loud knock. oh s#@t

[Monkeymagic]

driving to work this morning and going over series of bumps i heard a very loud knock from Rear suspension. noticed it does it when taking corners too. i found that if i stamped on brakes it did it every time. it sounds like a worn top mount or spring coming un seated. i have done 500 miles since replacing shocks with kw1 and new top mounts. i started to panic it was the rear diff as it was doing it while going round islands etc. and i did have a little diff leak recently until did new seal. but its most notable when braking hard in straight line. however i took it home and jacked her up. everything looks fine. i put a pry car under raised wheel and pushed wheel up when releasing it it bangs as though the shocks have no rebound damping? any way checked top mounts they were tight. i took the car out then and nothing. i was throwing it about slamming on brakes etc and not one knock. anyone got any ideas. i also span rear wheels and diff feels smooth and doesn't make any noise.

[driftin jo]

Could be your shock cap nut loose, often the new ones are deeper then OEM
and when installing you end up with the threads on them getting into the previously
unused rusted thread on the strut, this gives you the impression you have it nice and tight but it may not be clamping the shock.
It has been the case on two friends cars that used bilstein shocks.
With the bilsteins you have to wire brush the hell out of the
thread on the strut and make sure the cap nut goes all the way on before you put the
shock in and tighten it down.

[Monkeymagic]

they are brand new kw.s with brand new top mounts. everything with strut is tight. i hope shocks aren't goosed

[sam80quattro]

loose wheel bolts? apart from the knocking when you lifted then dropped the wheel, it could be something as simple as that.. hopefully

[sam80quattro]

or loose cv bolt

[Monkeymagic]

first thing i checked were the wheel nuts and hub nuts tight. the only thing i did when had car in air was move spring round maybe it was Sat funny? bloody hope so. I'll see how she runs on bumpy roads into work. what does worry me is the apparent lack of rebound on rear shocks. however they are at the full extension i guess. would most of you agree its unlikely to be rear diff. i thought they were bomb proof but seems they can fail

[Sleeper_Avant]

no bump stops will give you a bang if they bottom out

Also check if theres any bolts go through a hole in the shock, that the hols isnt too big for the bolt, bad machine`d items happen.

my Weitecs have been 100% fine for 6+ years (KW by brand)

[Monkeymagic]

mounting bolts from strut to hub all replaced and tight. the shocks aren't bottoming out its as though they are topping out. its weird that every time i braked hard it did it every time. i jacked it up then put it on floor again and it appears to have gone. if it re appears and i find cause ill let you all know. if it keeps swallowing money she.ll be getting sold ha ha

[re2500]

I'd take the top nut off the top mount and the concave disc and check that the castle nut is nice and tight, if this works loose then it can goose the thread on the top of your shocks and make some significant knocks (I learned the hard way after disassembling a used suspension setup!!)

[Error404]

I agree sounds like the top spring cap wasn't seated right on the strut piston. Check the slotted nut is torqued correctly. Did you check the drop links are torqued up etc?

[Monkeymagic]

I'll give the castle nut a go but pretty sure they are all locked down. can you get to the castle nut without taking strut out then.? save me getting alignment done again.

[Greg_S]

Did you manage to find what was causing your knocking?

[re2500]

Use the instructions in my post above with the car still on the ground. The castle nut is accessible once you remove the hex nut and concave disc. On the car is probably a good way to do it as the spring is compressed!!

[Monkeymagic]

here's the funny thing i jacked the car up checked all the shock bolts wheel nuts etc and couldn't find anything loose. The only bolt i found loose was the pin that holds the rear seat up. Anyway after putting the ar on the floor i was for a run. Not a sound. I have done 100 miles since and not a sound and the run on the way to work is very bumpy.
I'm going to check the castle nuts anyway. Weird. No doubt it will return to annoy me again.

[Monkeymagic]

Got some good pics today with the fresh paint and roof lining i'll stick themn my thread soon.