diff --git a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/e2e/v1beta2/admission_controller.go b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/e2e/v1beta2/admission_controller.go
index 49a5d12fbc..dd9711a863 100644
--- a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/e2e/v1beta2/admission_controller.go
+++ b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/e2e/v1beta2/admission_controller.go
@@ -260,14 +260,14 @@ var _ = AdmissionControllerE2eDescribe("Admission-controller", func() {
 				{
 					ContainerName: "hamster",
 					Target: apiv1.ResourceList{
-						apiv1.ResourceCPU:    ParseQuantityOrDie("250m"),
+						apiv1.ResourceCPU:    ParseQuantityOrDie("120m"),
 						apiv1.ResourceMemory: ParseQuantityOrDie("100Mi"), // memory is downscaled
 					},
 				},
 				{
 					ContainerName: "hamster2",
 					Target: apiv1.ResourceList{
-						apiv1.ResourceCPU:    ParseQuantityOrDie("250m"),
+						apiv1.ResourceCPU:    ParseQuantityOrDie("120m"),
 						apiv1.ResourceMemory: ParseQuantityOrDie("100Mi"), // memory is downscaled
 					},
 				},
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ var _ = AdmissionControllerE2eDescribe("Admission-controller", func() {
 		// request that limitrange allows.
 		// Limit to request ratio should stay unchanged.
 		for _, pod := range podList.Items {
-			gomega.Expect(*pod.Spec.Containers[0].Resources.Requests.Cpu()).To(gomega.Equal(ParseQuantityOrDie("250m")))
+			gomega.Expect(*pod.Spec.Containers[0].Resources.Requests.Cpu()).To(gomega.Equal(ParseQuantityOrDie("120m")))
 			gomega.Expect(*pod.Spec.Containers[0].Resources.Requests.Memory()).To(gomega.Equal(ParseQuantityOrDie("250Mi")))
 			gomega.Expect(pod.Spec.Containers[0].Resources.Limits.Cpu().MilliValue()).To(gomega.BeNumerically(">=", 75))
 			gomega.Expect(pod.Spec.Containers[0].Resources.Limits.Memory().Value()).To(gomega.BeNumerically(">=", 250*1024*1024))
diff --git a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/utils/vpa/capping.go b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/utils/vpa/capping.go
index 15d5c06d49..2744156a2e 100644
--- a/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/utils/vpa/capping.go
+++ b/vertical-pod-autoscaler/pkg/utils/vpa/capping.go
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ func applyPodLimitRange(resources []vpa_types.RecommendedContainerResources,
 		return resources
 	}
 
-	if minLimit.Cmp(sumRecommendation) > 0 {
+	if minLimit.Cmp(sumRecommendation) > 0 && !sumLimit.IsZero() {
 		for i := range pod.Spec.Containers {
 			request := (*fieldGetter(resources[i]))[resourceName]
 			cappedContainerRequest, _ := scaleQuantityProportionally(&request, &sumRecommendation, &minLimit)
@@ -353,6 +353,10 @@ func applyPodLimitRange(resources []vpa_types.RecommendedContainerResources,
 		return resources
 	}
 
+	if sumLimit.IsZero() {
+		return resources
+	}
+
 	var targetTotalLimit resource.Quantity
 	if minLimit.Cmp(sumLimit) > 0 {
 		targetTotalLimit = minLimit