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


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Just incase anyone hasnt though about this, taking the rear n/s weights off would be beneficial if an equal weight was taken off the o/s front, ie the driver! possibly loose the clothes and eat light the day you want to take to some b roads.

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  • 2 weeks later...
the weight is there for your safety, don't be an idiot, put the weights back before you have an accident.
Just wondering if I carry my 18 stone mate in the front passenger seat should I move the weights to the middle and maybe add some to keep the handling balanced? If he sits in the back does he have to sit in the middle?

Nigel

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You won't have them on a Fabia classic 1.4 :rofl:

If that is what you drive as per your avatar thingy!

I'd suggest leaving them there, the Estate is meant to be faster due to better aerodynamics anyway :D

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I have read all the stuff on the rear weights & the comments here.

Unless i missed it, nobody mentioned 'Handed' suspension.

Not everyone is aware of the different set up of Left hand drive cars for Continental Europe & the UK with its cambered roads.

I dont just mean sitting on the opposite side.

(when you take a car across on the ferry to the UK from Europe it does not handle too badly because it has a more natural set up,

ie it sits pretty level on a flat surface, with or without the driver in)

UK cars are set with more lean to suit cambers, which is why many vehicles have 'handed' springs,

might be differing lengths or poundages.

Very common to have lots of difference on how 'handed' the springs are on a heavy 4x4.

Try taking your right hand drive UK car for a drive on the wrong side of a cambered UK road when you can find a safe piece of road with a bit of distance to it.

It feels very different from just doing an overtake and pulling back to your own side of the road, due to the vehicle being set up to run on a UK cambered road surface.

I look forward to trying a vRS with the rear weight removed.

I think a back road with many cambers and off cambers will show the difference up more than just running up Dual carraigeways or Motorways.

george

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2 passengers in the back seat could weigh around 210 kg and a the Fabia rear end does not drop noticeably

You can put a 55kg bag of potatoes in the boot and not notice the rear go down, or lift as you remove the bag.

The suspension is rather firm on a vRS

They are designed to carry 4 people and some stuff in the boot.

If removing the 25kg made much difference in normal driving situations with just a driver in the car, its easy to put some weight back in the boot.

george.

Edited by sk4gw
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2 passengers in the back seat could weigh around 210 kg and a Fabia does not make the rear drop noticeably

You can put a 55kg bag of potatoes in the boot and not notice the rear go down, or lift as you remove the bag.

The suspension is rather firm on a vRS

george.

Agree with this, good post

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Im yet to find any detrimental effect to this. Ive not suffered any oversteer since either on road or track.

Going back to the guide, i removed mine without taking the whole bumper off. I just removed the left hand bolts and there is enough flex to get them out

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  • 3 months later...

Right, so 5KG weight difference from the vRS Hatch back to the Estate from SKODA/VAG published figures..

Worth looking at a VW UK Comparison site.

(you can choose the 4 cars to compare side by side on a table)

they call the A1 & GTI 1.4 tsi & Twin Charge and the vRS's shows as Turbo. ???

Look at what VAG gives in Performance and economy figures. 0-60's, MPG's, Emissions etc.

ie

Audi A1 185 bhp

VW Polo GTI 180 bhp

& the new 2012 Seat iIbiza FR s now 148 bhp.

(now given exact same MPG as A1 & GTI, same £120 tax but just slower)

They are £120 road tax

and the Skoda vRS are £135 with greater emissions.

The A1 , GTI & SEAT FR 148 BHP get given all the same MPG which is quoted better than the Skoda,

The difference is that the vRS Hatchback (25kg ballast fitted as standard on it)

is made heavier than the Estate,

(weight removed from the hatch makes for 20 kg lighter Kerb Weight than the estate)

& the Skodas get different tyre sizes as standard from the A1 & GTI.

The VW and Audi get shown as faster and more economical with lower emissions, but same engines and weights really,

different width of tyre,

(Wider & very slight more rolling circumference on A1 & GTI, 215/40/17 compared to Skoda 205/40/17)

and as VAG give the results to the EU authorities,

the Same engined Audi & VW get a lower road tax band in the UK than the Skodas.

VAG was and is still at it to not upset Audi & VW buyers. JMO obviously.

george

Edited by sk4gw
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Personally I have my weights on and don't plan to remove them as I don't bother but this is not a 100kg axle that we're talking about here. I really wonder how can only 25 kg make such a great difference in the handling/safety. If that was true,it would mean that any rear passenger could potentially upset the balance of the car and.... get you killed as some people say... Not denying it surely is there for a reason, but I don't think that reason is the thin line between life and death tbh... probably something else having to do with VAG's internal competition...

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With the Estate I carry the weight regardless and me being 15st doesn't help either. When pressures are right the handling is fine and predictable. Sure it isn't great on really slow corners (comparing to Suzuki Swift Sport) but pulls out of them very well.

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Alot of speculative, spurius vaguery. If you want em off, take em off, if you think they should be on, dont take em off. My 25kg tool box runs left to right in my boot, and not yet have i killed anyone, or myself. There are so many variables i doubt it would make a blind bit of difference in a real world working environment on a track however....always at the edge, always one driver, unlikely to have shopping in boot - now they make sense.

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  • 1 month later...

I think they are there to balance/compensate for the weight of the steering block/column , hence the reason for the weights being on the opposite side on a LHD version :)

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I think they are there to balance/compensate for the weight of the steering block/column , hence the reason for the weights being on the opposite side on a LHD version :)

If they're jack weights, wouldn't they make more sense on the front passenger corner than the rear one?

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  • 1 month later...
I think they are there to balance/compensate for the weight of the steering block/column , hence the reason for the weights being on the opposite side on a LHD version :)

That would make the most sense to me really. Would there be any way of checking that? I mean asking a member from the Continent to see if their vRS hatchback has such weights?

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If you look at loading conditions of any car, as mentioned here before, put a large mate in different seats in the car and see how much THAT changes your handling. Therefore I do not think those weights have anything to do with handling, just to get the weight of the car up to ensure its performance is reduced to fit in within the sales strategy of VAG. I think this is why Skoda "bothers" with fitting them.

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