MK1 Fabia VRS suspension handling upgrades

[Egg53]

Hi,

 

I've had a small search but its all getting a bit confusing on peoples best recommendations.

 

Could any body point me in the right direction of a decent suspension and handling package or link me to peoples personal projects or tuners offering sound advice or views on what works well day to day world....Please and thanks..!!!

[mpow3r]

I'm new to Fabia's but have quite a bit of experience with a variety of setups on the BMW 5 series and E36 / E46 M3's. I know, totally difference cars but I think the theory behind suspension is the same.

 

OEM ride height:

With suspension on a primarily road car I would say you are best suited to good shocks like Bilstein B4's and OEM springs or KYB Excel-G shocks and OEM springs (KYB Premium are like soft OEM shocks but the Excel-G is slightly uprated and after having tried them I was impressed, you could definitely tell difference between stock damping and slightly uprated).  If you want even better damping I would suggest Bisltien B6 dampers with OEm springs (B6's are OEM length shocks but stiffer valving), or you could go with Koni yellow which are externally adjustable for 3 levels of damping.  I've heard the FSD's are very good but again I think they are OEM length so best suited to oem springs (they may be fine with mild lowering springs too). On our bumpy backroads you need to have compliance in the shock and enough travel in the shock to handle the bumps, dips and potholes without bottoming out and scaring the **** out of you a slightly higher speeds..  

 

Worst thing you can do is use lowering springs on a standard shock or standard length shock, especially a worn standard shock as you are reducing the travel by the amount of lowering which will lead to bottoming out. If used on new standard shocks it will feel nice at the start but then you will quickly wear out the shocks.

 

Lowered suspension:

Best thing to do if lwoering is a use shortened, uprated shock with lowering spring. The best I have ever experienced on my 5 series and M3's is B8 shocks and H&R springs, the Kit is called the B12 kit and they will usually come with Eibach springs or H&R springs. The shocks have the same valving as the B6 but they are shortened piston length so they maintain their optimum working range with lowering springs.  I'm sure there are other known companies that suply shortened and uprated shocks but I have no experience of them.

 

Coilovers:

Iff you've never had coilovers then you wont know what other mean when they say a certain coilover is not too stiff as everyone has a difference idea of stiff. I jhave tried many different coilovers. The best (meaning most compliant on roads) were BC Racing coilovers with custom spring rates, on the M3 it was 7kg front and 8kg rear and these were perfect for our bumpy roads. BC racing are also platform adjust as in they maintain their full shock length no matter how high or low you go as they are adjusted from the bracket at the bottom rather than the spring perch.  

 

The ride with most coilovers will not be anywhere near as comfortable on bumpy roads as decent shock/spring combo. On a track and on motorways you cant beat the ride but on bumpy roads I personally don't like them. More due to fact that no matter what you do you cant get them to be comfy. Even theones with the 30click adjusting (which i dont think is very accurate anyway and more a gimmick). Mainly due to the fact that spring rates are directly related to shock pressure. You cant put a stiff spring on a softer damper as the spring will over power it and cause pogo effect and you will bounce down the road. So having 30 adjustments is pointless coz th adjustments will either be so small you wont notice most of them or you wont be able to use the softer settings as the spring will over power the softer damper settings. Coilovers will always be a compromise.

 

anti roll bars:

cant comment much on the fabia but coilovers and anti roll bars on the BMW's make them very twitchy on our roads. With OEM suspension they were great and really reduced body roll.  From what I have read rear roll bars on Fabia make a good difference. Dont know how they would be with coilovers.  I would suspect maybe a little much for the roads.

 

Hope this helps

 

Kash

[vindaloo]

25-30mm lowering springs, must be tailored to the VRS specifically as no other model has the same ride height, engine and transmission.

 

Eibach springs with Koni FSDs or Bilsteins or similar

KW or similar springs with pretty much the same damper mix.

 

Or go coilovers.... Simple but quality coilovers which will last should be in the same ballpark money wise... say £600 give or take plus fitting.

 

For fast road use uprate the brakes to 312s or uprate the pads. A RARB is almost mandatory at this level.