[sachinjoseph]

I installed sun film on my car's sunroof. It helped a lot. These sun films are almost transparent so doesn't spoil the view also.

Originally Posted by SilverSmoke

Panoramic Sunroofs - A Bane in Hot Sun:

[Fun_to_drive]

Originally Posted by sachinjoseph

I installed sun film on my car's sunroof. It helped a lot. These sun films are almost transparent so doesn't spoil the view also.

Can you please suggest which are the best films for sunroof to keep the car relatively cooler from inside?

[kurups]

Originally Posted by Fun_to_drive

Can you please suggest which are the best films for sunroof to keep the car relatively cooler from inside?

3M outlets does sunfilm installation. CR40 or CR30 is the darkest one going to CR70 light shade. Since it is sunroof, there are no regulations governing the darkness of the film. I went with the darkest shade available with 3M.

[Old Dude]

So after 4 months and 2850 kms of ownership, my Kodiaq experienced it’s first rain shower. ( Being the new car and kept spotless and shining, I used to take my older car out on the days it was forecasted to rain so far). However, in the first rain, I found the wipers to be noisy and chattering across the windshield. There was patch around the middle of the windshield where the left wiper seems to skim over without touching as well. First try was to clean the windshield and wiper blades, but the same chattering persisted.

Dropped by Raja Skoda service Center today morning - they tried fixing the alignment of the wiper ( over the past 90 mins), but the issue still persists. The technician also observed that the wiper arm was touching / mildly rubbing against the edge of the hood towards end of the stroke ( can see the scratch marks on both the wiper arm and the inside edge of the hood). The service advisor has requested to leave the vehicle with them for the day to get the clearance for warranty replacement of the wiper arm and blades. Fingers crossed what will be the outcome by end of the day. Curious to know if any other Kodiaq owners have faced noisy wiper blades.

[SilverSmoke]

Originally Posted by Old Dude

Curious to know if any other Kodiaq owners have faced noisy wiper blades.

Got to experience this many a times but almost always something was stuck in the blades.
Cleaned & gone.
Even after one year wipers working flawlessly.

Hopefully your issue gets sorted out soon.

[Old Dude]

Originally Posted by Old Dude

So after 4 months and 2850 kms of ownership, my Kodiaq experienced it’s first rain shower. ( Being the new car and kept spotless and shining, I used to take my older car out on the days it was forecasted to rain so far). However, in the first rain, I found the wipers to be noisy and chattering across the windshield. There was patch around the middle of the windshield where the left wiper seems to skim over without touching as well. First try was to clean the windshield and wiper blades, but the same chattering persisted.

Dropped by Raja Skoda service Center today morning - they tried fixing the alignment of the wiper ( over the past 90 mins), but the issue still persists. The technician also observed that the wiper arm was touching / mildly rubbing against the edge of the hood towards end of the stroke ( can see the scratch marks on both the wiper arm and the inside edge of the hood). The service advisor has requested to leave the vehicle with them for the day to get the clearance for warranty replacement of the wiper arm and blades. Fingers crossed what will be the outcome by end of the day. Curious to know if any other Kodiaq owners have faced noisy wiper blades.

Update: Got the car back by evening - They did not change the wiper arms, but re-aligned it, and the problem seems to be resolved. The mechanic claims the wiper arm was disassembled previously and not reassembled properly causing the misalignment of the blades with respect to the windshield, causing the noise. He showed pictures of wrench ( spanner ) marks on the fixing nuts, which he suspected would have been done by the guys who did the ceramic coating, when they did the hydrophobic coating on the glass. Have to reconfirm this with Dabler Auto with whom I did the Ulgo Glass Coating for the car ( another story I’d like to share, super impressed with the body coating done)

Though I was very apprehensive of Raja Skoda service from all the horror stories on the forum, my experience yesterday was relatively good. Aside from the fact they took one whole day to diagnose and rectify a problem that should have taken 30 mins, all other touch points were good - I was attended within a minute of getting there, they took the vehicle right in and checked, 5 mins later they took me to the repair bay and confirmed with me the problem they observed was indeed what I was complaining of. I had an official conf call for the next 90 mins, for which I was provided access to a private, well appointed customer lounge upstairs, with periodic refreshments. After my call, the SA informed there is misalignment, and the first attempt to fix it has not resolved the issue completely and hence will get it replaced under warranty, and since they need time to get approval from Skoda, would return the car by 5 pm. I received an email and whatsapp confirmation of the vehicle being taken in for service, and a link with the video of exteriors and interiors (showing the vehicle condition of the hand over condition) to capture any damages - none whatsoever in my case. Tye SA kept me updated during the day on the progress and by 2PM, confirmed the issue is resolved and asked permission to get the car exterior and interior cleaned. Since I had thoroughly cleaned my car last weekend, I declined the cleaning part ( which I regretted on seeing the car - as they were testing the issue with the windshield wiper spray, entire roof and side windows were dotted with dried water marks) and took delivery on my way back from work. Overall a pleasant experience. Though they didn’t change the blades in the end, but managed to correct the assembly alignment and resolve the issue and did not charge anything towards labour though they said the issue arose because of improper disassembly and reassembly by a third party, I’m giving 4 stars out of 5 for this visit.

[mi777]

Guys, I finally went ahead paid the booking amount on Lava Blue L&K in Mumbai.

Went through a rigorous year long search in person and living on team bhp forums felt like Kodiaq is the only car that comes close to meeting all parameters.

Also Skoda dealers seem to be pushing Kodiaq harder as they made regular follow-ups and negotiated also a bit.

Now the wait starts. Already spoke to PPF guys in Mumbai any other suggestion?

[Old Dude]

Originally Posted by mi777

Guys, I finally went ahead paid the booking amount on Lava Blue L&K in Mumbai.

Went through a rigorous year long search in person and living on team bhp forums felt like Kodiaq is the only car that comes close to meeting all parameters.

Also Skoda dealers seem to be pushing Kodiaq harder as they made regular follow-ups and negotiated also a bit.

Now the wait starts. Already spoke to PPF guys in Mumbai any other suggestion?

Congratulations on your booking, and wish you a happy ownership. I visited the dealer in Bangalore the other day for dashcam installation and the Sales Advisor told me that now all major dealers have a test drive kodiaq (L&K) allotted in May, have an allocation for 800 cars between now and Dec, and Skoda is now offering 30K corporate discount.

[mi777]

Originally Posted by Old Dude

Congratulations on your booking, and wish you a happy ownership. I visited the dealer in Bangalore the other day for dashcam installation and the Sales Advisor told me that now all major dealers have a test drive kodiaq (L&K) allotted in May, have an allocation for 800 cars between now and Dec, and Skoda is now offering 30K corporate discount.

Thank you. Getting dash cam on which model? Yes, I think more allocation is bringing the concept of discount. Last time I had asked then even a 10k test drive car was a take it or leave it and now when I booked it was much better discount.

[Old Dude]

Body coating for my Kodiaq - A bit unconventional route:

Protecting the new car gloss and feel is something most Team BHP members identify with, unlike my wife who gives me a hard time for me spending unending hours taking care of my car. So the research for the right protection started even before I booked my new car.

I have always taken pride in being known as the guy with one of the best maintained cars in my circles, through my 25 years of car ownership across the different cars I have owned since 1996. The last one I owned ( and still own) is my 2009 pre facelift Honda Civic VMT in Harbenero Red, which I still personally maintain. (My wife gives me a hard time for personally cleaning my car daily before the apartment guy shows up and essentially paying him monthly to NOT touch my car, unless for a full wash after a rain. With the hard water in our area, I found the finish gets dull very fast with regular wash, not to mention dried up water marks turning to scales in all the crevices.) I bought this Civic pre-worshipped in 2012, with 24K Kms on board and as of today, it has done 1.3L KM still giving me a grin behind the wheel every time I take her out for a drive, and has been an absolutely lovely, reliable car to own and is still a delight to drive. Anyway, to cut the story short, I got the paint correction done from 3M when I bought this in 2012 and has been maintaining myself using regular wax polishing using Meguair’s ultimate wax polish ( once in 4-6 weeks) and ProKlear waterless car wash daily ( after dusting with the original California car duster / Jopasu). About two years back, I switched to Turtle Wax Hybrid Ceramic paste wax from the Meguair, which I found lasts longer and have since reduced the waxing frequency to once in 3 months, and the ProKlear waterless wash almost daily.

By 2023, PPF films, Ceramic Coatings and Graphene coatings have become household names and the default choice for anyone buying a new car ( the buzzword was Teflon coating when I bought my Civic in 2012, which I did not do). Reading through the threads on Team BHP, watching umpteen videos on YouTube, checking out user experience within my friends and colleagues circle, and visiting many ceramic coating / PPF applicators across Bangalore - my research was deep, and had decided to go for graphene coating for the body and PPF only for the bumpers. That was when I stumbled upon a wild card entry called Ulgo Glass Coating on YouTube, reviews locally only by a Kannada YouTuber. There were few other short videos on this product, mostly from Malaysia and Japan, with limited information. More Google research followed and at the first glance, it seemed it’s the same as Ceramic coating having SiO2 as the infused compound, with a different name. However, a deeper search and a day long visit to the applicator Dabler Auto in Bangalore revealed the following key differences - The Ceramic coat cross links and bonds chemically with the clear coat, while the Glass coating bonds physically through an adhesive compound mixed in the coating. Ceramic coating provides a deeper colour shade, whereas the Glass coating not so much. Glass coating is better resistant to water spots than Ceramic, and hydrophobic nature is similar. Ceramic coating cures at elevated temperatures, whereas the Glass coating is room temperature curing. Longevity of the coating seemed to be better with the Glass coating ( claimed 5 years with annual maintenance spray coat). What finally swayed my decision to go for this Ulgo Glass coating was the better resistance to hard water spotting, given the water quality in our area and seeing cars that had done this coating 3 years back and speaking to those owners, and helped by the passionate and patient approach of the father-son duo who run Dabler Auto.

It’s been 4 months and 15 days since I got the Kodiaq coated with Ulgo glass coating, PPF (Shieldpro, with 10 year dealer warranty) on the bumpers and piano black parts including interiors. Below are my observations and comparison to my maintenance experience of my uncoated Civic.

Pros:
1) The coating has held up good and don’t see any degradation in the mirror like gloss or hasn’t developed any swirl marks in the past four and half months of daily cleaning.
2) Water beading is still very good.
3) It is easier to clean than my uncoated Civic.
4) Hard water marks are easy to get rid of ( though haven’t let a dried in mark stay for more than a day) - Have been getting quite a few daily as I have to drive through metro construction area where water from construction drops from overhead construction areas.

Cons:
Only one - I have a nagging feeling the colour after coating is not as deep as the ones with Ceramic coating, though I never got to compare another lava blue vehicle next to mine and lava blue is one colour that looks vastly different in different ambient lighting.

My cleaning routine:
Daily: Blow off the dust using an electric blower first, followed by dusting with the Jopasu / California duster. ( Average time: 10 mins)

Once in 2-3 days: ( Average time: 30 mins on week days, 1 hour on weekends) After dusting as above, Spray Meguiars hybrid Ceramic detailer on to a soft micro fiber cloth and gently wipe down one panel at a time and gently buff off with a 600 gsm micro fiber cloth.

Monthly once: ( Average time: 2 hours) Pressure wash ( cordless one from Amazon) and shampoo once a month, dry off with Shinepro micro fiber drying cloth and use a blower to blow any residual water from all the crevices to avoid forming hard water stains.

Will provide another update after one year of use in how this coating holds up.

On a related note, doing PPF on the piano black is an absolute must - and do not dry wipe - The same ceramic detailer works magic on PPF too. Not a single swirl mark on the exterior spoiler / Door B / C pillar area inserts, or interior door inserts and dash board storage lid. The installers recommended not to do PPF on the console area around the gear shifter as there are electrical switches and water will get in during PPF installation, so applied the same glass coating on this console piano black inserts - so far been able to keep it swirl mark / micro scratch free.
Posting some pics of my Uncoated 2009 Civic with 1.3L Km and the Glass coated Kodiaq for your reference.

[freebear]

An observation on TPMS in my vehicle.

I have filled the air at the IOCL outlet to 35 in the front and rear tyres. I set the TPMS to take this reference.

Recently for a long drive with full capacity(7 people), I wanted to fill the air to 39 and 45 for the front and rear tyres respectively.

I saw that the air measurement showed 33 and 32. I would expect the TPMS to give me a warning or something if it fell below 35.

Is there anything I am missing other than the calibration of the air filler at the pump?

Did anyone else observe this on their vehicles?

[sahak]

Took Delivery of My Lava Blue Kodiaq on 25th June.
I am pretty impressed with Raja Skoda folks. They did a good job, though there are areas where they can improve.
Got the dash cam fixed in the showroom itself. Done some 200 kms so far and enjoying the ride.

[Old Dude]

Originally Posted by sahak

Took Delivery of My Lava Blue Kodiaq on 25th June.
I am pretty impressed with Raja Skoda folks. They did a good job, though there are areas where they can improve.
Got the dash cam fixed in the showroom itself. Done some 200 kms so far and enjoying the ride.

Congratulations on bringing the blue bear home, and wish you many years of trouble free ownership and ear to ear wide grins every time you drive your a kodiaq. Which dashcam did you get ?

[Guna]

Originally Posted by Old Dude

father-son duo who run Dabler Auto.

I pass by a Dabler Auto in Jayanagar and I have been thinking to visit them once. Is this the same place you went to?
How does glass coating compares with ceramic coating in terms of cost?
Did you experience how effective it is against scratches?

[adi_petrolhead]

Originally Posted by freebear

I saw that the air measurement showed 33 and 32. I would expect the TPMS to give me a warning or something if it fell below 35.

TPMS is of indirect type, the range at which normally the TPMS warning kicks in is around 6-10+ PSI drop in pressure, because that indicates either a puncture or a faulty valve causing an air leak. TPMS won't notify you for a 4-5 PSI drop which is considered normal after 500 kms or so, and hence I recommend topping up cold tyres every 10 days or at least once in 500 kms. Having your own tyre inflator in your car at all times helps.