Storm Monkey

I left the seats overnight in the Audi, and they were ok, but it was a bit warmer and drier then. Not sure about the carpets, but with a bit of heat and not too mych water when washing, then they should be pretty dry the next day, and completely dry in 2-3 days at the moment. Phil

Goldie It was not too bad to use. I used it fairly liberally on carpets, as the rougher texture does not tend to show water marks. SiMply sprayed on, aggitate with a soft nail brush, and wipe off with a damp cloth. It got the coffee stains out of my front passenger foot well first attempt (damn lack of mug holder!). You need to be a little more sparing on smoother cloth or headliner, as if you get it too wet, it may mark when it dries. I used it very lightly on our old Audi seats, which were a light beige cloth, and wiped with a well wrung out cloth, and they came up a treat. Hope this helps! Phil

Not having a wet and dry vac, I use Auto Glyn interior shampoo. It always seems to do pretty well on the nice beigh carpet in my C. I also use it in the house quite a lot. I used to use Groom, the spray foam stuff, but this always left watermarks on seat and headliner materials. Phil

Cheers Therapor...................TT6 now pending!

I got hold of a copy of TT5 software with full European maps (good old torrents!) and run it on an Ipaq. Ipaq was £50 second hand, and the GPS reciever was about £40, so all in for £90 (and I can do other useful stuff with it too :D ). Bargain really, but probably time to start looking for TT6. All in all its a great bit of kit, even if you know the way, its just good to know where the cameras are (courtesy of Pocketgps.co.uk) and what speed you are actually doing. We have had the odd "Rural" route now and then though! Phil

Try Virisol, as long as they aren't chrome. Its made of lemons or something, is very gentle, but very effective. It's not that easy to find though, so you may need to order 10l at a time, online. You simply mix about 8:1 with water, and spray on, rub, rinse off. Phil

Sounds about right.......Once had a nasty trip from home in Leicester to visit the girlfriend in Cumbria. Usual time for a Friday was 4 hours......This time took me 9. 5 hours of this were sat in traffic, on a very hot day, in my smart work kit, with no AC and a very pissed off and hot dog panting on the passengers seat, and all again due to somone trying to dig up the entire M6 at once. Phil

If you get warm hands though (like me anyway), wont a poly wheel get just a little sweaty and slippery?

Thanks G-man................This is everything that's written on them....... Fronts H&R A/L 29872 VA (F) KBA Nr 90 445 Golf 111 VR6 Rears H&R A/L 29872 HA ® KBA Nr 90 445 Golf 111 VR6 Cheers, Phil

OK......springs have just arrived..............nice shade of green, is gona look vivid on yellow dampers! Anyway, I'm a little concerned that all of the springs say Golf MK3 VR6 on them. The fronts I can understand, but not sure about the rears. Wasn't the rear suspension off of a Passat? Have they sent me the wrong springs? Phil

my old leather metro (yes, I admit it!) wheel did the same. The costing/outer layer breaks down and goes mank. It might be repairable, but I'd be supprised. Sounds like time to go shopping. Cheers, Phil

Nah, its there to stop the lights on the car behind from dazzling you!

A little hidden tyre may also reduce the frontal area slightly, but only by a tiny amount! I read somwhere that cars with deep front air damns (e.g. touring cars) aim to reduce air flow under the car, which increases drag, but greatly reduces lift. If you think about it, a car is pretty much wing shaped (air has to trave further over the top, than underneath, so air pressure above is slightly lower than below, creating lift), then it makes sence to reduce air flow under the car. Of course, with a good air damn, a smopthed underside, and venturi flow channels under the car, you can make up for the drag, by not having a dirty great spoiler as an air brake on the back, though not really spplicable with the tiny spoiler that the C has. As for the C-s spoiler, not sure how effective it is, but it may be enough to divert the air flow over the rear of the car, and prevent eddy currents ant turbulent flow behind the car, thus reducing drag. I think I have some wind tunnel images somwhere with spoiler up and down, and seem to remember it making a resonable difference. Sorry..........bit technical for a Friday morning..........bloody Engineers! Phil

Right, I'll go short then......thanks guys.

Really confused now! I e-mailed the shop, who said for H&R's, @30mm drop, then the standards are the ones to go for. Koni's website is little use either. Inserts? Whats them then? Phil

I had a quick search, and didn't find anything so far, but I need help quickly! I'm about to order some Koni TA's online, but there is a choise of height, the standard and a short version. Which do I need to go with H&R 40mm drop springs? This is kind of urgent, cos I want them to arrive before mid next week, so I can fit them over Christmas. Please Help!! Phil

Is there anything special about nut and bolt 11 and 12? I asume they are fairly standard plated 10.9 (high tensile) fasteners. I can get hold of any length of 10.9 fasteners from work, so could save a fortune over the no doubt rediculous VAG or GSF price. A 50mm 10.9 M10 will cost us about 1.5p each, rather than a few quid from any motor factor. Phil

Ok, going to place my order today for Koni's and H&R's.........The only thing I'm not so sure about is which dampers. I can either have the standard sport TA's, or the short ones, and can't find out from anywhere which to fit. Can anyone help, as I want to order these TODAY! Thanks, Phil

Could be done with a little research, fluid dynamics, sonic/pressure wave calculations, and a well equipped fabrications shop. Equal length is one thing, but get the wrong length, and you could and up far worse than without it. Pretty much anything custom in engineering ceramics is going to get expensive too............ Could be a fun project though!

Tried a Passat a while ago. Build quality was shocking :shock: The key fob start hole thingy trim came off with the key, there were bits loose and missing, and a selection of screws in the mug holder hole (or somewhere). It drove well, but was really falling apart for a car with 6k on the clock. My moneys on the Octavia. Hopefully going to find a (nearly) new 140TDI L&K (e.g. got everything + leather) spec in Jan :mrgreen: Phil

Ok, its time for a suspension update............mine is a little tired, and needs some love. I want to keep things sensible (e.g. less than 40mm drop), and comfy, so was thinking about the Koni TA/H&R route, which seems to suit my budget also. I started trying to find these on the web, but can't seem to find somewhere that sells the TA's, without springs, just the full kits. This got me thinking.............anybody running the Koni SSK kit (the one with TA's and Koni lowering springs)? How is the ride/handling? Unfortunately, my only reference is 10 yr old OEM legs. Cheers, Phil

When I did mine, I think I spent about a day upside down in the foot well, with most of the dash off, trying to make enough space to get all the wiring in. Obviously VW didn't bank on people fitting auto changers, subs, crossovers etc. Silly them! final solution was to batter the head unit in , till it clicked into its locks. If I ever try to remove it, its gonna fire out the back window!

I put a better head unit and changer in my Storm, and the matts are embroided with the Storm logo, but apart from that, its standard, and mostly staying that way. I will probably put Koni TA's and H&R springs on in a few months, nut that should maintain ride height (its a bit sagged from original at the moment.....old springs n all!) I love it in original spec though, and the recon'ed wheels look great.

I spent all of last weekend washing and restoring a friends 10 year old Frontera (she has just aquired it). She thought I was mad at first, but when she saw the end result, took it all back! Gave me a good oportunity to test drive my nice shiney new Porter Cable too :mrgreen:

I'd also recommend a soft nail brush, to work the cleaner into the cracks. I did the beige leather in my storm the other week, using Autoglyn, with as said, is still pretty good. It took al,ost 3 hours to do 1 seat, but with the dirt out of the cracks, most of them aren't noticable, and it looks damn good, if I do say so myself. Almost like new!