Hi everyone, I've been for a ride in a friends Superb recently, same model, similar age but with around 40,000 less miles and I'm amazed at the difference in the quality of the ride between the two.

My friends is super smooth and comfy and mine in comparison feels rock hard and clunky.

Thing is I've spent a bit of cash on my suspension lately, new shocks, a few control arms, front top mounts and rear axel bushes and it has improved things a little but driving this other Superb has been a bit of an eye opener, especially considering its had no suspension work at all.

Can anyone suggest where I might be going wrong or what I might replace next ? I've mentioned my Sachs shocks before on here, suspecting that they are a little harder than I'd prefer but they get generally very good reviews and I can't believe they could make this much difference.

My local specialist didn't recommend changing the springs (which now have 165,000 miles on them) when he did the above work, could this be part of the problem ?

What are your tyres & what pressure do you run them at?

The Springs might well do with a change, not only the 40,000 miles difference to consider,

Spring hardness & dampers need to be considered & matched, maybe false economy not to have changed them.

2 identical cars can have carried very much different loads.

What kind of 'specialist' was he, a suspension one?

george

The tyres are Kumho on the standard 16 inch wheels and I was running them quite low 26-ish because even on just pitted Tarmac the rumbling and vibration was driving me to distraction. I checked them all yesterday and inflated them to the proper pressure, 33 front and 30 rear and now it's even worse.

Things don't seem to bad over large rolling bumps but over the small stuff, even expansion joints on motorways it feels pretty bad. The sound from the back is worse I think, sounds like there's someone kicking a bass drum in the boot and there's all kinds of rattles from in the cabin.

It's a sharp contrast to how the car was when new and to the one I drove recently, I know an extra 40,000 will make a difference but most of the suspension parts on my car are only a few months old at most, other than the springs and I've been led to believe that worn springs would make it feel softer rather than harder.

The garage I used was a local independent Skoda/Seat/VW not a suspension specialist.

Many thanks for your reply mate, any help very, very gratefully received.

Also whenever anyone gets in or out of the back it creaks very loudly, with or without the handbrake on...

Maybe worth seeing if you can get an Experienced Motor Mechanic at an Independent to drive it & give an opinion rather than a VAG Technician.

I do not know anythings about Sachs Dampers,

was there a reason for those being the ones that were fitted.

& was it standard VAG/Skoda bushes that were fitted?

george

Well I dropped the car off at my local Halfords for some new front shocks expecting them to replace them with whatever was on there originally, when I came to pick it up they said they'd been unable to locate a pair the same and so had fitted Sachs instead which were more expensive but they covered that extra cost.

I let it go at that, having heard of the Sachs brand and thinking I'd had a reasonable deal, later when I went back for the rears to be done I just asked them to put a matching pair on.

I've seen the error of my ways since then and stopped visiting Halfords, I found the previously mentioned specialist to have my dual mass flywheel and clutch changed and mentioned the harsh ride to him whilst there. He suggested having the rear axel bushes and front top mounts done with what I assume were just standard VW parts.

It did feel better than it was afterwards but still unfortunately terrible....

Creaking should be from rear axle bushes. Put some lube on them or change them. I think there was a "lubing" hole.

Ok thanks, they are new though, changed in an effort to get the quality of the ride correct along with the front top mounts...

Can anyone tell me if it's possible I could have had the wrong shocks fitted and if there's a definitive way to be sure without taking them all back out ?

Many thanks...

Hi everyone, I've been for a ride in a friends Superb recently, same model, similar age but with around 40,000 less miles and I'm amazed at the difference in the quality of the ride between the two.

My friends is super smooth and comfy and mine in comparison feels rock hard and clunky.

Thing is I've spent a bit of cash on my suspension lately, new shocks, a few control arms, front top mounts and rear axel bushes and it has improved things a little but driving this other Superb has been a bit of an eye opener, especially considering its had no suspension work at all.

Can anyone suggest where I might be going wrong or what I might replace next ? I've mentioned my Sachs shocks before on here, suspecting that they are a little harder than I'd prefer but they get generally very good reviews and I can't believe they could make this much difference.

My local specialist didn't recommend changing the springs (which now have 165,000 miles on them) when he did the above work, could this be part of the problem ?

What? You replaced all the shocks, arms and bushes and didn't replace the springs? I suspect that might be 99% of the problem.

Also, what shocks did the receipts from Halfrauds say were fitted? They should be exactly the same, but this is Halfrauds - they're just one notch above Kwik Fit in the incompetent table :(

I'm afraid so. I replaced 5 suspension arms and all four shocks at Halfords then found a local VW/Skoda specialist to do my clutch and flywheel and commented to him about how it was riding on the new shocks, he suggested changing the front top mounts and rear axel bushes.

He did say when he'd got it all out that the springs looked ok and not to bother changing them. I realise now it's madness given the cost of springs and labour charges.

Is it really possible the springs are 99% of the problem ? Wouldn't worn springs make it softer not harder ?

As for what the receipts say, they're shown as Sax not Sachs but they do match, no part numbers or anything on there though...

The bass drum feel you mention is something ive been suffering with along with a very harsh and loud ride,

i know my car is lowered and sitting on 19s but the noise and harshness just didnt feel the same as if it was just from the car being lowered,

ive had so many parts replaced on the car its unreal.

A few days ago i had my calipers rebuilt by a local specialist firm - http://brake-caliper-painting.co.uk and finally it seems to have cured the bass drum feel,harshness and noisy ride. one of my rear and front calipers were partially seized.

so it turn out the problem was my calipers. its just a thought its worth giving them a check, even more so as the colder days are on there way.

I will thanks, hard to imagine the noise I'm getting is from the brake campers but at this point I'm willing to try anything, thanks again...