guitarman001

I have to say, I do think these Skodas look the part.

I'm not sure if I need the "Z" but thanks for all recommendations.

I also have 17" and I think I inflated to recommended 2.3 bar or so? I would have to check. Think mine are ZR tyres currently. Two are old, I think needs re-alignment and caber adjustment, and one has a nail in. Sounds bad but I'm not sure that's enough to describe the ride. Will keep experimenting with seat position, lumbar support etc. Tried a cushion behind my back - immediately felt better but also strange (pushed my lower back too far forward) so got rid.

225/45ZR17

It's fairly harsh going over speed bumps, I think it's just a stiff suspension. The manual lumbar support, not height adjustable. I'm sure it transmits the shocks straight to the spine. While the seats are nice, they're not overly padded.

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyres_For/Skoda/Octavia.htm So... since the cabin boom has been reduced, I might get some tyres (though my last hesitation is the bumpy ride - my sore back is either due to feeling ill or the bumpy ride 0 who knows). So, what would you recommend? I keep reading that Dunlop cause a lot of road noise. Not looking to spend a million quid, but don't want to skimp either. In Scotland. Cheers!

Do you know what the suspension and steering improvements were, @camelspyyder? Thanks for your reply

@WillM82 looking at your pics again... you have the two rubber stoppers screwed most of the way out? Does screwing them all the way in have no effect?

Update! Drove our 10+ year old fiesta and it has far less vibration bring transmitted to the wheel and seats. Far less. Also less rumble, as detailed in the "low frequency boom" thread. Now I'm wondering.. is it the suspension or can change of tyres help this? It must sound like I'm hating the car but that's not the case. Having alleviated some of the noise issues, I want this fixed too. You get a high spec for the money but I'd rather they got the basics right and we had fewer gizmos - what do do you reckon.... New tyres? Saying that... The fiesta tyres are pretty old. Fyi the fiesta seats are cloth. It's like sitting on your couch at home, next to no vibrations. Octavia seats are alacantra.

It's not so much the seat for me... I can feel every vibration from the road surface. I do need a few new tyres but I'm hesitant incase they don't solve it. I'm sure my old Focus and my wife's Mokka are nice to sit in, in that you don't feel road vibration traveling up your spine. It all seems well decoupled... I wonder if it's the suspension? Or maybe I've had a bad few weeks.. bit perhaps too much of a coincidence I've had a niggly back since I got the car.

Thanks! How long have you had yours for again? The pressure is gone 90% of the time for me now. I think give it 3ish years and I might trade for a new 1L engine - perhaps Civic 2017 petrol model. I still think I get a tinge of back pain from the Octy and it could benefit from better suspension (IRS at that) but I'm good with it all for now. Let us know how you get on more with the Golf over time. Cheers!

Hatchback

Just to say I'm still getting on ok and when it's ok, things are MORE than ok. Total luxury - never had a car giving such economy with so many features. An Audi driver would pay double. I'd say I still hear the noise maybe 5% of the time over certain roads but on the whole it seems to have died down... OR it's destroyed that part of my hearing

Wow - totally different indeed!!

Try imgur... Photobucket is the worst - especially for mobiles. So! I opened the boot of the Fiesta and Mokka and bot have rubber stops... but they don't seem to be adjustable. Does anybody else have a VW platform car (or any other car!) and could they check the boot rubber stops?

@gregoircan you post a picture?

Damn. I got back and then re-adjusted the stoppers to the lowest setting to see if I was making things up.. and now I really can't tell!! I'm too involved!! In both stopper positions, there are still a few sections of road that give different effects. One is like when you have the rear window open. The other is low frequency rumble. In any case, with the stoppers all the way up, the drive back was fine. Dare I adjust them down to compare tomorrow? I'm so tired! Maybe I'm getting used to the sound, or maybe I need a better test section of road. Hmmmmmmmmm. Going to give this a break until I find a section of road that is rougher. Might also change the tyres. I think I still need to "properly" fill the wheel well and also add weight to the underside of the parcel shelf. For now it seems ok-ish. Is there a full moon tonight? Are the stars aligned? All seems sporadic. Join the dots.

That's what we're saying, though seemingly that's not a fix for some :(

Thanks for the pics - it's really disappointing that doing this hasn't helped you out, but then I've only given mine the one drive this morning so will have to see how it fares over the coming week. Just at work, will think on this (not that I've got any grand solution!)

Need to experiment with the rubber stoppers now too... Will unscrew them one full rotation for the drive back home. Reasoning : the more body contact the better.. but I don't want them so far out that they minimise the side stopper contact as those appear to be crucial.

Maybe it'd be worth putting something between the fixed rubber stoppers (on the boot lid sides) and the lid itself... maybe they're not contacting the ones on the body itself? If you push them out a bit they might make more contact? First need to determine if they are making contact or not. Could maybe put two sticky bits of paper on each, one with fresh ink... and if you close the boot and the paper doesn't tear away or get an ink imprint... they're not touching at all... ?

Well like I say, there is still a hint of it with me and I still really need to check over all conditions so I'm really just crossing my fingers for now.... The German (Octavia & Rapid) forums apparently still also say it's mainly the boot lid causing the problem. Is there scope for other rubber stoppers that can be used in place of the ones already there? Also note I still have pillows in the spare wheel well and still have masses of blankets in the boot itself and one on the boot shelf. I'll remove those at a later date after I've tested it more as-is. When I clunk the door closed I still think there's a bit of reverberation but it didn't seem to translate to any boom when I was driving this morning. If (!) this is a fix for my own one, it's such a massive weight off my shoulders - I've been so happy this morning. But I'm determined to find out once and for all if it is ok or not and why others don't seem to get fixed with the same "solution" ... Here's hoping I wasn't deluding myself this morning... FYI if those stoppers wear away over time I can see how they'd need replaced. Are yours in good nick?

Oh no!! Serious? That is rubbish :( Like I say, I've only got my fingers crossed for now - I need to try it over the next week over all conditions...

OK...... I don't want to jinx myself but I MIGHT have fixed it. I need to test it over all road conditions at different speeds first but today's drive in was as normal as normal gets. There was still a slight hint of it but very minor indeed and I think I still need to make a small tweak. I was convinced this had to be something to do with the boot... I mainly heard the noise when the rear of the car went over a bump, and what's the largest mass that can cause such a low rumble other than the entire body of the car itself - the boot. I'd previously only been adjusting these domed stoppers, to no avail: The domed ones... I've left them now fully screwed in tight. Only last night I was made aware again of the other stoppers on the left and right. Here is the rubber contact on the boot lid itself which isn't adjustable: This is meant to contact with this part on the body of the car itself: However I thought this wasn't adjustable... it is!! You need to really give it a shove, though. In the above picture, that's how it is now. Before, the middle bit was lower down, so the boot would have to travel further down in order to contact this. But when I closed the boot, I could almost still see that these weren't contacting - the boot was freely moving! No super-duper rubber tight seal.... So I pushed the middle bits up so that there should now be a connection - too hard to see now but I think I can feel it. I drove in today and honestly, 99% of the time it was perfect. Still a hint of it over big bumps but I *think* that's the same for most cars. I need to check it over more yellow traffic light non-skid road but I did go over some today and didn't hear it. Fingers crossed but I think that's it. Might have saved myself a lot of money here... Please for those with AND without the issue, can you post a pic of how high up those stoppers in the last image are on your SKODA? Thanks!

There's an actual screw for those, right? If so, they didn't appear to be height adjustable when I tried. Will check again tomorrow. This is now a hot topic - doesn't look good for anybody looking to buy a Skoda reading this.