"Phantom" fabia II vRS estate

[mmmRacer]

The new ARB's (sway bars) on my wagon   are from Harding Performance (APR Australia). The front bar is a 27mm (stock about 19mm) and the rear bar is a 24mm. I went for these ones because I preferred the way the rear mounted to the bottom of the spring mount. 

 

BTW... Mounting the front bar costs a lot more in labour then the bar itself.

Edited 28 April, 2014 by mmmRacer

[sharkrider]

20k service done today, all good, and a reasonable £149 all "green" on the checksheet!

[Jabozuma]

Ready for Blyton Park then!

Nice thread, will be keeping my beady eye on it

[sharkrider]

Insurance renewal time :( Now I had a big heavy slate fall off my roof and hit my car in the winter storms.... this cost £1500 to repair, I was dreading renewal time, as I knew they would sting me, as its classed as a fault accident..... surely enough my insurance has gone up from £500 to £1000 (aproximations) , damn, I dont make enough money as a driving instructor to (part time) to justify that, I would LOOSE money overall :( I thought I would have to give it up, and take out a "normal" modified insurance premium, as this would be much cheaper, seeing as there are only 2 companies I know of that will insure my car and circumstances, and only one that will let me mod it :(

 

BUT JOY! llyods latchford have come up trumps again (like they did with my eunos classic car insurance for £18 a month!) and found ANOTHER company that will insure me cost? £500! halof the price! wow.

 

I have just been checking all the forms, and under mods it says "roll bars" - now I only have the H&R RARB.... so I rang them uo, and said, "does the term roll bars mean I can put a front one on at no extra cost?" I'll check he says....

 

a few minutes later... ' do you mean the roll bars that go on underneath the vehical?' yes - I say , ' certainly then, no extra cost, you can fir the front one too '

 

can't catch my breath , seems this new company is even more mod friendly than the old one!

 

next thing for "phantom" is an H&R FRONT anti roll bar

 

Shark.

[Jabozuma]

Excellent result!

[mmmRacer]

Just a suggestion when setting up your arb. My std front arb was around 19mm. So if the H&R is only 20mm then maybe try it on a harder setting first to go with the 25mm rear. The HP arb's (from SuperPro originally I think, both in Queensland) on my estate are 27mm front and 24mm rear and both are set to soft. This set up feels great on the track but a little stiff for the street. At the moment on the track I am getting no noticeable understeer and the back is just dancing around a tiny bit when the tyres are still cold in the morning or when I am throwing it around too hard at the end of the day to set a better time. In general though it just feels pretty nuetral no matter how hard I push it.

PS... Bilstein B8's getting fitted next week, so just the bushes left to going before the handling is complete. I will also try to get off my behind soon too and do my own build thread since we are starting to lack a few tuned mk2's in the project section now. Although it is funny to see that the mk2 estates are becoming more popular then the hatchbacks as project cars...lol.

[sharkrider]

you are about one step ahead of me always! lol... the H&R also comes with shortened drop links to fit lowered suspension.... I will then go for the (expensive) bilstiens, and maybe do polybushing at the same time, save a little labour!

[Sparkly]

I would have thought the H&R front and rear is the best pairing, I can't imagine the Germans have set the front up too soft, the thickness of the bar I'm sure doesn't tell the whole story.

 

I am really noticing the lack of my rear bar on the car now even with uprated springs and dampers, response at turn in and that locked in feeling you have in a corner is gone.  I found the rear bar alone perhaps makes the rear a bit too hard in comparison to the front without an uprated bar.  My suspicion is that you will love running both Dave, especially on track.

 

Don't discount the KW ST Dampers either Dave, they are doing a lovely job on my car with the H&R springs, soon to be coming off the car for sale, I had wanted to sell them as a kit with the springs, but if you are interested I'd try to let you have them at a fair price for Phantom.

[MartynVRS]

I'm still looking forward to getting my RARB. Mine is off the road thanks to a brake issue. Tried using just a 312mm carrier with the standard caliper as they are the same size as my 312mm setup. All fits but for some reason when braking the caliper itself twists and I have no braking. Ordered Yellowstuff pads instead to save messing about anymore. But while I wait the car is off the road so I'm in the Swift Sport. I'm loving the stiffness and how keen it is to turn in and want to swap ends. Hoping the RARB will help and it sounds like it will.

[Sparkly]

I'm still looking forward to getting my RARB. Mine is off the road thanks to a brake issue. Tried using just a 312mm carrier with the standard caliper as they are the same size as my 312mm setup. All fits but for some reason when braking the caliper itself twists and I have no braking. Ordered Yellowstuff pads instead to save messing about anymore. But while I wait the car is off the road so I'm in the Swift Sport. I'm loving the stiffness and how keen it is to turn in and want to swap ends. Hoping the RARB will help and it sounds like it will.

 

I had best get that in the post then

 

I am on it!

[Ally_bassman]

I had best get that in the post then

I am on it!

Spacers too...??? ;-p I have got money waiting for you!! Haha!

[Sparkly]

Spacers too...??? ;-p I have got money waiting for you!! Haha!

 

Will move to PM Al as this is Dave's thread

[Ally_bassman]

Sorry Dave!

 

I will redeem myself by contributing to the topic;

 

I think the RARB and FARB would be an awesome setup. Mixed with the uprated springs it will make a real difference to turn in especially as the front will now be under the control of a bar similar to the rear. I am probably wrong, but if you want good balance in a cars handling, you want to keep things consistent from back to front and side to side?

[Jabozuma]

Has anybody installed upper front and back strut braces yet? That would take out chassis flex

[MartynVRS]

Has anybody installed upper front and back strut braces yet? That would take out chassis flex

That's a good question and something I was recently thinking about myself

[Th3Grinch]

Dont believe its been done on here. But I too have been looking at them. Was thinking it would be stretching the car into track mode permanently? I have far too many dodgy roads round here for a ridiculously stiff car. Currently taking my lowering slrings out as they are a tad hard.

[Jabozuma]

That is the thing. I'd think that top strut braces could be better than anti-roll bars. The reason for it is that suspension is not altered at all so it retains all the independent damping properties but chassis gets added rigidity, which is always a Holy Grail for car designers. Have nice and soft suspension but extremely rigid chassis.

FARB and RARB installations are virtually taking a road car towards go-kart . I am not disputing they do not work, they work very well indeed but at a cost of loosing independence of suspension and damping ability. Strut bracing doesn't do it hence my question.

[sharkrider]

I would have thought the H&R front and rear is the best pairing, I can't imagine the Germans have set the front up too soft, the thickness of the bar I'm sure doesn't tell the whole story.

 

I am really noticing the lack of my rear bar on the car now even with uprated springs and dampers, response at turn in and that locked in feeling you have in a corner is gone.  I found the rear bar alone perhaps makes the rear a bit too hard in comparison to the front without an uprated bar.  My suspicion is that you will love running both Dave, especially on track.

 

Don't discount the KW ST Dampers either Dave, they are doing a lovely job on my car with the H&R springs, soon to be coming off the car for sale, I had wanted to sell them as a kit with the springs, but if you are interested I'd try to let you have them at a fair price for Phantom.

I would be interested in the dampers Mark, if you can garuntee they make a difference!

[Ally_bassman]

they work very well indeed but at a cost of loosing independence of suspension and damping ability. Strut bracing doesn't do it hence my question.

 

Wheels moving independently? Damping ability?? I didn't think those characteristics came under MK2 VRS's suspension characteristics!

[Sparkly]

I would be interested in the dampers Mark, if you can garuntee they make a difference!

Best I can say is if I bring my car to Blyton on Sunday, you can take it for a trundle.

 

Far better that you decide.

 

My opinion is that yes they do a very good job, I have driven my car with stock springs, lowering springs alone, lowering springs and RARB, lowering springs and Dampers and RARB, the last setting was significantly superior than without the dampers, both in comfort and control.

[sharkrider]

Phantom performed very well at Blyton park today... I may however have to go for even more extream pads, and I need the FARB asap! lol...

[James I]

Did you find the limit on the Yellows Dave?    For How Fast they should be ok, shorter session.  Try bleeding them tomorrow with an easi bleed, your pedal will come back ok.

[sharkrider]

its ok as soon as it cools down... someone pointed out they were smoking at one point.... got to go harder! lol..

[Jabozuma]

Phantom performed very well at Blyton park today... I may however have to go for even more extream pads, and I need the FARB asap! lol...

 

Aww, c'mon, I will never be able able to keep up with you! Wait till I get RARB installed first! 

With brakes I think we had the same problem. My pads were not smoking despite breaking extremely hard. I also run Gulf RBF1000 fluid with very high boiling point and bled the brakes before the track day. 

With the amount of grip the tyres were producing I was not able to lock the front wheels at all! Rears, since nowhere near as loaded as fronts were locking nicely (as Dave noticed when he rode shotgun with me) and car was dancing a little bit but never full lock on the fronts.

Pedal was behaving funny. To have the best stopping power I had to literary mash it right up to the floor and then it was stopping great i 1/3 of a normal distance, but still not locking up/ABS kicking in. 

I am not sure if this is due to electronics controlling brake pressure and only giving 100% when detecting emergency braking situation (pedal going to the floor and braking power increasing markedly) or is it simply time for 312mm discs and calipers from Octy1 ? Slotty had them on his Fabia diesel and said they were straight swap. His car was braking really good.

 

The problem I have at the moment and I suppose it is the same with you Dave is that despite the car stopping pretty much OK I have next to zero feel in brake pedal :(. 

 

However, I will have to wait till my freshly bought Brembo HP2000 pads are all used up and need replacing to consider the change as I am not willing to waste £120 I spent on Brembo's

[mmmRacer]

its ok as soon as it cools down... someone pointed out they were smoking at one point.... got to go harder! lol..

well done....its good to see you are finally braking hard enough now....lol.

As a temporary and cheap fix you can try running some cooling ducts under your front bumper and into the wheel well via the small hole in the inner guard to at least keep them a bit cooler. I have done this for my last 2 track days and it has helped. Also be aware that the electronics are using the brakes to help turn the car into the corners. So they don't get much of a rest.

Edited 4 August, 2014 by mmmRacer