well I've finally got round to uprating the dampers, approx a week ago I had yellow Koni adjustables fitted all round, I personally couldnt justify the 1000 Euros approx for coilovers so plumped for the konis... even after taking into consideration the realtivley poor reviews they have for realibility on the rear of the octy...

well so far so good, and quite noticable improvement over standard, after 30K my old fronts were quite worse for wear which suprised me! the octy roll is still there but not quite as pronounced, the pitch/dive under accel/braking is all but gone and body control over undulations is now they way it should be...

I havent experimented with settings yet, fronts are set to full soft and rears were set to half way before fitting... will play arond with front settings anyway...

ride comfort is as before if not improved, at little firmer over ridges etc but certainly not off putting, only time will tell about the rears but fingers crossed so far so good, anyway part of taking the risk was the pretty good warranty...

thanks to everyone for dealin with all my Qs leading up to this, all advice was gratefully accepted

Cheers

Fergal

Having done 68K mls in the 4*4 combi , I firstly made the decision to keep it for the moment , but was unhappy about the way the car appeared to wallow when suddenly changing direction ( including vertically ! ) .

Living in the heart of Snowdonia it does change direction rather more than most cars in other areas and the car is also used for towing my dinghy and carrying canoes aloft , quite frequently .

So I have just had the timing belt and water pump replaced anyway , along with the shock absorbers and associated bushes etc .

Changing the suspension bits appears to have been well worth it , in my estimation , having just driven it back from the garage - 25 mls . It has got that " new " car feel back to the ride and handling , and is something that many who own cars of about 4-5 years old should consider .

I have , however , only replaced parts with standard Skoda bits .... don't tend to do exotic like Konis !