and they’re worse in cold weather. A squirt of PTFE spray does help for a while. 
   

1. I believe it is the 6.5” Columbus (is a SE Business 2016 Spec). Though I haven’t ever managed to quite suss out the differences between the Bolero and Columbus. The sound quality is adequate, but given I am spending 10-15hrs a week in the car I would like it to be smoother and more accurate. I am not looking for volume, just richer and smoother.

 

2. I had been considering all seasons, happy to look at the Conti’s. I had dismissed them as I read a review that seemed to suggest they were quite average. 
 

3. I will have a look at the parts diagram and give the bushes a spray. I had all the wheels off at the weekend, to give them a proper clean (along with the wheel arches), so will have to give it a go at the weekend.

[numskull]

I understand what you mean, but I’ve always worked on the basis that music in car is going to be a compromise. Even in the days when people refitted ridiculously expensive ICE, IMO the resulting output quality was not that great. Quality of OE ICE has improved dramatically over that past 20 years and I consider myself to be fortunate that the OE unit in the L&K is, to me, very impressive. 

Don’t believe everything you read on tyre reviews, given they’re not always representative of the “real world”; for that, read the user reviews, which give a more balanced insight to their performance under normal operating conditions. 
I’ve only covered 1,500 miles but that’s included snow and ice covered roads in Ireland over Christmas, and there was simply no comparison under those conditions vs. the P7’s a couple of years earlier which, had the car not been a 4x4, I doubt I’d’ve got home. Wet handling is better than the P7’s too. Hard acceleration has no loss of traction and braking in the wet or dry are there or there abouts too. They are not as good as the P7’s in turning-in performance, being a little slower to react as one turns a sharp corner, but so far, that’s about the only negative. Whether they’ll last as long as the P7’s, time will tell, but as most of the time I’m not a push on driver, fingers crossed they should be OK.  
 

I’ve done ours a couple of times now and it’s due to be done again….once the weather improves a bit! 

Edited 7 February, 2023 by numskull
Grammar

[Stonechip]

Hi @mangham54, welcome to the forum.

 

Regarding tyres that improve the ride quality I would echo numskull and go with all seasons. I changed over the OM Bridgestone Potenzas which were rough riding and noisy beyond belief to Michelin Crossclimate 2  all round and the difference in ride quality is like night and day . They are smooth, quiet and very responsive in all conditions and thats with 19 inch alloys.

[brettikivi]

I did a serious upgrade involving Helix and Soundigital with a CSS sub. Very happy, but I suspect with a DSP and an amp you'll get quite far.

 

 . Bret

[mangham54]

7 hours ago, brettikivi said:

I did a serious upgrade involving Helix and Soundigital with a CSS sub. Very happy, but I suspect with a DSP and an amp you'll get quite far.

 

 . Bret

If yours is the one I have read then it was a massive project, and I am not wanting to go that far. 
 

I am quite lazy and would like a plug and play option (even if it costs a bit more, as I don’t have masses of spare time on my hands).

 

#he says after spending 2hrs removing and clean the inside if wheels and wheel arches last weekend

[mangham54]

I have also found this… has anyone got any experience?

 

https://vibeaudio.co.uk/product/powerbox65-4mvw2

[mangham54]

Have taken the plunge on the Vibe plug in amplifier above and an inPhase USW300 underwear sub.

 

Will have to see how I get on.

 

Also going to have a look at greasing the ARB mounts over the few days I have off during half-term (am a Manager of Teachers).

 

I am just going to persist with tyres and just scrub them out until the end of summer and then swap over to some All-Season tyres in September. Measured the tread on them, and looked up the tyre specs and it appears they have only been on the car 6months, and there is loads of life left in them.

[SurreyJohn]

Can't help on stereo upgrade

 

Get some good all season tyres, try Vredestein Quatrac, or Goodyear Vector 4season Gen 3 or Michelin cross climate 2

 

If you have squeaks from suspension go to any good hardware or DIY store and buy a spray can of silicon lubricant, then spray it over suspension bushes and rubber drive gaiters.    Obviously if anything is worn out then this won't be a proper fix

[mangham54]

7 hours ago, SurreyJohn said:

Can't help on stereo upgrade

 

Get some good all season tyres, try Vredestein Quatrac, or Goodyear Vector 4season Gen 3 or Michelin cross climate 2

 

If you have squeaks from suspension go to any good hardware or DIY store and buy a spray can of silicon lubricant, then spray it over suspension bushes and rubber drive gaiters.    Obviously if anything is worn out then this won't be a proper fix

Have a can of Silicone spray already - won’t use anything else on rubber parts.

 

Graphite only for lock mechanisms.

[mangham54]

On 10/02/2023 at 08:41, SurreyJohn said:

Can't help on stereo upgrade

 

Get some good all season tyres, try Vredestein Quatrac, or Goodyear Vector 4season Gen 3 or Michelin cross climate 2

 

If you have squeaks from suspension go to any good hardware or DIY store and buy a spray can of silicon lubricant, then spray it over suspension bushes and rubber drive gaiters.    Obviously if anything is worn out then this won't be a proper fix

Have a can of Silicone spray already - won’t use anything else on rubber parts.

 

Graphite only for lock mechanisms.

[mangham54]

Grrr… turns out the harness between Skoda and VW is slightly different. Or that they updated it along the way.

 

The quick fit harness on the Vibe unit is different to the one in the car. There is a plastic tab between the two top pins and the grey block in the back of the stereo. 
 

hmmm…

[mangham54]

Actually, having looked at something else… this may be a BMW harness (also a quadlock variant), rather than the VW harness

[mangham54]

Updating this, just in case anyone else is looking for it.

 

Make sure you get the Vibe 65.4VW02 kit, as it was an erroneous order on my part that meant that the wrong harness was sent. With the correct harness it really was a matter of 5mins to fit the cables, it just took longer to chose a suitable home for the amp. In the end I realised there was a huge area of space behind the ICE screen, so have mounted it there. Pics below.

 

The bonus of this was also it mean that there was a line-out option for the sub, so other than hiding the cables and feeding through the power feed from then fuse board it all works. The amp powers up from the original head unit, which in turn has a lead that tells the sub when to power up. Fingers crossed that will spare me from the inevitable flat battery.

[mangham54]

I have to advise… the two items together has transformed the sound quality of the stereo.

 

For a little over £250, the stereo has improved beyond recognition. Turns out the speakers are fairly decent, when driven appropriately