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54K Kms update

Its been a while and after having got the Polo Tsi, I am hardly driving the Laura within Bangalore. Owing to the awesome discounts Pete's was giving over the holiday season I decided to treat myself with a set of B16 PSS10 coil overs for the car in exchange for the B6 and H&R spring I had in the car.

The thing I like about the B16 is the customization that is possible with it. Ride height and dampening can both be adjusted quite easily. The dials underneath can be reached without the car being jacked up. The kit also comes with 2 spanners so you can adjust the ride height yourself. When adjusting the dampening settings, the dials have clicks to indicate what position they’re in. Turning clockwise for a harder ride, counter-clockwise for a softer ride.(1 being softest, 10 being hardest)

I am currently trying out a very stiff setting of 10 in the front and 8 in the rear but still its not bone jarring.There’s a perfect relationship between spring and damper, which gives a feeling of immense confidence behind the wheel.

Damping is much better than my previous set up, but it’s the turn-in and change of direction that’s the most radical improvement. Initially I had set the car at its lowest and it had an amazing stance along with crazy amount of grip but later increased the ride height a little to make it more practical.

Let me drive around for a while tinkering with the settings and I will put up a review of the coil overs.

The front is at 10


The rear at 8


The stance was awesome especially when compared to a stock car


But had to raise it a little to make it practical for daily use in Bangalore city

Nice. How much effort does it take to move the dial? Can I do it casually? e.g. On a long drive, once I am out of Pune on the GQ, can I just pull over and move to 10? And when I have to exit the GQ towards Ratnagiri, can I just switch back to 5 - within minutes?

Yes, please post a comprehensive review after a 1000km or so. BTW, you are not scraping any speed-breaker on 10 at all??? What's the GC at 10 and 1, respectively?

That's a good exchange Robi. Interesting that its not bone jarring on 10 too. Now about the height, you can adjust it without jacking up the car or removing the wheel or anything?

The setting from 1 to 10 is for the damping and not ride height. Check this link for further details.
http://www.bilsteinus.com/products/p...b16-pss9pss10/

Yes it is possible to change from a softer to a stiffer setup in a minute. Just need to rotate the dial (which makes a click each time it is rotated) clockwise for stiffness and counter clockwise to make is softer.

Well after a 400 Km drive with some spirited runs, I found the front(8) and rear(7) better suited for me. In slow speeds 10 was tolerable but it felt too stiff while doing good speed over slightly uneven surfaces.

In order to adjust to the height, you need to remove the wheels after jacking up and use the spanners provided with the kit.

Its been a while and I haven't been driving the car much after getting the Polo. Since the service was due, I decided to take the car to Cochin.

Just before leaving for Cochin I had painted the brake calipers at A1 Car Care near Wilson Garden, Bangalore. The guys there were friendly and did a decent job in quick time.



This time at Pete's, Peter suggested to use a different grade engine oil from what I have been using. Initially, I was a bit apprehensive of changing the grade but he assured that its much better and is more suited to the conditions down south especially in modified cars. The oil used was OWS Syntholube Ultimate 10W60 (earlier I had been using OWS Turbo racing 5W40)

http://ows-germany.com/engineoils_products/10W60.html

A small write up about engine oil in simple terms.
http://bikeadvice.in/20w50-engine-oi...-simple-terms/

Next, my brake pads were in a bad shape and considering that I am using the car for fast highway drives, Peter suggested I go with high performance Corsa 501 plus pads from Tarox. (earlier I was using the Tarox Strada Pads)

http://en.tarox.com/products/brake-p...-plus-501.html

I always wanted to get black interiors for the car as I hate beige. Unfortunately, in 2010 when I got the car, beige was the only option. This time around decided to give Color Glo, Kerala a try after seeing their good work and Pete's recommendation. They did a pretty impressive job of changing all the beige in the car to black including the carpets. I was worried about rattles as all the plastic parts as well as floor carpets had to be removed but the guys at Pete's did a wonderful job of removing the parts and installing them after the paint treatment.



Color Glo FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/Colorglokerala

The CF vinyl wrap of the silver accents was done at 3M, HSR Bangalore.



Next up my Michelin PS3's had almost worn out after 25K kms and were spinning quite a lot on hard acceleration. Since PS3's are no longer on sale I decided to go ahead with Continental SportsContact 3. Nikhil from Madhu's Bangalore gave a sweet deal but I thought of changing the tyres post the Cochin trip. However, it didn't seem safe to head back to Bangalore with the worn out tyres after service. Got the tyres changed to a set manufactured in Germany in the 44th week of 2013. I am pretty impressed with the grip levels in dry conditions. Let me test them in different conditions before putting up a review.







Finally, I wanted to change the CASKA music system as interface was poor and it was very slow to respond. Moreover, it didn't support front parking sensors and steering controls were a hit and miss. I got the Kenwood DNF9001V with full canbus support. It works like a charm with the front parking sensors and integrates with the maxidot cluster as well. Only gripe is the navigation is not fully functional yet. I need to buy fresh maps as the cracked maps are having some issues.

http://www.kenwood.com/cn-en/car/vis...tion/dnf9001v/

The music system, front parking sensors and the maxidot cluster was installed by Sugesh at Vagtune. The installation is pretty neat and error free.
The quality of the system is much better than CASKA and even Blaupunkt Philadelphia 835 (which does not support front sensors as well). I wanted to get OEM Bolero system but it doesn't support the rear camera and navigation.

The Maxidot even has the Navigation option. Just need to find the right maps.


The text is sharp and clear


Brilliant integration with the music system


The GUI is very similar to the OEM Bolero system. Touch responsiveness is much better than CASKA and Blaupunkt Philadelphia 835


The BT phone screen


Vehicle Info:A cool feature showing the vehicle details including battery voltage and petrol in the tank


The OPS screen with front and rear sensors


The sensors integrating with the camera on reverse



A special thanks to Peter and Shibin from Pete's Automotive, Sugesh from Vagtune.in, Prashant from JJ Motorwerks and bhpian azeemhafiz. Without you guys all this wouldn't have been possible.

OMG! Black interior looks awesome!
Calipers should have been red. Would look smashing.

[quote=robimahanta;2801656]28000km update
Nothing much to write about.

With the sunfilm menace all over the place, currently the OEM rear sun blind along with the 3MCR70 front film offers some relief. I know that even this isnt allowed as per the new law but I will try my luck. :)

Hi Robi,

I have recently got a laura tsi from a known person. Just wanted to check abt the rear sun film protector, that you have installed. Can you give me the contact person, from whom i can get that installed and the cost of the same as well.

Nice, I like the full black interiors. I was planning on getting the wood panels in the jetta changed to brushed aluminium finish. Can the guys at 3M do this?

[quote=ru153;3514520]The sun blind is an OEM accessory, its comes as standard in the LnK model. Any Skoda dealerships can get it for you. It costs around 3-4K INR. If you are talking about the sunfilm then you can get 3M CR70 or RE70 for the rear glass.

It should be possible. Any vinyl you like can be applied over the same.

Any updated review on the Conti tires? My PS3s are almost done at 13k thanks to BIC Track Days. Looking for alternates.

I am quite happy with the Conti tyres. Haven't had a chance to test wet grip but on dry tarmac its as good as the ps3s. Now the ContiSportContact 5 is available and would be the ideal tyre for you.

I am using stock 15 on my TSI. Planning to upgrade. Pls. advise on best sizes and things to keep in mind. Should I buy OEM alloys only, if not things to consider. Thanks!

The best bet is 16 inches unless you decide to upgrade to a big brake kit later. I upgraded to 17 inches primarily because by Tarox six pot rotors require it.

The best tire size in 16 is 205/55 (its the OEM VRS wheel size), if you are going for 17 inches then the ideal size is 225/45.

Make sure you get atleast V rated (speed rating) tires. Michelin/Continental/Yokohama/Pirelli have some great options.

The OEM alloys are also of very good quality especially the VRS alloys. If you are buying aftermarket go for some world renowned brands. The PCD of the alloy should be 112 X5.

Should be possible, but may look out of place unless you black'en the dash!

Hmmm… didn't think of that. I guess you are right. Without full black interiors aluminium finish may not look good. Thanks for pointing that out before I spent money getting it done.