robert125

Hi all I am enjoying driving on single track roads in Scotland - dampers are good, springs fine but a little soft as laden but all good. In my experience a slightly bent alloy will also make a noise and a little vibration at 80mph and will then wear the tyre unevenly and this of course can’t be fixed by any amount of tracking or wheel balancing

Thanks for all the interesting comments - I had only read the first reply (as only had one email alert). In answer; when I bought the car at 9k miles I thought it looked low at the back and I have often wondered if it was a softer set up, as per one reply. I have always had the haldex and dsg oils done as per Skoda required intervals, and the previous front stabiliser and strut repairs were checked again by Halfords in Norwich and they were confident it was all done correctly. In the end I decided to go step by step in a controlled way and do more work if needed, partly as on a budget, and this would initially be the two front shock absorbers. I went to my local tyre pros garage who originally quoted to do the front shocks for £320, (cheaper than both Skoda and Halfords at £400). They said the front ones were barely moving up and down which was odd, perhaps a sign of failure, but on inspection they also found the rear ones were leaking. It seemed a false economy not to do all at the same time as driving to Sutherland in August, on bad single track roads, so in the end they changed all the shock absorbers to Sachs ones for £700, which I had read are quite good all rounders, so I went ahead. They subsequently found a noisy nearside front driveshaft which they felt was in a poor state (inward groan) and I took the opportunity to replace a cross climate tyre which had a tiny sidewall puncture which I had temporarily filled with gunk a few weeks back, so total cost was £1000, rather a lot, but still cheaper than either Skoda or Halfords. How to test the new dampers? No luggage or rear seat passengers around at the moment to check loaded up, so one test is putting two heavy grab bags of garden waste in the car and going over bumpy roads to the recycling centre (yet to do), another is going down to the NT car park on the marsh here which has about 8 epic road humps, which I have always had to be careful going over with four people in the car and a dog without scraping, another is sitting on the back edge of the tailgate floor and trying to move the car up and down with my body weight. So are things any better? I am pleased to say the drive is now very different in a good way; it feels firmer and definitely sits a bit higher all round especially at the rear, more like a 4x4 should be, it corners well on the poor camber B roads around here, and glides well over bumps without strange noises. I can’t get any movement at all if try and use my body weight up and down when sitting on the edge of the tailgate floor. It now takes the road humps to the marsh with ease, more like an off-roader, so overall I am very pleased… In conclusion With an older car with high mileage it can be expensive to repair and maintain as everything starts to wear out, but its good to have done this particular work and to then get a noticeable improvement. I would say, speaking as a non mechanically minded driver, that the new Sachs dampers are a good improvement at 165k miles, and don't worry too much about specialist set ups unless you want to go down this route. Also surprised about how my main dealer didn’t seem to be able to give me much concrete advice on what to do with the problem of ageing suspension, except to change the lot for over £2k, and even though they charged me £60 to identify the front strut and stabiliser issue, which in the end I had done by Halfords at half the price.

I have had this great car for almost 10 years and 166k miles (a record for me) and the suspension is now a bit spongey. I have had Halfords replace the front stabiliser links and suspension strut mounts for about £400 after a noise developed. Now I can hear a thud over bumps and think this is either weak springs or weak shocks at the front...any ideas? PS from new If we had kids in the back and a load we invariably bottom out on road humps...scrunch!