[nitinbose]

Originally Posted by BuBooMan

Did you report the Tafe Access incident to Skoda? Hope Mr. Rao is listening. If I were you, I would definitely head back there and ask them to check it again and prove them wrong. And maybe send a cop friend to really give this Kumar fellow a few sweats.

Yes, I did report to Skoda. They simply replied they're sorry the incident took place and asked me to contact Naveen, who would help me out! LOL!

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Nitin. Those TAFE boys are rogues. Stick with the Vinayak chaps.
If you like I will share this feedback with some important blokes at Skoda on your behalf.x
Can you send me an email with the description of the problem?
I would be happy to help in whatever small way.

Shankar, I would be happy to send you the details. Please PM me your email id.

Indeed I have been sticking to Vinayak Skoda, just this time, I wanted to avoid the travel to K R Puram from Gottigere!

[nitinbose]

Hi Everyone!

In continuation of my wheel alighment issue, though everything was corrected at Madhus, I thought of taking a second opinion from Shibin, (Pete's - Head over wheels, Whitefield, Bangalore).

Shibin did a thoughrough checkup and confirmed everything is in ship-shape! Those were music to my ears.

At this moment Shibin reminded me of the SmartWax AMC which was pending on my car and that I could drop in anytime to have this done. I confirmed for the 1st November as it was also a holiday for me.

Though Shibin was not around, his staff were clear instructed. They were expecting me, among other vehicles. I reached the premise at 0830hrs and they were open and ready.

My vehicle was taken over the ramp and a throughrough inspection was done on the body and under-chassis. A pressure wash was then done, along with the cleaning of the alloy wheels. The car was then taken to their covered garage where it was dried and tar, stains etc were removed. A different set of people were working on the interior, removing any dirt, stains, rejuvenating the leather etc.

The next step was to dry the underhood, de-grease and a complete cleaning. The result was as good as a brand new vehicle.

External cleaning agents, wax, polish etc were then applied to bring back the original glow.

I really liked the quality of their products as though its almost a year since the original smartwax was done, the glow still remained!

After the lunch break, the team was focussing on all the little nitty-gritties, such as cleaning of the hinges, gaps, rubber sealants, vacumming etc.

By four, I had a brand new looking car!

The day was very well spent from the perspective of my Laura.

What I liked:

1. Cars are handled with extreme care. Shibin himself is a car lover and so treats all cars like his own! There's also plenty of space for working.
2. The staff are quite professional in every stage.
3. Time and care are taken to ensure the best quality of workmanship.
4. Cars are also stored in a covered garage which is free from dust and harsh weather agents. If the owner is not coming to collect the car immediately, its covered as well - see the photographs.

What I disliked:

Distance from my home! I wish I could frequent here.

Now for some pics.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by nitinbose

Hi Everyone!

In continuation of my wheel alighment issue, though everything was corrected at Madhus, I thought of taking a second opinion from Shibin, (Pete's - Head over wheels, Whitefield, Bangalore).

Nice! I had got some basic mods and a smart wax detaining done for my Laura by Head over Wheels some time early this year. Shibin's a nice guy and is very thorough.

Its been 4 months since my car's been smart wax'd and it still glows. I have the same problem as you, their place is just too damn far from my place!

PS : I see Robi's 300 Bhp Laura in the background in one of the pics

[Safeer]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Nice! I had got some basic mods and a smart wax detaining done for my Laura by Head over Wheels some time early this year. Shibin's a nice guy and is very thorough.

Its been 4 months since my car's been smart wax'd and it still glows.

Thanks both of you, for sharing the details and feedback about Head over Wheels spa in Whitefield. I recently got my pre-FL Laura treated at 3M -the one in UB City premise. Guess next time I should get it 'smart waxed' either in Whitefield or at Petes in Cochin.

[nitinbose]

Made a good discovery over the last week. I'd always felt whenever the car goes over potholes, speed-breakers or other road unevenness there were noises as if it was some made of plastic was being hit.

Shibin (head over wheels) recommended me to reduce the tyre pressure to 30 whereas I used to fill 32 psi. This did bring down the noise.

However the surprise was that after my kerala trip, after which I'm sure the tyre pressure had dropped further down (to possibly around 28psi), the vehicle has become quieter. Its quite soft when I pass speed breakers or potholes as if I were driving some other car.

When I checked the manual, the default tyre pressure seems to be 30psi for a single user, while I feel for city driving, something like 28 psi should suffice.

Anyone observed something similar?

[nitinbose]

I took some time during my last visit to Ernakulam to Vagtune. I was unhappy with the headlamps that I had earlier, with xenons on low and high beams. The visibility was poor even with both low and high beams ON. The only purpose it served was to blind the oncoming motorists and pedestrians. Furthermore, neither AFS nor automatic leveling was available, infact there was no option to change the level of the headlamps other than to open the bonnet and adjust the screws.

I therefore decided to revert to the stock headlamp system, which had AFS, automatic leveling etc.

The revert process was a bit tough as the wiring harnesses had to be correct to stock and then mount the headlamps. The process consumed more time than usual as we kept receiving error messages that the commands are rejected by the controller.

Sukesh and I were left puzzled and were out of luck though we tried till midnight. I had to stay for one more day to try my luck. The following morning we decided to check the wirings once again only to find that some pins needed to be changed to a different position as the new Skoda headlamp was the European version. Once this change was done, the system automatically recognized the headlamps and all the functions started fine!

What a relief!

I am pleased with this headlamp as I do have better visibility instead of blinding oncoming motorists/pedestrians. I now understand why motorists with retrofitted bulbs/xenons/lamps glare other motorists - they are unable to see anything for themselves but in the process blind other people due to the poor third-party non-stock headlamps.

I would advice everyone to stay with their original headlamps as much as possible. You can use auxiliary lamps instead but please stay with the stock headlamps and bulbs. They are designed to provide the best lighting for your vehicle.

Though xenon bulbs are made as per standards such as H1, H4 etc., the projectors you use many not be an exact match hence the poor visibility.

I've also noticed the stock Skoda headlamps only produce a tingling sensation to the oncoming motorists/pedestrians instead of simply blinding them while myself as the driver gets excellent visibility of the road, traffic ahead, people, objects etc.

[vinj14]

A lesson learned the hard way. Hope the damage wasn't too heavy on the pockets.

Glad you've gone back to stock headlights.

[nitinbose]

Hi Everyone!

I have some good news for all Skoda owners/lovers! Many of you may even be aware of this, especially if you've got the VCDS software & cable.

There are forums such as www.briskoda.net and www.vwvortex.com which do have some great people who can help us understand the cars better, troubleshooting etc. Some of them also work at the respective workshops with a higher ranking.

I've had good experience so far!

[vinj14]

Hey Nitin,

Someone I know is interested in those aftermarket headlights that you had. Still got em?
You considering selling them?

Let me know

[nitinbose]

Originally Posted by vinj14

Hey Nitin,

Someone I know is interested in those aftermarket headlights that you had. Still got em?
You considering selling them?

Let me know

I had left it with Sukesh (Vagtune), hoping to find some buyer. Let me check with him if there's any buyer.

[nitinbose]

I noticed some rattling coming from the left hand side of the vehicle, especially around the dashboard side.

I paid a visit to Vinayak Skoda, KR Puram to have a check done. There were some panel clips which were not fitting correctly. I suggested replacing the entire panels clips. An engineer was assigned who removed the panels one by one and fixed them back with a new set of clips. They also tightened the dashboard screws.

Went for a test drive and no rattles were noticed. I also decided to do a general checkup as my vehicle was serviced at 15K kms and its now done 21K. Everything was in ship-shape but needed a 500ml oil top up.

The whole activity took about three hours.

I really liked the way Vinayak Skoda engineers performed the whole activity. I only wish they had a workshop in south Bangalore, with a larger space. The KR Puram can handle up to 14 cars at one shot, in the workshop.

The total cost for the labour, clips, engine oil, general check-up came close to 2K.

[nitinbose]

I've clocked 22K kms on the odo and the thrill is still on! I used to get the message "please check the tires" message once in a while and I used to ignore it since the L&K comes with an indirect TPMS system, though I do examine the tires for any puncture/leakages. I never took this warning seriously.

However, I kept getting this error message over the last weekend and Monday morning. Finally, I decided to pay a visit to a puncture shop and have everything checked. The closest outlet at that point in time was the Michellin shop (tyreempire) at HSR layout. I asked them to check all the tires. I could notice the rear right tire appearing to have a flat base but could not confirm myself.

The team checked the tire and found a screw that had already punctured the tire, though there was no significant pressure loss. This tire was immediately repaired. I took the opportunity to check the other tires as well and to my surprise the front left tire also had a puncture.

I am used to the typical "flat" feel you get when you drive cars, but in this case the car was running as normal. So the car did give a "true positive".

I guess I should learn to trust the car!

I'd filled the tires with Nitrogen - for the first time. I did not notice any significant improvement though. I feel its only the filling intervals that lengthen.

[nitinbose]

The James Bond continues its adventures!

Now clocked 25k+ kms. I'm getting a fuel economy of about 14+ km/L in the city!

I was getting some noise when the climate control vents move/adjust. There were also some rattling above the dashboard area which became quite annoying.

I paid a visit to Vinayak Skoda, KR puram. The service advisor, Prem, assisted me to get the car diagnosed and repaired.

The noise and rattling was due to the MDI cables touching the flaps whenever they adjusted themselves. the cables were neatly tucked away and fastened. The vents were also lubricated.

I took the opportunity to have the oil levels checked, which were quite okay and Prem advice me only to change the oil during the 30K service.

The whole activity took about two hours and the bill was around INR 900/-.

I am impressed with Prem and Vinayak Skoda. I'm now developing some confidence towards this brand!

[nitinbose]

One more observation I have is that when using Shell fuel, the car is a bit sluggish and offers less fuel economy as compared to using HP or Indian Oil diesels.

Wondering if anyone else has a similar observation.

[nitinbose]

James Bond has now done 27K kms! Still rocking performance. Sukesh took a test drive and put an evil eye mentioning my car still feels like a 'for registration'

On my way back to Bangalore, I had a tire burst. I now have no option except to buy a new tire. I am considering Hankook or Pirelli. Could bhipians suggest me on these brands? How reliable are they? Should I replace all the four tires (as the vehicle has done 27k) or two tires would suffice?