ChrisPI

FKs now fitted. Chuffed to bits with them. After taking the car out, my mate is now buying a set for his a3 to replace his joms! Yes, they bounce a tiny bit and ride is not perfect but for 200 quid, its really not bad. Still rides miles better than the RUINED shocks and springs I had before and the car now handles beautifully. I'll try and post some pics soon as well. Cheers for your inputs!

Just FYI if anyone finds this while troubleshooting. It was the cheap CTS, dang thing never worked properly out of the box. Put a meyle one on it and everything now works perfectly. Chalk one more up for the "buy cheap, buy twice" mantra. Chers.

Thanks for the replies guys. Always helpful to hear other folks opinions and experiences. At this point I think budget is probably going to make the final call (suppose if I wanted cheapness I should have bought a golf lol!). Pro sport do adjustable drop links for about 50 quid so that should take care of the cr*ppy fk ones. Most Ppl seem to be pretty happy with the fks for the cost. My mate ran them on his golf and has now just bought a set for his s3 so they can't be that bad. I don't plan on running them super low either. Looked into the various spring/shock kits from dpm but most don't take the vrs down as much as the 30-40mm that I'm after and there's No adjustment. Not sure I can justify ~500 bucks on suspension for a car that cost 1500! Seems to be the next step up in price for coilovers on the vrs. At this point my suspension is actually dangerous so anything will be better than my current set up! I'll leave some pics and testimony once they're all fitted and hopefully the next guy can take something from this post. Cheers!

Okay, so after scouring the forums for what must be weeks I am still not 100% sure on my choice of coilovers,etc so I hope you guys can lend me your expertise. My vrs has 140k on her so as I'm sure you can imagine, the suspension ain't the best. I've had a vw mech look over the underneath though and apart from the tired springs and shocks, everything seems to be in good repair. I'm looking to add a bit of sharpness to the handling and a sensible drop, maybe 30-40mm but I don't want to ruin the ride as I use the car everyday on normal roads. I don't have a huge amount to spend at the moment ~£300 so I'm torn between the pro sports and the fk streets (I understand both require shorter arb links). So, thats the background, Here comes the stupid. From what I have gathered, the cheaper coilovers suffer when dropped low so I want to mitigate this as much as possible. Would using the 10mm lowering top mounts help with this (essentially lowering the coilover 10mm less at the front for the same drop, so better rebound on the shock)? Is it worth buying the adjustable drop links instead of Vito ones (I read of a chap who used them and they were ruined after 6 months)? While under the car, I had planned to change top mounts and bearings and upgrade to TT inner bushes. Is there anything else worth changing/upgrading on top of this (cheaply)? I've asked DPM about the lowering ranges on these 2 sets as I think they are quoting std octy heights instead of for vrs. In your opinion, are the pro sports going to be better for a subtle drop (the fks seems to be more designed to go LOW)? I'd also love to hear of your experience with these coilovers on a vrs if you've used them, give me hour 2 cents if you please. Thanks for reading.

Looks great to me. Just did my grille last week and after seeing your post I think the mirrors may be getting the same treatment come payday!

That makes me feel a bit better then! I asked my usually very eager to help neighbour (vw mech for 27 years) if he would give me a hand with it initially. Before I'd even finished the sentence he told me I was on my own with that job. = )

Oh, and yes I did put a new seal in. But I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't sitting quite right. It's an absolute bugger to get at.

Thanks for all the replies! Wasn't expecting so many folks to help out so quick! I would doubt that the parts were genuine, going from the maintenance level of the car in general. Think I'll do a check on the thermo seal when the system is refilled to eliminate that, as the car did seem to spit out a bit of coolant on first starting. Then a genuine vag CTS if still happening. That way I can remove the possibility of it being my terrible mechanical skills at fault! = ) Thanks again all!

Hi guys, first post for me this morning. Having bother with my coolant system and hope someone can help! When I bought my 52 plate Octavia vrs the temp gauge was purely decoration, no worky at all. Luckily the previous owner had supplied a new CTS(green) and thermo which I have now fitted. The themo has been aligned as the old one came out and the system bled (top cap off, heaters on, allowing the fans to come on and off a few times). At first, this seemed to be sorted. The car warmed up to 90 after 5-10 mins and fuel economy improved dramatically. The other day, coolant warning light. Checked the level and restarted the car, all gone. Then, what I can only assume is limp mode(never experienced it before!), car wouldn't rev past 2.5k. Once again, restarted car, all sorted. Now, the temp gauge is taking far longer to heat up and won't go past 80-85. No warnings or anything though, car is running fine. I'm thinking about doing a full coolant flush and bleed to see if this helps but outside that I have no idea! My neighbour works for vag and air lock is all he can suggest. Anyone have any ideas? Cheers.

Definitely interested myself. Chris - black mk1 vRS, std now but hoping to get the old girl tarted up by SCS time! =) happy to lend a hand also!

Chris Bathgate Mk1 Octavia vRS in black. Standard...for now. =)

Hi guys, Been checking out the site for about 2 months since deciding on an Octavia vRs and subsequently buying a black 52 plate that needed some love. Firstly, just wanted to say thanks for all the useful posts and info. The forum has saved me so much time, stress and cash already! As this is the first forum I've ever joined, I'll apologise in advance for all the obvious/newby questions I will inevitably ask! = ) Just spent the weekend working on the vRS and I can now say for certain that I am truly sold on these cars. We actually got some decent weather in Scotland this weekend so after 3 days of cleaning and polishing the car is looking great! (Not bad for a 12 year old motorway slave, anyway!) Almost got all of the silly little maintenance issues that the previous owner neglected to fix done now, so I can start looking into some coilovers and suspension upgrades! = D Anyway...I'll not ramble any further. Look forward to speaking with you guys and further enjoying this strange Skoda fever! Cheers ChrisPI