so in march im looking at getting rid of the joms currently on my fabia and treat it to a lovely new suspension set up and rarb. but im limited by budget and would like them to be as close to factory dampening as possible. preferably with adjustable dampening too.

my choices as I see it:

1) fk hi-tec 60/40 fixed heigh suspension kit, with adj. dampening. + rarb kit

2) ap coilovers + rarb

the thing is is that the cheapest I can find NEW damping adjustable coilovers is around the 550-600 mark. the two choices above are that and ive got an arb in there too.

ideally my top budget for suspension is 400. the fixed height kit is 350 but adj dampening. which draws me in a lot. my back is suffering from the joms after 3 months. I NEED comfort! !!

I know this is a very widely covered topic, but I would like it for me

help me wise people

cheers

Chris

Sack the rarb off and just put funds towards kw/weitecs. Rarb fun for just making back end twitchy lol

so in march im looking at getting rid of the joms currently on my fabia and treat it to a lovely new suspension set up and rarb. but im limited by budget and would like them to be as close to factory dampening as possible. preferably with adjustable dampening too.

my choices as I see it:

1) fk hi-tec 60/40 fixed heigh suspension kit, with adj. dampening. + rarb kit

2) ap coilovers + rarb

the thing is is that the cheapest I can find NEW damping adjustable coilovers is around the 550-600 mark. the two choices above are that and ive got an arb in there too.

ideally my top budget for suspension is 400. the fixed height kit is 350 but adj dampening. which draws me in a lot. my back is suffering from the joms after 3 months. I NEED comfort! !!

I know this is a very widely covered topic, but I would like it for me

help me wise people

cheers

Chris

Such mixed reviews on the JOMs! I've had some on a Polo for a while and I sometimes tend to forget I'm running them....Until I hit a pothole at night or hit a bit of lumpy road, then that remind's me haha. 

Sack the rarb off and just put funds towards kw/weitecs. Rarb fun for just making back end twitchy lol

 

I couldn't disagree with you more strongly, the purpose of an anti-roll bar is to reduce body roll without having to lower or stiffen the suspension more than necessary, on a billiard table this would be irrelevant but out here in the real world UK roads have never been so bumpy.

 

Most sports hatches have front and rear ARB's fitted as standard, for some reason (probably cost) Skoda only fitted a FARB to the Fabia.

 

If you lower your car as far as you can then by definition you will have dramatically reduced suspension travel and therefore your dampers will have much more work to do because they have less room to do it in, this is why the dampers performance becomes so critical and why budget coilovers perform so poorly.

 

JOM's are universally panned by anyone who actually tries to drive their car in a spirited fashion on the twisty bumpy black stuff because their budget dampers simply can't cope with the workload, any improvements in handling from such a kit come purely from reduced body roll only, as soon as you hit a bump while turning the car will leap and attempt to skip sideways and will perform worse than it would on standard suspension. Many owners on budget coilovers actually lose the back end of the car while cornering and some even have accidents as a result, they don't know why this happens because the over-stiff suspension masks feedback. I often see owners on here with coilovers and a radical drop who fit a RARB as well and put it on the stiffest setting, I'm surprised the car is actually drivable since they have effectively made the back end completely rigid. No wonder they have accidents.

 

Many owners who fit budget coilover kits do so entirely for aesthetic reasons, they are therefore happy with the kit because it gives them the 'look' that they bought it for, reduced body roll is seen as a secondary benefit and any objective analysis of the suspensions actual performance comes a very distant third.

 

I would say that if you want comfort AND real world performance then you should lower no more than 25-30mm, buy the best quality dampers you can afford and fit a RARB, if your budget is constrained we can break this down even further by just buying the best front dampers you can afford, assuming your rear standard dampers are in good condition, you can change these in the future as more funds become available.

 

If you want a more radical drop of say 50mm then you won't need a RARB because your rear suspension will already be so stiff that roll will become negligible.

 

As with so much in life, you get what you pay for.

it might be because mine are second hand and seen a fair few miles, but there is literally no travel or rebound in them what so ever, I could replace them with solid metal beams and have more fun with it.

 

It's really sketchy on some corners too, as it'll skip round them as the suspension is so shagged

 

If I sack off the RARB kit, then I could get AP adjustables, at that price I could have:

 

FK Konigsports - Koni Shocks, dampening adjustable

AP Adjustables

Weitec Hicon GT

 

the AP Adjustables are the cheapest out of that at £625(ish) so seem to be the best value for money at that point

 

I need pictures of cars on a 60/40 kit ideally, anyone know the a VRS is lower than a standard fabia by any measurement? I've seen the 60/40 kits and the 40/35 kits, but that's for a stock fabia, not a VRS, just thinking out loud lol

I couldn't disagree with you more strongly, the purpose of an anti-roll bar is to reduce body roll without having to lower or stiffen the suspension more than necessary, on a billiard table this would be irrelevant but out here in the real world UK roads have never been so bumpy.

Most sports hatches have front and rear ARB's fitted as standard, for some reason (probably cost) Skoda only fitted a FARB to the Fabia.

If you lower your car as far as you can then by definition you will have dramatically reduced suspension travel and therefore your dampers will have much more work to do because they have less room to do it in, this is why the dampers performance becomes so critical and why budget coilovers perform so poorly.

JOM's are universally panned by anyone who actually tries to drive their car in a spirited fashion on the twisty bumpy black stuff because their budget dampers simply can't cope with the workload, any improvements in handling from such a kit come purely from reduced body roll only, as soon as you hit a bump while turning the car will leap and attempt to skip sideways and will perform worse than it would on standard suspension. Many owners on budget coilovers actually lose the back end of the car while cornering and some even have accidents as a result, they don't know why this happens because the over-stiff suspension masks feedback. I often see owners on here with coilovers and a radical drop who fit a RARB as well and put it on the stiffest setting, I'm surprised the car is actually drivable since they have effectively made the back end completely rigid. No wonder they have accidents.

Many owners who fit budget coilover kits do so entirely for aesthetic reasons, they are therefore happy with the kit because it gives them the 'look' that they bought it for, reduced body roll is seen as a secondary benefit and any objective analysis of the suspensions actual performance comes a very distant third.

I would say that if you want comfort AND real world performance then you should lower no more than 25-30mm, buy the best quality dampers you can afford and fit a RARB, if your budget is constrained we can break this down even further by just buying the best front dampers you can afford, assuming your rear standard dampers are in good condition, you can change these in the future as more funds become available.

If you want a more radical drop of say 50mm then you won't need a RARB because your rear suspension will already be so stiff that roll will become negligible.

As with so much in life, you get what you pay for.

My first Fabia was lowered on eibach springs and Koni fsds with jabba rarb. Still handled pants.

Civic type r had rarb and farb as standard , handled the best

My second Fabia lowered on kW v1 coilovers , handles much much better than my first Fabia but still nowhere as good as the type r was.

Civic was built for fast cornering (standard they ain't the quickest I know ) but around the bends it was cracking car.

All I'm saying is that the Fabia is never gonna be a really really good handling car as it wasn't built for it. But from my own experience all I would do is buy decent coilovers and it would handle a lot better than spring/shock combination with a rarb.

+1 -> As with so much in life, you get what you pay for.

Out of the 3 you've narrowed it down to I would go for the weitec purely because they are a sister company of KW.  I've had both (not in fabias) and they're very good coilovers.

 

Another idea for you would be something like a KW cup kit. I don't know if they do them for fabias.

I agree with Bazmcc, Weitec are pretty good! I would advise speaking to Damian at DPM Performance, a top bloke!

If I can be any help just let me know

 

Damian @ DPM Performance

You could drop me a pm bud re suspension please, Wanting a good spring and damper set up, Eibach springs look like a good recommendation, Wondering if the Koni dampers OR a Bilstein damper would be better???

 

Dave.

I couldn't disagree with you more strongly, the purpose of an anti-roll bar is to reduce body roll without having to lower or stiffen the suspension more than necessary, on a billiard table this would be irrelevant but out here in the real world UK roads have never been so bumpy.

 

Most sports hatches have front and rear ARB's fitted as standard, for some reason (probably cost) Skoda only fitted a FARB to the Fabia.

 

If you lower your car as far as you can then by definition you will have dramatically reduced suspension travel and therefore your dampers will have much more work to do because they have less room to do it in, this is why the dampers performance becomes so critical and why budget coilovers perform so poorly.

 

JOM's are universally panned by anyone who actually tries to drive their car in a spirited fashion on the twisty bumpy black stuff because their budget dampers simply can't cope with the workload, any improvements in handling from such a kit come purely from reduced body roll only, as soon as you hit a bump while turning the car will leap and attempt to skip sideways and will perform worse than it would on standard suspension. Many owners on budget coilovers actually lose the back end of the car while cornering and some even have accidents as a result, they don't know why this happens because the over-stiff suspension masks feedback. I often see owners on here with coilovers and a radical drop who fit a RARB as well and put it on the stiffest setting, I'm surprised the car is actually drivable since they have effectively made the back end completely rigid. No wonder they have accidents.

 

Many owners who fit budget coilover kits do so entirely for aesthetic reasons, they are therefore happy with the kit because it gives them the 'look' that they bought it for, reduced body roll is seen as a secondary benefit and any objective analysis of the suspensions actual performance comes a very distant third.

 

I would say that if you want comfort AND real world performance then you should lower no more than 25-30mm, buy the best quality dampers you can afford and fit a RARB, if your budget is constrained we can break this down even further by just buying the best front dampers you can afford, assuming your rear standard dampers are in good condition, you can change these in the future as more funds become available.

 

If you want a more radical drop of say 50mm then you won't need a RARB because your rear suspension will already be so stiff that roll will become negligible.

 

As with so much in life, you get what you pay for.

They also don't need to worry about body roll as they drive everywhere at 15mph with their right arm hanging out of the window

OP, for comfort and driveability and handling, try an AP lowering kit from DPM. Drops about 25mm from standard, not harsh or crashy at all and stiffens things up in the turns. It all comes down though to cost and what you want your car to look and drive like.

...Wondering if the Koni dampers OR a Bilstein damper would be better???

 

They're both superb, it comes down to which can be had for the better price I would guess.

I can only contribute to this from a "conventional" damper point of view, not coilovers.

 

For many years I have run lightly modified fast Peugeots as road / track cars. Fully trimmed, but with Bilstein Suspension. The 306 Gti6 ran on Bilstein B8 front dampers, eibach 30mm springs, with a rebuilt slightly lowered rear beam with Bilstein B6 dampers. The 206 gti180 that's going soon has B8's all round and Eibachs at the front.

 

Now my point is, that on the UK's dreadful roads, and also on certain European and UK tracks, you need a good degree of suppleness in the suspension, the ability to retain decent suspension travel as well as tightly controlled damping is more important than ride height. The "conventional" dampers from Bilstein, especially the B8's are faultless IMO, they do the daily commute, the family holiday, hard laps round the 'ring and are pretty much maintenance free. They are expensive even compared to some coilover kits but I really believe they do the best all round job.

 

When the Fabia Vrs lands soon, i'll be going down the B8 route again, and a sensible quality lowering springs.

They're maybe a little untested but may be worth looking at pb coilivers. Adjustable height and dampening

They're maybe a little untested but may be worth looking at pb coilivers. Adjustable height and dampening

they look incredibly good value and the product looks awesome

500 for fully adjustable coilovers sounds lime my ideal

Appreciate all the input though guys

they look incredibly good value and the product looks awesome

500 for fully adjustable coilovers sounds lime my ideal

Appreciate all the input though guys

No worries mate, they also offer adjustable top mounts too, if you wanted camber etc

You could drop me a pm bud re suspension please, Wanting a good spring and damper set up, Eibach springs look like a good recommendation, Wondering if the Koni dampers OR a Bilstein damper would be better???

 

Dave.

 

I'd say the two stand out options would be the Bilstein B12 kit that uses Eibach Pro springs and also the new ST suspension range from KW.

 

http://www.dpmperformance.co.uk/bilstein-25mm-b12-pro-lowering-springs-shocks-suspension-kitbr-fabia-6y-rs-19tdi-0899-p-8621.html

 

http://www.dpmperformance.co.uk/st-by-kw-20mm-sport-lowering-springs-shocks-suspension-kitbr-fabia-6y-rs-19tdi-0300-p-3223.html

 

Damian @ DPM Performance

Anyone got any pictures of fabias on 25mm /30mm /40mm or 60/40 drop please

Mines a 20/25mm drop

What setup are you on?

I run B8 and h&r springs that are made specially for the ibiza fr/ cupra. Cannot recomend them enough they have a firm ride like a sporty bmw ( m5 etc) but dont crash and bang like standard suspension.

The standard kit is undersprung and really overdamped on the seat, the fabia seems to be both undersprung and underdamped.

The b8 fronts are also much stiffer construction due to being upside downies so help reduce torque steer on fwd cars.

TBH if there good enough for VX to fit as standard to the corsa vxr ring edition thats enough for me.

I have kw fixed shocks and springs.

maybe this fixed height gear is the way forward

 

im too young for this coilover business, performance and handling is the way forward

maybe this fixed height gear is the way forward

 

im too young for this coilover business, performance and handling is the way forward

 

With a good quality set of coilovers you get performance and handling with the advantage of being able to raise and lower them.  It's only in the last 6 or 7 years that all this budget coilover stuff came about for people who didn't care as long as the car was low.