Hi all,

Looking for a bit of advise for my VRS's handeling, I'm a purest, in that I want to keep my Octavia looking standard, besides the fact that my wife would notice any outside changes I do like the look of the car, and I fear if I lowered it speed bumps would drive me even more crazy than they already do

I had been intending on getting a whiteline RARB as I had heard people saying they were the essential mod to improve handeling, but I have read a few threads recently mentioning the Neuspeed 28mm RARB and a R32 FARB, saying they put the whiteline to shame.

So my question is this, for someone that's no intention of lowering his car but would like to improve the handeling as much as possible, Would this still be the best RARB/FARB setup for me?

Thanks in advance

New bushes all around and solid ones at the front.

New dampers and if the springs look slightly on their way out do them too.

A good alignment.

I had r32 farb and Neuspeed 28mm rarb on standard (tired) suspension and the difference was night and day. Much better turn in, reduced understeer and flatter cornering. Still far from perfect but a vast improvement.

(also had TT/S3 upper and lower braces).

You can do all the suspension mods you like without touching the ride height of the car.

you can get spring spacers for short sports springs to retain stock ride height

most well designed coilovers will let you retain stock ride height

You can do all the suspension mods you like without touching the ride height of the car.

you can get spring spacers for short sports springs to retain stock ride height

most well designed coilovers will let you retain stock ride height

Would it change the general feel of the car though? I do a lot of motorway journeys in my car too, anything to hard would drive me crazy

Take a look at something like Koni FSD shocks and there matching springs

Fitted a whiteline Rear ARB - which is adjustable. Noticeable difference on a standard (non VRS) car.

But with crap quality summer-only rear tyres fitted it had an interesting tendency to oversteer on damp roundabouts...

With Goodyear ultragrips on all 4 corners again it gives a lot of confidence and ive now increased the ARB stiffness setting

I dont know how it would behave if I had an uprated front ARB too?? Maybe it would start to understeer again?

Edited 8 July, 201213 yr by 2276

Fitted a whiteline Rear ARB - which is adjustable. Noticeable difference on a standard (non VRS) car.

But with crap quality summer-only rear tyres fitted it had an interesting tendency to oversteer on damp roundabouts...

With Goodyear ultragrips on all 4 corners again it gives a lot of confidence and ive now increased the ARB stiffness setting

I dont know how it would behave if I had an uprated front ARB too?? Maybe it would start to understeer again?

Depends what sized bar you fitted m8. When I fitted my whiteline one I only had oversteer when I was silly and lifted off really fast and that was only once. On roundabouts its really planted

Sent from my Galaxy S2 not a Crapple!

I've got a full set of Neuspeed ARBs on mine.

28mm rear matched to the 25mm front. To say its standard otherwise it grips like an absolute *******. I would suggest they'd be the ones to go for.

Of course make sure you've got decent tyres as well, one thing that is massively overlooked these days! My bars matched to ContiSportContact 3's all round means I really do have trouble catching it out, only if i'm utterly stupid or put full power down in the wet.

I've had Falcon 452's on it for a fair while now, very good mid ranges, but I imagine not quite as good as your conti's.

Thank you everyone for all the idea's. Looks like I should be looking to spend more on suspension than I was, but give my current setup a good once over before I do anything else

Mine is on standard springs and shocks with the addition of R32 FARB and Neuspeed 28 mm RARB on middle setting. Job done its awesome !

Bushes and ARBs will be your best bet.

Damian @ DPM Performance

Whats a set of bushes gonna set me back then? obviously with arb's you only have 2 things to worry about it's nice and simple. Other than once being told I needed a new bush on my old Passat I don't know much about them

Harder bushes will improve transient behaviour, but they'll also increase engine and road noise passed into the body. If you're still considering this rather than just getting ARBs and maybe FSDs, try DPM or AwesomeGTI and ask about Polybush.

Harder bushes will improve transient behaviour, but they'll also increase engine and road noise passed into the body. If you're still considering this rather than just getting ARBs and maybe FSDs, try DPM or AwesomeGTI and ask about Polybush.

Cheers mate, I don't want that!

I've got a full set of Neuspeed ARBs on mine.

28mm rear matched to the 25mm front. To say its standard otherwise it grips like an absolute *******. I would suggest they'd be the ones to go for.

Of course make sure you've got decent tyres as well, one thing that is massively overlooked these days! My bars matched to ContiSportContact 3's all round means I really do have trouble catching it out, only if i'm utterly stupid or put full power down in the wet.

what bushes did you use on the Neuspeed ARBs?

what bushes did you use on the Neuspeed ARBs?

The rear ones were the Neuspeed originals as they were in good nick. But for the front I got some SuperPros. They're easily the best for value and quality of bushes and you can get them in basically whatever size you want.

Whole car is tight as a drum now. Only thing that lets it down is having standard suspension.

I have to say group1rs's car does handle really nice for a car on standard shocks/springs. I may well go this route myself later in the year.

If you are really looking for just better overall handling and turning and confidence then the first mod and reasonably cheap mod as mentioned is just get a Whiteline RARB. At around £170 best value for handling you will get.

If you start going extreme like Neuspeed RARB 25mm or 28mm not only are these lot more expense but will put more stress on your std bushes and suspension which in turn will force you to start replacing more stuff later on.

You will also need to get a better FARB like a Golf R32 equivalent to compensate for the much stronger Neuspeed versions.

Don't get me wrong Neuspeed are best that is why i have them but this then leads onto replacing bushes, suspension, other handling mods and before you know it you have the bug(like me) for continual change

Most folks with these Neuspeed have already done all the other suspension and coil over routes..

start with basics first you will not be disappointed with the whiteline

Gonna fit coil overs to mine soon and keep close to stock height almost fully poly bashing it as well will tell you the results m8 and we both use the same sorta roads aswell

Sent from my Galaxy S2 not a Crapple!

Crayon,

same story for me 3 years ago. so fitted a whiteline 24mm 3-way adjustable RARB. It complements the OEM 19mm FARB ideally and comes with poly-bushes. Definitely allows a more sporty drive but oem ride. There is no better marriage when it comes to ride height, handling and comfort and it dials out the understeer so you can push it a bit further.

Been thinking about removing it as want a 28mm for track work. just never got round to it. PM me if you are interested.