I'm on my 3rd Octavia - first, a 98 Tdi90 GLX which I got new (and which got vandalized beyond repair recently), a 2002 TDi90 S Break - my wife's - and now, to replace the old GLX, I picked up a 99 TDi90 SLX hatchback; I've driven at least 300,000Km in Octavias, but...

The SLX has roadholding probs at the back - it swings more than it should, and a few weeks ago, it escaped me completely on a roundabout - I ended up pointing the wrong way, and feeling a bit of an ****! The others don't behave that way, or I'd never have bought another one.

It was fitted with 195-65 R15 Continental Premium 2s on the front, pretty well new, and older P6000s at the back. I've changed the P6000s since for Continentals, but that has not helped.

Of course, the garage people say that I'm making it all up. Anyone got any ideas what's wrong? I'm not much of a techie, I'm afraid, so there's a lot of stuff I don't know!

How are the dampers amd springs on the back.

I find my elegance is pretty easy to start to drift the back out, or at least get the feeling the back is warning you it's going to let go. That is however compared to a focus and a 306 both of which handle very very well.

Have you had the wheel alignment checked? Can't say i rate the continental tyres myself, but then i've alway been a fan of mitchelin as they work so well on french cars.

Welcome to briskoda and i'm sure somebody with some better suggestions will be along soon.

Can't stand Michelins - had some nasty experiences with them in wet weather, Uniroyals get deformed along the sides, which frightens me, Dunlops are OK but not so easy to get (I live in France), and Bridgestones I found very good, but not easily available. Continentals are cheap(ish) if you pick them up in Germany from friends who are VW dealers... And so far, they seem to be OK. The problem here is the car, not the tyres. My Octavia Break has Continentals, too, and it holds the road well enough. And my old GLX I could get to dance on the head of a pin, so the basic design suits me!

Your idea about dying shocks, etc, could be right - it has done about 180,000Km, and as usual with second-hand stuff, you haven't got a clue how well it's been looked after (in France, you can generally assume badly), or what's been changed. Alignment sounds like a possible, too.

Makes live interesting, though, wondering which way you're going to be facing as you leave the roundabout! :shock:

Rear alignment can't be easilly modified :(

As for what yours did, mine did the same, only I was doing about 80 round a bend (OK so it was my fault partly as the bend is a max 40mph one, but I used to use the road every day so I know what speed I can do) luckilly I caught it and scared the guy I'd just overtaken by going sideways in front of him.

Mine was down to a blown shock on the rear. Rear ones are very easy to change as are the rear springs. Might also be worth checking that your tyre pressures ar even on both tyres.

That sounds familiar - my wife commented later that I hadn't even been driving that fast - if she says that, it's got to be true! (Usually, she is the one who starts having kittens when I've got it up to about 180kph, so maybe 115mph, on the M-way in Germany... :P )

OK, so the road was damp, but it still shouldn't have done that!

Tyre pressures are fine - something I tend to keep an eye on. But while we're at it, I usually use the recommended 2 Bar pressure, as per manufacturer's specs. That is also what my German garage people do, but the French garage people I use most of the time say it wants to be a bit higher, say 2.2 on the front and around 2.5 on the back. Who is right?

Don't kno. I use 33psi front and 35 rear as I've found that suits the car and how I drive nicely; Staurt seems to agree with me that those are "nice" settings for the 4x4 as well (well, on track he likes them )

I found mine just "snapped" with no warning, I must be either very lucky or very talented to have caught it at those speeds (approx 130kmh)

I have to get a conversion table. Even if I understand PSI, etc, from my driving days in the UK before I moved here, all my kit is marked in metric only - which, frankly, is a pain! It doesn't seem to relate to anything.

Anyway, it looks then like the 2 bars I'm using might be a bit low:

33psi is 2.25 bars, and 35 is 2.38. Out with the pump, I'll try anything once!

Although to be honest, it's going to be the shocks, etc.

Funny thing is, it seems worse in a left-hand bend than a right-hand one. That may be down to where I'm sitting - on the wrong side!

BTW, if you managed to catch the thing - RESPECT!

2.5 will be too high and you won't be making the most of the contact patch.

That's what I'd have said, too, unless it's loaded, which it usually isn't.

What you've suggested sounds fair enough. At only 2.0 front and back, it is a bit mushy, I have to admit!

I swear by Michelin Pilot Sports, much better in the wet than Conti Sports, i can chuck the car around loads and it understeers if anything, the back never swings out unless I want it too. Ive had the Pilot Sports on my last 4 cars and will continue to use them until they stop producing them!

You see what I mean, though, about the tail swinging? It just DOESN'T in an Octavia, at least not in my experience.

Yep i'd go with the rear shockers and springs then myself.

Mine is figety but touch wood i havn't been chasing my own tail as yet.

Just gone and given it a rock - and it rocks. You've got it. Mushy, imprecise, etc, so that is the trouble. So, next Q: any advice on type/make of shocks? All 4, or just the back? It does tend to nosedive a bit when I brake,so I guess all four. Springs as well? And I'm pretty well skint right now!

Also use a decent tyre pressure gauge

I've heard really good things about Koni FSD dampers and they keep the stock ride height too. At the same time they reduce body roll. THink somebody mentioend about £300-£350 for a set for the octy TDI

Springs are cheap so you may as well put new OEM springs on at the same time as the labour is the expensive bit in changing them. Possibly get the bushes in those areas changed too as the others will be kinda old by now.

Ride height is important - I live in the country, and Octavias are pretty low to start with. Any lower and I won't be able to get around! Have to check all this out.

vRSLen - You can talk about decent pressure gauges! Short of stealing one from a garage, do you have any idea how difficult it is in France to get things you'd just take for granted in the UK? Not to mention how they shove the price right up the moment you step outside the ordinary junk you'd get from, say, Halfords or somewhere? And I'll bet Halfords is far better than the equivalent here.

I have to say that I notice my vRS can be a bit light at the back at times. Tends to be in the wet at motorway speeds. Rear tyres are original Conti's though and have done nearly 30,000 miles, so near time for a change. The other week on a wet M62 I kept on feeling the rear end being a bit skitish, but put it partly down to me being a bit tired.

Hoping that new tyres should calm it down.

Ride height is important - I live in the country, and Octavias are pretty low to start with. Any lower and I won't be able to get around! Have to check all this out.

vRSLen - You can talk about decent pressure gauges! Short of stealing one from a garage, do you have any idea how difficult it is in France to get things you'd just take for granted in the UK? Not to mention how they shove the price right up the moment you step outside the ordinary junk you'd get from, say, Halfords or somewhere? And I'll bet Halfords is far better than the equivalent here.

If you need a decent pressure gauge PM me and I will see about sending

you one mate

Good of you! To be honest, I should pick one up next time I go to Germany, probably at Christmas - it's one of those silly things you never actually think about.

Basically, all you'll find in France is either made in China, or priced out of the market. And that goes for a lot of things!

BTW, where in West Yorks? I was born in Harrogate, though I can't remember much about the place!

A location called Triangle, just west of Sowerby Bridge, but I was born in Singapore (parents working away). Lived in North Bucks for many years

then moved up north.....