I know most people who've had one fitted to the mark 1 are syaing that it does make a difference, but what about fitting a RARB on a mark 2. Would like to know of experienced of those who've fitted one to the mark 2 Fabia.

Edited 13 March, 201115 yr by fabia55

I've got one to fit on my Fabia, so will keep you posted once I get it fitted.

Davy

Ill tell you now mate, the fabia really needs this upgrade. Far to much body roll and understeer for a hot hatch IMO. More so than on the Ibiza Cupra. Quite a few guys are running the rear ARB on the cupra's with huge improvements. With the softer sprung fabia it will be even more noticeable.

ARbs are the best mod ive done to all my cars and mine will be getting a rear ARB very soon. Remap first.

Whiteline have a 24mm rear ARB Here

Relatively new to ARBs so was interesting to read about them (or sway bars)

Could a garage install this? Does it need constant tweaking? Is it really a noticeable improvement?

Ill tell you now mate, the fabia really needs this upgrade. Far to much body roll and understeer for a hot hatch IMO. More so than on the Ibiza Cupra. Quite a few guys are running the rear ARB on the cupra's with huge improvements. With the softer sprung fabia it will be even more noticeable.

but mine's not a hot hatch, only a little 1.2 70bhp. is it still worth fitting if my car doesn't get chucked aboput anyway?

ARbs are the best mod ive done to all my cars and mine will be getting a rear ARB very soon. Remap first.

Whiteline have a 24mm rear ARB Here

Thanks for the link. I thought they were about 19mm.

i'm thniking the new vrs doesn't een have it fitted as standard so perhaps it's not needed otherwise why wouldn't Skoda fit it if it makes a big difference.

but mine's not a hot hatch, only a little 1.2 70bhp. is it still worth fitting if my car doesn't get chucked aboput anyway?

Thanks for the link. I thought they were about 19mm.

i'm thniking the new vrs doesn't een have it fitted as standard so perhaps it's not needed otherwise why wouldn't Skoda fit it if it makes a big difference.

it does have an anti roll bar fitted as standard. If yours is only 1.2 and you dont throw it around, im unsure why you would ask about an ARB

@ Reavenger. the rear ARB is really easy to fit. just 2 brackets, and 2 ball jouints to connect. You could quite happily do it on your drive in 30-45minutes with an average amount of mechanical know how.

But in all fairness, it'll take a garage les than 30 mins on a ramp, and if your slightly wary of it, they would only charge half hours labour and if they break something, they fix it. Ill get

a garage to do it tbh, purely as its less hassle on my part and only about £20-30 in labour as its not even a remotely specialist job

so it does make a difference to hot hatches but for normal everyday driving, that's what i want to know...

i'm thniking the new vrs doesn't een have it fitted as standard so perhaps it's not needed otherwise why wouldn't Skoda fit it if it makes a big difference.

car manufacturers tend to make cars understeer so they handle "safely" ... an upgraded anti-roll bar tends to illiminate this, and you will get more front end grip, but very easy to produce lift off oversteer... alot of keen drivers enjoy this, average drivers may get in a panic and crash without knowing how to control oversteer (unlikely in the vRS as it has ESP you can't turn off)

to be honest, I think the new vRS resists understeer well, of course you can provoke it, but why would you want to? it can be hustled round corners quite quick, I'm happy with that and wont be buying one, people like janner_Sy, would probably like more front end grip, and the tail out with a bit of opposite lock and power to correct it, it can add to the "experiance" especially if you want to take it to the track, ultimatley you would carry more speed round the corner...

skoda wouldn't set it up like this as standard, as thats probably not what the average driver would want, they would want safe predictable handling. I'm happy with it as it is (although I may do the eibach springs, mostly to improve the stance, i still think there is a bit of a gap in the arches!)

to be honest, I think the new vRS resists understeer well, of course you can provoke it, but why would you want to? it can be hustled round corners quite quick, I'm happy with that and wont be buying one, people like janner_Sy, would probably like more front end grip, and the tail out with a bit of opposite lock and power to correct it, it can add to the "experiance" especially if you want to take it to the track, ultimatley you would carry more speed round the corner...

:angel: Dont think the ARB car will make your car an oversteering nightmare though, because it wont.

It will adjust the handling balance of the car from understeer biased to neutral and the stiffer you go you will then push into the overtseer bias handling trait. Its adjustable, so if you really want some oversteer, get it on stiff, if you want it neutral get it on the softest setting.

Personally i think you should uprate front and rear to keep the neutral balance, whilst reducing body roll even more. Less body roll= your tyres staying in their optimum geometry for longer = more grip. but the front bar isnt available as yet. Also bear in mind that a thicker front bar will give more understeer, a thicker rear bar will reduce understeer.

I prefer the rear of the car to be a little more active. Good for a bit of trail braking. Was quite good at it in my octavia but that was big and really easy to catch. Im expecting the fabia to snap into oversteer abit quicker which should test the wits abit more lol

Edited 13 March, 201115 yr by janner_Sy

:angel: Dont think the ARB car will make your car an oversteering nightmare though, because it wont.

It will adjust the handling balance of the car from understeer biased to neutral and the stiffer you go you will then push into the overtseer bias handling trait. Its adjustable, so if you really want some oversteer, get it on stiff, if you want it neutral get it on the softest setting.

Personally i think you should uprate front and rear to keep the neutral balance, whilst reducing body roll even more. Less body roll= your tyres staying in their optimum geometry for longer = more grip. but the front bar isnt available as yet. Also bear in mind that a thicker front bar will give more understeer, a thicker rear bar will reduce understeer.

I prefer the rear of the car to be a little more active. Good for a bit of trail braking. Was quite good at it in my octavia but that was big and really easy to catch. Im expecting the fabia to snap into oversteer abit quicker which should test the wits abit more lol

havent experianced the difference in the new vrs, I have in the mark I, and it was a world better (but then the mark I understeered like a pig, the fiat never did ) and yes, it was easy to catch when it oversteered, you could do it for fun safely, but you obviously understand handling dynamics ect (I got "most flamboyant drive" award when i did the skid day in the BMW 325 for my blue light training ) but the feeling of the back end letting go will generally scare the hell out of "mr. average" lol...

but I tend to agree that a more neutral set up on cars (especially dedicated hot hatches) would be more fun, because we buy them to drive .... guess its just the nanny state, car companies looking after themselves legally ect... however pergeot and citroen have often made more neutral cars in production form... take the 205 GTI! guess that idea has gone in our modern "saftey" era.....

I consider myself half decent in a FWD on track, but im a bit of a RWD noob. drove my bro's M3 on track and couldnt get it right and had more than my fair share of moments . Id love to do my ARDS racing licence one day, but ill need to get used to RWD first lol.

This mk2 does tend to roll a touch, stiffer ARB's should sort out the problem without loss of suspension travel with springs/shock combinations. It handles about the same as the old Golf GTi's I had. We cured those by fitting Neupeed and poly-bushes and when we got bored of those we ordered adjustable Autotech ones from the States in a huge 28mm rear.

I like the way ARB's do their stuff and never go wrong

This mk2 does tend to roll a touch, stiffer ARB's should sort out the problem without loss of suspension travel with springs/shock combinations. It handles about the same as the old Golf GTi's I had. We cured those by fitting Neupeed and poly-bushes and when we got bored of those we ordered adjustable Autotech ones from the States in a huge 28mm rear.

I like the way ARB's do their stuff and never go wrong

+ 1.

When it comes to sorting a car handling for road there are two ways you can go.

Stiff suspension, soft ARB.

soft suspension and stiff ARBs.

The last car i went stiff everything including coilovers. When i was in germany it was great but in the UK it was to harsh . This time ill go for a springs/dampers combo for ride quality + handling, and ill go for a very stiff ARB setup. and maybe fiddle with the camber if possible

Just to confirm that the main mods to the vRS so far are: whiteline arb, revo remap and eibach springs. Is there more out there that I've missed?

thats my plans for the minute, although not a revo remap, ill go with shark performance. then its better brakes and when available ill put some good dampers on as well

Thread resurrection! :yes:

Whiteline 24mm arb fitted. Pictures for those that are interested (very big pics with lots of detail):

How much difference did you find it made?

I spent a fair few pennies on my S2000 in the handling stakes and uprated antiroll bars were one of the first things I did. The difference was nothing short of incredible, even before I did uprated suspension. I went up to 32mm front and 30mm rear using a Cusco kit.

@Janner_Sy - You don't really need RWD experience to pass ARDS, its basically a day on a track to prove you can get a car round it using sensible lines and know what the flags are. RWD on track is actually 'easier' than FWD as you can adjust your cornering angle with your right foot if needed

Sweet. Waiting for mine too to come next week. Did you had the chance to feel the difference?

I felt that it was the front which swayed ALOT, solutions for that?

Heard that you could take the bushings from a Seat, which one and which article-number if anyone knows?

Sweet. Waiting for mine too to come next week. Did you had the chance to feel the difference?

Only done 30 miles on A-roads and around town so far, but the difference is as notable as what people said it would be. Mainly because the Fabia doesn't have a roll bar at all :p

i better start saving now

Have people told their insurance company about this? How much to add on?

Also, anyone had any warranty issues? Cheers.

You definitely want to tell your insurers.... its going to give a considerable change to handling dynamics.

My old insurers (Chris Knott) let me modify my s2000 as much as I wanted for free as long as I didn't increase the power. When I did consider more power I managed to negotiate down the increase considerably.

For the sake of a few quid, its not worth driving uninsured.

Have people told their insurance company about this? How much to add on?

Also, anyone had any warranty issues? Cheers.

Not sure on the RARB by itself, but for remap, rarb, suspension etc costing me an extra £80.

Warranty will only be an issue if there is a problem with the suspension and if they try to say the RARB is the cause. But I'll be using coilovers soon(ish) anyway

Not sure on the RARB by itself, but for remap, rarb, suspension etc costing me an extra £80.

Warranty will only be an issue if there is a problem with the suspension and if they try to say the RARB is the cause. But I'll be using coilovers soon(ish) anyway

Who is your insurer?