all the cars i have driven with uprated suspension have had a large improvement in handling and seemed worth the money. Even with the harsher ride.

FSDs are way better than oem dampers as well, no contest. in everything from comfort to damping rate

Im getting my car cornerweighted due to me having a lot of weekends planned at the nurburgring from spring onwards. So i agree with gizmo68 on that point. why get coilovers and not set them up correctly. If you have them just for looks its set up with a tape measure, if you want a bettter balance and a better contact patch on the tyres/ground coilovers need cornerweighting

:iagree: - The real fact is that a manufacturer's "ride-handling compromise" is exactly that, a compromise.

It's rare in the world of steel springs, but I actually know Citroen owners who fit the Hydropneumatic models with softer gas springs for ride comfort. Equally, I'm happy with the standard spring rates on the Octy Elegance with the 16s, but think it needs more powerful dampers.

I'm going to ask what seems a stupid question but how on earth do they achieve that? The only thing I can think of is to decrease the gas pressure in the spheres.

I'm going to ask what seems a stupid question but how on earth do they achieve that? The only thing I can think of is to decrease the gas pressure in the spheres.

It's not a stupid question. You have come up with a stupid answer though, given that it's loss of gas pressure that causes the very jiggly ride you often see on older Hydropneumatic cars.The answer is actually to fit larger diameter spheres.

Time a car round a track with stock suspension, then fit coilys or FSD's, and see if its faster.

I can tell you it will be, because Koni etc spend alot of money on testing etc.

This thread seems somewhat pointless. Unless you are buying something that is effectively a race/rally car that's adapted for road use (I'm thinking of the more hardcore fastest Imprezas and Evos or expensive cars like Gumbert Apollo, etc) then the factory suspension will not be the best it can be if you like driving 'briskly' shall we say.

My car is the Elegance model and the suspension was fine for the likes of my dad as it was nice and comfortable! Tourbolux is correct in that Skoda will have spent time tweaking and perfecting it but they were perfecting it so that the motor reviews would use words like 'comfortable' and 'composed'. Even the VRS will have been seeking the same sort of comments. The Octavia was never designed by Skoda for 'hardcore' driving and trackdays.

This is why decent suspension mods will improve the handling for what the user wants. My cornering has improved no end with the Koni suspension set up and there's noticeably less body roll. It doesn't soak up the bumps on uneven roads as well but thats not why I bought it. So as far as I am concerned I have improved my suspension.

:iagree: - My Elegance is blatently under-damped on a few stretches of road, but the last time I was over one of them I was following a Jaguar X-type and an Audi (A6 IIRC) and they were both having damping problems on that stretch too! :eek:

Well, after reading this thread, please excuse me while I pi$$ all over the floor......:P