Dooge

New ARB collar bolts, the old ones were pretty crusty and although came out OK I wouldnt want to use them again. Most of the underside is pretty crusty and at some point Ill need to start thinking about various arms, bushes and the subframes itself. Until that day, on with the mods! Next on the list is an APR billet steel dogbone insert and when I have a good day to do it a full machine polish.

The new ARB is lighter than the original and its obviously cheaper for the VAG group to fit a solid bar to the VRS rather than a hollow bar. If they did it for any other reason Id find this strange as theres not really a direct competitor in the VAG range to the VRS. The MK7 Golf R/Leon Cupra will handle completely differently due to being AWD and is also smaller. Anything Audi will be priced above and has a different suspension setup. Reflecting on the drive back, it certainly has made the car more neutral and balanced. Before it was dragging its backside around the corners feeling like it was being pulled from the front, now it doesnt feel so much that.

Then made sure everything was tight and secure. I had a test drive back but a boot full of rattly items didnt help concentrate on the drive so Ill go for another drive soon. Definitely felt sharper and not so wallowy, overall Im pleased! More photos incoming soon.

So, I finally got around to tackling the rear suspension. Fitted: -Second hand Club sport bar (bought from eBay for £120 with rubbers, collars and droplinks) -Bilstein B4 rear shocks I have access to a pit so I started by removing all the M10 torx bolts on the collars, then the droplink bolts and managed to get the old one out without jacking it up. Could I get the new one in? Nope! Pulled it out of the garage, jacked both sides quite high, dropped the wheels and shock absorbers off, then undid the mounts for the rear exhaust rubbers and the one behind the rear axle so the new ARB could be fitted. If anyone wants the Clubs sport ARB code its 5Q0 511 305 BA. Once the new ARB was on (new collar bolts were £17 for 4 from Skoda dealer) changed over dust covers, bumpstops and topmounts onto the new shocks and fitted.

I had a look as ironically its one of those things I have always meant to look at but never bothered. You can turn Park pilot off and you can also adjust how quiet it goes (entertainment fading), which is what bothers me as it goes basically deathly quiet when parking. I may still tweak the volume but it'll hopefully be better.

You can disable Parking Pilot and just use the parking sensors if preferred, although not tried I believe this doesnt drop the volume at all. But I agree with you, its far too slow to disengage the Parking Pilot setting.

It does sound a bit rattly but in all honesty I havent checked my own to see how it sounds. I would check other Youtube videos, I think you'll find a little rattle is normal as the tensioner works from oil pressure. Although the revised tensioners from 2012 (I believe) has a function to stop the tensioner losing all tension, it will still lose a little otherwise it would surely over-tension at points? I had a mk6 Golf GTi and that, along with the mk2 VRS had the earlier EA888 which were prone to tensioner failures before changing. I changed my original tensioner, cost me £1300 but there was other bits on there as well.

Thanks JR, all my questions answered 🙂

Theres probably how to's of how to replace it, but as mentioned the headlight will need to be separated. The other option is turn the DRL's off completely via coding. Price wise, £150-300 per headlight seems to be about the ball park on eBay for used units.

As far as I was aware, the DRL not working is a replacement headlight job because the headlight needs splitting, unless thats a route you want to go down. Id imagine a second hand headlight would come with the ballast too.

Id guess an Audi S3/RS3 brake upgrade would be next logical solution. I cant recall anything but theres been some big power number cars on the Facebook groups if you are on there. The other thing to compare is whether the mk7 Golf GTi has the same stock brake setup and what those boys have done, they are a more commonly modified platform.

Thanks, I figured it might be a bit more of a tourer. Are the Superb's all steel underneath like the Octavia? Im assuming they are exactly the same engine between the two as they have the same power? Im guessing it would use the newer 7 speed DSG dry clutch boxes?

Hey all, Been on the forum a few years with my 2015 Octavia VRS TSI DSG wagon. I love it but it feels a bit dated now. Before its value falls through the floor, I am considering changing it for something else and naturally, Superb Sportline's came to mind. Id be looking TSI 2017/18 which appears to be the same engine as I have and understand they produce good power after a decent remap. How do these compare to the Octavia's? Hows the dynamics in comparison being a larger and heavier car? What about metalwork, are they still steel subframes and suspension or did they get an upgrade as the more premium car? What about sound deadening? This is a weak point on the Octavia. Also, looking on Autotrader it believes the Superb is a tenth quicker to 60 than the Octavia despite being heavier? Any other pointers or things to look at? Thanks in advance! Pic of mine for attention!

Out of curiosity, what did you go for? Guessing you were not happy with the MK4?

Yes buddy, hoping to sharpen up the rear end. I'm debating whether to go for the Performance Pack ARB (21.7 x 3mm) or the Club sport one (21.7 x 3.6mm) but lots have done the Club sport RARB resulting in subtly improved handling. I'm not going aftermarket or overly thick so I think I'd have to try pretty hard to upset the car, I don't drive it near that limit.

So, the saying every day is a school day is correct! Today I learnt that using the DA polisher on your interior trim results in ruining it 😬 I also ruined both my polisher pads so an expensive mistake 🫤 Once I realised it wasn't going to be saved I ordered a second hand one from eBay for £35 and carried on polishing it until it was all gone. It's like a very dark grey in comparison to the Piano black highlights, but shiny.

Too true. Or it might have just failed very prematurely. Did you speak to Autodoc and tell them it's failed?

Soon I'll pick up some Bilstein B4 rear shocks and an uprated rear ARB which should firm up the rear end.

Another small bit satisfying update. I managed to fit the rear disc guards today. I went through the same procedure for removing the caliper, carrier and disc before but could believe how much the old guards had rusted to the hub. Alot of wire brushing and scraping and they fitted well again.

Fitted today, both hub bearings came out fine and went back on absolutely golden. Good job done!

The brackets can shift which can cause the vibration youre hearing, not awfully hard to get to but depends if your wipers are seized on, like mine currently are!

I pressure wash mine regularly and have never had that issue, maybe just bad luck? Could be nothing to do with water and just bad luck?

As the others have said, I sincerely believe for something like this that massive torque isn't needed so tight-ish is fine. As long as its tight enough to stop those brackets moving should be good enough.

Steel by the feel of them. I may put some grease behind the head of the bolt but that'll be it.