Dooge

I should add that the car passed its MOT with no issues, and they changed the brake fluid at the same time. They made no mention of anything being problematic from the service either. I have a few things I want to add onto the existing list: -Leon Cupra DSG gearknob to replace the flaky chrome one. -Rear brake dust protectors. -Kufatec LED adaptors and stock VAG LED interior light units. -DSG inline thermostat. -Facelift rear lights and adaptors. Replace Topmount bolt - Done Brake fluid change - Done Front ball joints on both sides. Shorter bolts for rear ARB droplinks. Replacement rear ARB droplinks. Replacement B4 rear shocks. MK7 GTi rear ARB. I do feel like I never get to the bottom of the list! Anyone else feeling like cars hitting 100k are just money pits? 😏

I did discover that the dust protector on both sides was trying to masquerade as a collander! I also found out that my shock absorbers are totally knackered, barely returning so they may have to be done sooner rather than later.

Finally fitted the rears! Undoing the Triplesquare bolts holding the caliper bracket on was not going to happen without removing the shock absorber, which was easy enough to remove and allowed a decent breaker bar or similar to then fit under the arch and be used without spatial issues. It was very easy to replace them both and all fitted very well.

Not sure on changing colours, I know VW and Seat are set to red, my MK6 Golf GTi was anyway and so is my wife's Leon. I like the idea of red LEDs but not at the expense and hassle of changing it! Pretty sure my lights are white though, mines a 2015.

Until @aubrey pointed it out I didn't know the clutches work in reverse, everyday is a school day!

Nobody has ever explained that to me, thanks very much! I've noticed that after putting it into drive, if I let my foot off the brake or go to accelerate too quickly it jumps or stutters, like it's selected the wrong gear. It doesn't do this with start stop. I've never figured out why it does this but otherwise seems healthy and has been serviced on schedule.

If this is a square setup (same front and rear) the fronts will sit quite a bit out. Willitfit.com says the outer edge of the rim will be 18.7mm further than stock. Generally, most people put 15mm spacers on the front and 20mm on rear. I personally think 10mm front and 20mm rear provides a nice look. Here's mine with 20mm rear spacers and 5mm front as an example (mine is lowered 20mm all round) and you can see the front doesn't need loads more. If you can go for a staggered setup rather than square I think you'll get much better results, otherwise I think it'll look overly dominant at the front. That is just my opinion though and depends on the look you are going for.

I was always told apply brake, switch gearshifter to neutral (to take any load off the gearbox), handbrake on, foot off the brake, gearshifter straight to P. Probably a bit overkill as if you have your foot on the brake it won't be moving anyway. I also switch to neutral at lights or any reasonable amount of time stopped for example, again probably overkill but as I do alot of short journeys I'm trying to get as much life out of the clutch packs as possible.

I then fitted the fronts, which was an easy process overall. I undid the brake fluid reservoir and used a caliper tool to push the piston back in. On the drive home, I broke gently for the first 4-5 times then built up to 60-40mph and 70-30mph braking to bed the pads in. They feel sharper than they did before and overly happy with how they feel. The car is also going on for an Inspection 2 and brake fluid change when it has its MOT. Hopefully they don't fail it on the rear discs. Bottom ball joints are still on the list, but I have insurance soon and thinking I'm going to be stung more so than other years.

Small update - ordered some new brake pads front and rear and brake discs front and rear from Autodoc, just over £300 for all which I thought was very good! All for MOT which is due on the 28th, the rear discs were an advisory for being rusty last year. I went with TRW pads (which I think are OEM) and ATE coated discs. These have a matt silver finish which is corrosion resistant and from what I can see is better than painted equivalents. Although I thought about a black finish I'm sure it'll look naff in no time. The pads are all black with a patterned rubber coating on the back, presumably to stop any squealing or vibrating noises. Unfortunately I bought a Triplesquare set for the rear as the caliper carrier has to be removed but the bits were too long to undo the top bolt, doh! I did pull all the slider bolts out, clean and regrease which showed that a few needed replacement with rubber bushes breaking and pitting from corrosion.

It's difficult to say, Octavia's in general have weaping front shocks by year 6 or 7 or a decent bit of mileage, front topmount issues, rear tracking issues on the ones with independent rear suspension. From what I see the 1.6 TDi is ok but all the diesels suffer from high oil consumption, DPF issues (especially short journeys or higher mileage cars) EGR cooler issues and water pump issues but this is wholly dependent on alot of things. If buying diesel, I'd buy one with motorway miles on, the engine would have burnt cleaner and the DPF might not have performed as many regens. The mk2 version of the 1.2 TSI is a good performer but maybe a bit underpowered (wife has it in her 2015 Seat Leon) The 1.5 TSI could be a good option but I haven't heard much about it good or bad. Finally, DSG maybe a good option, especially for motorway mileage cars and as long as it's been serviced at the correct time. The wet clutch boxes need servicing every 40k.

Another on my list is rear ARB. Just about to do discs and pads at 92k but this will be the second time they've been changed. They aren't needing to be changed but are worn and are very rusty. Suspension is a tricky one, alot I have found wears together. Do it all or nothing at all. I did shock absorbers, topmounts, ARB links and springs. Definitely worth doing bottom ball joints and rear D wishbone bushes.

OP, that was my thread I believe. After putting several thousand miles on all is good (bar what I believe to be the topmounts being sub-par) I intend to replace the rears as I only did the fronts with topmounts, ARB links and outer tie rod ends. I also fitted Racingline 25mm springs. Overally I'd say stiffness is up 15-20%. This doesn't worry me as I often thought the ride to be crashy and not comfy, overdamped for sure. Will B4s or B6s help with your issue? They will feel better, but without replacing all of the components around it's just a small update. Make a list and do it all together. Poor roads need compliance from suspension, often people fit stiffer thinking they will get more control and end up with less due to tramlining, less given, etc. But, the B4s with slight lowering springs is fantastic on fast B roads and really makes it better than stock to drive. On rough roads I don't know if this will be the case. Is it a Lotus Elise? No, but I had fun with my mates E63 AMG touring last year around Wales, he left me on the straights but I kept up in the corners. It did make me think the rear was VERY wallowy and would benefit massively from a stiffer rear ARB. I still plan to fit a second hand MK7 Golf GTi rear ARB, these are 21.7mm over our thinner ARBs (18 or 19mm I believe) these GTi ones can be had for nothing really, I can't justify a few hundred quid for a fancier ARB. I'll do this with rear ARB links and rear shocks at some point. The Club sport one linked above is the same outer diameter but is much thicker than a stock GTi one. Let us know what you decide!

The multi point rear suspension is common to creak across all MQB platforms I believe, doesn't mean it's right. The concentric bolts for the adjustments sit inside steel sleeved bushes so often rust together. Not sure if this is part of the issue but I know I greased up a fair few bits last year when fitting new springs and it did sweet F.A.

2015 VRS petrol estate, DSG. Lots of 4-5 mile journeys with 40mph dual carriageway and 30mph town driving, I got 260 miles out of my last tank.