[abbey4u]

Behemoth, What's your opinion on "ASPEC 348R Tubeless" Yokohama ASPEC 348R :: Change My Tyre.

i know its 95V rated, but looking at the tire tread pattern, it can be taken to rough roads. What's your thought? I was earlier looking for AT/HT tyres, but those are not available in this size.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by abbey4u

Behemoth, What's your opinion on "ASPEC 348R Tubeless" Yokohama ASPEC 348R :: Change My Tyre.

i know its 95V rated, but looking at the tire tread pattern, it can be taken to rough roads. What's your thought? I was earlier looking for AT/HT tyres, but those are not available in this size.

Hi Abbey, and
The yoko a348 series are quite soft and and not really ideal for the Yeti. Go for Continental CPC2 or Bridgestone ER370 if you can't find the Yoko c drives.
Regards
Behemoth

[faraz]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Some recent updates on my Yeti!

Changed the headlamps (H4) to Philips XtremeVision (+100%) bulbs. There is good improvement from the stock lamps (GE) and at least 40-50% more light. The throw range is also better. Have also recalibrated the level of the headlights from the manual adjuster in the headlight assembly and aligned the light level to my preference. I have also done level alignment for the front foglamps so that when the main lights are on high beam, the area in front of the Yeti is also illuminated and now there is no dark area in high beam, if the foglights are also switched on.............
Behemoth

@Behemoth- Does installing the new lamps require any modifications to the electrical of yeti ? I remember doing something similar to my esteem and required to fit in additional accessory to handle the additional electrical load of bright bulbs. Does this impact the Skoda warranty in any way ? did you also change the bulbs in the foglights ?

Regards
Faraz

[faraz]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Hi All,

A quick update on our Black Behemoth.
I finally took the plunge of changing my Yeti's Tyres with Yokohama C-Drive 215/60 R16 99V tyres (got them at Rs 8730 per tyre).....

4) Since my Yeti will be used 95% in the city and on highways, I went with a road tyre only........

..........
Regards,
Behemoth

@Behemoth
Specific query pertaining to the tyres, can these be used for some amount of offroading ? what do you recommend for offroading ?

Regards

Faraz

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by faraz

@Behemoth- Does installing the new lamps require any modifications to the electrical of yeti ? I remember doing something similar to my esteem and required to fit in additional accessory to handle the additional electrical load of bright bulbs. Does this impact the Skoda warranty in any way ? did you also change the bulbs in the foglights ?

Regards
Faraz

hi Faraz
No the lamps which I upgraded to the premium ones requires no electrical modification as they are the sam wattage. They give out more light as they are better technology but have a shorter lifespan. This doesn't affect the warranty as they are the same spec, only better quality.
For the tyres I would Recommend Yoko HTS in the stock choice if you can find them. A lot of other options have also been discussed on the yeti tyres thread. Do refer to that if you haven't seen it yet.

Regards
Behemoth

[faraz]

Thanks for the pronto reply. I could not find replacement tyres in Mumbai , guess will have to stick with the oem tyres. Got my bulbs replaced with Osram night breaker +

[sagpatel]

Originally Posted by faraz

Thanks for the pronto reply. I could not find replacement tyres in Mumbai , guess will have to stick with the oem tyres. Got my bulbs replaced with Osram night breaker +

Faraz,
Could you share the details of the place please as i am also interested.

[Behemoth]

A quick update on our Black Behemoth:
Nearing the 30K mark now and have also gone through the second Service at around 27K kms (got it done a little early, as I had done my first service at 12K Kms).

Over the weekend, we went to Mehandipur Balaji , from the Jaipur Highway till Dausa then took the Dausa road. After that, onto NH 11, and to Balaji.

The Jaipur Highway is an absolute mess and driving on the highway is a sheer pain because of the traffic jams and all the diversions. We left at 8:30 in the morning and reached Balaji at 4:30 pm covering a distance of 280 Kms. Some stoppages (1hr) in between for rest and almost 2 1/2 hours wasted in traffic jams!

The Dausa road is very scenic and beautiful, though a little broken in many places. Rajasthan is very green, just after the monsoons and it was a pleasure to drive through all the greenery. At one stretch of 1 km, there was no road and it was just a small trail leading through the forest - the Yeti managed comfortably and did not get stuck anywhere in the mud.

We reached Balaji at around 4:30pm and being Saturday, there was quite a long line, which took 3 hours, and we finally had darshan.
Left from Balaji at around 8:30 pm after dinner and drove down to Bharatpur - the NH11 (Jaipur -Agra road) is very nice and it was smooth sailing.

Reached Bharatpur at 9:30 and took the first hotel that we came across - The Park Bharatpur (no linkage to the Park group!). This hotel is right across the bird sanctuary.
Next morning, we were deciding on whether to go to the bird sanctuary or head down to Mathura and return via the Yamuna expressway. As the weather was quite hot, decided to go to Mathura.
In Mathura, went to Gokul and had a nice darshan there.

The Return journey via the Yamuna expressway was absolute bliss and I only wish the all the highways were like this. We covered the 113 kms of the highway from Mathura to Noida in 45 min - yes, that is correct!
Also, there was a discussion some time back on the top speed of the Yeti, and I can confirm that it goes to 19x levels. The Yamuna expressway is the best made highway I have ever seen in India and as it opened up recently, it is mostly empty.
The Yeti is a very highway good cruiser and especially more so with the new Yokohama tyres. I would never have imagined going at any speed higher than 140 with the OEM Goodyear tyres, as they lack high speed grip and are extremely noisy.
For those from Delhi who have not yet experienced the Yamuna expressway, please do go to Mathura/ Agra via the expressway once!

Regards,
Behemoth

[Behemoth]

The latest update on our Black Behemoth:
So far covered around 38K Kms in 27 Months, and around 16K Kms on the new Yokohama C-Drive tyres.
I recently got the 3rd Service done (though a little early at 12K Kms from the previous service, compared to the 15K Kms recommended). The reason why I got it done early was that in the recent 3 months, we had done quite a few trips in UP on dusty roads and fuel quality was varying. Also, I was feeling a slight drop in the braking effectiveness (30%).
So gave the Yeti for 3rd Service and got the below done, apart from the regular service.
1) Brakes checking and disc surface grinding, to improve the bite. Brake pads were ok and were not changed - 1000 Rs
2) Surface refinement (Skoda speak for Engine Decarbonization) - Rs 3600
3) Injector cleaning - IIRC 1500
4) AC Service - Rs 3600. This was required as I had started to get a foul smell from the AC. I specifically asked the AC evaporator drain valve to be cleaned and checked as if the water does not drain properly, Mold buildup starts in the evaporator, which causes a musty smell. After the service it is fine now and all smells have gone.
Even after the service, I did one round of AC evaporator foam cleaning with Abro AC cleaner (http://www.abro.com/products/consumer/?product=3544) to clean the evaporator and to also check that it was draining properly. It was fine now.

Apart from this, the regular Service items like Oil change + oil filter + Air Filter + Pollen filter were carried out.
Total in this service came to around 21,000, which is fair, since I had asked for the additional work to be done.

After the service, it is perfect and as good as new. Engine pickup and sound characteristics have improved and braking effectiveness is also back to normal.

The new tyres are also running well and taking the abuse quite well. I recently had the opportunity to test the tyres in heavy rains on the highway and the Yoko C Drives have very little Aquaplaning even at speed of 100+ and are very consistent even in wet conditions. With the OEM Goodyears, Aquaplaning was really bad and at 80+ speeds, they would aquaplane badly.
The Yoko's are still very good in Grip and there is no sign of skittishness, after covering around 16K Kms. Treadwear is not too high and I expect to get another 20K Kms out of them before they wear down to the indicators.

With our Yeti, the experience has been positive and consistent so far and no issues so far.
The workshop in Gurgaon though is quite overloaded and they said that they are going to shift to a new premises in Sec-32 in 2-3 months, which will be a much larger facility and they are going to open 3 workshops together - Volvo, Skoda and Chevrolet (all owned by the same group) there.

Overall a pleasant experience (touchwood!) so far with our Yeti (and our Laura too, which has also completed 1 year now and covered 6200 kms only). Both of these still bring a smile to our face when we drive them and are very frugal and efficient.
The Yeti has delivered a mileage of 16+ till date and the Laura is delivering 18+ in our ownership.

Regards,
Behemoth

[deutscheafrikar]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

The latest update on our Black Behemoth:
So far covered around 38K Kms in 27 Months, and around 16K Kms on the new Yokohama C-Drive tyres.
Regards,
Behemoth

Hi Behemoth, How are things?
What's the update on the Yoko C-Drives? How many kms? I need a new set and was looking at options.
Regards

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by deutscheafrikar

Hi Behemoth, How are things?
What's the update on the Yoko C-Drives? How many kms? I need a new set and was looking at options.
Regards

Hi deutscheafrikar,

So far covered around 25k Kms on the Yoko C-Drives. They are almost 50% down on the treadwear and I expect them to last not more than 15K kms more.
One of the Yoko's also had a sidewall leak recently, and was not repairable. I replaced it with the the Goodyear OE which I had kept as a spare (also covered 22k Kms) as it was similar in treadwear. For the spare I bought a new Bridgestone B250 in 215/60 R16, which costed around 8K.
I will be considering replacing all my 4 tyres again possibly in another 8-10 months and I am seriously looking at upping the size to 215/65 R16 and may even go for MRF wanderer sport/ Bridgestone H/L 683.
My experience with Yoko (on my Yeti) and also with Michelins PLC (on my Laura) is also that the sidewalls are weak and the road conditions (exp. in Guragon) do warrant tough tyres like Bridgestones or MRF.

Regards,
Behemoth

[deutscheafrikar]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Hi deutscheafrikar,

So far covered around 25k Kms on the Yoko C-Drives. They are almost 50% down on the treadwear and I expect them to last not more than 15K kms more.
One of the Yoko's also had a sidewall leak recently, and was not repairable. I replaced it with the the Goodyear OE which I had kept as a spare (also covered 22k Kms) as it was similar in treadwear. For the spare I bought a new Bridgestone B250 in 215/60 R16, which costed around 8K.
I will be considering replacing all my 4 tyres again possibly in another 8-10 months and I am seriously looking at upping the size to 215/65 R16 and may even go for MRF wanderer sport/ Bridgestone H/L 683.
Regards,
Behemoth

Hi Behemoth
Thanks for the info. What do you think of Geolandar HTS G051? But I don't know if it will be available. Yoko also list the same size in A/T's. What is the difference. The problem one could face with these odd tires in future is not getting a single tire if you have a cut sidewall.
is the Bridgestone H/L 683. available easily in india? what about the size difference and warranty?
cheers

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by deutscheafrikar

Hi Behemoth
Thanks for the info. What do you think of Geolandar HTS G051? But I don't know if it will be available. Yoko also list the same size in A/T's. What is the difference. The problem one could face with these odd tires in future is not getting a single tire if you have a cut sidewall.
is the Bridgestone H/L 683. available easily in india? what about the size difference and warranty?
cheers

Yoko also has stock size in HTS G051, which I think ITNerd and one more TBHp member (forgotten his handle!) have gone for on their Yeti's it will be best if you ask for their feedback on their ownership threads for first hand opinion. Yoko also has Geolander AT/S in the 215/65R16 size, but they are also very rare due to the ISI marking mandate. I had seen them also earlier and even their sidewalls are quite soft and side tears are quite possible with them. Bridgestone and MRF (and Apollo) have much stronger sidewalls by design and are more resistant to sidewall cuts from jagged edges of potholes/ rocks.
Bridgestones are available in 215/65 R16 size in 683 and 684 patterns (which I have seen in Gurgaon), with prices ranging from 8800-9000.

I will be willing to move to the higher size, as my Yeti will have crossed 3.5 years by that time.

Regards,
Behemoth

[deutscheafrikar]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Yoko also has stock size in HTS G051, which I think ITNerd and one more TBHp member (forgotten his handle!) have gone for on their Yeti's it will be best if you ask for their feedback on their ownership threads for first hand opinion.
Regards,
Behemoth

abbey4u did too.
I will ask on that thread. Thanks

Best regards

[Behemoth]

Updating this thread after a Long time!
So far covered around 56K Kms on my Yeti in just about 41 months of ownership. So far the ownership experience has been rewarding and fruitful and the Yeti still performs as expected.
The only Achilles heel of the Yeti is the AC compressor. Recently my Yeti also started exhibiting low cooling of the AC as summers in Delhi are heating up now (40 + degrees). So I took it for a regular checkup and was informed that there is a recall for Yetis and they are replacing the Refrigerant flow valve (attached to the compressor). In most cases they are replacing the compressor too. In my case they replaced the compressor and now the cooling has become as expected. I had to leave my Yeti at the workshop for 4 days as they are running overloaded in Gurgaon and AC repair also takes a long time. It was a completely free of cost repair on the AC and no cost was charged to me.

Apart from that, the Link rods connecting the front Torsion bar were showing signs of wear and tear and needed replacement. These were replaced (not covered under warranty) and cost to replace both the Left and right side link rods came to 5500.
Tyres on my Yeti are all Bridgestone ER370 in stock 215/60 R16 now and I am very happy with the tyres as the noise level is quite low , even at a speed of 100 and also the grip levels are good. These tyres costed me 8500 per tyre.
Overall a good Yeti experience, but with the 4th year almost ending (and also extended warranty!), I have started looking for alternates. Any suggestions?
Most likely candidates : Toyota Fortuner/ Pajero Sport/ Ssangyong Rexton...!
(We would like a 7 seater now)