Hi all,

 

I am thinking about upgrading my rear Anti-roll bar on my 15 plate VRS estate. 

 

I have read a few threads and have tried briefly searching but none have really answered the question.

 

1) What size is the current rear ARB (I suspect 18mm for VRS)

2) Has anyone fitted a mk7 GTi rear ARB (22mm) to their Octy? 

 

Having worked on the suspension yesterday, the rear now feels very wallowy and the tighter front end has emphasised it even further. I can pick up a second hand mk7 GTi one for £40 posted which seems to make financial sense over a White line or similar at £250. I don't want the steering snappy, but wanting better body control and less wallowy turn in. I will also be fitting new shocks and droplinks at the same time and new rear springs have already been fitted.

 

Thanks in advance! 

 

Doug

 

4 hours ago, Dooge said:

Hi all,

 

I am thinking about upgrading my rear Anti-roll bar on my 15 plate VRS estate. 

 

I have read a few threads and have tried briefly searching but none have really answered the question.

 

1) What size is the current rear ARB (I suspect 18mm for VRS)

2) Has anyone fitted a mk7 GTi rear ARB (22mm) to their Octy? 

 

Having worked on the suspension yesterday, the rear now feels very wallowy and the tighter front end has emphasised it even further. I can pick up a second hand mk7 GTi one for £40 posted which seems to make financial sense over a White line or similar at £250. I don't want the steering snappy, but wanting better body control and less wallowy turn in. I will also be fitting new shocks and droplinks at the same time and new rear springs have already been fitted.

 

Thanks in advance! 

 

Doug

 

 

Have you fitted Bilstein B8 shock absorbers, or something similar? 

 

The car shouldn't fill wallowy with those fitted, as they are a monotube design.

 

Even Skoda's DCC (electronically adjustable) shock absorbers aren't monotube, just the ordinary twin-tube design.

Ive not actually fitted new shocks to the rear yet, shocks are next month with other ancillary bits. But, whilst it's all off I figured it's the perfect time. Granted some of the wallowy-ness may go when new shocks are fitted but I don't think there would be any real downsides to a thicker ARB other maybe upsetting the balance the wrong way which would be a concern. But, as White line, Neuspeed, H&R and other companies offer 24, 25 and 27mm rear ARBs 22mm isn't an extreme upgrade.

 

It would be good to get opinions if anyone has done so and the positive and negative aspects. I suspect that the mk7 Golf GTi probably handles a bit sharper than the VRS partly down to this and partly down to weight over the rear axle/weight in general. Also, VAG cant upset the Golf crowd by having a Skoda handle the same as one of their flagship cars.

Hey. I am also considering  switching my MK3 RS's RARB with the 22mm Whiteline. Have you switched yours already? If so, how does it handle? 

Cheers.

On 31/12/2023 at 20:00, Krof said:

Hey. I am also considering  switching my MK3 RS's RARB with the 22mm Whiteline. Have you switched yours already? If so, how does it handle? 

Cheers.

 

Hi Krof, sorry to say I haven't. I've not done anything for on the car really other than front spacers which made the handling worse.

 

Please let me know if you go for it, I'll probably still look at the GTi version but intrigued to see what it handles like.

14 hours ago, Dooge said:

 

Hi Krof, sorry to say I haven't. I've not done anything for on the car really other than front spacers which made the handling worse.

 

Please let me know if you go for it, I'll probably still look at the GTi version but intrigued to see what it handles like.

 

I have 15mm front spacers and 20mm back spacers, also the car is lowered for 40-45 mm on Vogtlands and it feels glued to the road. Cant realy compare it to the OEM vRS handling tho, because I bought it with the springs already on.

I am looking at the Eibach/Bilestein B12 Sportline kit (vogtlands are getting old, rusty, squeaky) to go with the RARB. Will let you know when its done 👍

I have fitted 5mm front and 20mm rear but have found the front has decreased turn in due to the increase in positive scrub radius. I did it for aesthetics really, once I put 20mm on the rear the fronts looked a bit hidden but it drove quite well and other than the lowering was similar spec to a facelift car.

 

I fitted some hub extenders I bought from eBay to the front to run the 5mm safely with extended bolts (+10mm over stock bolts) but for the front and rear to be about the same place in the arches the front needs 8mm spacers. This is only measuring roughly edge of wheel to edge of arch, not track width. 

 

I have debated trying the extenders on the rear (would have to remove the OEM dirt covers) and trying 12mm or 15mm rear spacers only, this would give me the aesthetics and hopefully keep the positive rear end, which eventually would be made better with an uprated ARB.

If i am not mistaken the FWD cars have wider front track. Maybe with 20 rear and only 5 front it messed up the front/rear track ratio? I noticed alot of FWD track cars have reverse satggered wheel setups to handle better. Altho if i understand you correctly, the car drove better with no fronts and 20 rear? Which contradicts my theory 😂

2 hours ago, Krof said:

If i am not mistaken the FWD cars have wider front track. Maybe with 20 rear and only 5 front it messed up the front/rear track ratio? I noticed alot of FWD track cars have reverse satggered wheel setups to handle better. Altho if i understand you correctly, the car drove better with no fronts and 20 rear? Which contradicts my theory 😂

 

I've only driven with +5mm up front around town, not really in anger whereas I have with chucked the car around the Welsh hills with just the +20mm on rear.

 

There's also a big difference between wider front wheels and widening the track with spacers. I don't know everything when it comes to handling though and it is just my perception.

 

These cars from factory are overly soft at rear so maybe making it wider at the rear than the front helps counteract that slightly? This could also be why they went to the effort of changing the rear hubs on facelift cars, I can't see them doing it just for aesthetics.