Ok, I’ve got an 05 Mk1 vRS which is currently on 107k.

The suspension etc is finally succumbing to the abuse that’s been dished out over the past three years that I’ve had it. Whilst there is a large proportion of motorway driving that I do there are also a lot of rough, broken and potholed backroads that are driven at speed. Thus there is a preference for keeping wheel travel but with greater control whilst reducing wallow/dive/squirm and at the same time not losing too much in the way of comfort (which will decrease both traction and comfort). I’ve recently fitted a Whiteline 24mm RARB which has helped handling to a degree (I’ll write a review at some point when I get five minutes) but given that some corners on these roads can now be hit with up to 15mph greater entry speed it’s really shown the deficiencies elsewhere with a lot of squirm evident as the chassis moves around. Given the roads I drive and the way I drive them this isn’t perhaps too surprising but they now definitely need doing

So, the main plan when I get back from Canada in the summer is to replace:

vRS Fabia rear beam bushes

LCR top mounts (not totally gone but seriously crushed at present)

Polybushed front wishbones (yes, TT arms would be preferred but there’s a limit to what I’m spending on a car that realistically has another 2yrs before it’s for the crusher).

Which leaves the big one, the dampers and springs. I’m not particularly sold on the idea of coilovers as I think the reduced travel that they offer will a, leave me at a greater risk to grounding the chassis and sump out b, will cause the wheel to lose contact with the road surface and c, drive me nuts on the motorways (frequent blasts from Scotland to Wales etc). If anything I’d gladly go for a few mm more of clearance, not less. I’ll fit a sump guard at some point but given that these further reduce clearance it’s not ideal.

So, how do the offerings size up? On my old Vectra ST200 I had adjustable Koni’s with Eibach Pro springs but these unfortunately aren’t an option with the Lada. So I guess there’s Weitec, the basic KW’s and then the Koni FSD with the OEM vRS springs – can you set the KW coilovers up at the same height as stock vRS suspension? How much better do they each resist roll, deal with harsh mid corner bumps, wallows and compressions and more importantly how much harsher are they each? Is anyone in a position to give a vague scale of harshness or are there any other suggestions that I should be looking at?

Any help is much appreciated!

Edited 16 May, 201115 yr by cloverleaf

You could get Koni FSD's and H&R springs. A few people on here have done it. Quite expensive iirc. Gives smooth ride over rough ground, but firm round corners.

On the front wishbones, you would be better getting tt rear bushes and poly fron ones. The reason being that polys have been known to split and the tt ones don't.

LCR top mounts and fabia vrs rears are a good idea too. I have the fabia bushes, just need to do the top mounts at some point.

Has anyone even spoken to Gaz Shox, or just gone down the well-worn FSDs and/or H&Rs, or Weitecs route?

On the front wishbones, you would be better getting tt rear bushes and poly fron ones. The reason being that polys have been known to split and the tt ones don't.

Ok, that sounds like a good compromise - I may be misreading things though but don't the TT bushes only fit the TT arms or is that just the stepped Superpro upgrades?

Has anyone even spoken to Gaz Shox, or just gone down the well-worn FSDs and/or H&Rs, or Weitecs route?

From what I could see they don't list anything on the HD suspension for the Octavia, much like Spax, Koni and a few others unfortunately.

How much do H&R drop by? Like I said, wheel travel is an issue for me so if the uprated bushes, FSD dampers and stock springs work well in combination with the 24mm RARB then that's the likely route I'd go down. That said, if the Weitec's offer a reasonable level of un-crashiness (don't think that's a real world but hey-ho) and can be set up to mimic stock ride height then that would be ideal as, if anything, the actual point in the travel that the car sits is likely to be higher up due to the increased spring rate. Does anyone actually have a comparison of spring rates fitted to these kits? It's all well and good saying that one car is set up for 1000kg on the back axle or 1080kg but the spring rate is the crucial part here. It seems that most companies keep that information quite closely guarded.

Spring rate, travel and free (or weight on springs) length are more or less independant parameters.

Ok, that sounds like a good compromise - I may be misreading things though but don't the TT bushes only fit the TT arms or is that just the stepped Superpro upgrades?

It's only the front TT bushes which don't fit.

I have the TT rear ones on mine, along with the Fabia vRS rear beam bushes and they have made a noticeable difference.