suspension knocking mystery.

[leebottrill]

For a few weeks i've had some knocking from the front driver side. I've had the car into two garages. Both have road tested the car and can hear the knocking but on inspection they said everything looks good and tight. The second garage had a shaker plate but still couldn't replicate the noise. His conclusion was it was probably the shock causing the noise. 

 

Has anyone else had this or had shocks go? I'm still on the original 13 year old shocks.  

 

Also, is this a good excuse to upgrade the suspension? If so where do i even start with that?

[The G Man]

Yeah, 13 year old suspension parts on a relatively ‘enthusiastically ‘ used, car, will be needing replaced.

 

Got some friends running this brand, not on a 350, and they have a good rep in the this area.

 

https://www.pedders.co.uk/extreme-xa-coilover-kit_p4507716.htm

 

Not the cheapest, but give them a call.  Once my FRPP kit starts giving up, I’ll be looking at Pedders as a replacement.

 

Asking the obvious here probably but did they check the wheel bearings?

 

I’m sure Zman Alex or other traders will be along soon....

[ATTAK Z]

Have you seen the compression rod ball joint threads ? That's where I would look first.

[ZMANALEX]

Usually front suspension knocks are from the drop links or the compression rod ball joints, however there are other components that will wear and cause knocks.

 

If the suspension has been checked properly and no play or wear was detected then I would go for the compression rod ball joints which can be diagnosed/confirmed on road test as play will not be obvious on the ramp.

 

edit: what he has just said. ^^^^^

[leebottrill]

I haven’t see that thread. Why wouldn’t my mechanic know this? They have both test driven the car! 
 

I can hear the noise when driving. But don’t know what components are causing the noise. I’ll check the thread. 

[ATTAK Z]

Checks go like this:

 

1) Is the knock heard at low speeds when going over small bumps in the road ?

2) Does the noise stop when you left foot brake whilst maintaining your slow speed over said bumps ?

 

If so you have a banana bar (compression rod) ball joint failure

 

The problem cannot be diagnosed in any other way AFAIK and that's why most mechanics can't help unless they have come across the problem previously.

 

[coldel]

Bah, its just a knocking noise, just turn up the stereo and carry on 

[ATTAK Z]

2 minutes ago, coldel said:

Bah, its just a knocking noise, just turn up the stereo and carry on 

It is annoying though Col 

[coldel]

Just now, ATTAK Z said:

It is annoying though Col 

I know mate, was just kidding