The clearance between my wheel arch and the tyre on my Octavia 4x4 1.8T is substantial, I think it would be safe to say that a Double Decker Bus could happily get through the gap! But, I am not going 'down and out' on this one. That said, I wouldn't mind condensing some of the roll and bounce and cornering- what's my best route? I would imagine a rear ARB, but then which model should I be looking for - H&R seem to be a very good reliable choice.

cheapest upgrade is the r32 setup

not too aggressive but very much an improvement, pretty much a direct fit with some minor modification to the spare wheel well (have a search on here)

h&r may be too sporty for what your needs are, as are thicker than the r32 setup

Bounce is more to do with your spring/shock setup, so an upgrade of those may be an idea

I had H&R springs on my 4x4 and they worked well however mated shocks are a requirement really rather than the originals which will not cope properly

cheapest upgrade is the r32 setup

not too aggressive but very much an improvement, pretty much a direct fit with some minor modification to the spare wheel well (have a search on here)

h&r may be too sporty for what your needs are, as are thicker than the r32 setup

Bounce is more to do with your spring/shock setup, so an upgrade of those may be an idea

I had H&R springs on my 4x4 and they worked well however mated shocks are a requirement really rather than the originals which will not cope properly

Cheers mate, will look into that- so you think some different shocks then? I had Koni on one of my old Golfs, am looking for something that might lessen the bounce (its like an ejecter seat!!) and maybe take the ride height down to the VRS 1.8T look, I wonder why its so insanely high on the 4x4 octavia? I understand a bit of height but..

no probs buddy!

its high as the car was designed with towing in mind iirc

Yes something like koni (which will be shorter) to match the lowering springs, it will transform the car with the arbs, believe me!

Have a word with Damian at dpm, see what he stocks.

Coilovers are also possible, but are slightly stiffer than a traditional shock and spring setup

The 4x4 turbo hatchback I gather, was a bit of an odd one. With extra ground clearance for offroad , but only initally offered as a petrol turbo, so not really appealing to the rural target market. Cost more than a VRS too. Hence they dropped it and only offered a diesel estate later on.

I think you could get into spending £000's if you get into lowering the car. Maybe the ARB's are a good starting point. I base this opinion on the amount of money the previous owner of my car spent on the suspension...

Are you happy with the handling (understeer/oversteer charactoristics)? If so, then you don't want a RARB, because its main effect is to reduce rear grip, and hence cause more oversteery handling.

Your best move to reduce bounce and heave at standard ride height is to fit Koni FSDs, which will still work out if you fit H&R springs to drop to a vRS ride height (and the lower ground clearance. You can ground out "normal" Octys on ridges quite easily; the 'highrider' thing is due to a large wheel to arch gap rather than a high ground clearance).

The Octy 4x4 does have a higher ground clearance as standard, they where designed for eastern european rural roads - that's what all the original marketing videos shows - Octavia 4x4's driving down rough farm tracks - hence soft high ride height to allow for greater wheel articulation.

As the Oet says, the R32 arbs are a good starting point, and by far the cheapest option.

The ARBs' must be changed as a set, and must be matched. Changing just one ARB will put you in ditch.

There's lots of spring/shock/coilover options out there - just look for R32 stuff (you won't anything listed for the Octavia 4x4 as such).

Spax do some interesting looking coilover kits, which are reasonably priced. I think its possible to get Weitec kits for the R32 too. KW is the best of the bunch though, by a long way.

Spax do some interesting looking coilover kits, which are reasonably priced. I think its possible to get Weitec kits for the R32 too. KW is the best of the bunch though, by a long way

Unless they've changed things recently Spax don't do any kits to suit the Mk4 platform (TT etc) which require the droplinks mounting to the dampers. Which unfortunately not only rules out the vRS but the 4x4 too.

dont they do the rsx kit now?

those mounted to the shock

http://www.silverstonetuning.com/onlineshop/product_info.php?cPath=160_891_892&products_id=1091