[ajmat]

Originally Posted by azeemhafiz

I panicked, a million things running through my head especially since I had the car remapped only recently.

As my mom was comparing my reaction to that of a dear one in the hopsital; I kept wondering we need to have emergency helplines for us petrol heads to talk about our mental make up during these anxious times. Some of us will understand, most of them will ridicule me for this - But I found my respite in the reply I got from Peter at 6 AM, very very comforting assuring me that this will be sorted out and he too mentioned that this has to be because of bad fuel. Following that I spoke to robimahanta & Shibin and I was calm after.

Now, Peter was insistent that they have to change all the 4 coils and replacing just one will eventually lead to the failure of others.

Believe me, I have been there! I agree all 4 coils need to be replaced, I did that on my Octy and it was fine after that. Keep the older ones as a spare. Thats a must for any VAG petrol car.

However, the dealer is process driven and will not look at the bigger picture. What is even more stupid is insisting the car is brought to the workshop when the part could be sent on a scooter to be replaced!

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by azeemhafiz

Miltek Exhaust with SS Downpipe (Decated) along with Stage 2 map (custom code) by Pete's Automotive

Somehow missed this post of yours. Belated congratulations! The VRS is so mod friendly that it should made be mandatory for every VRS owner to mod his car.

I resisted doing the exhaust even though Shibin was highly insistent that I do it. My only concern is the long 500+ Km drives that I do to Belgaum every other month. Many times its me and dad in the car. Four lane NH 4 all the way, you know what speeds we end up cruising at. I was worried the constant growl may get to us.

So you've gone decat. Is that legal? Have you tried getting a PUC certificate after the mods. The readings would be interesting.

Originally Posted by azeemhafiz

I also put in H&R spacers to get rear wheels to align with the body, ECS antenna & Muth blind spot mirrors (damn cool). Now for a few pictures
Image credit - Pete's automotive.

Pics please. Any vibrations at speeds with the spacers? You've gone for 10mm or 20mm spacers?

Originally Posted by azeemhafiz

While cruising back home with a friend at around 4:30 AM in the morning a couple of weeks ago, the check engine lights along with the EPC lights came on.

That's quite concerning. Did you experience any symptoms before the coil failed? or it just went kaput all of a sudden?

[azeemhafiz]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Believe me, I have been there! I agree all 4 coils need to be replaced, I did that on my Octy and it was fine after that. Keep the older ones as a spare. Thats a must for any VAG petrol car.

However, the dealer is process driven and will not look at the bigger picture. What is even more stupid is insisting the car is brought to the workshop when the part could be sent on a scooter to be replaced!

Thanks Ajmat!

That's exactly what I've done, got 3 as spares in the car now. When TAFE was insistent that the car be brought in, I thought the coils would resemble di-lithium chambers from Star Trek only to be disappointed when my mom made the remark that 'This resembles the stove lighters in the kitchen'.
TAFE said that they cant raise an invoice for some reason and that's why this issue arises. Strange.

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Somehow missed this post of yours. Belated congratulations! The VRS is so mod friendly that it should made be mandatory for every VRS owner to mod his car.

Thanks Santosh, the car is a different machine all together now and I agree all vRS owners *must* mod their cars.

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

I resisted doing the exhaust even though Shibin was highly insistent that I do it. My only concern is the long 500+ Km drives that I do to Belgaum every other month. Many times its me and dad in the car. Four lane NH 4 all the way, you know what speeds we end up cruising at. I was worried the constant growl may get to us.

I got the resonated one, its really quiet. In fact at cruising and idle its quieter than the stock car. The growl is directly proportional to the speed of throttle engagement. You should drive it, you'll know what I'm talking about. Lets catch up soon.

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

So you've gone decat. Is that legal? Have you tried getting a PUC certificate after the mods. The readings would be interesting.

As Pollution check is done at idle, this should technically not make a difference. I'm going to get the certificate done this weekend, I'll let you know how that goes. But if the cert goes through, then its legal correct?

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Pics please. Any vibrations at speeds with the spacers? You've gone for 10mm or 20mm spacers?

The needle planted at the farthest side of the speedometer (of a 1.8Tsi) for about 30 seconds and no vibrations. Peter put in some really high-grade H&R springs (10mm) <Albeit expensive, you don't really want to take a chance>. As a matter of fact even Robi's car has spacers in the rear wheel - No vibrations at insaner speeds there either. Remember our drive?

As far as pics are concerned, I am horrible with the camera. I can take picture of Mona Lisa and make it look like a portrait of lady gaga. Let me get some one with a camera sense and get the pictures taken, or I can just meet you in the weekend and you can see / drive the car in person.

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

That's quite concerning. Did you experience any symptoms before the coil failed? or it just went kaput all of a sudden?

Nothing, no warning at all. Sudden dip in power - Car slows down (Gradually) and then the EPC + Check engine lights come on.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by azeemhafiz

I got the resonated one, its really quiet. In fact at cruising and idle its quieter than the stock car. The growl is directly proportional to the speed of throttle engagement. You should drive it, you'll know what I'm talking about. Lets catch up soon.

Quieter than the stock car? Wow that's encouraging.

Originally Posted by azeemhafiz

As Pollution check is done at idle, this should technically not make a difference. I'm going to get the certificate done this weekend, I'll let you know how that goes. But if the cert goes through, then its legal correct?

Hmm technically it may still not be, as you are in a BS IV city. You car would not have got registered if it did not have a cat con. Don't worry I won't tell anyone

Originally Posted by azeemhafiz

The needle planted at the farthest side of the speedometer (of a 1.8Tsi) for about 30 seconds and no vibrations. Peter put in some really high-grade H&R springs (10mm) <Albeit expensive, you don't really want to take a chance>. As a matter of fact even Robi's car has spacers in the rear wheel - No vibrations at insaner speeds there either. Remember our drive?

As the rear wheel is not aligned with the body , plus the fact that the car is raised for India, the car looks undertyred. The spacers, I hope would have fixed that. Nice way of indicating the speed btw.

After the remap my car has become a completely different animal too. The Bilstiens too are simply awesome. It feels like I am driving a much lighter car now as the car feels so agile and eager to change direction. I did a recent highway trip with four passengers and fully loaded boot. This was my first fully loaded highway trip after the mods. Its amazing how much difference the Bilstiens make with a fully loaded car as well. The rear does not squat as much and there's none of that bob that comes when the car is loaded. Even my wife commented that the she could feel the difference in the back and that the ride was much flatter than before.

Yep a meet is due. Let's try to catch up one of the days.

[azeemhafiz]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

As the rear wheel is not aligned with the body , plus the fact that the car is raised for India, the car looks undertyred. The spacers, I hope would have fixed that. Nice way of indicating the speed btw.

Thanks! Here is a picture I clicked indicating the side profile, the spacers has definitely changed the stance of the car.

[prithwi-81]

Nice.. but ur car is BEGGING for bigger wheels. Go get a set of 17s with 225 rubber. You wont regret it!

Mite I suggest black Sparco assetto gara, or OZ Ultraleggras.

[azeemhafiz]

Originally Posted by prithwi-81

Nice.. but ur car is BEGGING for bigger wheels. Go get a set of 17s with 225 rubber. You wont regret it!

Mite I suggest black Sparco assetto gara, or OZ Ultraleggras.

I'm been thinking about this too, I love (absolutely love) the OZ Ultraleggeras. I haven't seen a 17 inch one so not sure how it would look.

Also, the last time I enquired the price was in the region of 1.1 lakhs for a set of 4 alloys. This with the tyres moved the budget really high and out of my current reach. I've deployed patience at the moment. Just a matter of time.

[azeemhafiz]

27470 kms update and the second service.

Again, it struck me, the paranoia of taking the car into an authorized service Skoda service station, especially TAFE. Since the car has been tuned, I have been strongly advised by Peter (from Petes) and Shibin (Head over wheels) to reduce the service interval to 10k kms after remap, understandably, due to the increased stress on some of the components. The exhaust makes pedal to metal a regular affair.

I took the car in at 25k kms on a Saturday (a couple of weeks ago) after booking through my Sales person (Praveen). While taking in the car on Saturday, I was told that the car would only be delivered on Monday. This was unacceptable and I drove back home, quite upset with the wrong expectation set by folks at TAFE while booking the service.

Whilst considering getting the car serviced at Skoda, I spoke about my dilemma about leaving the car overnight at TAFE to Shibin and the fact that I was contemplating getting it done at Vinayaka, Shibin said he knows a few folks from service side at TAFE and assured me that they would treat my car well. Shibin and Peter are some of the folks, you'd blindly trust on all things cars.

Shibin set me up with Sanjeev from TAFE for the regular second service and after a quick chat, he seemed like a nice guy. I was comfortable leaving the car with him, left it with him and went home.

I left the car on Wednesday (27th November) and Sanjeev mentioned that the brake pads seems to be a little worn out and may need replacements in the next 5-7k kms. As a preventive maintainance I asked him to change the front pads, after inspecting the rear brake pads one of them was badly worn out - Asked to change that too. Sanjeev kept me posted about the car regularly, which considering the reputation that precedes TAFE was a pleasant surprise. I was relieved.

The car was ready on Thursday (28th November), well washed polished and details of the work carried out was explained well. I had some issues on my drive side windows not going up using the one touch, that part was ordered and will be covered under warranty. Brilliant. I'll have to go back to TAFE in a week or so to get it fixed.

The net expenses was 12,336 which is expensive and here is the high-level break out -
Front pads - 4.8k
Rear pads - 3.7k
labor - 2.2k (I'm starting a service center, thats a lot of money for replacing brake pads)

The rest of the service was free thanks to the Scheduled maintainance package that I had taken at the time of purchase.

The next time I need to change pads, I'd probably just upgrade to Tarox G88 rotors and Tarox Corsa pads. Didn't realize stock pads are this expensive.

Overall a pleasant experience with TAFE thanks to Sanjeev. And of course, Shibin from head over wheels who set this up and regularly followed up with TAFE to ensure my car is taken care of well. The support that one receives from Pete's and Head over wheels are truly astonishing. For all those worried about Skoda service, get some work done from Pete's. The after sales service is taken care off well

The car drives brilliantly and although I felt off-late that the initial and mid braking bite had reduced, the pad changes has fixed it.

Back to crunching those miles!

Onward,

Azeem

[Akshay1234]

Nice to see you had a good experience with the car. I believe after a remap you aren't supposed to get the software updated since it would wipe the map.

Also for your window auto up down not working, there is apparently a way to fix it. Whichever window it is, push the switch into the 2nd step (which is auto mode) and instead of leaving it like you normally do, keep it pushed till the window goes all the way down. Then pull the switch up to the 2nd step and keep it there till the window goes all the way up. Try this maybe 2-3 times, it should work.

Time to upgrade to 225s now? The braking will improve even further. Right now with my stage one map and 225s, I feel no need to upgrade brakes, ins spite of my car having done 30k kms. It too is due for a pad change though.

[azeemhafiz]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Nice to see you had a good experience with the car. I believe after a remap you aren't supposed to get the software updated since it would wipe the map.

Also for your window auto up down not working, there is apparently a way to fix it. Whichever window it is, push the switch into the 2nd step (which is auto mode) and instead of leaving it like you normally do, keep it pushed till the window goes all the way down. Then pull the switch up to the 2nd step and keep it there till the window goes all the way up. Try this maybe 2-3 times, it should work.

Time to upgrade to 225s now? The braking will improve even further. Right now with my stage one map and 225s, I feel no need to upgrade brakes, ins spite of my car having done 30k kms. It too is due for a pad change though.

I did get a VAS update and I don't think they can wipe the map out for sure. At least on my car the Check Engine and EPC lights would come on since there is no CAT and the stock maps account for that.

The right hand side window BCM is out, when they entered the VIN into the system, it had already come up as replace apparently (thats what the SA told me). It could be a sublime recall or total B.S. I should get new BCM in a week and its covered under warranty.

I have been thinking about the 225s but its difficult to find the right tyre me thinks. I'd love to go for the PS3s but I don't want to feel vulnerable, since its quite difficult to source them in the event I need to replace a single tyre. Also, I must admit I am totally enjoying the unsafe, unpredictable slides and handling on wet roads with the current stock tyres. The way this car transforms from an understeer to an oversteer in no time is quite thrilling and extremely rewarding to catch. After the first few times it's almost like an elegant dance, very unpredictable handling at predictable corners

I am also at that decision point in my life where I need to make up my mind if I want to upsize to 17s let go off the practicality or just get better tyres on the existing rims. Since I should be getting the GT TSI in a couple of weeks may be I can reserve this car for the less practical occasions.

Mind says 'Stay back on 16s' Heart beats up the mind and says go 17 every time I see one of these:

The fabulous Ultraleggeras


The stunning Vittorias


Even the ridiculous Hanzo by Dotz

[Akshay1234]

I think it has to be the Ultraleggeras without a doubt if you are upsizing. Getting 17s will mean you will have to be pretty careful on highways with 45 profile. As good as it looks I think wider tyres on 16s would be the best option. It means you can have fun without worrying about potholes and bumps to some extent. In 225/50 16s I think Yoko Advan Sports should also be available, and those tyres are great too. Have had a set on my Accord for a while, and I find them great.

But the PS3s still do seem to be there in this size. So why not get 5, keep one as a spare in case you need it. And these tyres aren't all that delicate.

[prithwi-81]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

I think it has to be the Ultraleggeras without a doubt if you are upsizing. Getting 17s will mean you will have to be pretty careful on highways with 45 profile. As good as it looks I think wider tyres on 16s would be the best option. It means you can have fun without worrying about potholes and bumps to some extent. In 225/50 16s I think Yoko Advan Sports should also be available, and those tyres are great too. Have had a set on my Accord for a while, and I find them great.

But the PS3s still do seem to be there in this size. So why not get 5, keep one as a spare in case you need it. And these tyres aren't all that delicate.

17s work well a ith the laura, ive been driving around on my momo's for over a year now, and no issues of rim damage so far. Go for 17s!!!

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by prithwi-81

17s work well a ith the laura, ive been driving around on my momo's for over a year now, and no issues of rim damage so far. Go for 17s!!!

The difference is you live in NCR. In Bangalore and Mumbai the state of roads is a different story altogether.

[prithwi-81]

Robi is in blore, running his car without a hitch on 17

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by prithwi-81

Robi is in blore, running his car without a hitch on 17

I'm running 2 cars in Bombay on 17s, with 45 and 50 profile without a hitch. The question is whether the want to do it again, and be that careful to not have that hitch.