OCTAVIA III Owners discussion thread

[HAZ79]

Duragloss leather kit from Car care products. I love the Duragloss range.

[afterdarker]

Ok I'm convinced, I will forgo the sheepskin seat covers. Wife is happy which is the most important thing.

Now I am looking at some leather care products. Race Glaze cleaner and balm look like good products but I can only seem to source from the UK and with shipping the costs are bit expensive.

Before I proceed to order the Race Glaze products, can anybody recommend leather care products they have experience with that they have sourced locally and more importantly can recommend?

Look at the manufacturers recommendation. There are a lot of different types of leather, depends on the type of hide and the animal, (usually a cow or a buffalo for upholstery. Lambs used for clothing, dress jackets. Hope you are not vegetarian lol) Also there are many synthetic leathers. Usually it is real leather in the seat pan and synthetic leathers for the rear of the seat.
I personally wear a lot of leather, not because I am kinky - or maybe I am - but because I ride a motorcycle. You get to know your leather care products on a bike. RM Williams leather care lanolin / beeswax is good. But you don't need to do much to leather not exposed to the elements. A bit of warm soapy water now and then. I had leather seats in an Alfa 156 for 6 years from new and never used anything on them other than soapy water, they looked better when I sold it than when it was new, leather gets a certain patina. Same with my bike jackets, look better a bit careworn. The leather seats in the vRS are excellent, comfortable, very good ergonomics, very well finished, they look great. Glad you ditched the fluffy idea.

[woofy]

You need to first ascertain if the leather is coated or not. The leather care regime differs with each.

I usually buy detailing products locally from Car Care Products but have also bought from Waxit & Chem Guys. Your best idea is to contact the vendor & get a recommendation for what suits your type of leather best.

My wife's last car was a Captiva. The leather was coated, about as supple as cardboard & (I believe) made from reconstituted scraps swept up off the factory floor. All it needed was a mild detergent solution & a microfibre rag.

Her current car is a Honda Odyssey. The leather is much higher quality & much more supple. I think it will require a bit more love but she doesn't keep a car long enough to worry about it.

I tried to figure that out from SKoda way back and got nowhere. Nobody seemed to know. I would suspect it is the same type now.

[99Reza]

As per afterdarker, there are heaps of different kind of leather. I'm pretty sure the one they use in the car is the corrected grain one with light coating for durability purpose. The one that touch your skin will be genuine. I seriously hope it's not a bi-cast leather. Skoda tend to cheapen the leather a bit, VW uses kangaroo leather (much stronger compare to cow) on the gear boot whereas Skoda only uses cow leather.

For cleaning, I used to use a product from Autoglym but has since resorted to water & microfibre towel only, does the job well. For moisturizing, I used beeswax base product, very safe as it needs to be applied by hand for maximum penetration. Very greasy for the first few hours but will leave the leather super supple and 'healthier' looking.

[daMama]

I did a quick search and I couldn't seem to find anything, but has anyone changed the head light globes?
Any recommendations, or perils of wisdom?
I have been doing a bit of night driving and im finding the stock globes rubbish-not wide, long or bright enough,to the point where Im double checking that I have the lights on . (Lots of local sts have crap st lights in the older burbs in Cbr).

[Gerrycan]

I did a quick search and I couldn't seem to find anything, but has anyone changed the head light globes?
Any recommendations, or perils of wisdom?
I have been doing a bit of night driving and im finding the stock globes rubbish-not wide, long or bright enough,to the point where Im double checking that I have the lights on . (Lots of local sts have crap st lights in the older burbs in Cbr).

I just have the base halogen lamps and do not find them that bad (far better than the mk2). Have you found the headlamp height adjustment and tried playing with that to optimise what you currently have?

[daMama]

I just have the base halogen lamps and do not find them that bad (far better than the mk2). Have you found the headlamp height adjustment and tried playing with that to optimise what you currently have?

Nope, ill have a look and adjust, but I think I need something brighter!

[brad]

I did a quick search and I couldn't seem to find anything, but has anyone changed the head light globes?
Any recommendations, or perils of wisdom?
I have been doing a bit of night driving and im finding the stock globes rubbish-not wide, long or bright enough,to the point where Im double checking that I have the lights on . (Lots of local sts have crap st lights in the older burbs in Cbr).

Apparently changing the bulbs is a bumper-off job these days. It takes a few hours.

Does your spec have projector or reflector housings?

[STALLED]

Question - under the drivers seat there is a pocket for a high vis vest. When the car arrived, there is no vest located under the seat even though there is a tag for it...

Is this something which is not provided in AU spec cars - I know it is a mandatory item in some EU nations etc...

[brad]

It's not provided as it isn't mandatory. The same as you don't get the warning triangle, First Aid Kit & fire extinguisher.

All the above from Bunnings for <$60