SWMBO and I are both agreed that her Fabia vRS is a bit twitchy when it's pushed hard. The obvious thing is that the ride height is too high. It's hard to understand why an ostensibly sporting model comes out of the factory with a ride height more suited to a 4x4.

Does anyone have experience of a spring conversion to lower the car? The two options I've found so far are a set of Eibach springs which are listed for the 1.9 TDI, but not the vRS and a set of Bilstein PSS9s. Much as I like the Billies, having them fitted to my Golf, the Fabia isn't getting its OE shocks binned with only 4K miles on them. Equally, I've seen some criticism of the Fabia's OE Michelin Pilot Primacy tyres, but these aren't getting binned until they're down to the wear bars.

If it's possible to achieve a good ride / handling compromise with just a set of springs, I'd also intend to fit a Seat Ibiza front upper strut brace and source a lower strut brace, both of which should sharpen up the steering.

Any good advice would be much appreciated.

Eibach now do a set of springs specially for the vRS. Fab16v has these springs with standard dampers.. IIRC he says they are rock hard on the road..

Most people on here seem to go for a eibach/Koni combination which gives a very good compromise (Ross's car handles quite well, yet is reasonably comfortable)

Altho to be honest putting springs on with standard dampers will kill the dampers quite quickly.

Thanks for that Colin. I think madame would want to retain some semblance of ride quality. She certainly thinks my PSS9 suspended Golf is too hard.

Is there anyone in Central Scotland who has lowered their car, who would be willing to give us a wee ride in it...?

Yep, if you want to keep some complience, I would recomend going for the TDi springs. The vRS specific springs lower it a further 10mm, but are linear coils and are very very stiff! Add a lower strut brace and you got a car that is superb in the corners, but takes a huge dislike to the bumps in the road! Not that it bothers me. I have got used to it now. Got my upper brace to go on Sunday I hope.

I have changed the tyres to Toyo Proxes and fitted an upper strut brace.

The tyre change makes a huge difference to the feel of the car - much more stuck to the road rather than detached

The strut brace tightens up the steering, not a massive difference but one worth having IMO

I think I will go down the Koni/Eibach route when funds permit - I've just had it remapped and the suspension feels terrible now - it actually feels unsafe when really pushing on or braking/changing direction suddenly :eek:

Also worth pointing out that new Skoda Fabia vRS's come with Continental tyres now, wonder if the word got around

Ive got Koni adjustable dampers and the TDi Eibach springs and a SEAT Sport strut brace. Ride is so much better, the car feels so much more secure on the road and improvements were noticed to braking.

With the dampers being adjustable you can tailor how stiff you want the ride and on a mid to soft setting is perfectly well behaved.

I think I will go down the Koni/Eibach route when funds permit - I've just had it remapped and the suspension feels terrible now - it actually feels unsafe when really pushing on or braking/changing direction suddenly :eek:

I was thinking about this yesterday, when I was driving hard. The standard suspension and brakes setup seems only just adequate for the performance of the car (even as standard, with 4000+ miles on the car, mine is still seeming to be getting faster with every passing mile), I can relate to what you are saying, the car IMO would be a real handful with 30% more power.

Would you say in your experience it might be a good idea for me to get this sorted before I got the car remapped? Because thats what I am beginning to think.

Brakes first

then suspension..

then power

this is the order im going for

Yes - I would have done the suspension first, but I won this remap so couldnt really say no

Even though the power increase is 20-30% the standard suspension cannot cope :thumbdwn:

Well, I was going to get a remap first, but I can relate to what you were saying, especially after yesterday. As it is the handling is acceptable (very good even, compared to my last car), but I do feel that any more power through the standard suspension and brakes and it would become a bit hairy.

I have to admit that I'm enjoying throwing the Octy round more than the Furby. When I both are on the drive I keep going for the Octy if I need to drive somewhere. Not even sure if I'd get another Furby to be honest.

The standard suspension set ups on the Octavia vRS and Furby vRS are very different - the Octy is really good and the Furby is really bad IMO

Will the rear braces between the suspension turrets on the Octy VRs fit in the same place on the Fabia?

They obviously contribute to the body rigidity along with the front upper and lower strut brace.

Des