Reading the forum, it apprears that fitting a stiffer RARB makes a significant improvement to the handling - is this as beneficial to the estate, which is mostly driven hard when empty. What else would give a similar improvement to remove the sloppy vague feeling, though I don't want edgey oversteer. I'd prefer Alfasud to 205GTi!

Its as beneficial if not even more so on the estate.

 

Even with the stiffest bars like the BSH 27mm setup you wont end up with an oversteering nightmare.  You have to consider that all these bars have been designed to work on the Golf GTI platform.  the Octy vRS has considerable more weight over the rear so the rear bars wont have the same improvement as will be experienced on the GTI.

 

The Superpro anti lift castor bushes will remove slop from the front wishbones whilst also adding additional castor which adds more weight to the steering.

 

The lower engine mount also makes a big difference.  Theres a shocking amount of engine movement on the std mounts which is also the cause of the wheel hop on acceleration from standstill.

 

The Forge shortshifter (front to rear) is also a great little mod.  

Thanks. How do the Polybushes compare to the Superpro bushes, and what about re-bushing the ARB?

Ive only ever tried superpro so I dont know.

Just re bushing the anti roll bars will not be worth the effort imo. Better of just doing the arbs properly.

Sorry, meant polybushing an uprated RARB

Sorry, meant polybushing an uprated RARB

 

Uprated ARBs come with polybushes anyway   

OK, I probably misunderstood Tony at Shark earlier. He's quoted me for the Eibach kit, but fitting a fr and rr bar plus replacing the bushes on the front control arms is a similar cost to fitting a B12 kit. Probably just do the RARB then see how that improves things, especially given my car is still only at 19k anyway so the bushes will still be relatively tight.

Edited 15 August, 201312 yr by stever750

I had the eibach front and rear kit on my Octavia.  i wouldnt buy it again.  I wasnt enough of an improvement IMO, still understeer present, whereas with rear bars alone or better front/rear packages there was a much better handling improvment in my experience of trying a fair amount of different setups.

 

Rather than spend about £500 ish on supply/fitting a front/rear ARB setup with poly bushed front control arms, I would personally say you would see more benefit and value for money fitting the Rear ARB on its own, paired with Superpro adjustable front ball joints and if you have money spare the vibratechnicks lower engine mount.

 

(Id be looking at H&R, BSH, Whiteline, Autotech or Superpro for the anti roll bars before i considered eibach ARBs) 

I had the eibach front and rear kit on my Octavia.  i wouldnt buy it again.  I wasnt enough of an improvement IMO, still understeer present, whereas with rear bars alone or better front/rear packages there was a much better handling improvment in my experience of trying a fair amount of different setups.

 

Rather than spend about £500 ish on supply/fitting a front/rear ARB setup with poly bushed front control arms, I would personally say you would see more benefit and value for money fitting the Rear ARB on its own, paired with Superpro adjustable front ball joints and if you have money spare the vibratechnicks lower engine mount.

 

(Id be looking at H&R, BSH, Whiteline, Autotech or Superpro for the anti roll bars before i considered eibach ARBs) 

 

How do they work then? Not simply a stiffer bush material?

The std ball joints are fixed so you cant add any negative camber to the front.  The Superpro ball joints allow another 1.5 degrees of negative camber which is a huge improvment in front end grip. (You can see them in the centre here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=373796492745868&set=a.131069017018618.22322.124288387696681&type=1&theater  )

 

the 3 biggest issues with he vRS are body roll, lack of front end grip when cornering hard and on the power and wheel hop.  The Rear ARB, Superpro ball joints and lower engine mount sort them out respectively.

If it helps I had the Whiteline RARB (adjustable) & the ALK (anti lift kit) fitted & it's so much better when you put the power down (less wheel spin & very reduced over steer) & turning is a treat thanks to both & the RARB has stiffened up the back nicely.   I think the 2 best possible changes I could have done, after having the map.

I'll do this in 3 stages - first up an H&R RARB, secondly the adjustable BJ and rebush the console to give slightly more -ve camber and improve wheel control. It seems that doing either of these in isolation will have some benefit, but suspect the sum is greater than the individual parts.

Third phase is to uprate the springs and dampers to something like the Bilstein B12 kit, but that will be next year sometime.Oh, and the rather pathetic sewing machine soundtrack needs sorting out at some point, a Toyota Yaris sounds more sporty.

Edited 17 August, 201312 yr by stever750

Good shout.    

 

TheB12s are an awesome kit btw.

 

With he exhaust i found that a 3" downpipe with 200cell cat (stage 2 remap required) the engine note was much closer to that of my previous Mk2 Focus ST;  Deeper burble but not loud with it.  When I didn the catback it just became loud,

Interesting thread guys, like stever I find the handling of my wagon a bit sloppy and you can hear the trim creak as the body flexes!!! So I'm interested in sharpening up the handling a bit without compromising ride. I'm thinking strut braces to stiffen the body shell which will reduce the flex and let the suspension work better. Then ARBs and dampers to sort out the ride/handling. B12 kit looks good but if I understand correctly it lowers the car, is there a decent kit out there that doesn't lower? I need to keep the ride height for driving up tracks and things when I am camping/MTBing/climbing etc etc which is what I bought the wagon for in the first place!

Strut braces arent really needed, the chassis is already vastly stiffer than the previous mk1 setup. Anti roll bars on the other hand will stop the body roll making the car more precise and controlled whilst not impacting the ride quality.

The B12 kit comprises lowering springs and bilstein B8 dampers. So if you want stock ride height then just chuck on some dampers and yoyr sorted.

Thanks Sy. Might well be B8s then ...

How much does the ride height drop with the b12 springs company are to std? I guess if they are shorter then the spring rates will be higher, or are they similar?

I'm after a slightly firmer ride which uprated dampers will help I guess, but stiffer springs are probably what I need.

I'm fighting the temptation to make all the changes at once, I really need another Octy owner who had had the mods to take me for a spin to get a feel for the changes.

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According to these guys, up to 40mm. Spring rates are not necessarily higher for shorter springs, it depends on the material and number of turns and things like that ...

Correction, that's up to 40mm for the BILSTEIN B12 Pro-Kit, it's up to 50mm for the Sportline kit. The B8 dampers are shortened to suit so I guess it would be B6 for me if I am keeping the stock springs

Correction on my earlier post.  The B6 dampers are for stock springs.  B8 dampers are for lowered springs.

Correction on my earlier post.  The B6 dampers are for stock springs.  B8 dampers are for lowered springs.

 I can highly recommend B6 dampers as they are vastly superior to stock dampers and totally transforms the handling