Rattly rattle

[bertman]

Right I admit I am stumped well and truly with this blooming knocking sound coming from the front end,more on the nearside.
Even had the strut off to recheck for a third time that everything was tight...it was,so more time wasted.
Symptons are a definite knocking sound coming from the underneath of the car,fine over really smooth roads,which do not exist imho in the ukBut very noticeable when travelling over bumpy roads,get a really loud knock or bang when I go over a small kerb on my driveway.
Replaced the following
Wishbone bushes
Droplinks
Shocks
topmounts
Arb bushes
balljoints
Car was aligned after I did all the work,made sure it was all done up tighter than a nats rear end.
Handling still feels a bit wayward,so I starting to think the subframe bushes could be next on my next knuckle skinning mission
Could they make this noise?
Really difficult to begin to describe noises i know .Any other pointers towards what the culprit maybe?

[spink]

I had something similar recently on my ex aby,turned out to be the oil cooler mounts had rotted away and the whole lot was banging around going over bumps etc

[bertman]

Been under the car for most of the day looking at everything I can down below,even gave the oil cooler a wiggle,no movement there,anything could cause it though.
Sound is deffo on the nearside tbh

[ryster]

have you checked the tie rods .i had similar prob with mine and this is what was

[bertman]

I knew there was something missing from the long list of replacement parts
Yup they have been changed

[Smiley]

Last time when i was there I noticed some 1mm space between the insert and the top end of the strut housing. So the cap will not hold the insert down tight. Are you shure your insert is tight within the strut housing? Beside this i have no clue..

[bertman]

that was the reason for taking off the strut again today,to make sure that I hadn't overlooked anything.
Damper deffo sits a couple of mm proud of the strut housing,and was tightened with a good ol' pair of stilsons............and a bit a scaffold bar

[DJones]

Sounds bizarre but my wife's A3 recently had a bad rattle, i thought it was the under-tray it turned out to be the brake pads rattling in the calipers. Given the tight tolerance to the disc you wouldn't think it possible.

I bent the spring retainers that hold the pads to the piston to take up the slack problem solved...

May be of no help but if your running out of ideas....

[bertman]

Really appreciate the ideas guys but I think that its none of the above.I could be missing something.The whole suspension bits and bobs is new,so I am starting to think that it could be a engine/gearbox mount or similar.
It is just strange how it is related to the suspension side of things thats all in regards to bumps etc,
Anyone had any experience with mounts that are fubared

[bertman]

Right might have made some progress with the problem but I need some conformation on this.
The knocking could be caused by excessive shaft play in the shock absorber.Although they are new there seems to be a bit of play in the shock,when you wiggle the top end of the shock with the base secured there is definite movement in the top end.
Remember had a similar prob with my coupe gt and the place I bought the shocks off said this was not normal and to return the shocks.
Anyone confirm this,could be the proverbial red herring though.

[add]

i had a similar knocking noise on my car-i thought it was a strut top,it turned out to be a loose brake caliper
just a thought

[panzerwagen]

We here in the States have this problem you are having...

and some of us have taken 2 distinct directions in resolving the problem. First the problem is the strut bushing. The OEM ones even new are rubbish. The rubber that it is composed of is no where as good as it should be. 9 times out of 10 the bearing also fails too. I have gone to the solid strut bushing. And I have no sounds at all coming from my front suspension since going this route. Others have gone to the "Strut Saver"
bushing sold here in the States made and marketed by an Audi owner who got fed up with the piss poor bushing Audi sold in the States. Every one I know of here in the States are very happy with them. They are quality and long lasting. If you search the archives I think you will find the thread about these units and about this very same subject.

[macspring]

Panzerwagen, being lazy,

any chance of posting the link to the thread, or a photo of the "strut saver"?

Bertman, I had this problem once, it did my head in, turned out to be that I didn't tighten up the big threaded cap on the top of the strut when I put in new inserts. But I appreciate you've checked this possibility out already.

Thanks.

[Smiley]

These probably..

http://www.s2forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16895&highlight=%22Strut+Saver%22

[johne]

The bolts used by Audi to hold the wishbone bushes to the subframe have a M10, 10 mm thread but for some reason the shaft of the bolt is waisted down to 9mm giving 1 mm of play and in my case responsible for a similar sounding "clunk" as I drove onto my drive.

Replacing the standard bushes with poly ones makes the problem worse as you copper grease the poly bushes and some of it is bound to help the bolt move under load as well.

I replaced the Audi bolts with standard 10mm bolts which are 10 mm throughout their length as well as using star washers at each end to keep the bolt head and nut anchored to the subframe.

John