Hi All,

 

i am not from Europe at all , am actually from Egypt but i can't find any good skoda forums with English lang. so i can check conversations in it except this forum which is great

 

to get to the point

 

i just moved from a Honda Civic 8th Gen (2007 model) sedan Jap version & not the US or Eur. version, to a new Octavia 2014 1.4TSI DSG ambition,

 

i have till now 2 problems that needed your great help with if you can , and a question,

 

1-the outside noises insulation of the car is really not good & not as i expected and i don't know why or what is the problem ,at speeds the wind sound is very audible & even when parked and just siting inside the car with all windows up i can hear nearly everything on the road like moving cars & people talking ect...

 

it is like when you are parked & people move beside you while taking you hear them as if there is a window open & by nature i put my fingers on the 4 window buttons to check they are all closed

 

and while driving if a truck go past you or motorcycle or something i always feel the windows are not closed , while they are all closed properly

 

2-another strange issue that i wasn't expecting from such fine car is handling in the cross winds , at speeds like 120 to 160 KMs with side winds in the road the car just feels sliding on the road left & right and the steering always needs adjusting , the cars feels very very light when there is side winds and i don't know how to improve this if there is any way,is there any possible way to make the steering stiffer? and if there is a way , is this gonna help with the cross wind effect??

 

last thing that i needed to ask you about is the suspension stiffness , my car now is just 3650KMs on the clock , but from day one the suspension is very hard on potholes and such and even makes so PULSE sounds especially from the rear suspension , so is that normal?

 

 

thanks in advance for any help :)

 

 

(note : if you can notice from the pic attached , the octavias we have here in Egypt have higher Ground clearance that in Europe)

 

I have also noticed quite a bit of movement in strong winds. I assume its down to the car being relatively light for its size.

 

As for the suspension, it feels a lot smoother and more forgiving than on my Passat or the A3 before that.

The movement in cross winds, as mentioned, is down to how light the car is. Dont know if you have the different driving modes, but sport steering is stiffer. Thats what i go for on long journeys.

 

My Octy feels quite stiff suspension wise, but it is loosening up as it clocks up the miles. Its certainly not the most forgiving car, but at least there is hardly any body roll.

Others have had the 'pulsing' noise, but im not sure there has been a definitive answer as to what causes it. It only effects some cars, and not everybody has been able to stop it. There is a long thread on here somewhere about it.

 

Road noise I cant help on. Certainly Id say the road noise is fine. Its not the best, but is much better than my ex 8yr old Ford. Not sure why yours should seemingly be so much worse.

The movement in cross winds, as mentioned, is down to how light the car is. Dont know if you have the different driving modes, but sport steering is stiffer. Thats what i go for on long journeys.

 

My Octy feels quite stiff suspension wise, but it is loosening up as it clocks up the miles. Its certainly not the most forgiving car, but at least there is hardly any body roll.

Others have had the 'pulsing' noise, but im not sure there has been a definitive answer as to what causes it. It only effects some cars, and not everybody has been able to stop it. There is a long thread on here somewhere about it.

 

Road noise I cant help on. Certainly Id say the road noise is fine. Its not the best, but is much better than my ex 8yr old Ford. Not sure why yours should seemingly be so much worse.

Regarding the noise - have you checked all the door/boot/etc seals are fully in place?  Maybe the sound is not coming from where you think it is (under the dash possibly?).  Maybe try setting the heater fan to recirculate as this might also be a source of noise from outside or some other seal may be dislodged (cables, brakes/clutch???).

 

Edited to add - check the window seals too.  I fitted some rain deflectors on my old Fabia which caused the window seals to flex and caused a small amount of additional noise in the cabin.  It didn't bother me so I never fixed it. Maybe yours are not quite aligned properly.

Edited 21 March, 201412 yr by Smeghead

has the dealer removed the suspension blocks used during transportation? as if they are still left in this may explain the harsh ride

1st of all thanks alot guys for trying to help , really much appreciated

 

so about the car & your questions

 

i don't have different driving modes , but i think i read here that it could be altered via VCDs, so i needed to know from your great side , if it is possible to make it stiffer through the VCD,s will it reduce the effect of the side winds or not at all?

 

also what could be done in the future to reduce this effect ? as i don't have much knowledge in cars so i wanted to ask , is gripper tires or sporty suspension or a back spoiler could help , or larger tires in size??

 

what i have now is 205/55 R16 Premium contact 5 tires , if i go to 215/50 R17 could it help or not?

 

 

for the transfer blocks i don't know if the cars that came to egypt have them or not , but is there anyway that i could check my self visually?i looked at the back and didn't find anything strange and also in the front the part visible does not have any thing strange.

 

 

for the outside noises i checked all the weatherstrips & it is all very good & find & i also treated them to clean them with Leather care cream (made by Sonax Germany) but no difference at all

 

1 thing i noticed is how thin the doors glass are , the glass is so so thin that if opened 1/2 and i open & closed the doors it shakes like crazy , but when closed it is very very tight & does not move upwards or downwards.

 

last thing , could this be from the boot lid of the car being a hatch back and opens very wide with the rear glass makes it easy for the noises to come in or what do you think?

 

 

could you plz check the attached pic & tell me what is this small belt in the top of the shock absorber?????!!! 

 

Hi Mohamad,

 

The cable tie at the top of the shock is normal.  I just checked my car and I have them too.  It looks like it's just there to hold the shroud in place (keeps muck and dust away from the moving parts on the shocker).

 

Wheels and tyres - if you change to a lower profile then you will almost certainly make the ride worse than now (i.e. more harsh).  Chances are you'd spend a lot of money and gain nothing I'm afraid.

 

Side winds will upset any car to a degree. Have you checked your tyre pressures?  If they are too soft, too hard or out of balance from one side to the other, that would affect both ride quality and stability.

 

Glass in doors moving a bit and clunking when you close the doors with windows partially open is normal. I think every car I've owned has done this.

 

Noise from hatch I think is more likely to be a weather seal dislodged than through the glass though, as from your description it appears to be abnormally loud. I see you have checked the seals so maybe it's time to let you dealer take a look??

 

Hope this gives you some ideas where to look.

 

Cheers

Rick

Edited 22 March, 201412 yr by Smeghead

Had over sensitive steering on our 4x4, which has optional raised ride height suspension; by your description I think your car also has the same raised suspension set-up.

 

Been running Bridgestone LM30 winter tyres on steel rims mind since taking delivery, rather than the factory supplied Conti tyres. However initially I found I'd slightly over pressurised the tyres from that stated for '3 people' on the fuel flap, although by only 0.1 to 0.2 bar but getting rid of this excess did result in some improvement in the steering sensation.

 

Also had a dealer check the car over and they were of the opinion that the then new tyres were prone to following imperfections in the road surface rather than following a straighter line. They suggested this might improve with more miles, which thankfully has turned out to be correct and the car now feels a lot better to drive; covered 2500 miles or 4023 km to date.

 

 

TP

For the wind noise to be honest it is not something abnormal , but it is just loud for what it is expected from such a car , i expect better sound/wind insulation

the strip of the hatch back is also very fine & have no visual problems at all,

for the side winds parts , this is still my biggest problem , it is very strange how the car is very sensitive to wind as if they didn't test it in such conditions at all , and am talking about wind in Egypt which is far less powerful than what you got in Europe or something,

from couple of days i was driving on a high way & my speed was around 170KM and my wife beside me telling me why i feel that the car is swinging like that??!! she felt the car playing on the road from her passenger side,

I checked Tyre pressure & found it around 28PSI so i increased it to about 31PSI but not much a difference

so from your experience what Mods/changes could help in decreasing this cross wind effect?

larger tires regardless affecting the ride quality could it help with this problem or it will make it worse due too tram-lining & following road imperfections also?

Making steering stiffer through VCD if possible , will it help or not?

any other ideas? do you think misalignment even if very slight could cause this??

thanks again guys for all your great help

for the side winds parts , this is still my biggest problem , it is very strange how the car is very sensitive to wind as if they didn't test it in such conditions at all , and am talking about wind in Egypt which is far less powerful than what you got in Europe or something,

from couple of days i was driving on a high way & my speed was around 170KM and my wife beside me telling me why i feel that the car is swinging like that??!! she felt the car playing on the road from her passenger side,

I checked Tyre pressure & found it around 28PSI so i increased it to about 31PSI but not much a difference

so from your experience what Mods/changes could help in decreasing this cross wind effect?

larger tires regardless affecting the ride quality could it help with this problem or it will make it worse due too tram-lining & following road imperfections also?

Making steering stiffer through VCD if possible , will it help or not?

any other ideas? do you think misalignment even if very slight could cause this??

thanks again guys for all your great help

This doesn't sound right to me at all.  I have driven in quite high side winds with no such problem. You expect a small amount of movement but no more. What tyre pressures does the label in the fuel flap recommend for your car?  Mine says 2.4 bar (35PSI) front and rear for normal load. It's a different model so don't use my numbers on yours without checking first.

 

It may be that something else is wrong with the car so I would recommend asking your dealer to inspect it in the first instance.  If the dealer is not easy yto get to, then any competent mechanic should be able to at least give you an informed opinion as to the problem. 

 

Edited to add - I had  TVR Tuscan a few years ago which did pretty much what you describe above. The recommended tyre pressure was 24PSI at the front but it was very sensitive to any sort of crosswind, bumps, etc.  A few people on PistonHeads recommended dropping to 22PSI and it worked a treat. That's not to say this is the issue with your Octavia but it did demonstrate to me that tyre pressures are very important to get right. 

Edited 26 March, 201412 yr by Smeghead

On my vehicle the recommended is 2.2 bars

On my vehicle the recommended is 2.2 bars

OK that sounds about right (32 / 33 PSI). Try it at 32PSI (set it cold - i.e. morning before driving) and if that doesn't help you would be best advised to have your car checked out.  

i noticed that sometimes the back of the car tends to wander a little during speeds a little more than 100KM/H 

 

could the problem be in the torsion beam they are using now or the tires or what?

 

the car came with conti. premium contact 5 , which if found have great reviews on the net & have very good GRIP according to users , so what could be the problem :(

A couple of weeks after delivery I spoke to SUK Customer Services when they called me regarding another issue, I mentioned in passing the wind noise from 70mph specifically from the drivers door of my vRS being noisy, she said she'd heard of that before and that the doors could be "tightened" by the dealer. When I look down the door below the B pillar it does indeed look to be fractionally sticking out so I will be booking mine in for adjustment when I can be bothered.

 

Still lovin' it...

A couple of weeks after delivery I spoke to SUK Customer Services when they called me regarding another issue, I mentioned in passing the wind noise from 70mph specifically from the drivers door of my vRS being noisy, she said she'd heard of that before and that the doors could be "tightened" by the dealer. When I look down the door below the B pillar it does indeed look to be fractionally sticking out so I will be booking mine in for adjustment when I can be bothered.

 

Still lovin' it...

Thanks for the info man

My front doors b pillers are also sticking out in a strange way than the back doors

Could this be the reason of the problem and how it can be adjusted/corrected?

I'm no engineer but it kinda makes sense that it could be the reason for wind noise and that the doors could be 'tightened', definitely one for the dealer cos it could all go wrong rather badly! let us know how you get on...

I have notice me too the wind sensibility. And the wind noise is some times annoying to me too, but it comes from the front bonnet.

I have notice me too the wind sensibility. And the wind noise is some times annoying to me too, but it comes from the front bonnet.

Can you please explain more about the front bonnet part?

How can it contribute to wind noise?