After successfully having my VRS repaired after a bump at 1200 miles (3 weeks old), the car's had a full alignment check and all's good.

The car handles really great however I do alot of motorway driving and have found that in a straight line the car doesn't instill confidence.

With cross-winds of relatively low force, the car feels unstable.

I'm having to make continual minor steering adjustments to keep it on line.

The tyres are Michelin Pilot Exalto - one of which was renewed after the accident (o/s/f).

The tyre pressures are spot-on (2.1/2.0 bar)

Thing is, the roads were wet this morning and the car felt more stable for it.......bizarrely!

Has anyone had similar twitchness from their Octavia Mk2 VRS?

Any comments welcomed.

I have found mine to wander a little in cross winds too Foxy.

Also think they can be a little 'flighty' on OEM suspension at speed.

Got chatting to some rozzers at GTi International last year who commented that they thought it got a little light above 130mph

Great news you have it back on the road though mate.

Thanks Stu.

In fact only this morning I was showing a Merc how to keep behind a "lowly" skoda at 130 (private road!) and the car felt well planted in fact! I think I will have to swap front wheels to the back and see if it makes any odds.

I replaced almost everything on the offside front suspension - left only the wheel bearing, the strut top and road spring. I may have to play with tyre pressures too I guess. I'll also take it back to APS for another look at alignment I think.

I think you have the right tyres. If you were running dunlops I'd be concerned.

Yep, they do feel a bit wallowy at speed, about 120 and it starts to feel a bit light for sure.

I may have a fiddle with the rack settings. Its a second hand (low mileage) rack from a Golf GTi - which "should" feel the same..... I might tweak the rack power assist to be much less "girly"

By the way Stu.....i'm glad i got the grille trim painted after all....

And the "dynamat" applied too !!

That's a whole lot of Dynamat.

The vRS does sometimes remind you that it's not impervious to the odd cross wind but overall its a huge improvement over the MkI.

Be interested in what you make of the Dynamat and the benefits it brings

I thought it was just mine that did this

I've found the steering is a little "light" at times... but I'm still running on OEM suspension for the time being so I'll see how it is when Ive upgraded.

Either that or I need the tracking checked :P

The vRS does sometimes remind you that it's not impervious to the odd cross wind but overall its a huge improvement over the MkI.

I know I have a mk1 and seeing as it's been brought up now. Mk1's are a dicey in high wind and at the speeds mentioned in this thread (not that I would know of course) tbh I wouldn't like to try the quoted top speed of my as I think it would be too much of frightening experiance imo. This is based on a standard set up:)

Ive found that the ride at high speed is underdamped - ie the springs are doing to much and the effect is bounce.

This may have something to do with the Eibachs I have had fitted since new however. The rear also tends to skip out very slightly when hitting a rut at speed on corners.

Not had a problem with crosswinds however.

Lee

I've noticed a lot of modern cars I've driven seem to suffer in crosswinds, but I'm not sure why as you'd think they'd be better aerodynamically than cars of old. I've also noticed that estate cars (with a bigger side-on surface area) seem to tolerate crosswinds much better than hatchbacks. :confused:

Chris

I've noticed a lot of modern cars I've driven seem to suffer in crosswinds, but I'm not sure why as you'd think they'd be better aerodynamically than cars of old. I've also noticed that estate cars (with a bigger side-on surface area) seem to tolerate crosswinds much better than hatchbacks. :confused:

Chris

I think your right on the estate's beening much better in wind, this has been pointed out numerous times in the mk1 section

I think your right on the estate's beening much better in wind, this has been pointed out numerous times in the mk1 section

From experience I definetly agree with this statement!

Lee

I may have a fiddle with the rack settings. Its a second hand (low mileage) rack from a Golf GTi - which "should" feel the same..... I might tweak the rack power assist to be much less "girly"

Recently I was test driving a Golf GTI vs Octy II vRS and I found the Golf steering was definitely "twitchier" or more responsive to slight movements (admittedly at lower speeds than some of you - I like my licence).

I felt VW had tuned the GTI to "feel" sportier (along with the induction and exhaust noises and mid range throttle response). The Octy was much more relaxed and had a more comfortable ride. When you really went for it they both had similar performance, but the GTI "seemed" faster.

The interesting thing is that the GTI had 17" wheels, while the Octy had 18", so you would expect the ride/handling compromise to be the other way around. :confused:

I think I've read somewhere that Octys are a bit sensitive to wheel alignment settings, and that there has been some changes to the recommended settings - maybe worth checking that yours has been set to the revised settings ?

BTW I ordered the Octy, not the GTI

A friend of mine and I found this when driving his Mk5 GTI and my Octavia RS on a private road. We both had to back off due to the cars feeling very light at the above mentioned speeds.

He invested in a set of H&R coilovers and reports that the car is much more stable now.

Hey! Trevor.......

Thanks one and all for comments.

The sound deadening is in fact "eDead" rather than Dynamat. I have dropped some Infinity components into the front doors (Reference Series) along with their own crossover.......and all in all the sound is very good indeed.....the doors dont reverberate either.

It's windy again today so I really need to get a still day to be sure of what's going on with the handling.

Interestingly, the mpg on the car is poor too....around 38 overall. I do alot of motorway miles and save for the odd bit of heavy right foot action I drive fairly steady.

Is this about right for the car as I imagined it to settle out at 42-44 mpg long term.

The car's done 2200 miles by the way.

Can I ask where you got the roll of the eDead and is it bitumen or otherwise based?

Ta

I found the bulk roll of BrownBread very good value at £99.

I bought the eDead off flea bay....it cost me £48 delivered IIRC. It's not as sticky as bitumen - more like a rubber i'd say.

The rear also tends to skip out very slightly when hitting a rut at speed on corners.

Only comment I could make about mine as well.... Estate with standard suspension set up

The vRS does sometimes remind you that it's not impervious to the odd cross wind but overall its a huge improvement over the MkI.

Be interested in what you make of the Dynamat and the benefits it brings

As someone who had one of the early Sierras they wandered at speed in cross winds as well. The cause was apparently the centre of pressure was in front of the centre of mass (it was the first really aerodynamic RWD car and no one had experienced it before). Fix was some plastic trims round the rear quarterlight to introduce some drag and move the centre of pressure back (came in at about B or C reg, ours was a Y). Estates have the COP further back due to their shape.

Something to look into????

I forgot to mention but i'm running without the engine under-tray at present.

Is there any likelihood that this could affect the cross-wind stability and/or MPG?

I forgot to mention but i'm running without the engine under-tray at present.

Is there any likelihood that this could affect the cross-wind stability and/or MPG?

Not sure on the Octy, but I did the same on my Fabia after the undertray fell off while driving along () and didn't notice any difference in noise, economy or stability.

Chris