Hello,

I'm Mark, live in Portsmouth and have been browsing through this forum - lots of useful posts made. I've just changed my 03 octavia vrs to an 06 one today and have a bit of a problem. The ride is very bouncy on roads where I know the ride is usually really smooth. Tyres all around are 225/40/18 low profile. Definitely not the balancing (no steering wobble at 70-90) but haven't yet had the alignment checked. Anybody with any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Mark

Welcome, Mark, Octavia vRS Mk1 or 2?

mk2 - and can't get used to the accelerator

Welcome to the site

hi

hello and welcome.

hi and welcome I am sure someone will be along shortly to assist re your problem.

Have you checked tyre pressures etc?

A long shot - has the car been standing for a while? sometimes tyres can develop small flat spots where the weight of the car acts on the same point over a period of time. They sometimes disappear after a period of regular use.

The standard suspension can come across a little 'bobbly' at times.

You'll get used to the accelerator in a while.

Had similar observation when I moved from my superb to the octavia. On roads that i thought were smooth I now feel bumps. Even on my street which is little paving bricks feel them as it goes over. I'd go as far to say its as stiff as a mini cooper. You get used to it, and at speed its very stable, and excellent round corners. I did think to start with I had the sports suspension upgrade - have you checked if this is the case? It is the vRS you've got?

You'll get used to the accelerator in a while.

What's the story with the accelerator? I find my new 08 vRS has a kind of lack of feel to it when easing off and then pressing again. Also it's very on/off in traffic. Is this what you mean? Is this normal?

I can see a set of Koni FSDs fitted by JKM (on your doorstep) are called for. There are loads of threads on here about how these dampers sort out the characteristic 'bouncy' ride.

Thanks for all your ideas so far. Tyre pressures - first thing I checked and had to reduce these to the pressures recommended on the fuel cover.

Not sure if the dealer had the car standing still for long, they got the car last Thursday from VW, I saw it and test drove last Sat, all they had to do was a multi-point check and fill up the fuel before I picked up yesterday. Plus I did 150 miles or so yesterday so I thought that might have got rid of any flat spots.

It is the VRS I had, second one now. And particularly noticeable at high speed is the bouncy ride (70-90mph). Not sure if I have sports suspension upgrade, will check.

As for the accerlerator - yes it is kind of just on and off, but not a major issue.

Will check out other threads on Koni FSDs and see what JKM can do.

Thank you all.

Welcome

I'm local and have FSD's if you want to satisfy your curiosity.

Hi Mark, and welcome

organist (in Southampton - but hoping you won't hold it against me!!!)

Hi Mark,

Where in pompy are you?

I find the octy II lets through a lot more bumps than the new mini but I do quite like the feeling in some ways.

You are in the best part of the country to experience problems or need advice with the MkII vRS that's for sure. Not only do you have one of the forums finest 'brains' on the marque but one of the best performance/tuning/maintenance outlets in JKM and a pretty good dealership in Sparshatts over in Chichester.

So, with all that local to you all should be sorted pretty quick

It is the VRS I had, second one now. And particularly noticeable at high speed is the bouncy ride (70-90mph). Not sure if I have sports suspension upgrade, will check.

The vRS has only one suspension setup; there is a 'sport' option available for other models with lowered springs and stiffer shocks.

In OEM guise I'd describe the vRS ride as fidgety rather than bouncy. In other words its pretty firm and does not soak up small bumps; uneven tarmac and corrugations get noticed particularly. If that is what you have then relax, its perfectly normal.

If however the ride is bouncy i.e. up & down, floaty, boing boing; then I'd suggest a check over by your dealer; you may have worn shock absorbers or something else.

Good luck.

Hi all,

Thanks for all your replies so far - I'm astounded to have received such a warm welcome and constructive comments on an internet forum.

Fidgety is probably a more accurate description (compared with last vrs) - and I think reducing the pressure in the rear tyres will help too, running at 34psi all around, gonna try 32 at the back as I felt the back was bouncing around too much.

I also think the ride in this 06 mk2 octy vrs is similar to the ride in a VW Golf 2.0 Sport which I've driven as well. My last octy was an 03 vrs estate and I don't think it had so much VW influence in that respect. Whilst I forget who owns who, friends/family who have had Audi A4s have also reported firm (fidgety) rides.

Will see what happens and report back when rear tyre pressures are reduced (had alignment done too and were out quite a bit).

Glad to know its just the OEM fidgety ride that you are experiencing; a set of FSDs is well recommended to cure this, even keeping OEM springs.

Two point to consider;

How much tread is there on your tyres? Its quite remarkable how worn tyres will affect the ride, and

if it is the rear of the car that you'd like to bring under control; try a sack or two of potatoes or similar to weigh it down more!

Thoroughly recomend fitting FSD's (try a quick search on it and you'll see how much positive feedback they get) but that said adjusting the pressures should help a little.

Just as an asside what colour is yours (please dont say Blue! ), would be happy to let you have a go in a car with FSD's fitted (along with a few other tempting extra's ) + we have a meet coming up at the begining of June which you'd be welcome to join

Evening all,

Just a quick update. Paid a visit to JKM and discussed the FSDs and the new springs. Have now lowered the tyre pressures to the recommended values on the petrol cap (2.0 front, 2.1 rear) and this has noticeably improved the ride.

Will see how I get on with this whilst I think about the FSDs and so may well take up the kind offers from VRStu and Makefish of a ride in a vrs fitted with those shocks.

Just to answer a few points that people have raised with me (only polite!):

Organist - no I won't hold that against you!

cheezemonkhai - i live in the stamshaw area of pompey.

bahnstormer - haven't measured tread yet, but certainly a few more thousand left in them. Will see what ride is like when I've got all my DJ'ing gear loaded up on friday night.

Makefish - sorry, it's a blue! Thanks for the invite, if I'm not working i will make an effort to come along.

Thanks again all for the helpful posts in this thread. Very much appreciated.