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Removing Rear Weights - MK2 Fabia vRS TSi Hatch **GUIDE**


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Tools/Parts Needed :

A decent toolbox with torx bits etc

Car Used :

2011 MK2 Skoda Fabia vRS 1.4 TSi Hatchback

Time Needed :

About 40 minutes

Difficulty

3/5 - A little fiddly

Right let's get started! First off we need to pop out the rear lights, start by undoing this large screw inside the boot :

weight1.jpg

Pull out the cluster from the car body :

weight2.jpg

You will need to remove these torx screws :

weight3.jpg

We'll now concentrate on the wheel arch as there is a single screw we need to under. The best way to get to it is to either remove the rear wheels and undo the wheels arch cover or jack the car up as much as possible before the wheels leave the floor and undo some of the screws. I found you only really need to undo x6 screws from the wheel arch, near the back bumper, to get access to the lone screw.

weight4.jpg

weight5.jpg

Once both sides are undone you need to look under the car for these locking pins :

weight6.jpg

You need to wedge a flat head screwdriver underneath the head of the pin and force it downwards, this will release it.

Once done you will be able to gently pull the bumper from the car and put it somewhere safe :

weight7.jpg

This should leave you with this :

weight8.jpg

And these are what we want to remove :

weight9.jpg

You need to simply undo and remove the bolt and nut and then slide the top half left while you slide the bottom half right, you'll then be able to take them off the bar :

weight11.jpg

weight10.jpg

You should end up with this :

weight12.jpg

Now all you have to do is work backwards through the guide to refit the rear bumper.

Job's a good'un!

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Very good guide!.... :thumbup:

As they are to one side....looks like they have "corner weight corrected" the car.....would be nice to "corner weight" the car to see the readings before and after the weights!

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Why are they there

A very good question, I have never seen them on another Fabia, have fitted many tow bars and have never seen any of them before..lol

They are there to balance the car's handling, making the back heavier.

All Hatchback mkII VRS's have them fitted by Skoda as the rear end is light.

The Estate has a bigger bum so there is more weight hanging out over the back, so they were not needed on that to give good handling characteristics.

I'm not saying it's wrong or right.

But that's why they are there.

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They are there to balance the car's handling, making the back heavier.

All Hatchback mkII VRS's have them fitted by Skoda as the rear end is light.

The Estate has a bigger bum so there is more weight hanging out over the back, so they were not needed on that to give good handling characteristics.

I'm not saying it's wrong or right.

But that's why they are there.

Aha Cheers :thumbup:

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Where this guide is good.........if you normally carry that same weight in the back of the car in the usually carp then the extra weights are not needed!!!........ :giggle: ........

.....Also remember the difference in the cars (any car) handling between the fuel tank being full and nearly empty??!!!!.......the car will go "lighter" with the rear end wanting to "step out" a bit more easily and maybe provoce a bit more oversteer (VAG and others tend to promote understeer as safer for less expeeranced drivers).....so could this be THE handling mod that really makes the biggest "performance" difference????.........

......This needs to be properly corner weigh measured before and after so we know the shift/balance set up of a stock vRS!!!...... B)

P.S. would be intersting to see what the ESP does.....would it activate more???? (could do)

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They are there to balance the car's handling, making the back heavier.

All Hatchback mkII VRS's have them fitted by Skoda as the rear end is light.

The Estate has a bigger bum so there is more weight hanging out over the back, so they were not needed on that to give good handling characteristics.

I'm not saying it's wrong or right.

But that's why they are there.

Interesting theory, where did you get the info?

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Interesting theory, where did you get the info?

It's in some car magazine reviews of the mkII VRS when it first came out.

They all thought it odd the estate was 5kg lighter than the Hatchback. This is why according to Skoda.

For example, Autocar:

More confusingly the estate is also 5kg lighter. Skoda says the hatch has 25kg of ballast around its rear axle to optimise weight distribution; the estate, which carries more weight higher up at the rear, doesn’t need the added mass.
...if you normally carry that same weight in the back of the car in the usually carp then the extra weights are not needed!!!...

Also bear in mind it's as far back as possible for a reason. 25kg in the rear bumper has more effect that 25kg over the rear wheels, like having the same load in the boot against the rear seats. Physics and all that, the further away from the wheels the more effect it has.

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Also bear in mind it's as far back as possible for a reason. 25kg in the rear bumper has more effect that 25kg over the rear wheels, like having the same load in the boot against the rear seats. Physics and all that, the further away from the wheels the more effect it has.

Sorry forgot that....."the lever effect"..........brains still abit fuzzy.....

So who's got access to a set of corner weighing scale pads so a before and after set of weight measurements can be done as defo done by VAG to alter the handling setup!

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My thoughts.......

The weights are not fitted to any other Fabias, only the vRS hatch....

The vRS hatch is quoted as the heaviest of the hatches.....

Looking at all the quoted weights of the Fabia hatch and estate, all other estates are 20kg heavier than the hatch and yet the vRS hatch is 5kg heavier than than vRS estate!!....

Therefore the vRS hatch is 25kg heavier than it should be! (this should be the crash bar weights).......

Over here in the UK the driver is on the right side with the weights on the rear left side.....

When we drive around a left hand corner we make a tighter turn as we are on that side of the road and the cars weight wants to "lean" onto the drivers side with the passenger side going "light"....

When we drive around a right hand corner we make a shallower turn as we are on the "outside" of the bend and the cars weight wants to lean on the passenger side with the drivers side going "light"...

Therefore

When driving around a left hand bend with just the driver in the car, the car wants to "lift" the inside rear wheel (wheel next the weights).

This wants to happen easier on the vRS because of the heavy front end/weight distribution, and the lower/stiffer suspension fitted to this model.

Therefore the weights act as a "counter balance".

One other possiability is that Skoda decided to make one set of suspension for the vRS model and did it for the estate version first and then fitted it to the hatch and then added the counterbalance weights to compensate as the estate is longer than the hatch (only after the rear wheel). But then the weights would be more distributed over the crash bar and not to one side!!!

BUT as I have said before VAG like to make their cars understeer.......would be interesting to know how the car handles and the ESP copes with it after the mod. Also we defo need to know the before and after weights of the car at each wheel so as to get a true understanding of the front/rear and left/right weight distribution/balance of the car.... B)

P.S. would also be interesting to know if on Europe spec Fabia vRS's they have weights and to what side they are fitted???? :wonder:

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I don't know if its just me or my winter tyres i have on, but the back end has come out a few times going round damp roundabouts when you wouldn't expect it to.

Hence I'll leave my weights there lol. When it's warmer and dryer i may come back to this tho.

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are you for real? The weights are there to counter a 25kg imbalance elsewhere in the car, possibly in the front offside corner, to make the car more balanced. All you are going to do there is make the car too light in the nearside rear corner, which will make the car more imbalanced on corners.

There is a very good chance that if attempting a tight nsl corner, you will spin out and crash, possibly harming yourself and far worse, some innocent other driver.

Do you seriously think Skoda just put them there for a laugh? car companies don't spend money on extra weight if they don't have to. the weight is there for your safety, don't be an idiot, put the weights back before you have an accident.

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If you put more weight to the rear you increase the likelyhood of oversteer. Oversteer gives more interesting/responsive handling. Given that your basic Fabia is designed as an everyday car with the safest most stable handling, what would be the cheapest way for a manufacturer to make the handling more interesting to appeal to its market?

Bolting some weights to the rear end would be a budget way of doing it. By removing them I think that you are dumbing down the cars handling and acheiving the opposite of what you are thinking that you're doing.

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Do you need to Inform your Insurance company as this could be classed as a mod, When you end up in a ditch due to the lighter back end

Fixed that for you ;)

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If these weights are there as suggested to correct the handling of the car, could this not have insurance implications if you were to loose the backend on a roundabout for example?

But if one had a crash in a vrs hatch with thes removed but had rear passengers and heavy luggage in the back...would it compensate

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