On the very few times I've managed to find enough clear road to throw the car around a bit, I noticed a tendency for the back end to step out a bit on bumpier surfaces. Nothing too drastic and I'm quite happy with the overall ride.

Is this rear 'step out' fairly standard for the Octavia, or does it depend on what rear springs, dampers and ARBs are being fitted currently?

I find it quite easy to unsettle the car but I am on 19" wheels and Eibach springs. Is your car totally standard?

Mine feels slightly unstable too when nipping along - no problems when bimbling - it's probably the way we drive :eek:

It's good out of corners but a bit a vague going in.

D

Don't compain - most front driven cars exhibit terminal understeer and you have to be doing something specifi to get the rear to step out such as sharp liftoff in a corner or tweaking the handbrake. Personally I like a car to "steer" from the rear and the Skud does it in a limited and controllable fashion IMHO.

I was talking to the sales guy yeasterday when I picked mine up, and they were all taken to some velodrome to see how the cars really perform on track. He commented on how easy it was to chuck the back end out, so maybe it is something they know about. Is it fairly controllable?:confused:

is is the reason i wolnt reccomend only uprating th rear arb alone instead of front and rear which stop s this.

if you think about it all the rear and font arbs on the market will have been designed for the mk5 golf which has much less of an overhang over the rear wheels.

the good thing about the vrs thopough is its easy to predict and bring back in line

I don't like the back end stepping out on the Octavia - never had a problem with other cars when they step out, the Octavia just feels as if its going to go really big time when it steps out. On the few occasions when I have been worried it has been on slippy roads and it's a definite floating not very secure feeling.

It may be that I need to go out and really try it sideways to gain confidence.

D

Find a large industrial estate car park and have a play. Even better wait until it snows - its amazing how much you can learn about how your car handles on the limit and car control in general.

The balance of the Skud is pretty good but I can understand how some of you might not be completely comfortable with the rear letting go unless you've had a reasonable amount of experience.

The best thing I ever did was take a driving course with Pentti Airikkala years ago - gave me a huge confidence boost and skills. Such a shame we lost him recently. Amazing gentleman. Died well before his time.

I have a Whiteline read ARB fitted to mine (medium stiffness setting). I find the car very controllable. On a damp road I can get the back end to step out by suddenly backing off the throttle in a corner, normally it stays well glued though, and if I overdo things in a corner it usually exhibits a little understeer.

I've experimented quite a bit (off road) to make sure the car is safe with this ARB because my wife drives the car fairly often, and I don't want it to catch her out.

A bumpy road will unsettle the car if its running on stiffer springs or ARB's - like everything, handling is a compromise and a more compliant suspension will track a bumpy road better, but give more roll on corners.

I don't like the back end stepping out on the Octavia - never had a problem with other cars when they step out, the Octavia just feels as if its going to go really big time when it steps out. On the few occasions when I have been worried it has been on slippy roads and it's a definite floating not very secure feeling.

It may be that I need to go out and really try it sideways to gain confidence.

D

seriously mate, the vRS is a very good car on the limit. Easy to predict, what your probably feeling in the back is not so much it tepping out but the weight transfer between the back wheels.

even with the ESP off the back is really predicatale and easy to reign back in. with the ESP turned on impo opinion you would have to be on a really slippy road, bad tyes or driving like a nutter to lose it.

sor driving like a nutter to lose it.

I resemble that remark

Mines not a VRS :( and it's all standard. It's got Dunlops all round but when they come for renewal, I'll go to something else to see if things improve.

Out in the wet today, I had the whole car drifting on roundabouts. It's not the driving its the roads on Teesside - lots of muck and slime dropped from the HGV's going to and from ICI & Corus + lots of muck produced by same washed out from the atmosphere.

D

I don't like the back end stepping out on the Octavia - never had a problem with other cars when they step out, the Octavia just feels as if its going to go really big time when it steps out. On the few occasions when I have been worried it has been on slippy roads and it's a definite floating not very secure feeling.

It may be that I need to go out and really try it sideways to gain confidence.

D

Heh.

Try a proper Mini, Golf Mk1, or Pug 205 for proper lift-off oversteer and the back coming round on you.

As others have said, go and try it somewhere safe. You get plenty of warning before it will let go.

......and try not to drift on the public road - one day it might catch you out. I've seen the damage a hard knock caused to the rear wheel of a Golf GTI a friend was driving home in the wet after spending a couple of hours go-karting..........£3000 worth of damage from a 10mph impact. :eek:

Do it on a track or private area with some run-off just in case

I resemble that remark

Mines not a VRS :( and it's all standard. It's got Dunlops all round but when they come for renewal, I'll go to something else to see if things improve.

Out in the wet today, I had the whole car drifting on roundabouts. It's not the driving its the roads on Teesside - lots of muck and slime dropped from the HGV's going to and from ICI & Corus + lots of muck produced by same washed out from the atmosphere.

D

Inform the Police and the Highways Agency - the roads are not safe and they have a duty of care to keep them clean. Corus could find itself in very hot water should an accident happen. I complained about a builder constantly leaving muck all over the road near where I work while doing a small housing development. The HA came down on him like a ton of bricks..............

Inform the Police and the Highways Agency - the roads are not safe and they have a duty of care to keep them clean. Corus could find itself in very hot water should an accident happen. I complained about a builder constantly leaving muck all over the road near where I work while doing a small housing development. The HA came down on him like a ton of bricks..............

I work for Corus at 4 sites though rarerly teeside, in my experience they tend to clean roads outside the site if they are in a bit of a state. If they havent, have a look on the website, give them a call and im pretty certain they'll get works services on to it for you

I don't think they can do anything about it - it's endemic. The worst stretch is the A66 from Teesport to the South Bank rounabout. When I used to commute by M/cycle, this was the stretch of road where I would expect that my visor would get dirty and my clean white socks would turn black

This time of year is worst especially when they start gritting.

D

I've only ever had the rear step out with decent tyres on the front tbh, well it was easier on the original springs.

I did have 4 x Kuhmo 712's on earlier in the year, it wasn't bad in the dry but when it got wet it always wanted to understeer quite badly.

Since i've now got Vredstein's on the front and the Kuhmo's on the rear (all with good levels of tread) it has immense levels of grip in the dry, but the rear always tends to go light in the wet. Some more Vredsteins on the back methinks.

......and try not to drift on the public road - one day it might catch you out. I've seen the damage a hard knock caused to the rear wheel of a Golf GTI a friend was driving home in the wet after spending a couple of hours go-karting..........£3000 worth of damage from a 10mph impact. :eek:

I don't - and I know what you mean about karting - last time I went karting I nearly hit a roundabout and just about snapped my neck when I hit the brakes for the first time.

I think kart sites should carry a health warning

D

I find it quite easy to unsettle the car but I am on 19" wheels and Eibach springs. Is your car totally standard?

Completely standard ATM.

Don't compain - most front driven cars exhibit terminal understeer and you have to be doing something specifi to get the rear to step out such as sharp liftoff in a corner or tweaking the handbrake. Personally I like a car to "steer" from the rear and the Skud does it in a limited and controllable fashion IMHO.

I've had understeer on all my previous front driven cars but my early cars, Morris Minors, did tail-wag on the limit.

I was talking to the sales guy yeasterday when I picked mine up, and they were all taken to some velodrome to see how the cars really perform on track. He commented on how easy it was to chuck the back end out, so maybe it is something they know about. Is it fairly controllable?:confused:

I think some prefer that as a 'sporty' feel and more like a rear drive car would do, *but* you can power through differently on a rear drive (or 4x4) car in that situation.

Find a large industrial estate car park and have a play. Even better wait until it snows - its amazing how much you can learn about how your car handles on the limit and car control in general.

I can't think of a car park locally big enough, empty enough or free of obstacles to do that. Snow is probably going to be a different can of worms, but snow, ice, wet and leaves are when I've had some of my more memorable driving moments, so not too keen to revisit them anytime soon.

The balance of the Skud is pretty good but I can understand how some of you might not be completely comfortable with the rear letting go unless you've had a reasonable amount of experience.

The best thing I ever did was take a driving course with Pentti Airikkala years ago - gave me a huge confidence boost and skills. Such a shame we lost him recently. Amazing gentleman. Died well before his time.

I think there's a difference between driving on closed roads deliberately intending to swing the back around, like rally drivers do in all conditions, and arriving at a bend in the dark a bit faster than you might have intended, facing a drystone wall and an oncoming driver. Not that a bit of that type of driving isn't helpful, especially if you've never experienced a good 'tank-slapper' before.

Dont mess about in snow and ice, i've nearly been taken out by ppl messing about in the snow and ice.

I also was pottering home in one of my previous cars whilst it was showing -2, i went around a parked car just before a bend. Pulled back on the correct side of the road after passing the car then ended up loosing the back end on the ice.

It started to slide so slowly by the time that i'd realised, the back end was really on its way. I tried correcting the car as to which it responded momentarily before loosing traction on all 4 wheels. Sliding sidewards into the curb and off of the road, writing the car off.

Don't compain - most front driven cars exhibit terminal understeer and you have to be doing something specifi to get the rear to step out such as sharp liftoff in a corner or tweaking the handbrake. Personally I like a car to "steer" from the rear and the Skud does it in a limited and controllable fashion IMHO.

I've seen a couple of mentions of 'lifting off' in a corner causing the back to step out, but I can't think why that would happen on a front drive car? Surely that's the classic recipe for *understeer* in a front drive car. I know the car has negligible engine braking apart from 2nd gear and some of 3rd gear, which would help the rear stepping out. On that basis I'd suspect the 'standard' car's balance is always a bit forward of neutral.

It happens down to a weight transfer thats spread across the car shifting forwards as a result of engine braking, pushing the brakes whilst in a bend can seriously upset the cars balance.

I dont think you would be trying to corner hard in 4th and 5th gears to be honest, so engine braking/wind resistance would probably not help.