VRS245 Octavia saloon 2019 mods.

I carried out a series of minor mods to improve my stock vehicle to make it more suitable for occasional track day use, while retaining it's everyday character.

The mods centred on reducing understeer, postponing brake fade and improving power and dsg response.

I'm very happy with the stage 1 engine/TCU work and the upgraded discs, pads and fluid.

But I am curious about a couple of aspects of the suspension.

I thought maybe someone could put me straight on this.

The springs, dampers and ride height are stock. The front LCA bushes were changed for Polybush eccentric ones that can be adjusted for an extra half degree negative camber. The rear front LCA  bushes were worn and changed for OE, as the conventional wisdom on this forum is that polyeurathane ones soon wear and go noisy. The rear anti roll bar was changed for a 22 mm Whiteline. I ordered their links as well, again on advice gleaned from this forum.

The car then had a full Hunter alignment.

I've 2 questions:

Firstly, I expected the anti roll bar taken off to be 18 mm but it's 20.6 mm and judging by it's weight it's hollow. It's clearly the OE bar with a Vag label, weirdly it's date marked October 2015. Can anyone explain this?

Secondly, The alignment achieved what I wanted regarding front and rear toe and camber, stock at the back and with a slight but useful increase to 1.2 Deg negative at the front. However, caster shows as only 6.4 left and 6.5 right, well below the stock minimum of 7.08 Deg. The caster cannot be adjusted and did not change before or after fitment.

Less caster means less jacking effect and less torque steer, but also less dynamic camber gain in hard cornering.

I won't be doing a track day any time soon, but driven at normal road speeds it feels fine.

Is this something I should be worried about and if so, is there anything I can do about it?

Rear roll bar could be Golf Clubsport, or another special edition, know the later one's were 21.7mm. can't help on the caster, I know on the Mk1 VRS you could replace LCA bushes to alter the caster, superpro made them, didn't keep my MK3 long enough to see what was available polybush wise.

Thanks Andy68 for your answer. I am aware of the adjustable LCA rear bearings, but this forum has warned me off them on account of rapid wear. I guess I should have posted this in the performance and tuning section , but I'm new here.... that's the disadvantage of not knowing your way around yet and we are not allowed to cross post. I'm hoping some kind moderator will take pity on me and transfer it! I measured the circumference of the bar at 65 mm, that definitely equates to 20.6 mm.

Maybe a previous owner upgraded the RARB. Can you measure it with a vernier caliper?

Petrolbloke , that thought had crossed my mind. But the car was an ex lease vehicle purchased from a Skoda main dealer. I'm convinced it was stock. I used a tailor's tape to measure the circumference. I'm pretty sure of the 65mm measurement.

 

Any corrosion on the ARB affecting the measurement?

 

There's nothing for a 20.6mm RARB. That being said, 20.7mm comes up with lots of hits. Notably the A3, Mk7 GTD, Mk3 TT/TTS and the Mk3 Octavia!

 

Part numbers lifted from Powerflex - 

 

https://www.skoda-parts.com/spare-part/5q0511305as-stabiliser-rear-axle-skoda-22118.html

 

https://www.skoda-parts.com/spare-part/5q0511305bd-stabiliser-rear-axle-skoda-24261.html

 

No idea about the stamped date - looks like your car got a nicely matured example from the shelf.

Occy245. Thanks, there it is in black and white. 65 mm equates to 20.68 as close to 20.7 as makes no difference. Prior to the introduction of the mark4 , there were a number of spec revisions in the last year of production. Earlier cars, for instance had standard fit heated seats, which got deleted for mine. Maybe the rarb changed as well. 20.7 x 2.8 is pretty thin, no wonder it understeers. Once I've done a track day, I'll repost to report on the mods. I nearly went to Oulton Park on Sunday as Javelin still had some places left. Then I saw the weather forecast!.......

I was a bit concerned, as the only VAG 20.6 ARB was coming up for a Scirocco 53B😂
 

It is a pretty thin bar for such a large car (relatively speaking, compared to a TT, say), however I do wonder what the weight distribution is like on these cars.

 

I know a GTI is 60/40, so it would make sense that S3/R/etc only have marginally larger diameter RARBs.

 

They did indeed make changes as production went on - certain spec options became less available, such as having no rear wiper. I can live without heated seats, but for a 2020 car with adaptive cruise and a digi dash, folding mirrors would be nice…

Edited 3 December, 20241 yr by Occy245

Despite the additional length and extra 40mm wheelbase,the Skoda doesn't weigh an awful lot more than a 5 Dr mk7.5 Golf GTi. It's about 30 to 40 kg.

I suppose in theory then, the weight distribution figures should be better, as there’s more weight over the rear axle.

 

From what I can tell, all of the MQB performance cars (CS and TCR aside) benefit hugely from platform mods. On the road they’re quite good from factory, but take them to a track and they come undone a bit - those single piston calipers especially.

The discs are a decent size though. 340/310. I'm hoping that new discs, upgraded pads and fluid will postpone fade for a few minutes.

I would think so - what pads did you go for? I’m currently weighing up Yellowstuff vs DS2500 to pair with the ridiculously expensive OE discs!

 

The brakes are a good size full stop - more than enough for the road (well, for under 400bhp with 225 tyres), with a pretty nice stock feel to boot. The only thing a BBK will do in these cars (without serious platform mods) is increase heat resistance and look good. Whilst a lovely Alcon 6 piston monoblock would sit behind the wheels a treat, you will then run into issues with unsprung weight. Not to mention 340mm discs aren’t the lightest to begin with either. 
 

Lots of people moan about the VAG sliding caliper on these cars. I for one quite like them - they’re nice and easy to sort when they go wrong, and they’re very light compared to similar offerings from BMW, etc. It does make me laugh when I see a 130bhp 118i with the full M135i bodykit and 4 piston front calipers…
 

 

I went for Mintex mrm1801 on the front( these are the replacement for 1144) and racing line rp700 rear. Mintex don't make the rear pad for manual handbrake yet. Fluid is motul 660. The discs are grooved vagbremtechnic.