Hi all,

I have a 2010 Mk2 Octavia 1.8TSI that is begging for some mods. She has driven close to 50,000 Kms in India. What the car really needs upfront is a handling boost but for the life of me I can't decide how to go about doing it. Here are my options

1) Bilstein B16 PSS10 or Koni adjustable suspension. This solution I think is pretty much out. The bilstein will run me close to 2000 GBP landed in India and from the conditions of our lovely pockmarked roads, it will destroy any passengers back. The Koni will probably be around 800-1000 GBP but same problem. So unless some one can suggest how to use one of these and keep the ride acceptable for a daily driver (remember our roads are worse than UK roads) I don't think it makes sense. At the price though, I must say Koni's sounds better than the Bilsteins. Even though I like the Bilstein systems more.

2) Use Bilstein B6 shocks with Eibach pro-kit springs. From the research I have done, it seems that this will improve handling while keeping ride comfort to acceptable levels. This will lower the car by 30 mm according the eibach. It costs 800-900 GBP

3) Use Bilstein B6 shocks with stock springs. Will this improve the handling all that much?

The only advantage of 3 that I can see is that it does not lower the car. Will option 2 lower the car from my GC of 165 mm? or the euro spec GC which is much lower? I don't want to have the drive super car style in the city.

Thanks!

I wouldn't recommend b16 for indian roads. I'd look at the shock/spring combo - either b6 or b8 with eibachs.

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the reply! I agree that the B16's will be an overkill, besides I'm not convinced its money well spent for a daily driver, maybe for a track car, but that's neither here nor there. I have a couple of things I'd love to run by you and the other people here.

1) I have recently come in contact with people running B14s. They cost around 1200-1300 GBP and I am not convinced they a worth it, especially considering they offer only adjustable ride height. In addition I dunno if they'll be rather harsh for a daily driver. What do you think?

2) should I use eibach, HR or weitec springs for the car? The HR are a little more aggressive in terms of handling. The weitecs come with an option of lowering by 20 mm, that may or may not be a meaningless advantage over the eibach prokit.

Thanks for your help!

I

Hi Imp - just a heads up, there's a group buy on Bilsteins at the moment (via the R32OC site). 15-20% off but is due to close soon. Can't say if they'll be any good or not but something to factor in...

I wouldn't recommend b16 for indian roads. I'd look at the shock/spring combo - either b6 or b8 with eibachs.

Things have gotten really interesting over the last couple of hours. It turns out that one can get good value for money (for India) KW's with manual adjust and custom designed (for india) Teins with electronic controls for this car. Both have ride height and dampening adjust and are not too much more than the B6's. what do you say? Take a plunge with Teins or stick to KW V2's?

I have B6's an Eibach Pro Springs its a killer combo, tested them fully on Sunday really awesome, and the UK roads aren't any better than India's.

Got a set of b14s on the vrs, not that bad on out roads. Best set for non track use is B6+HnR. Pete's sells it for about 75k or so.