I have had my h&r springs and rarb on for a while now. And while they are still a massive improvement over stock, the car is still an understeering boat at most opportunities when pushed.

Thinking about adding in the farb. Can anyone speak on its effectiveness?

I'm presuming the front sub frame has to be dropped out for the farb?

I'm presuming the front sub frame has to be dropped out for the farb?

 

Correct

To the OP.

Have you removed the Rear Ballast weights, because that helps with the Understeer when done. 

Improves traction at the front.

 

? And what tyres are on the car, and at what pressure?

I haven't removed the ballasts. I would imagine that would lighten the back too much and make it twitchy.

It's running on conti sport 2's atm. Not sure on exact pressure but I know it's at book as they were checked not long ago.

Tyre pressures really need checked as Ambient Temperatures change.

& its a simple free mod to run a tyre pressure that suits the cars weight and use.

Especially if you already have lowering Springs and a rear ARB fitted and it is still like an Understeering boat

 

You do not need to imagine really do you about the weights.  Especially when talking about fitting a FARB

1 hour and you can try it.

First take the Spare out and see how that feels,

Then take the weights off and see,  that is 45 kg gone from the back end.

 

Then you can put the spare back in and try.

Put the Spare in & secure the Weights in the Boot, and compare back to back maybe.

 

Maybe longer term move the battery to the Boot,  leaves room in the Engine Compartment,

balances the car.

So far it costs you about £20,  and you know if Twitchy or not.

 

Some like the handling with the changes some might not.

Edited 14 April, 201511 yr by goneoffSKi

I wouldn't screw around with the ballasts. Most posts that I have read seem to finally conclude the same opinion.

I'm more intrigued to the replacement farb and if it helps at all.

I have just re-read the 4 big threads here on the subject over the past 3 years.

 

How many that have actually done it have regretted doing it and put the weights back on?

 

As to the Front ARB, yes it will be worth it for the Track,

not many here have done it though.

 

Sharkrider will be along hopefully, he has an estate, but same difference. So he is using the car road and track 

and with good tyres for grip.

Cheers for the info. I just want to eliminate the understeer as much as possible along with sharpening up the turn in and flattening the body roll. Although the rarb and springs helped with this, it's still really noticeable compared to rivals.

I'm thinking some new tyres as well. The contis don't seem to work well on the vrs.

I'm thinking 215width Goodyear Eagle f1s should help a bit.

One thing to note that I don't see mentioned in the other posts is the potential of putting a poly-bush kit on the front end to help reduce the unwanted movement in the suspension thus giving a getter feel and more mechanical grip.

 

F1 eagles will help, they transform the mk1 vrs from personal experience but when I looked a couple of months back seem difficult to find in the 215/40/17 required for our cars so i got a set of Federal 595 rsr's sat here in the corner of my office waiting for the call of duty. Like you I'm not overly in love with the conti's but my cars is totally standard apart from the weights have been removed which did help a little imo. 

Post #17

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/248845-schumi2s-fabia-ii-vrs

I have had my h&r springs and rarb on for a while now. And while they are still a massive improvement over stock, the car is still an understeering boat at most opportunities when pushed.

Thinking about adding in the farb. Can anyone speak on its effectiveness?

I'm presuming the front sub frame has to be dropped out for the farb?

I have eibach springs, and H&R front and rear anti roll bars, like you I have had the RARB on for a while, and I did the front one over the winter, I can feel the difference on the road, there is less weight shift, the original bar is very weedy in comparison to the H&R, and I also put polubushes on the bar too... (as I intend to polybush the car at some point, and as it was all taken apart , I would have been stupid not to put polybushes on the bar while it was out!) ...

 

but the biggest difference will be on the track, I am at castle coomb in 2 weeks time, but 2 weeks after that its "how fast" at bedford areodrome... now I have my last years times, and the only difference in my car will be the FARB, so I will have numbers to see its effectiveness! (unless it rains) but it definatley feels better

 

some other people have mentioned tyres.... they make a huge difference on this car .... can you stretch to winters in the winter time? if so I would recomend federal RSR's for summer.... in 215/40/17 flavour, running 2.5 bar pressure all round. they probably make the biggest difference in front end grip to anything else! (they are not quiet though, if that sort of thing bothers you a different tyre would be in order!) some shopping around can generally get them for £70-90 delivered ...

 

also , if its just for road use, maybe try turning up the XDS ? I turn it off for the summer time, as I find the car massively better on track without it (and it doesn't overheat the brakes!)

 

hope this helps... if you are at coomb , bring a helmet and I will hapily take you round the track

the goodies ordered ...

 

 

in place...

 

 

poly bushes...

 

 

Just to put my two cents in: the weights removal didn't actually upset anything as people, who only theoretically looked at the matter, used to believe. Less weight, and a steering behavior shifted towards neutral rather than an "oversteering monster" (still far from it). Driving is believing. On normal road use you won't even notice it, and on the limit it will only become better, sliding progressively as you'd expect from a 4WD maybe. Whatismore, with XDS on Hard, the situation will be corrected ASAP, leaving you with only a couple of seconds of smile and then straighten you back without any drama. I don't how this changes with XDS set to Soft, I guess you should be prepared for a more hands-on approach, but I've only always left it on Hard (as opposed to Medium from stock) for road use and it has worked wonders a couple of times. (I'll maybe switch it to Soft for the track but I won't be going with sliding lines there anyway). So, to sum it up: It's a win-win mod.

 

With my entire suspension practically gone by now (only stock things are FARB and rear bushes), I am a happy man now in what regards handling. So much different (and better) than stock.

Edited 15 April, 201511 yr by newbie69

And here for some theory

 

Not to negate anybody's experience or knock anybody down!

 

General rules are:

 

Understeer - install RARB

Oversteer - Install FARB

 

You can install both, which will make the car stiffer overall but to combat the oversteer you'd need to have the RARB "stiffer" than the FARB.

 

Sub-frame stiffening (http://www.ultraracing.my/catalog/index.php?id_product=3184&controller=product, http://www.ultraracing.my/catalog/index.php?id_product=3184&controller=product) will do you a world of good overall.

 

Of course poly bushing the lot reduces body roll a lot as well

The main reason to put the XDS to Soft or Off when you have that option is to stop the Brakes / Braking System overheating prematurely.

 

When it does overheat the XDS is Disabled anyway.

(The New Polo GTI 1.8 TSI comes with XDS+)

 

http://skodaukmotorsport.com/archive/roadtest.html

Edited 15 April, 201511 yr by goneoffSKi

Jab. Not true.... where is your evidance to back this up?

 

lets go through it.... why does the RARB reduce understeer? because it reduces the roll of the car.... it reduces the weight shifting, keeps it flatter...

 

what on earth makes you think the FARB removes this? lol...... the FARB makes it stiffer STILL, reduced the roll EVEN MORE, reduces the weight shift even more, how on earth can that increase understeer? it means there is less roll atthe front, reducing the shift of weight onto ONE tyre, spreading it better between TWO tyres, increasing grip...it makes the car flatter (touring car style ) and improves handling.....

 

I can quntify and garuntee, it does not increase understeer, it would be off my car in a flash if that were the case !

 

its almost as if you are doing some weird sort of maths, a RARB + a FARB = 0 ?! lol.. not the case, thats just silly , a RARB, roll reduced by "1" + a FARB roll reduced by "2" = handling even better...

 

they were designed by H&R to be fitted together, they didn't design them to cancel each other out !! lol...

 

believe me , I drive it (read sy's old thread of how well it handles with both installed, and anyone else who has done it.)

 

shark

by the way, I expect you to be faster than me at how fast , because your time was better even without a RARB, so I suspect you are better round there than I am

 

I will be compairing my time with the time I did last year

I finally did the order yesterday, h&r springs, Bilstein B8's and poly-bush kit, will do the rarb at a later date.

let us know how the polybushes go.....

Jab. Not true.... where is your evidance to back this up?

 

lets go through it.... why does the RARB reduce understeer? because it reduces the roll of the car.... it reduces the weight shifting, keeps it flatter...

 

what on earth makes you think the FARB removes this? lol...... the FARB makes it stiffer STILL, reduced the roll EVEN MORE, reduces the weight shift even more, how on earth can that increase understeer? it means there is less roll atthe front, reducing the shift of weight onto ONE tyre, spreading it better between TWO tyres, increasing grip...it makes the car flatter (touring car style ) and improves handling.....

 

I can quntify and garuntee, it does not increase understeer, it would be off my car in a flash if that were the case !

 

its almost as if you are doing some weird sort of maths, a RARB + a FARB = 0 ?! lol.. not the case, thats just silly , a RARB, roll reduced by "1" + a FARB roll reduced by "2" = handling even better...

 

they were designed by H&R to be fitted together, they didn't design them to cancel each other out !! lol...

 

believe me , I drive it (read sy's old thread of how well it handles with both installed, and anyone else who has done it.)

 

shark

 

I think you misread the post?   He probably meant:  Understeer? (question) Then > Install RARB  and vice versa...  :p

Is the OP setting the car up for Track Days,

or for Daily Driving & then Track Days where different Wheels / Tyres can go on?

 

As to twitchy handling, that is what some may want for on the Track and less weight means less weight not only to accelerate,

but also to slow down, so you work the brakes less hard, everything is all maybe small differences,

but when it comes to the Track, that is why in BTCC there are 'Success Ballast' Handicaps.

(they never would add them to the rear most corner of a Track car opposite side from the driver though.)

let us know how the polybushes go.....

Will do! I've also got some brake upgrades in the pipeline in the form of Seat Leon cupra r brembo's and the bigger rears to match with braded hoses. So will update on that in due course as well.

I wanted to do how fast and meet some of you guys but can't make it due to some work commitment's unfortunately.

LOL, I knew Dave would jump right in on it

I will give all the info lunch time, need to do some work from time to time

 

EDIT:

 

Try this in the meantime

 

http://www.motorsport-developments.co.uk/tech_articles/FAF294_tech.pdf

 

ARB' also work with cross chassis torsional forces

Edited 15 April, 201511 yr by Jabozuma

Will do! I've also got some brake upgrades in the pipeline in the form of Seat Leon cupra r brembo's and the bigger rears to match with braded hoses. So will update on that in due course as well.

I wanted to do how fast and meet some of you guys but can't make it due to some work commitment's unfortunately.

 

Delegate to your minions, what's the problem?

Delegate to your minions, what's the problem?

LOL they only have one eye for detail so I prefer to use my own two eyes, also finance wise I'm staggering the cost, the brembo's need refurb and the quotes I've had to get them done are frightening!!!