I have an Octavia vRS 1 which has clocked 55K KMS. The car is completely standard and my daily use is just about 20 kms.

As the car was 5 years old (bought it new), I recently had a private garage fit the following Powerflex bushes:

1. Front wishbone inner bush (both front and rear)

2. ARB link bushes

3. Engine Dogbone mount

4. Rear Beam mounting bushes

The garage also drained and replaced the clutch/brake hydraulic fluid as they claimed they had to drain the old fluid to fit the bushes.

My car now has two problems:

1. it judders when taking off from standstill. One way to avod the judder, I have discovered is, to very slowly release the clutch pedal without giving gas and once the car is crawling, feed gas. However, in traffic stop-start conditions this is not always possible (as the guy behind will be honking to death; yes in India we honk at the drop of a hat).

At speed, the car seems fine; the problem surfaces when one is starting off from standstill.

2. There are vibrations and a drone on cold-start. They seem to be coming from the car's rear. The vibrations and drone reduce once the engine is warmed up but are definitely more than before this job was done.

I am looking for advise from the forum: have the new bushes been torqued too much or too less? is the draining and refilling of clutch/brake fluid the cause.

Bomi

Howdy,

I fitted an uprated dogbone mount that is stiffer than the OEM part.

I had a stronger drone/vibration on start up and when moving in traffic, taking off from lights ect.

Either it went away or I got used to it after a few hundred KM. This could be what you are experiencing.

They do bed in , I must admit , diesel`s are worse than petrols

But it does get better

Sarah

ARB link bushes on a vRS???????????????????

I think you've been fleeced...

My car now has two problems:

1. it judders when taking off from standstill. One way to avod the judder, I have discovered is, to very slowly release the clutch pedal without giving gas and once the car is crawling, feed gas. However, in traffic stop-start conditions this is not always possible (as the guy behind will be honking to death; yes in India we honk at the drop of a hat).

At speed, the car seems fine; the problem surfaces when one is starting off from standstill.

2. There are vibrations and a drone on cold-start. They seem to be coming from the car's rear. The vibrations and drone reduce once the engine is warmed up but are definitely more than before this job was done.

Hi There, what you are experiencing is the bedding in period. Powerflex poly bushes are a lot firmer than std. As they are effectively reducing engine/gearbox movement(dogbone mount)and the suspension bushes tighten up the steering, suspension bush movement you will get quite a bad vibration through the car and at pulling away. This should start to reduce at around 200 miles and then even out to it being hardly noticable after 500 miles.

Although why garage had to drain Clutch/brake fluid to changes bushes i don't know as that is utter rubbish. Fact that they could fleecing you is a little worrying.

Take it back if the problem does not get better, just in case they have caused a issue with your clutch

ARB link bushes on a vRS???????????????????

I think you've been fleeced...

Probably means drop links...Suspension to ARB. Although can see my you say fleecing based on above.

I have an Octavia vRS 1 which has clocked 55K KMS. The car is completely standard and my daily use is just about 20 kms.

1. it judders when taking off from standstill. One way to avod the judder, I have discovered is, to very slowly release the clutch pedal without giving gas and once the car is crawling, feed gas. However, in traffic stop-start conditions this is not always possible (as the guy behind will be honking to death; yes in India we honk at the drop of a hat).

At speed, the car seems fine; the problem surfaces when one is starting off from standstill.

oddly i have the same problem and my car is bog standard i have tryed so many ways of pulling off and its hard to find a good method of pulling off but as soon as i get into 3rd it seems fine

Probably means drop links...Suspension to ARB. Although can see my you say fleecing based on above.

Either that or the garage accidentally ordered the drop link bushes that the standard octavia use, not fitted them because there's nowhere TO fit them, and charged him anyway. Or is it just that my '03 vRS is different to the earlier ones in that the drop links connect direct to the ARB and the back of the strut without bushes? I thought all vRS's were the same???

Now if the garage are claiming that they had to change the fluid in order to change the bushes (which is complete rubbish), it's most likely that they don't have any brake pipe clamps. They've probably let the reservoir run dry and made a complete bodge of bleeding everything. The hydraulic clutch works opposite to brakes, so that it's a pain to lift off the clutch without kangarooing would concur with a bleeding issue.

Apart from the judder, does the clutch or brake pedal feel any different, with regards to response or biting point?

oddly i have the same problem and my car is bog standard i have tryed so many ways of pulling off and its hard to find a good method of pulling off but as soon as i get into 3rd it seems fine

Sounds like yours is worn! Mine was like that till i changed it made a massive difference!

Sounds like yours is worn! Mine was like that till i changed it made a massive difference!

i was hopeing u was not going to say that lol!! its hard to explain but if for example if i am at a standstill and i give it enough revs to pull away and i have tryed pulling the clutch out as gentle as possible and it judders and can bog down then i just go along normally get it upto say 2-3000 revs change gear same again but in the higher gears its ok i am hopeing it aint clutch problems tbh as i will change the dogbone mount and hope it will cure it

Thank you all for your feedback.

To answer questions, which I can, as my technical knowledge is zero, the clutch pedal and bite point does not feel any different. So,as advised, I will wait for another 500 miles to see if things improve.

Sorry for my lateish reply; was outstation.

Cheers.

just bought this,and can't wait to mount it.But I have to wait several weeks,the weather is very bad (windy,35cm of snow)

yes is the softer diesel version (RED) for my 1.8T.

Edited 12 February, 201214 yr by IulianE