shudson

Hi all

I bought an 07 Fabia 2 1.4TDi in July last year, and been over the moon with it ever since. The only thing I feel could be better is the suspension, the body seems to roll quite a bit when cornering and generally feels a little too soft.

My question is: is it possible to get my car lowered without affecting my warranty?

I'm not looking to sit it on the ground or anything, just lower it enough that the handling would be improved. Any advice would be most appreciated!

Cheers,
Stu

auroan

An arb will help more than lowering

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shudson

Well ideally I would like an arb in addition to lower/stiffer suspension, just thinking one step at a time really.

ScoobyChris

IIRC you'll only void the suspension parts that are replaced/in contact with the modified parts which might mean you don't get things like bushes covered. How much of a problem that is to you, I'm not sure. All the expensive bits, engine, etc should still be covered.

Eibach springs are popular on the Mk1 so worth investigating for the Mk2. They drop the car by 30-40mm which is enough to sit it nicely down without making it looked 'slammed'.

Chris

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Holding up the traffic in a little Italian..........

JonA

I have Eibach springs on my 1,9 TDI, and it certainly did the trick looks wise. Looks much better when it sits about 30mm lower.

I find it a bit "under damped" with the original shock absorbers and stiffer springs, but it's still a big improvement over stock. The ride quality doesn't suffer to bad either. It's still a comfy car with the Eibach springs installed.

I'm thinking of getting an ARB my self, but I'll be waiting until there are bars specifically for the MKII model available.

Keep on enjoying your new Fabia !

: )

paul_carter101

I would realy like to lower my New fabia as it just sits waaaaay to high!!! please can you post where you bought your lowereing springs, And do they differ from the previous fabia?? or are they the same.? Cheeers

zeecue

Here are a danish site, with a coilover set
LBN-Carstyling.dk

nutztoys

My experiance is exactly the same with H&R springs as you have with your eibach. Feel the need to either fit an coilover or sport dampers. Do not know if dampers is availabel yet.
Do you know if there is an ARB on the way?

Bgds Dan

JonA

I have gotten used to the way my Fabia drives with the Eibach springs installed, and I like it more and more, so I'll probably stick with the stock shock absorbers for now..

I haven't heard anything of a FabiaII specific ARB yet, but will post if I do. Please do the same

I haven't bothered to take measure of the "torsion bar" set up on a FabiaI and compared it with my car, but I really don't believe there is that much difference to them??

Has anyone tried to install the ARB from a Fabia I on a Fabia II?? My guess, it will bolt straight on..

Happy Easter Holiday to Briskodians!!

nutztoys

Will do Jon......

According to Sarah from AwesomeGTI the ARB from Fabia1 doesn´t fit the Fabia2 but again I haven´t tried myself. I haven´t an ARB lying around

Bgds Dan

Mike Austin

I am thinking of buying a new 1.6 16v Fabia 3. I want to reduce the lurching round corners. I hope to achieve this by lowered suspension, but I don't want the ride to suffer. What are the best options - coilovers or new springs? And what are the chances of the dealer who sells me the car fitting them for me from new? Anyone ever had this done?

nickcoll

I would concentrate more on the dampers than the springs. An ARB might help as well, but I would be very cautious here - ARBs can change the nature of transitions between understeer/neutral/oversteer quite dramatically so that if, for example, you stiffened up the back you would find the car much more prone to breakaway oversteer as you approach the limit. It's really important that ARBs are well engineered with a lot of time put into making sure that the balance of the car isn't disturbed too much. A major part of this (although def not the only consideration) is making sure that you don't make changes just to one end of the car in isolation.

Mike Austin

It is the maximum lean rather than oscillations that I am trying to cure. Surely that is governed by the spring rate? Why should changing the dampers improve this?

nickcoll

It's often the rate of lean that people feel rather than the degree of lean. From having driven Fabias recently I feel that the problem is the lurching rather than the actual amount the car leans. In addition, increasing the damping will reduce the lean because it will absorb some of the weight transfer.

The way in which a car behaves on its suspension is a complex combination of all the elements - springs, dampers, anti-roll bars (if fitted) and bushes. You can improve things a lot or screw them up depending on exactly what combination of things you change (I know that's obvious!). But you do need to think very carefully about what you're doing to achieve the desired result while making sure the car is still safe to drive.

An example of this is that it is very easy to make a car dangerous to drive near the limit which you won't necessarily realise until you encounter that situation. Hence to some significant degree all the boy racer cars that end up going backwards through hedges and killing people; typically when their drivers are tanked up and not able to respond quickly enough (even assuming they have the skill required) when things suddenly get dicey. I'm not kidding!

It may seem like a car has become much more responsive due to modifications made to it, and to a degree it certainly has (albeit maybe much more uncomfortable to ride in!). But that responsiveness can come with a price that is not anticipated until it is experienced...

Mike Austin

That is interesting: the initial rate of leaning being more significant than the eventual lean. I drove a Mk2 for 175 miles, but maybe I should have watched my reactions more. However, I think damping will not reduce the eventual lean. It resists speed, not weight.

Fab Estate

When I took my Mum & Dad for a ride in my Fabia2 my Mum said it wallows & bounces around all the time. It was something I hadn't noticed before.

mole

ive put some 40mm koni springs on my fabia, stops the "lurching" alot, great to go round corners now and not feel like its going to topple over. also looks alot better, not like its on stilts.

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Mike Austin

How is the ride now? Did you fit them yourself, or did you ask the dealer to do it? What about warranty?

mole

rides great, bit bumpy in places! not sure about warranty tbh, think it will just void the suspension. and a mate fitted them at his garage.

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nickcoll

That's not quite true. Imagine if you go round a given corner very slowly. Will the car lean over? Probably not, or not very much. If you go round the corner extremely quickly then it will lean right over, and lurch into that lean. The thing that causes this lean and the speed of the lean is weight transfer, so if you reduce the speed at which the weight transfer takes effect, through stiffer damping, both the amount of lean and the speed at which the car leans will be reduced.

You can also think about it in terms of the amount of damping. If you had almost no damping you can just imagine how badly the car would lurch and lean, even in the gentlest of corners. Conversely, if the damping was rock solid, do you think the car would lean then?

Certainly the springs have an effect on this, but the dampers do too, to quite an appreciable degree. They also have the benefit of taming the bounce and lurch without making the suspension rock solid, as stiffer springs can do. Firmer dampers also do not cause as many undesirable effects on the limit, which as I've said above are something to be cautious about.

An issue to consider with shorter springs is clearance - if you use the standard dampers then the bump stops in them will have been set for standard springs. If you use shorter springs then there is much less travel before you hit the bump stops, which can lead to a very uncomfortable ride, particularly if you have any passengers. This can also, once again, interfere with the car's handling on the limit. Hitting a bump stop will definitely change the way the suspension behaves at that point in time.

Furthermore, unless you fit firmer dampers when you change the springs the car is likely to bounce more because the springs and dampers will be unmatched.

All in all I wouldn't change the springs without changing the dampers, although doing it the other way round is not a big issue. Suspensions are very complicated things and I would strongly recommend not fiddling with them unless you at least understand the basic principles of how all the parts interact, unless you really aren't bothered about how good the ride is and how safely the car will perform on the limit.

Having said all the above, in my view the current suspension settings on the Fabia are underdeveloped - I don't really understand why the car is so soft and lurchy. The car feels totally different to an Octavia to me, and I can't really see why it should if properly developed. It's not even as if the settings lead to a really comfortable ride, because the car bounces too much for my taste even along straight roads. With four adults in it's like a kangaroo!

Mike Austin

We are talking at cross-purposes. The speed at which it leans is what I am talking about - i.e. radial speed, not the speed of cornering (tangential speed). The amount of lean is due to the centrifugal acceleration (=v²/r). The speed with which it reaches this total lean will be reduced by the damping. The total lean will not be reduced by the damping. Speed depends on damping and displacement depends on stiffness.

The point that you made (about me reacting to the suddenness of leaning rather than the total amount of lean) was a good one. Uprated dampers will reduce the speed of leaning, although not the total lean.

Son

Do you get the Sport version in the UK, BTW? I haven't been able to test drive a Sport, but the non-Sport models (Ambiente, I guess) have been quite soft in the suspension department. The Sport's specs don't say anything about a stiffer suspension, so I'm a little worried.

My current car is a '03 SEAT Cordoba Sport and while its suspension is rock hard in lower speeds and when empty, it works great in higher speeds.

Anyway, can anyone tell me about the Sport's suspension?

JonA

The suspension on the "sport" is excactly the same as on the other versions of the new fabia..



JonA