Has anybody got a Volkswagen racing front sway bar fitted to there Fabia mk2 vrs? If so would you reccomend it?

Thanks.

Has anybody got a Volkswagen racing front sway bar fitted to there Fabia mk2 vrs?   If so would you reccomend it?

Thanks.

Generally -Stiffer rear bar alone will reduce oversteer.-Stiffer front bar alone will increase oversteer.Altering just the one bar changes the whole handling characteristics and balance of the car. However when you combine the front and rear ARBs the effects dont cancel each other out so to speak. What you lose from keeping the balance similar to stock, you gain in grip.Generally when upgrading both bars the balance will stay the same or similar(preferably with a stiffer rear setup), however you gain alot from the reduction in body role. When the car rolls the wheels move away from their optimum geometry. A stiffer ARB setup means that the wheels maintain their optimum geometry for longer thus giving more grip. the biggest difference you see is on fast direction changes like chicanes etc. there is so much control available to you. my car is in with VWR as we speak, however im holding out on the bar until i can sort out a much stiffer rear ARB. I think the whiteline bar isnt substantial enough to make a difference on a car with coilovers.Ultimately i think ill end up with the VWR front ARB and a Jabba rear ARB. Front and rear ARBs have always been my favourite mods on all my previous cars. On my last vRS i had front/rear eibachs and found that to be very good, although i was looking at changing to a stiffer rear bar to make the car tend towards oversteer in nature purely for track work.

Interesting read, I fully understand where your coming from, I have a whiteline RARB at the moment on setting 'hard' it made a big difference when fitted however others swear by the jabba RARB and say its a lot firmer, I was thinking of going vwr front and whiteline rear for the time being on eibach springs.

Remember the Jabba RARB hasn't even been developed yet so no-one knows exactly what it will be like.

I wouldn't mind a front sway bar, need to find the price.

I remember reading that someone had fitted the mk1 sway bar to a mk2 and ha previously had a whiteline bar on which wasnt as sturdy

I had a quote for £307 for the vw racing FARB

I remember them trialling it on Pitbull's car but not an actual developed unit. Don't think he had a white line one before though, could be wrong.

LOL!!!! £307! I'll give it a miss!

If I remember who it was I'll have a second look at what was wrote in the thread, may well have been the Fabia mk1 not 100%

haha knew it'd change minds once the price was revealed :p

Ahhh ok well would be cool if it was a mk2.

That just seems a ridiculous price for what it is, if I was a hardcore track addict then maybe but I'm not.

I'll have a search around and double check

It does seem a little expensive I agree, what would you say is a must have for the Fabia vrs?

I'll have a search around and double check

It does seem a little expensive I agree, what would you say is a must have for the Fabia vrs?

Lowering springs, rarb, sticky tyres, remap and itg kit. I am biased though

Trying to stay away from a remap at the moment as I've had a few problems with my car since owning it

I have a RARB, decent tyres & standard air box with pipercross panel filter and custom intake

I fitted a forge intake and it seemed to lag abit, changed back to panel filter and all back to normal, does the itg kit make much of a difference to a stock car would you know?

I remember reading that someone had fitted the mk1 sway bar to a mk2 and ha previously had a whiteline bar on which wasnt as sturdy

I had a quote for £307 for the vw racing FARB

There are a fair few guys with the Mk1 vRS who were running the whiteline ARB with coilovers etc and found it made no difference, but found big improvements after changing to the Jabba bar which is stiffer. Hurdy says the same with his car. He noticed very little difference with his whiteline bar probably due to having a stiff coilover setup.Similar thoughts on the whiteline bars with the mk5 golf chassis. There are many better ARBs out there. As for testing. The Jabba bar was developed on their own Mk1 vRS iirc. Since we share the same rear beam as the Mk1 its not exactly requiring alot of development.That said i want my car to have a higher tendancy towards oversteer to make it more pointy on track so i will always lean towards the stiffer rear bars. For someone whos just mincing around on roads, theres no requirement for a really stiff setup and too stiff can make the car a handful in the wet as well

what would you say is a must have for the Fabia vrs?

Better brakes - IMO Std brakes are woeful at anything other than town speed. ARB - far to much body roll on these. Intercooler(also a radiator) - even stock these engines run hot. A remap exasperates this.  hotter IATs = less power.Then remap, suspension, intake, exhaust

May just wait for jabba to produce one for the mk2 then and look at purchasing one of there products, thanks

as for brakes what set up would you say works best, are mk1 & mk2 brakes the same do you know? I've havernt really looked into intercoolers as of yet, I've heard there are a few about i.e. hg motorsport, pace products etc, which have both had a lot of differenrent review, have you upgraded your intercooler?

With brakes even something as simple as uprating the pads to something with more friction makes a hgue difference (Ferrodo DS2500, Mintex M144 are a couple i have tried that were a good improvement)

I have the Pace Products Intercooler, they developed it on my car. Ive not read a mixed review yet, only guys saying its very expensive which it is, but saying that its an intercooler AND a radiator upgrade. My intakes dropped from around 60degrees+ above ambient on a WOT pull through the gears on a hot day down to 10-15 degrees above ambient on a WOT pull through the gears on a similar day.

Forge have their IC out now. Thats cheaper and no doubt performs well that will drop you IATs. But that will still leave you with the high oil/water temp issues(when you log the water temps under harsh use, ie on track, they reach over 120degrees without the analogue dial on the dash moving from 90deg!!!).

TBH,my car gets pushed harder than most and is runnign pretty high power, so cooling was very important to me. If you only stock or stage 1 and dont do track days the Pace Combo could seem too expensive for the returns it gives.

Thanks for the advice, I was looking at ebc brakes but they don't seem to have anything out yet for the mk2 vrs do you know, that why I was curious whether the mk1 and mk2 vRS brake setup are te same..

I had a word with forge today and they havern't yet brought out an intercooler for the Fabia just yet, looking at around a month until release however price is still to be looked at along with an uprated rad to go with it, maybe as a package or to be sold separate is still to be decided aswel according to the salesman I spoke to earlier

I have full coil overs, light weight wheels, jabba rear anti roll bar, 12mm rear and 3mm front spaces, a lot of weight reduction and some sticky rubber and the car handles really really well. Just enough rear slide to help the front turn in but full confidence it's not going to snap round mid corner. I think if I was to fit the front sway bar it would make the car to understeery for my liking however this may change when I fit a rear strut brace.

Coilovers are extortionately priced for the mk2 rs, which set have you fitted to your vehicle? I am keeping my eyes out for a set of team dynamic pro races, have wheels spacers made any difference to the way it handles?

How have you gone about reducing the weight of your Fabia, what have you removed/replaced?

I may go down the road of the FARB as I'd like to see how it performs with that RARB together.

Gaz shocks developed a kit on my car which are height and rebound adjustable and they retail at about 750 plus vat but it'll be best to ring them to find out up to date price.

I did the coil overs first which make the car handle nice.

I then fitted wider light weight wheels and tyres with spaces which increased the understeer tendency.

I then pit the jabba bar on which has made it handle good again.

As for weight I've removed all the sound deadening I can find, removed rear seats, spare wheel and tools. Removed rear ballast. I'm sure theres more just can't remember. My brakes should be a fair bit lighter when they go on swell.

£750+ the dreaded, Jesus that's a lot!

I'm on the hunt for some wheels at the moment, just need to find a pair best suited for my car and liking

Have you got the mk1 jabba bar on your mk2?

Bloody hell you've really gone to town with the weight reduction..do you not find it pointless having a 5 door car with no back seats tho lol

tarox are bringing some out i last heard shedding quite abit of weight from each corner.

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Edited 12 June, 201214 yr by P1TT8ULL

I took them out as I needed to transport some furniture and liked the extra noise and handling so never bothered putting them back. May do when I up the power a little more. Would really like to get it on the scales and see what it weighs now. And yea it's the .mk1 jabba bar. The miller back box is short enough for it to fit perfectly.

tarox are bringing some out i last heard shedding quite abit of weight from each corner.

TAROX already have a front brake upgrade available. They are on my Polo GTI. 323mm discs, 6 pot calipers, corsa+ pads, braided lines and a great set up. Really does stop the car on a penny!

I have the Whiteline RARB and it does help a little with the rear balance of the car, but I also have just about fully lowered Bilstein B16 pss9's on a relatively hard damping setting too.

I removed my rear seats a couple of weeks back to clean them and left the out for a few day and didn't really notice much difference really, is that back box a universal or direct replacement?

TAROX already have a front brake upgrade available. They are on my Polo GTI. 323mm discs, 6 pot calipers, corsa+ pads, braided lines and a great set up. Really does stop the car on a penny!

Now they are a lovely set of brakes I must admit but how much did they set you back do you mind me asking? I looked into the b16 coilovers but them again a very expensive set up

IMO with coilovers you get what you pay for. A premium set of springs and dampers will be a much better bet than some cheap coilovers.

I think most guys who have these expensive coilovers, do not need them and would be better off spending the money on a good quality set of springs and dampers. Many guys go and buy these all singing and dancing 3 way adjustable sets, have a garage fit & set it all on the recommended settings and don't corner weight them, then just leave it as that. To me that is a waste of money.

Id say its a fair bet that 99% of the garages that fit/sell coilovers have no idea what how to set them up, other than the factory recommended settings, so in that case yo would be better with a fixed preset rating.