There used to be a saying years ago, that if you took your Rover car to a Colliers garage to fix one fault, it would come back with two new ones.

It is in the spirit of that thought, that I start this thread.

 

What I'm trying to collate in this thread, is modifications to Skoda vehicles to be driven by the average person, that were implemented and gave the desired effect, but unfortunately created a new problem that meant further work was needed to accommodate the modification, or meant that the modification was abandoned and deemed to be a failure. I don't care if people disagree with individual experiences, what is going to be a problem for some folks is likely to be a positive feature for others.

 

I suppose I'd better give some examples of upgrades with undesirable side effects.

 

I once bought a tuning box for a 90BHP Seat Ibiza. It worked in conjunction with a vacuum hose, and gave a good slug of extra torque and was fun to drive when accelerating. However, it was a bit on/off in the delivery of the extra power, and what this meant was that when cruising on the motorway, a slight change on the accelerator would cause the car to surge forward undesirably. This gave the effect for passengers of driving in a car where the driver is constantly either accelerating or braking and was unable to drive smoothly. The problem was solved by the company whop supplied the box, by replacing it with a box that used electrical signals to determine how much extra power to provide, and it worked pretty well. So while I got what I wanted with the extra power, I also got something I didn't want with on/off characteristics until the box was replaced.

 

Catalytic convertor removal: I removed the cat on my Rover 420 to "release more power". It didn't release much extra power, but it did release a load of additional noise. This was all well and good when trying to sound cool vrooming about town, but on my daily motorway commute it did my head in, and it wasn't long until the catalytic convertor went back on and the de-cat pipe came off. Same goes for the Pipercross cone air filter I fitted. It added a load more noise, not much power (if any), and was an oily greasy mess to clean and re-oil. I'm pretty sure it had far poorer filtration ability than the OEM air-filter. So off it came.

( I appreciate that these two mods are changes that for some people would have been an unmitigated success, but for me they were failures.)

 

Brake upgrades that need to "warm up". Great on race tracks, downright dangerous on normal roads.

 

Suspension changes that lower the car so you have to modify your wheel arches, or you have a harsh ride that's only fit for a racetrack.

 

This thread isn't about disrespecting anyone's successful modifications that they have implemented and are very happy with.

This thread is all about capturing people's dissatisfaction with their vehicle modifications, and providing a resource of experiences that temper the natural enthusiasm of changing bits on your car without knowing all the pros and cons. I accept that what is an undesirable negative for some, may be a desirable positive for others. That's cool! So long as people can make an informed decision, that's what this thread is about.

 

While it's aimed at performance upgrades (which is why it's posted in this part of Brisky), but if you want to talk about upgrading bulbs that caused a load of crazy error messages to crop up unexpectedly, that's good too. If the mods want to move the thread elsewhere, then that's okay with me.

 

I'll start with a simple one from my experience, as I haven't actually made any performance mistakes on my car yet.

I upped the base voltage at which the Start/Stop system would activate.

I had intended this would mean the hardwired camera wouldn't be power-cycled by the stop/start system dropping the battery voltage below the "battery-saver" level set by the dash camera.

The unwanted and unacceptable side-effect, was that it effectively disabled my stop-start system as it almost never kicked in.

Now for some, that may be a very desirable feature, in which case, go for it.

But I didn't fancy being stuck on a motorway for some time in a tailback with a disabled stop-start system. 

If I want the stop/start system disabled, I can press the button to disable it, I don't want it almost permanently crippled (though others may want that).

So it was reset back to the default voltage setting, lesson learned.

Edited 19 July, 20223 yr by EnterName

My previous vRS (2015 220 EA888 IS20) developed an odd delay in the internal heating.  The silica bag was intact.  The short story was that the coolant check valve had failed and was reporting open when it was actually closed.  Simple enough, but took a long time to diagnose, with a lot of trial and error.  I was given the go ahead to bring the car home, while the dealer awaited the part.  Didn't make it home as the turbo grenaded itself.  Turns out the coolant check valve also sends coolant to the turbo (but not if it's faulty!) and this was considered to be the reason for the turbo failing (I suspect other factors). There was swarf in the engine, so it needed a strip down to check if the turbo had taken the engine with it too (thankfully not).  Skoda initially agreed to cover the costs as it was likely the check valve had failed during the warranty period, but then retracted this as the car had been remapped (after warranty).  Long story here:

 

 

My cautionary tale is that what appears a simple heating issue, can actually have fairly catastrophic consequences (which the remap may have exacerbated).  For me that was a rather bitter £3,000 bill.

 

Gaz

 

PS: 'nuvver one;  When I inherited a 1989 Mk2 Golf GTI !6v (139bhp), it had a K&N panel filter - one of the ones you had to clean and oil.  I changed it for a standard paper filter, and confirmed via rolling road that the K&N, on this car, made absolutely no performance difference whatsoever.

 

Edited 19 July, 20223 yr by Gaz

Front strut brace …. Yeah it stiffens the front up, but at the expense of increased understeer. 
 

Coilovers …. Yes it’s nice to have sporty feeling suspension, but as some will know that simply lowering the ride height isn’t enough as other parts of the geometry are pushed out of spec and can easily ruin a decent set of expensive boots! 

 

Not fitted myself, but reports on solid engine mounts have led to a more positive and quicker gear change, but at the expense of much increased cabin vibration. Too much for some who reported that they put the OEM setup back in as it was so bad. 
 

Finally, Big-455 4-pot brakes with fancy Porsche wheels. Yes, they can stop you on a 5p piece at 80 and it’s nice to have a posh badge on your wheels, but what happens when you have a blowout on the motorway and your spare wheel won’t fit over those huge callipers….. wait 4 hours for the AA!! 
 

 

23 minutes ago, Titanium_Man said:

Front strut brace …. Yeah it stiffens the front up, but at the expense of increased understeer. 

I can't argue with you on this as I don't know enough to be sure enough to argue the point, but it sounds wrong.

Now stiffer anti-roll bars, sure.

Any idea why a front strut brace might introduce understeer?

I haven’t got any college books to hand to quote, but iirc it’s to do with the McPherson struts and chassis flex at the point of turning; As the car starts to turn, the weight is thrown to the outer wheel  which digs in and helps turn-in. 
 

I believe the strut brace will reduce the flex by fixing the top of the struts together, thus keeping the car flatter during the turn and therefore reducing the outer wheel diggin in, resulting in the car sliding straighter rather than turning, 
 

More than happy for someone to correct me if this is wrong 🤗

5 minutes ago, Titanium_Man said:

I haven’t got any college books to hand to quote, but iirc it’s to do with the McPherson struts and chassis flex at the point of turning; As the car starts to turn, the weight is thrown to the outer wheel  which digs in and helps turn-in. 
 

I believe the strut brace will reduce the flex by fixing the top of the struts together, thus keeping the car flatter during the turn and therefore reducing the outer wheel diggin in, resulting in the car sliding straighter rather than turning, 
 

More than happy for someone to correct me if this is wrong 🤗

I really wish I knew enough to argue my gut feeling on this, but I don't so I'll shut up and have a Google and see what I can find out.

 

EDIT: Ah-ha! https://low-offset.com/workshop/strut-bars-explained/

Well well well! I did not expect that.

 

That said, there's a mix of opinions elsewhere on whether they increase  or  reduce oversteer, so I'm no more sure of the truth of the matter. 😄

Edited 19 July, 20223 yr by EnterName

41 minutes ago, Titanium_Man said:

I believe the front strut brace will reduce the flex by fixing the top of the struts together, thus keeping the car flatter during the turn and therefore reducing the outer wheel digging in, resulting in the car sliding straighter rather than turning

Edit in italic. Similarly a rear strut brace will increase oversteer by keeping the rear end flatter.

 

I'm unsure whether both will increase grip or just result in a more sudden breakaway.

27 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

Edit in italic. Similarly a rear strut brace will increase oversteer by keeping the rear end flatter.

 

I'm unsure whether both will increase grip or just result in a more sudden breakaway.

It all seems instinctively wrong to me.

I remember when convertibles handled substantially worse due to the body flexing, and so they had to be stiffened up considerably to improve handling (with an associated weight penalty.)

Now too much stiffness is bad?

I'm still uncomfortable with this.

 

As I see it, and this is my perception/opinion, so please do disagree and set me straight where I'm wrong:

Strut braces = Greater rigidity and thus consistent body geometry for the suspension to work off, an unequivocally good thing and a plug and play improvement. No trade-off, apart from increased weight. EDIT: Note, making the front of the car very stiff while allowing the rear to flex, or vice versa, probably not a good thing unless you know what you're doing.

Roll-bars = Reduce roll, may cause wheel lift and thus reduce grip. Require careful choice, but basically plug and play if you know what you want. (With suspension alignment afterwards, if required.) Can involve a trade-off between desirable handling characteristics, undesirable handling characteristics and comfort.

Stiffer Bushes = Reduce "play in bushes, may cause harshness and reduce comfort. Require careful choice, but basically plug and play if you know what you want. (With suspension alignment afterwards, if required.) Can involve a trade-off between handling and comfort, but handling almost always improved.

Springs and shocks = Adjust ride height, comfort, and handling of care. Require careful choice and set-up, and almost always involve a trade-off between handling and comfort.

 

(Please note the word "handling" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in the above sentences, including grip, roll, understeer/oversteer, whatever.)

Edited 19 July, 20223 yr by EnterName
Caveat added

 

I've fitted a large-bore exhaust and downpipe to my Rapid (4" downpipe, sports-cat and 3" exhaust with resonator) which sounds great. It burbles nicely at idle and if you boot it and lift, it crackles and pops (pop being the choice word as it's not like gunshots going off on some cars). On longer acceleration you get hear the induction noise of the turbo and even get the "whoo" noise through the exhaust when lifting off. A blow-off valve would be a nice addition, if purely for noise and nothing else. 

 

However take it above 65mph and the drone becomes all-consuming. If there's a hill involved, the radio has to be cranked up. Oh, and as I have found out, not all garages with pass a car's MOT with a Sports-cat. So there's that too.

 

In hindsight I should have stuck with the cat-back exhaust upgrade and left it at that. Oh well, you live and learn

 

17 minutes ago, WolfyWesty said:

 

I've fitted a large-bore exhaust and downpipe to my Rapid (4" downpipe, sports-cat and 3" exhaust with resonator) which sounds great. It burbles nicely at idle and if you boot it and lift, it crackles and pops (pop being the choice word as it's not like gunshots going off on some cars). On longer acceleration you get hear the induction noise of the turbo and even get the "whoo" noise through the exhaust when lifting off. A blow-off valve would be a nice addition, if purely for noise and nothing else. 

 

However take it above 65mph and the drone becomes all-consuming. If there's a hill involved, the radio has to be cranked up. Oh, and as I have found out, not all garages with pass a car's MOT with a Sports-cat. So there's that too.

 

In hindsight I should have stuck with the cat-back exhaust upgrade and left it at that. Oh well, you live and learn

 

This is exactly the sort of post I was looking for. Thanks for sharing @WolfyWesty👍

Res deletes on TSi cars. Makes it drone and do your head in!

 

Any modification will have a knock on effect. Remaps will highlight weaknesses in certain parts of the engine and drivetrain. Lowering springs will highlight knackered shocks and topmounts. Fiddling about with VCDS, even if you are following instructions for a very similar vehicle, could still have an undesired effect.

Thought I'd post a link to this cautionary tale from @vrs'burks.

Be careful what you wish for, especially when it's "More noise."

 

Just noticed this cautionary tale from @SteffLimitless of the regret of chasing Skoda Scala power via stage 2 tuning instead of an engine transplant.

Thought I'd yoink a link here as it seemed appropriate.