I've driven a fair few cars in my time, and currently have an old e30 bmw as my daily driver.

However, I'm often in the Felicia (98, 1.3i) and I've noticed that the handling is at best "entertaining".

All the springs and shocks seem ok (no cracks/leaks etc), but it feels a bit like a blamange on wheels.

Both my brother and I have noticed that it tends to handle much more predictably when running at full load (eg drumkit in the back, full tank and two 16 stone chaps up front.

Are there any suspension kits available for the felicia, or will it be a vw equivilent?

Thanks

Neil

Does your car have a front strut brace? That would be the first and most simple step.

I had a Felicia and actually found it really fun, make sure you have some good tyres on it though!

Any suspension kit wouldn't really be a VW equivalent because the Felicia was on a unique platform, but you can get a set of adjustable HP Sports shockers for the Felicia, maybe still from a Skoda dealer but also try here: http://www.jhmbuttco.com/felicia.pdf

Chrome strut brace

Thanks dude-exactly what I was looking for:-)

Thanks dude-exactly what I was looking for:-)

you could use the 22mm front anti roll bar set-up from a 2001 caddy pick-up too. this vastly improves the cornering stability

A '98 Felicia should have the strut brace a standard, unless somebody has removed it...

A '98 Felicia should have the strut brace a standard, unless somebody has removed it...

its there and a pain in the ***! doesnt seem to do much-pretty flimsy really

its there and a pain in the ***! doesnt seem to do much-pretty flimsy really

i often wondered why they bothered to put a strut brace on the felicia, it doesn't do anything. i suppose it might be somthing to do with group n rally car homolgation for motorsport.

i often wondered why they bothered to put a strut brace on the felicia, it doesn't do anything. i suppose it might be somthing to do with group n rally car homolgation for motorsport.

or to make it as difficult as possible to get the battery out...

it does make access to the battery diffucilt, but its dead easy to remove. But it appears that there is a specific way around for it!

Move the door handles higher up?

it does make access to the battery diffucilt, but its dead easy to remove. But it appears that there is a specific way around for it!

Yeah I know-just more work for what should be a simple procedure!

I'm deffo interested in the suspension kits and the caddy bolt on strut bar sounds like a plan too:D

Cool, never understood the support bracket till now, figured it was a way dealers could hike up the price of fitting batteries....lol (Sorry haven't taking my pills lately...lol paranoid and all...lol)

But over all my 1.3 Gli handels fine... but suspension is a common problem on these felicia's :( according to the below reliability site : -

http://www.reliabilityindex.co.uk/default.html

Q

Dont forget the car is designed as LHD. On a LHD the battery is much easier to get out even with the brace in place.

I got the polished one for the pick up, cost to me was like £13 or something..lol

Im sure it makes some difference, fair enough its not the strongest thing in the world but anything will add some strength.

My 1.3 didnt have a brace.

I don't remember having a brace in my 1.3MPI either... gotta check later.

Does the anti roll bar from the 2001 caddy bolt straigh on then? Is it the one form the 2001 onwards caddy, or just that particular year that works?

you can get them from a caddy pickup from 1997 onwards, it must not be from the van version because they are based on the seatr iibiza/mk3 gold chassis. but the pick-up version is based on the felicia.

to the best of my knowledge the 22mm anti roll bar isn't available from skoda, but can be bought from vw, you will also need the matching bushes to go with it.

i can personally vouch for the fact that they totally transform the handling of the felicia.

anti roll bar part number 22mm : 6u7411309

inner roll bar bushes 22mm : 6u7411314

outer bushes( on track control arms) : dont know part number, sorry!!!

if they have trouble finding it on etka it is illustration number 401-00

obviously you will need the fixing brackets for the underside of the chassis and on the tca's but if you allready have an anti roll bar you can re-use them.

I have just had the thicker a.r.b. fitted to my 1.6 on the advice given in a couple of posts and whilst the steering is no sharper around the streight ahead position the traction out of corners is greatly enhanced, coupled with a refusal to roll that last little bit. The effect is so noticeable in fact that the tyres I thought useless are now acceptable. Skoda in Sidcup did the job for a very reasonable price and having dropped the car off in the morning finished it just as I arrived at work. A worthwhile mod' that does not ruin the ride quality.

glad to hear it went ok for you, the only downside to fitting a 22mm arb is that you get a little more understeer, but the car will feel much more stable....

just as a matter of interest, how much did the arb cost??

about

Basically look for a VW caddy with "Made in the Czech Republic" written all over the parts,they look exactly like a Felicia at the front only with "THAT" badge on the grille ! OR use Felicia 1.6 suspension anti-roll bar stuff (i think that is what my mate Simon Clarke did with his Lxi when he built a Kit Car replica).

yeah, the 1.6 felicia has a 20mm front arb

Can you shove one in the back as well? Might improve things! My stereo takes up half the boot anyway, so another strut brace wouldn't make much difference, and it would be good to get it to handle better!

Can you shove one in the back as well? Might improve things! My stereo takes up half the boot anyway, so another strut brace wouldn't make much difference, and it would be good to get it to handle better!

what he said but louder.

and, does anyone know what the arb's are made of? fancy making a stiffer one for the back.

normally they are just cold rolled steel tubing...

it would be fairly easy to make one for the rear axle beam... my advice would be to fit it inside the rear beam when weld it in place

the mounts are very basic and a thicker one would bolt under the existing clamp plates.

they look like solid to me. and, normal cold rolled would bend far to easily.

thincking it must be spring steel, just dont know what grade/type.