Replacing Fabia

[serafumi]

215 40 17 . And falken 912s I think . 4 new ones . However I've since put the std Fabia wheels on as 1 of the s3 wheels are buckled .. I really wanna love the car .. It just so nervous and un planted on the road ... Had the tracking done by 5 Different people .. No difference .. I'm lost

[coskev]

It must feel better on standard wheels/tyres?

As 215 is a wide tyre for the Fabia,coupled with the slightly diff offset of the audi alloys would cause it to tramline.

[sepulchrave]

If it's lowered much then you'll be running a lot of negative camber on the front, this can make the front end nervous because the tyres are not in full contact with the road, the upside is that it makes direction changes much quicker.

 

It'll be made even worse by having wider tyres.

Edited 10 May, 2016 by sepulchrave

[serafumi]

It's lowered by 25mm . Yes it does have negative camber 1.5 degrees I recall .. Surely there are lots of Fabias out there lowered thou !! Yes I think it does feel better on the standard wheels . However the s3 wheels made it feel more stable

[Ootohere]

'Stable' but with steering vagueness. (post#1)

Like style over function.

 

You can have 17" Wheels and 205 or 215 tyres, maybe just the correct wheels and alignment / adjustments.

Aiming  for stable and no steering vagueness.

 

It is not Rocket Science, just Motor Vehicle Mechanics and tried and tested settings and fitments.

and cheaper than changing cars.

[coskev]

The steering is 'vague' imo on these whatever you do,due to the over assistance of the EPS.

I've had the assistance turned as low as it will go on mine using VAGCOM and it's still not a nice steering feel :(

[Coffin Dodger]

For all the talk of tramlining and all you've tried to eliminate the problem, I've not seen one single mention of tyre pressures being checked.

I don't know what pressure you run but with the standard 16" tyres I have different steering characteristics depending what I put in, on std 16" wheels with 205/45/16's it should be run at 32 psi front and 30 psi rear and everything runs fine when I run at these pressures.

If I am doing a long distance, motorway speed, high milage run with luggage and all the family in the car (four adults), I run at 36 psi frt and 34 psi in the rear and the car runs perfectly, however, if I then run the car at these pressures on my own there is a difference in the steering feel.

It's the same regarding the feel if there is not enough pressure in the tyres too. The steering doesn't feel right. I now check and adjust my pressures every time I fill up (every two weeks) to make sure that everything is as it should be.

Remember when you check the tyres that they should be done cold. If you can only check them when they're hot add 4psi extra to each tyre to compensate for heat expansion in each tyre. If you can, always check your tyre pressures at the same garage, as there is usually always a slight difference in guages. Doing it this way rules out getting pressures mixed up.

Hope this helps as it's a nice easy CHEAP way of sorting out odd handling when other issues have been ruled out.  Best of luck!

 

I had a Peugoet 309GTi when I was younger and had similar issues to yours and checking and experimenting with the tyre pressures sorted out my tramlining problems. The 309 had the reputation of being one of the sweetest handling cars at the time, but mine was truely evil for tramlining, I had put it down to the directional tyres I was using but once I got given the tip about the tyre pressures and then doing a little experimentation it was sorted and a joy to drive again.

Edited 11 May, 2016 by Coffin Dodger

[serafumi]

Morning people . Thank you coffin dodger for your input. I've have tried .. From 30 to 38 in fronts and from 30 to 36 in rear ... I will try one last place for alignment .. And ideas ?? I'm in Kent ??

Regards Tony

[duck]

Get in touch with wheels in motion, explain the problem and see what they think, worth travelling to them as the boss (cannot remember his name) is an alignment expert/troubleshooter

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Fabiavrs05]

Afternoon, 

 

not sure if the below would be on any interest to you?

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/399144-bmw-120d-msport-coupe-for-sale-or-swap-for-mk1-fabia-vrs-or-mk12-octavia-vrs/

 

When you say " I'd keep the Fabia , just can't put up with the vagueness of steering and I'm sick of putting new parts on it ... " is this you changing parts to get it right for you or are things failing and you are replacing?

[serafumi]

Afternoon,

not sure if the below would be on any interest to you?

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/399144-bmw-120d-msport-coupe-for-sale-or-swap-for-mk1-fabia-vrs-or-mk12-octavia-vrs/

When you say " I'd keep the Fabia , just can't put up with the vagueness of steering and I'm sick of putting new parts on it ... " is this you changing parts to get it right for you or are things failing and you are replacing?

I changed all the parts trying to resolve the steering feel .. Not through parts failing .. Bmw sounds lovely .. Wish I had that kind of money to spend

[Breezy_Pete]

Forgive me if you've already discussed this and I've missed it, but have you tried driving anyone else's Fabia vRS for comparison?  If not, it may be worth it to help establish whether your experience is 'normal for this car/to be expected' or 'must be solvable somehow'?

[Fabiavrs05]

I changed all the parts trying to resolve the steering feel .. Not through parts failing .. Bmw sounds lovely .. Wish I had that kind of money to spend

 

What kind of value do you have in mind for your Fabia? 

 

P.S. When i had my Fabia VRS, I felt that it would tramline occasionally with a completely standard setup, my mates clio182 does the same...

[serafumi]

Forgive me if you've already discussed this and I've missed it, but have you tried driving anyone else's Fabia vRS for comparison? If not, it may be worth it to help establish whether your experience is 'normal for this car/to be expected' or 'must be solvable somehow'?[/quote

Hi wino . Yes I have driven a completely standard one with 40k on .. It didn't tramline but was like a boat .. It also had less cabin noise . I assume mine is because of the power flex bushes .. The steering still felt vague on the standard car .. I could live with the steering feel . It's the wandering and finding all the bad road imperfections I can't stand .. It's annoying as these are great cars

[chinny06]

Well I have just come back to the vag side with a polo 9n3 gti [emoji1362][emoji1362]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk