Hello to everyone in Briskoda land.

I've just bought a 05 Octavia from my father in law who has bad leg and he only bought it in Oct 06 with only 18,500 on the clock, and I'm very pleased with it as I've seen them on the road before and was impressed with them.

I've got a couple of questions for you out there and hoping for a bit of direction.

The car is running on 17inchers which is ok but when I checked the spare it was only a 16 inch (unused). I asked him about this and he said that he didn't bother on checking the spare as he thought it would be the same as the others.

I'm taking the car to Elmside Garage next week to get reverse sensors put on, do you think I could get them to swap it free of charge or would that be a bit cheeky.

Second question is that I find the headlights are not that good and I was wondering if a xenon upgrade would be a good idea. I've checked the main Skoda site and they do an upgrade but with headlight washers which I don't want.

Does anyone know what are the best bulbs and where I can get them so that I can put them in myself, or do I have to get them done by a dealer.

Thanks.

Hello...

Spare wheel might have a higher profile (sidewall) tyre so would be the same rolling radius as the alloys that are fitted???

If you only use it as a spare, there should be no worries. Just use it to get you home or to a garage. And as nitrovrs it could have the same curcumference as the 17's tyres.

As for the bulbs, someone will point you in the right direction, i havent a clue about them.

Welcome to Briskoda.

Hello - and wecome to Briskoda.

Not sure why the spare is 16", and whether the car came like that. It might not be an issue if the rolling diameter is similar to the other wheels - depends on tyre size.

There is a calculator on here that will work this out for you if you input details of both tyre sizes - http://www.briskoda.net/index.php?page=tyreCalc. If the link doesn't work you will have to pay £12 for Freedom membership, or do some Googling to find a similar calculator on the internet.

It may be that the 17s are a retro-fit - I'm running 17s but with my original 15" spare (but rolling diameter close enough for emergency use). You can find out what the car was supplied with by inputting all the codes from the front of your service book into a web-site - details in this thread.

With regard to the headlights, I guess Xenon upgrades are possible but expensive. I'm not sure if they are available as a retro-fit from a dealer or just an option on new cars.

New "high performance" bulbs will make things better though. Assuming its an Octy II that you have I did a guide to installing them here.

I used Halfords and they do make a big difference, but there are other possibilities - do a search on the site.

Forgot to mention that you could also consider an after-market Xenon upgrade.

Check out some of the site sponsors. Awesome GTI do one - Awesome GTI Store UK - VW/Audi/Seat/Skoda Performance & Styling - and also stock a range of stndard bulb upgrades

Thanks for the tips. I've checked the tyres on a tyre calculator site and the difference is only -2mm, so it should be ok in an emergency. With the Xenons I will compare prices and see how I go.

Thanks

With the xenons I've opted to buy the Phillips 50% and they should be coming very soon and hopefully they will be brighter then the standard ones.