What didn't you know about your Leon?

[brightsideteeem]

i just found out by testing my handbrake was working, and how many clicks up lol
If you just click one up so the handbrake light is on, but its not really doing anything (on my car anyway, various degrees of adjustment can be made obviously) you can drive round with it beeping, if you like euro techno german dance or sumthin mad like that haha

 

[brightsideteeem]

They are quite camber sensetive, different tyres can have effects on how the car handles.
eg: pulling to the left...

also regardless of what people might say, they ARE adjustable at the rear, It's just a pig of a job to do, involving loosening the rear suspension mounts and basicly bashing them, so they move out, then tightening them up.

If anyone had the same problem I had with the car constantly pulling to the left, regardless of side of road, and what you do to the tracking, try changing all the tyres to the same make, with the same amount of tread

 

[gav_FR]

That the sensor for the low windscreen washer scares the crap out of you, being honest that could possbly be due to the previous car was a fiat stilo, and when ever the dash kicked off you knew it was gonna cost you!

Your not alone, i've found this too but was well chuffed when i noticed it just needed water. Theres no need to have such a loud beep for such a small thing. I think Seat done it for a laugh.

This happened to me too! Scared me to death when it beeped, I'd just squirted my washers though so when I saw the washer icon on the dash I knew what it was, but there were a few seconds of panic before I figured out why it was beeping at me!
Oh and every time the low fuel warning beeps it scares the crap out of me too!

and oh yeah, having a full size spare steel wheel, that still says dont exceed 50mph,

Yep, totally pointless! Why have a full size spare that isn't the same size as the other wheels!

Another thing no one has mentioned, there is a "boot open" warning light on the dash. I only found out it had this when my boot wasn't properly shut once and spotted the light before I pulled off.

 

[FSiLeonMike]

General Leon 1M observation.

All paint on the front end of the car is a thin layer of butter with colour pigment added, and will chip very easily when hit by a hi-speed marshmallow

 

[lordgibbness]

Yep, you can't heel-and-toe in the LCR (very annoying I know) because when you brake the throttle input is ignored and revs drop in-line with road speed. Try it yourself: brake and accelerate at the same time and you'll see the engine revs will not rise...

PITA as there's a great tutorial video from Chris Harris in his old Mk1 FRS that explains nicely why it is so useful (although it's more useful in that car due to the mechanical limited slip diff).

 

[JimCupra]

You can heel and toe, but you have to lift of the gas, then hit the brakes, then give it gas again. Bit of practice gets the time between hitting brake and gas right down.

 

[lordgibbness]

Sounds like a good way to make your passengers sick too! (Sounds more like engine speed matching that your describing though really)

It's a shame the engine mappers can't change things like this in their code...

 

[volvic]

I only figured out a couple of months ago that the standard Aura headunit has a removable face plate. Move the "button" with an arrow pointing right on it to the right, faceplate pops off. Not exciting, but there you go

is this the same as below?

and do you mean the arrow under the volume knob?

thanks

 

[DOLBY]

yeh i wish you could heal and toe but has anyone tried left foot braking in a LCR?...better wear some head protection the first few times!!

also if you lift the boot you will see holes for a boot seal, but you will not see the famous boot seal....maybe SEAT forgot to put one in, but it bugs the hell outa me when you close the boot....CLANG!

 

[JimCupra]

Heel and Toe

"Heel-toe or heel-and-toe double-declutching is used before entry into a turn while a vehicle is under braking, preparing the transmission to be in the optimal gear to accelerate out of the turn. One benefit of downshifting before entering a turn is to eliminate the jolt to the drivetrain, or any other unwanted dynamics. The jolt will not upset the vehicle as badly when going in a straight line, but the same jolt while turning may upset the vehicle enough to cause loss of control if it occurs after the turn has begun. Another benefit is that "heel-and-toeing" allows you to downshift at the last moment before entering the turn, after you have started braking and the car has slowed, so the engine speed when the lower gear is engaged will not be too high.

As the power band of most cars is high in the rev range, this technique can also be used to ensure that engine rpm does not drop below the power band of the car while under braking. If this happened there would be a delay between the driver accelerating after the corner and when the car responds; this is especially true in turbocharged cars. This technique ensures that maximum power can be reached the instant the brake pedal is released and the accelerator fully depressed." {From wiki }

left foot braking is defo scary, its like the ecu kills the throttle and as Dolby says...wear some head protection. Thats also why you have to come off the gas first to heel and toe.
PS Sorry for the HUGE post

 

[lordgibbness]

Left foot braking doesnt magically make the brakes work better - its because your used to using it for your clutch pedal and are pushing harder on the brake pedal! You can brake just as softly with either foot...

 

[brightsideteeem]

No, it's the cassette version here:

And it's the button just to the left of the cassette deck (you can't see the arrow because of the reflection on that picture).

its just the numbered buttons bit that comes off lol

 

[Nautilus]

1. One can accelerate while braking, but it would be hard to do heel and toe with a Leon 1.8T.

I've tried simultaneous acceleration and braking, with clutch depressed, with clutch on, with transmission in neutral. Each time I could see revs raising with the brake depressed.

However, due to the positioning of throttle and brake pedals, it's very hard to do it properly, alternative acceleration and braking is far more likely.

Car is a LHD (Continental European) version, made in February-March 2005... for the record

2. Left foot braking is scary because Leon brakes have an "overboost" (EBA) system, so that braking force is not linear and "squeezing" of the brakes hardly works - it's either too little force or too much.

I've trained myself for the last 4 years enough that I can "squeeze" brakes as much as possible...

~Nautilus

 

[v0id]

anyone else notice the dash lights are always on. day or night.

 

[LEE69]

anyone else notice the dash lights are always on. day or night.

No, really

 

[Muttley]

Steely wrote

and oh yeah, having a full size spare steel wheel, that still says dont exceed 50mph

If you're talking about a spacesaver spare, its narrower than a full size wheel, so lighter and needs less boot space. The 50mph limitation is due to the tyre. It's also only meant to get you to a tyre shop - I think it says don't run for more than 50 miles?

If you mean a full-width steel rim taking the same tyre as your alloys (like I have in y Toledo), then it's good for the same speed as your alloys - its just cheaper than a fifth one.

If the spare takes a different tyre (different rim diameter, for instance), then there might be a limitation due to the ABS getting confused by the slightly different overall wheel-and-tyre diameters.



Skint wrote

Also, i'm not sure if its on all the leons, but the cupra has an 'electronic limited slip diff' thats effective up to 25mph. Apparently. What it could do for you? i have no idea..

If one of the front wheels starts spinning under applied power (for instance, one wheel on grass verge, one on tarmac road), the slipping wheel is braked by the ABS system, which transfers power back to the wheel with grip.

It is doing what an LSD does mechanically, but using the ABS sensors and braking system.



gav FR wrote

Another thing no one has mentioned, there is a "boot open" warning light on the dash. I only found out it had this when my boot wasn't properly shut once and spotted the light before I pulled off.

Yep, but in my case the boot was nearly shut and the light kept flashing on briefly during the journey. It was never on long enough for me to work out what the symbol was! Very worrying, until I'd worked that out.

 

[lordgibbness]

Gav, from the sizes you quote I think the circumference of your spare tyre and your normal tyre will be different, which will mean it causes your diff a lot of extra stress if it's put onto the front axel. Probably the reason for the speed limit.

 

[LEE69]

Use this calculator

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

 

[lordgibbness]

Heh good little calc that.

Circumference will be about 7-8mm smaller on the spare in that case so will cause the diff some extra work, however small, I'd imagine... Shouldn't be a prob on the rear though.

 

[lordgibbness]

Your calc gives the difference in diameter sizes, but either way really...

Yeah I can only imagine its a diff issue as if the tyre is okay at higher speed why would they set a 50mph limit.