Hi All,

I'm new to your site but impressed already. My name is Andrew, I drive an RX-8 but (thanks to the government) spend over £100/week on petrol doing about 300 miles/week or slightly more. My girlfriend got a new car so I have bought her 2003 Fabia SDI comfort for £400 for a second 'workday' car. Its an '03 with 153,000 miles. The engine runs like 50,000 miles, I am well impressed with these VW engines and the 65+ MPG that it gets, but we'll not talk about the acceleration...

I have gotten too used to the handling ability of my RX-8 and actually feel quite scared driving the Fabia on country roads so would like to upgrade the suspension to the VRS setup. Has anyone done this before? Is there much of an improvement? I'd like to change the whole unit (i.e. the springs and struts at the front and the springs/shocks at the rear, not just the springs) Is it a simple bolt off and bolt on job or are the struts designed to fit differently?

My next question is, does anyone have a full standard VRS suspension set that they are willing to sell??

Thanks,

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

The shocks and springs from a vRS will fit straight onto the SDI, but it's not recommended as the spring rates will be different; the vRS is a fair bit heavier due to all the turbo gubbins that the SDI doesn't have, and the six-speed gearbox as well.

However, you should be able to find a range of aftermarket alternatives from the likes of Awesome GTI on here. Eibach springs are a good place to start.

Hope this helps!

Andrew (Good name isn't it? )

Andrew,

Thanks for the quick reply. I hadn't considered the extra weight of the 6-speed. Looks like 1313kg for the VRS compared with 1200kg for the SDI without aircon (that's me!). I'd say you are right and the 110kg is too much of a difference. As a mechanical engineer I would prefer to use the genuine skoda parts (tested-and-proven) rather than aftermarket gear that isn't subject to a quarter of the testing. I've had my time with aftermarket springs and shocks... playing around with incorrect spring rates for the car's weight and poor damping, but that was a few years ago when I'd have bought the cheapest setup out there and made my car handle worse, but it was lower - so it HAD to be better in my young brain, lol! I shall have to have another look and see what is available (feels like old times).

Does anyone have the VRS setup in their SDI currently? I'd imagine it runs quite hard if the springs are under less compression?

Thanks, Andrew.

Andrew

Im fitting vrs setup to my mates sdi next week so il let you know! We are both motorsport engineers and belive it will be a vast improvment!

As a mechanical engineer I would prefer to use the genuine skoda parts (tested-and-proven) rather than aftermarket gear that isn't subject to a quarter of the testing. I've had my time with aftermarket springs and shocks...

Who do you think makes the parts for the car manufacturers? Sure, there's aftermarket stuff you shouldn't buy if you want it to last, but I don't think there's any reason to doubt that something from the likes of Eibach, Koni, KW wouldn't last at least as long. In fact, I notice that Awesome have a deal on the KWs that (I think) you'd need for your car. Other brands and retailers are available, of course!

IME, any lowering of a Fabia that isn't new will require plenty of white grease inside the top mounts and over the bushes while they bed in to the new geometry. While the suspension's in bits, it's probably not a bad idea to look at getting the console bushes replaced with Cupra ones, BTW...

My vRS suspension is sitting in the garage if you want it

Have you checked the status of your Fabia's bushes? At that mileage they could be well past their best. Before I had mine swapped my Fabia handled like a drunk pig on an ice rink.

If you do get the bushes replaced get better than the OEM ones if you can, like the Cupra or Powerflex ones.

Have you checked the status of your Fabia's bushes? At that mileage they could be well past their best. Before I had mine swapped my Fabia handled like a drunk pig on an ice rink.

I believe mine have been replaced twice in the life of the car at nearly 60k miles (will be making sure any future replacements are decent ones),

Thanks for the info everyone. Very useful to hear your thoughts & experiences!

Bikerz, I'd be interested to hear how you get on with your mates SDI suspension change. I wonder if the stiffer suspension (or lighter car) will cause the road contact to be less as the wheels 'bounce' over rough surfaces or bumpy roads. I guess that the suspension isn't THAT stiff but I've seen it before.

Ad Lav, send me a PM if you're interested in selling your VRS suspension - What is the mileage on the parts and what is your price?

Br1anC, lol, the bushes have been changed before (maybe a few times) and are well overdue another change. It proved very difficult to persuade the girlfriend that they needed changed when she owned the car - not sure if its just her or if its difficult to get most women to listen :p So now I need to change them, hence thought it was a good time to upgrade the setup

The vrs suspension hasnt arrived still yet but will let you know when it does this week his sdi is having:

Clutch

VRS Suspension

VRS front Brakes

VRS 16" wheels

VRS rear beem and brakes

We have our work cut out!