Having had a look round my octy on ramp it would appear i have a broken rear spring,

Now i call this a perfect excuse to change suspension so whats everybody running

On my last couple of volvos and my 406 i had eibachs and they seem quiet resonable price for octy

Now am not bothered about coilovers cos i use car everyday and like my spine intacted

Just wondered what evryone recommends

I've got a spare rear spring if you need it? Just changed both of mine, cost just under £90, and around 40 mins to change was well easy lol. Rear end feels loads better now

Having had a look round my octy on ramp it would appear i have a broken rear spring,

Now i call this a perfect excuse to change suspension so whats everybody running

On my last couple of volvos and my 406 i had eibachs and they seem quiet resonable price for octy

Now am not bothered about coilovers cos i use car everyday and like my spine intacted

Just wondered what evryone recommends

Not Eibachs, that's for sure.

Read the many threads on here slatting EIbachs. They don't make them specifically for the VRS Octy and i have tried them before like a few others on here and dam right dangerous.

The VRS octy MK 1 is a fussy car for suspension and only a few set ups and makes are available.

If you don't want coilovers then these are options

1. Koni FSD shocks and standard springs (great set up and keep car same as standard right height but greatly improves handling and feel of car)

2. As above but with H&R springs ( even better set up, bit stiffer and lowers car approx 15-20mm)

3, Wetec spring shock kit

4, Koni sports kit

If you do not want to replace shocks and just springs then you could go:

1. H& R

2. Weitec

3. JOM

Although replacing just the springs may not be ecomomical as unless your shocks are still very good and not many miles on them the stiffer springs will put pressure on the older shocks and you may find the shock wear out quicker

Look up Koni FSD in the search threads to get more info(covered many times) and use the links in the performance sections to check out the agents that can supply you kit

hope this helps

Reason i chose to just change my rears is because i have a front splitter and even on standard suspension it often grounds out. Most uprated springs/shock combo's will lower the car to some degree

Reason i chose to just change my rears is because i have a front splitter and even on standard suspension it often grounds out. Most uprated springs/shock combo's will lower the car to some degree

guess who damaged splitter yesterday.................. :'(

only went on some uneven turf on the pavement to park the car temporary....

Edited 14 August, 201015 yr by Bowders1

saggy old suspensions also gets lower through age. I have a splitter too with weitec coilovers and i dont have a problem with the height. Coilovers offer more flexibility in that respect as you can set them to a height of your choice.

agree with the weitec coilovers excellent value for money

and superb ride quality

but my splitter has gone to splitter heaven (flamin women drivers ) i only caught it a few times aswell!!

Edited 14 August, 201015 yr by sivrs

It's more me being silly and trying to park in silly places and high curbs

Did hit a speed bump once but that was when hitting the brakes hard when some chav walked out in front of me on his phone

H&R springs and FSD's, good combination but so expensive now compared to coilovers. If i was starting again i'd go for coilvers.

I went for the cheaper option and didn't get coilovers.

I have a set of cobra springs, one of the only two to do a real set of springs specifically for the VRS. Dropped it about 20mm from std VRS height. Looks lovely and squat now.

Damn those front splitters. I have destroyed one and think that my second is now almost at an end. Stupid guys at the garage drove it front end in onto their ramp :( Scraaaaaape! So think it might have to come off.

If you don't want coilovers you can't go wrong with the H&R and FSD spring and shock combination. My standard springs were so screwed before they came off that the car felt soft as anything but even after that, when the coilovers were fitted they don't feel particularly uncomfortable compared with the soft springs. And the price of a good spring and shock set-up is practically as much as coilovers anyway.

If you don't want coilovers you can't go wrong with the H&R and FSD spring and shock combination. My standard springs were so screwed before they came off that the car felt soft as anything but even after that, when the coilovers were fitted they don't feel particularly uncomfortable compared with the soft springs. And the price of a good spring and shock set-up is practically as much as coilovers anyway.

+1

Actually coilovers are probably cheaper than a Koni FSD and replacement spring set up these days.

If you buy a set of coilovers you could keep them at standard height and the comfort won't be far off the FSD's

i agree with last post,

imo its crazy to only uprate springs and not shocks, as bowders said, they will go shortly after anyway due to the extra strain.

coilovers are slightly firmer but offer more flexibility in terms of height so i guess you need to decide which is more important to you.

I've had a koni adjustable kit on a corsa years ago and i liked them so i think ill look into them

Just removed my 40mm gmax shocks and springs for coilovers as i wanted to go lower. offer a nice ride height with oem feel to the ride.

Edited 15 August, 201015 yr by Flybikeslee

imo its crazy to only uprate springs and not shocks, as bowders said, they will go shortly after anyway due to the extra strain.

I've had my springs on for around a year now (15000 miles) and theres no signs of dead shocks yet..........

well thats good news for you......but when they do go, you end up doing basically the same job twice!

Also they are not matched to the shocks as the dampening rates in your standard shocks will be different.

fitting standard shocks to non standard springs will not give you optimum handling/balance and can give a crashy setup

Personally I prefer the likes of the Weitec Hicon GT or the KW V1 over the Koni FSD as I find it provides a better all round upgrade to the car.

Damian @ DPM Performance

If you want to keep the standard ride height and ride quality of the car what would be the best way to go for replacing the springs and dampers? Would I be better putting new standard units on or one of the set ups listed above and if so which one?

If you want to keep the standard ride height and ride quality of the car what would be the best way to go for replacing the springs and dampers? Would I be better putting new standard units on or one of the set ups listed above and if so which one?

I would state Weitec Hicon GT coilovers as for the price you would pay for either standard kit or Koni FSD's is actually more than the weitecs, Plus the weitecs you get positive handling and all round better confidence in the cars handling.

It all depends on what you are after from the car to be honest.

Edited 17 August, 201015 yr by Bowders1

I want to keep the cars GT type nature that it has as standard as I use the car as a daily driver and for touring. The ability to do large distances without cripling myself is important to me. If I can improve the handling and body control without compromising the ride quality or lowering the car then that would be a result.

Was wondering how long would people expect the standard set up to last before it needs replacing?

well suspension tends to have seen its better days after 60k or about 5 yrs, after that they will not work at an optimum,

loads of people will probably say, mine has done 120k blah blah and they are still fine, however i disagree, i have always played with suspension and handling on all my cars trying different setups from OE to aftermarket to bits from other variants in the product range and have never been happy with stock stuff once it had been on the car a few miles....thats just me though.

Test them, see how they rebound, how do they feel when driving on flats or undulating roads, i think the octavia is quite proned to having springs snapped so again a good argument to changing before that happens.

All comes down to how you drive i guess.

My OE suspension came off about a month ago after having done 130k miles... but it was totally totally shot and had probably been so for at least the last 40k miles. Coil springs go quite easily on these, I've seen posts from people on here have had just the top inch or so snap off a coil and been driving around like that for years without even realising.

Now on coilovers at almost standard ride height (20mm drop)

The ride is a bit firmer but not so much you notice unless you're going down bumpy country lanes. The handling is about a million times better than it was :yes:

Edited 17 August, 201015 yr by chicken_eyebrow

Just a note that I'm also interested in changing my mk 1 VRS Estate suspension - I want reasonable comfort (for a relatively quick car), I don't want to avoid lowering her (I have enough problems grounding the spoiler without reducing the ride height, although I want to check the current ride height first) and quality/value more important than cheap.

As well as keeping an eye on this thread I want to see what else is worth changing at the same time (I'm a reasonably competent DIYer), so will be doing a search later this week when I get time. In the mean time, I'd be grateful for any advice here.

Cheers,

Ian

Just a note that I'm also interested in changing my mk 1 VRS Estate suspension - I want reasonable comfort (for a relatively quick car), I don't want to avoid lowering her (I have enough problems grounding the spoiler without reducing the ride height, although I want to check the current ride height first) and quality/value more important than cheap.

As well as keeping an eye on this thread I want to see what else is worth changing at the same time (I'm a reasonably competent DIYer), so will be doing a search later this week when I get time. In the mean time, I'd be grateful for any advice here.

Cheers,

Ian

when changing suspension its worth changing the front top mounts and bearings and also the rear bump stops at the same time.