Hi everyone, sorry in advance for the essay!

 

I bought a 2015 Scout 184 DSG in January. So far it's generally been great and all-round my favourite car to date (I've had few...). It's currently on just shy of 50k miles. 

I live in Bristol and the roads here are terrible - particularly around suburban areas where you often can't avoid sunken drain covers, pot holes, misaligned joints and poor road repairs.

When I first got the car I thought the ride seemed good - it was fairly firm but supportive and not uncomfortable, although this was in comparison to my old BMW 1 Series M Sport which was really hard riding. My last car was a Land Cruiser with AHC - you could drive across a ploughed field without noticing you'd left the A38... I prefer a plush ride, but don't want something so soft it's spongey.

Now, though, I'm sensing problems. The ride quality feels like its become crashy, with a lot more noise over smaller bumps and a real jolt over smaller uneven patches which plenty of other cars (work's 'standard' Octavia, my partner's Fiesta, parent's Golf, friend's Audi TTS, even another friend's race set-up Honda Integra) seem to float over. The steering wheel seems more liable to move around than it used to, following uneven road surfaces and bumps. I also feel like I've lost some higher speed stability and am having to constantly adjust the steering, even on the motorway - although it doesn't seem to drift noticeable one way more than the other - it seems more to follow the gradient of the road. 

 

I have come to the conclusion that I probably need, at a minimum, replacement shocks and possibly bump stops. Possibly springs too, if tone or more turn out to be damaged and that's part of what's causing the problems... Furthermore it is making noises over certain surfaces, occasionally lightly creaking/groaning and sometimes there's an annoying 'clatter' from the central offside of the car (sounds like something loose under the pillar between the doors). The steering wheel also sits just off-centre clockwise of where it should be and it feels like steering right is marginally easier than left. So something is obviously out of kilter or broken. I've made the assumption that a stand-alone geometry alignment isn't going to solve all of these problems so that's something I'll get done last, once I've had any parts replaced.

Question time:

 

Has anyone else had similar symptoms and have an idea on how to solve them? Could it be damaged control arms or worn bushes perhaps? I'm intending on keeping this car for a while and would rather deal with it now before it shakes the car to bits!

 

Am I correct in thinking that, on a standard UK spec Octavia Scout, the springs are the only component differentiating the suspension set-up from the standard Octy (i.e. on multilink/non torsion beam models)?  The shocks are interchangeable? 

 

Do I go for OEM parts and just get my local Skoda dealership to replace them? Or do I use 'better' VAG shocks, from an A3 or Golf estate (apparently these have better damping and rebound than the 'budget' Skoda ones?), or do I try and find something aftermarket which will give a better ride quality? If the springs are fine then I'll do all 4 shocks, even if some of them are still serviceable. 

Any recommendations on which option to consider (obviously need to get it looked at properly first!) and any suspension recommendations? People say Koni FSD or Bilstein B Series are meant to be very good, but they don't seem to come in a version for the Scout and I don't want to lose any ground clearance (again, this of course depends on if the shocks are interchangeable and suitable for the possibly longer springs). Plus I don't really want to spend that much money on consumable parts...

Thanks in advance!
 

The creaking noise is your front anti roll bar bushes. Any knocks are probably your drop links.

@livetoclimb

Welcome.

Has the service schedules been followed with your car, the DSG had a Oil change at 40,000 miles, the Haldex at 3 years and the brake fluid changed?

1 hour ago, Skoffski said:

@livetoclimb

Welcome.

Has the service schedules been followed with your car, the DSG had a Oil change at 40,000 miles, the Haldex at 3 years and the brake fluid changed?

Hi Skoffski, 

 

As soon as I bought the car (at just over 40,000 I had a DSG and Haldex service carried out by the Dealership and it was serviced by them in late April. I'm unsure of whether they did the brake fluid, but I did have new pads and disks on the rear as they were on their way out. I'll get the fronts done later in the year.

 

No problems with braking and the Haldex seems to work fine as demonstrated by parking in a very wet slippery field 2 weeks with no discernable traction issues... 

2 hours ago, donny1972 said:

The creaking noise is your front anti roll bar bushes. Any knocks are probably your drop links.

 

Thanks - are these typically wear and tear items, and if they are worn could it affect ride and stability? 

Yes they are,

and as with all suspension parts it can be dependent on use and location location location.

A Scout might well get used for the purpose they were designed to be used for.

On 13/06/2019 at 09:52, Skoffski said:

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. I took it into Vee W in Bristol today and they worked out that the control arm bushes were shot. Replaced them and aligned the suspension, and it seems completely sorted! Much better service than Blade Skoda when I had it serviced last month who told me that they had investigated it and couldn't find anything wrong... 

Edited 19 June, 20197 yr by livetoclimb