You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
My mum's car is getting on a bit and she was asking about making some changes to it rathert than buying a new car. I thought the engine sounded a bit rough and hoped that the place she had it serviced were doing oil and filter changes regularly. I was thinking of suggesting wyn's injector fluid too.
But she also wondered about comfort and I thought that some new tyres might be a good thing, I am pretty sure she is running a mismatch (due to puncture) of the basic-est tyres available. I know FA about car tyres and what might be feasible and worth it on the skoda, so I thought I would ask on here.
Diesel or petrol? Mate of mine had one of those carbon clean services done on his car when it was running below par. He was impressed. Carbon cleaning co
New tyre make the car quite a lot quieter if the existing ones are old and perished. Proper good valet, especially inside is also worth the money.
thanks very much: yeah its a diesel. it has always 'chugged' in a comical tractorish way but i think could do with a boost.
i was thinking michelin tyres
Get some sound deadening inside the body.
Check the exhaust is working properly.
APF
What is sound deadening? How far does one need to go to make a big difference whilst avoiding big costs? thank you for the suggestion though.
Is it the 3 cylinder engine? That would explain it sounding a bit unusual (so potentially nothing to worry about).
yes, as i say it has always sounded comical but is rough in a different way atm
thanks to all above
Decent tyres give better grip, are quieter, use less fuel, and give so much more life that they end up being cheaper than a budget tyre.
I had budget retread tyres on my old orion, it spun the wheels so easily that my wife genuinely thought I’d done something to the engine for more power.
Start with those.
And make certain it has actually been serviced.
If it sounds rougher than normal, when was the last time it’s done a long drive?
Engines run better when they’re properly warmed up, just getting the needle up to ‘normal’ isn’t long enough really.
A guy on briskoda told me that if it takes 5mins to get to normal, it would take double that to properly warm the bottom end of the engine.
And then double it again to warm the box right through.
So, 5 mins to reach normal on the gauge would mean 20 mins to get it properly warmed up. That info came from a skoda engineer btw.
Yeah, short journeys absolutely knacker diesels. We had a transit van at work that was totally ****ed at less than 20k miles because 90% of those were driving around the power station at 15mph in 2nd gear.
Play a day trip so that you are on the m way for at least an hour at 70 and then go on and off at a few junctions giving it some welly rejoining both in gear from low down and through the gears to the red line.
Check the oil at your destination- it will probably have accumulated moisture etc from the short trips which will then boil off on your long run.
Edit. Plan
New tyres will make a big difference - used to notice that on my wife's Yaris. Michelin Energy are quite quiet tyres (and not too expensive). I'd also recommend a good service and Italian tune up.
My current car went through a period of running rough and slight mis-fires, as it sat not moving all week (I cycled to work before I got my back broken). Anyway, with more regular use and some 'miles' under it, it's been fine, runs sweet now. 17 years old, 130k miles.
If you're getting tyres, go through someone like BlackCircles or MyTyres, to arrange fitting. A set of 4 for my C1, went from a £240 quote at ATS, to £180 through BlackCircles. Same tyres, same ATS place. Other tyre fitters are available depending on your location.
+1 for blackcircles, they are excellent.
My mate saved more than £100 on a set of tyres for his subaru.