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

[Jigger72]

YAY! I'm going to remove my spare wheel/rear bumper/rear windscreen/aerial/boot lid and everything, to make my car as light as possible at the rear end.

What a load of old nonsense :wonder:

Stay safe folks - LEAVE THE WEIGHTS ON!

[Ootohere]

Yes best to, 'leave them on and stay safe'.

I have them removed & the rear seats & no spare wheel.

Its equally as safe as it has proved in some real world testing.

But then the suspension & brakes and wheel/tyre combination have all been thought out and set to suit the balance of the vehicle.

'Without the 25kg weight attached to he rear crash bar.'

Alignment done and corners weighed and suspension is handed for UK road cambers.

Sometimes people think things through.

& have things done properly and have the correct Insurance if your vehicle is modified.

Do a full declaration sheet.

george

[Jabozuma]

When I first saw them, I asked about the function. I was told they were there to prevent an 'oscillating tyre skip' on the LHR when turning hard right at speed.

Come to think about it the left hand rear tyre is the one which is loaded while turning right. This explanation would suggest that the load is not sufficient and causes tyre to loose and regain grip cyclically/in oscillating manner.

Could somebody who had the weights removed go out and test it? On a private road and in safe manner of course!

[Jabozuma]

On staying safe note, why leave the house at all? Even if you are the best driver on earth driving in the safest car there is to buy other road users can kill you at any second. I saw traffic cam footage once. Passenger car stopped at red light. Lorry driver was busy w*nking and run at NSL into the back of the car, killing a family of 4....

[rwbaldwin]

...Come to think about it the left hand rear tyre is the one which is loaded while turning right. This explanation would suggest that the load is not sufficient and causes tyre to loose and regain grip cyclically/in oscillating manner...

That was my understanding

I didn't know they were there. A guy reported a problem that he said sounded "like there was a bowling ball loose in the boot". The clasp on the RH weight had broken and the weight was sliding along the bar. My main query was the location of the weights and was surprised that they are all on the LH side.

It's not unusual to find balancing/damping weights hidden away, but these are big and only found on this model.

e.g. The Golf IV had a pair of 1kg weights under the windscreen in the plenum chamber. The Golf II has a chunk of metal attached the subframe.

[Jabozuma]

It always puzzled me this afterthought ballast additions... I recently had a spirited drive in my Lupo with a grown up passenger sitting in the front seat. The balance of the car changed so much that I thought the suspension was broken! How come 15 kg make any substantial difference located anywhere is beyond me...

[Ootohere]

IMO.

They put them where they had no adverse effect on handling when fitted on a vRS hatch,

but also just IMO they have no positive effect.

other than,

making the hatch 5 kg heavier than the more expensive vRS Estate by adding the 25KG.

& heavier than the 'much more expensive' but no better handling or faster Polo GTi,

(Which surprisingly is now heavier than the vRS in 2012)

george

[Jabozuma]

I think you are right George. To cause tyre oscillating judder one would have try really hard around the beds for starters. Then me being a fat ar$e sims negates any effect of such weights anyways-me having over 20kg above BMI balances the weights out lol.

Then I always carry child seats in the back, usual junk in the boot... How removal of those weights could upset the balance. I still think it would be good if first of all any members from continent could confirm or otherwise whether they such weights (to have a take I that steering rack etc issue) and have comments from members here who removed the weights already ad what are their experiences. Otherwise we are just waffling about I am afraid

[rwbaldwin]

Whilst weights such as these are always called 'balancing weights', I assume they are being used for damping purposes, so location and what they are attached to, will be critical.

When I was told their purpose, I immediately thought 'roundabouts', although they weren't actually mentioned. I started to think if it could be related to ESP in some way, but other models with ESP don't have them.

The 'oscillating tyre skip' explanation came in response to a DISS report, so it should be accurate.

[dazz600]

I also thought roundabouts/tight corners also.,,,

Thing is,if only the vrs has them it surely means all other variants of Fabia 2 must be unsafe in similar conditions

I can likely take local roundabouts as fast in a 1.2 as I can in a vrs

Imho its vw slowing the vrs so it dont show up the polo gti

[Outofthi5world]

Thing is,if only the vrs has them it surely means all other variants of Fabia 2 must be unsafe in similar conditions

Not necessarily though if you take into account the different suspension set-ups. I'm not an expert on this though, so don't quote me on anything.

[Ootohere]

Monte Carlo 1.6 TDI has a given an official unladen weight 99 kg less than a vRS and has no Spare wheel in when weighed. Same suspension.

Drum rear brakes that meet the required braking efficiency.

(that extra weight on the vRS will be up front and Engine/Gearbox.)

Springs and Dampers to suit the Balance and weight, maybe the battery in the vRS boot would be a good idea.

 

So take the Spare 19kg out of the vRS, & the 25 kg Weights off,

and it is unladen about 45 kg more than the Monte.

Put a spare wheel in the Monte Carlo Diesel and the difference is a 26 KG heavier vRS than the 1.6 TDI Unladen.

 

But if we leave the weights on the vRS & we have it next to a standard Monte Carlo Diesel.

Gross Weight for the Monte is only 44 kg less than the Gross Weight given to the vRS 1,718 against 1,674 kg. 

 

Weight management with Skoda is possibly just playing with figures on Paper rather than playing with and giving the best

and safest Handling on real roads with real drivers and passengers, and full or empty fuel tanks.

[VRS-Powered]

Being brutally honest, this modification is good for weight saving but can make the car quite squirmy.

I remember doing this modification, taking out the rear seats and spare wheel before I did any handling mods. It was great as the car flew, I remember racing a Mazda 3 MPS on private road and beating it out and out in a straight line. Only problem came when I broke hard for a turn, the back of the car was bouncing all over the place.

With the right supporting modifications this can be good to do but I'd make sure you have wider tyres, lower suspension and a rear ARB to make sure the car handles well.

[Ant-Vrs]

Bump for stug

[dazz600]

Yeah interesting one this

Am still thinking the weights are ballast to make the polo gti appear faster on paper

Now I have the monte I've neither rear weights or a spare tyre in the boot

Lucky to be alive I am

[aholloway21]

I have my weights off with h&r drop plus rarb. No issues to be honest, heavy braking can be squirmy, but was to start off with anyway.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[MillsyVRS]

anyone near me fancy giving me a hand with this for some beer tokens?

[StevesTruck]

I have my weights off with h&r drop plus rarb. No issues to be honest, heavy braking can be squirmy, but was to start off with anyway.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

 

I got the same thing with the Ibiza when I did a track day. I went back in the pits and put my toolbox and spare spare back in, and it improved things quite a bit.

[evtilsley]

I need to get some Torx drives, what size needed for this job?

 From photo I'm guessing 25t - can anyone confirm pls ?

Edited 1 August, 2016 by evtilsley

[ElectricalVRS]

Help.

 

I have a hard time getting the point in this sentence (since I'm very novice in changing something on my car, I need to be 100% sure - lol):

 

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

 

Could someone show me in a picture (marked with red signs / arrows) where I have to put my screwdriver and force something downwards?

 

Thank you very much.

 

Cheers

[ElectricalVRS]

I'm giving up for today. Didn't managed to get the last screw off. It's sitting quite tight and removing and holding the mud cover to get on the screw just ate up all my power - lol.

Tomorrow's a new day and I'll try again.

[MillsyVRS]

Just to put my 2 pence in - I had the ballast removed and had a Bilstein B12 kit fitted along with the H&R RARB I already had fitted and never noticed an ounce of difference with the weights gone! I've also got 215 tyres on too. presume the mods countered any difference taking off the weights would have made, but I enjoy how my car handles now and I'd quite like to drive a completely stock one again to see the difference.

[Ootohere]

Handling impressions are obviously a personal thing, but the difference from a standard hatch with weights on compared to a standard estate which has a longer overhang at the rear but stronger rear springs is more traction with the estate under acceleration because the rear does not drop so much making the front drive wheel go light.

 

Easy enough to find members with an estate and a hatch that are both CAVE or CTHE and see side by side.

Obviously tyres make a lot of difference.

 

Maybe not as much difference as this, but you might well see the better traction of an estate.

 

LOL & the 5kg lighter estate, weights off the Hatch and an estate is not only 20kg heavier.

(Then the Polo GTI Twincharger has the battery in the boot, no spare wheel as standard, wider tyres as standard, it is heavier and VW give it a lower VED band and quicker 0-100km time.)

Edited 27 September, 2016 by Offski

[ElectricalVRS]

I did it - har har har! Feeling me like a king now :-). Have some scratches on the sides were the rear lights were, but can be easily polished! And better you start to begin clipping off the bumper from the wheel arch so the bumper goes off very easily.

 

It was quite complicated for me since I didn't understood the guide 100%, but the middle part of the locking pin should be pulled down (for every other non-english speaker) and then the holder of the pin.

 

Went to work with the Fab today and yes, it feels kinda different. More agil in the back (but not scary in any ways) and a little bit more rapid.

 

Just a hint for everyone: If you screw everything back, the lonely screw sitting underneath the wheel mud arch, just put it on the opposite way (from down to up). It's easier to get the screw's off this way for the next time you want to remove the bumper.

 

Cheers!

[evtilsley]

Did this today too. No chance 40 mins for me to complete. Needed to re-fit a parking sensor, so did the weights while the bumper was off. Wont get to drive til Monday but looking forward to feeling for any difference. 

Edited 15 October, 2016 by evtilsley