Bought some vRS suspension for the missuses Octy Ambiente, springs and dampers, front ARB and a Neuspeed RARB and decided to fit them yesterday. First scare was when I looked for the locking nut key and found an empty space. My heart sank, but a quick look under the trims revealed that there wasn't a locker on as we only have steelies. Phew !

So, up in the air she went and front wheels off. Next I looked to see where the top strut nuts were and it looked like to bl00dy wipers might need to come off to get to the nut furthest back, but I just managed to get a ratchet and socket in there. Phew ! I left those whilst I investigated further.

OK, so let's see how the strut attaches to the hub. Bu99er ! A silly bl00dy Torx nut, and a bl00dy big one too ! Right, trip to Screwfix to buy a full set as I'll surely need them at some point in the future. Huff-puff, harumph, groan !

Back from Screwfix and the biggest Torx socket in the kit still isn't big enough. [swear filter] ***** ****** ******* ***** ******* *************** ****** [/swear filter] Sod it, I decided that as time was getting on and I need the car all ready for a trip to Cornwall this weekend that I'd leave the springs and dampers and just fit the RARB.

Aaaah ! More Torx nuts, but this time I have it covered :P So, I set about removing the brackets. Cue more swearing ! Two of the nuts snapped trying to remove them :( Right, I thought, time to call in reinforcements. I decided to take the car down to a mates garage to drill out the nuts, so tried removing the ARB from the links.

Here we go again, a handy 16mm standard nut holding it in, great But no nut at the other side, just a round thing. No chance in Hell of having enough grip from mole-grips, no obvious shoulder to locate a spanner to So, I had to drive with the RARB flapping about :eek:

Whilst my mate was sorting that, I thought I'd go pick up my sexy new 18" RS4 alloys Despite them knowing I was coming, and par for the course today :rotz: they'd not built them up Another wait.

First good news of the day, when I got home my mate called and my car was ready, new RARB fitted Went and got her and decided I'd pop the alloys on as it was a lovely evening.

Up she went again, steelies off, alloys on. Oh dear, cue more swearing. The nuts only went on by 3 turns, nowhere near enough to be safe. I called the wheel shop and they admitted they should have given me a bag of new nuts with the wheels So, I left them on just finger tight and parked her up for the night.

What a foofing day :eek::(

So, went (in my Fabia) this morning and got the new nuts and now all is well. The vRS suspension can wait, but the car feels so much better with the 25mm RARB and some very low profile rubber instead of the awful Michelin Energy things with side-walls like a bouncy castle Nice and flat through the corners, but still floaty on the OE suspension.

Now, when I had my Subaru I managed in just one day, with just a normal toolkit, to remove the full suspension (struts and springs) from one car, and fully adjustable AST race coilovers from another and swap them over. No fancy tools, no snapped nuts, nothing stuck fast. Memories of my pile of poo Corrado flooded back yesterday as every job I ever did on that was a pain in the bum. Even changing the ARB on the Subaru was a doddle, with simple nuts for basic sockets, and they even use a 16mm on one side and a 17mm on the other to make sure you have enough tools in a basic kit.

I bl00dy hate VAG engineering. Silly nuts, bolts and everything else, and most of it too frail to ever remove once fitted without snapping, rounding or seizing so it won't come out or snap any bl00dy way. People have always told me that German cars are built well. Sorry, but after a Corrado, two Fabia's (and yes, I know they're Czech, but not really), and this Octavia I fail to see where that opinion comes from. Gimme Jap-crap any day

Edited 29 May, 200917 yr by corradoboy

carrado boy im confused you bought octavia vRS suspension!!!!!!! but your fitting them on a fabia? or do you have an octavia as well

I have an Octy for the missuse to carry the baby around.

carrado boy im confused you bought octavia vRS suspension!!!!!!! but your fitting them on a fabia? or do you have an octavia as well

It says Vrs suspension NOT octavia Vrs suspension.

Edited first sentence to clear any confusion.

It says Vrs suspension NOT octavia Vrs suspension.

full story is corradoboy had just bought my octavia vrs suspension and front arb so when i saw that, i thought he'd been mistaken.

simple mistake no need for the shout(caps)

Look on the bright side, if its a bu***er to take it apart it isn't going to fall apart.

But it falls apart if you need to take it apart. If my Corrado was anything to go by, I WILL need to take many bits apart and I'll be back to the frustrating, costly, knuckle-chaffing, cursing up hill and down dale home repairs, or paying some other poor sap to do it for me. The Subaru, and a Honda the missuse had for a while were both so much better to work on, and I only ever really worked on them through choice. In three year nothing much ever failed on the Scoob, and the bits that did (2x exhaust sensors (common) and a wheel bearing (my fault for fitting RE070 tyres)) were fixed under warranty. So far the two Fabia's we've owned and the Octy have been back to the dealers more times each than the other cars I've owned all added together. VAG - Very Average Grot :thumbdwn:

Just to list a few things -

Both Fabia's went in for leaking rear doors, console bushes, one for paint corrosion. The Octy has had a new seat (fabric came apart), rear wiper stopped working, airbag light is permanently on (common wiring issue caused by adjusting the seat), dreadfully dim headlights (partially cured by dealer, fully rectified with better bulbs), radio stopped working (started working again 3 days later and has been OK since).

A mechanic I know who works in an Audi dealership told me that Audi's, supposedly VAG's flagship brand (except for the exotica) are running at 86% warranty claims. That's seriously bad IMHO !

Case of Deja Vu there...just read this on Scoobynet!

Steve

Yeah, thought I'd vent my spleen over there as that's the car I'm comparing it to. God I miss my Scooby :(

Miss my Impreza too. Miss my Clio more though!

B A silly bl00dy Torx nut,

Back from Screwfix and the biggest Torx socket in the kit still isn't big enough.

Torx nuts, but this time I have it covered :P So, I set about removing the brackets.

They aren't TORX - they are triple-squares.