Metallic clack over rough surface

[STP]

Hi folks, this one has me stumped a bit. I had a distinct metallic Clack sound when driving over a bit of rough tarmac, so put it down to the lower arm rear bush on the passenger side, bought a full kit and fitted the passenger side yesterday, full arm with all bushes and ball joint included already, fitted it, greased up the front bush, Installed as per factory with the front only tightened to torque once the van was on its wheels and the suspension loaded. Felt fine afterwards, but this morning on the way to work I got a clack again on the same bit of road.

I did buy the drop links but didn't fit them as the originals felt really tight, now not sure where this is coming from.

Any ideas? Could still be the drop link I guess, will do that next weekend but it is a lot less often than before, and there was a split in the passenger rear bush on the arm, so I thought I had nailed it. Only clacked once this morning and it usually was quite a lot of clacking on that bit of road, I got one clack out of it today so was a bit surprised. I say clack, as it sounds like someone hitting a dull metal part once, with a spanner.

The bottom ball joint is a pig to get out, what idiot put a spline on top, that you can't get a bit into to hold it still after breaking the taper. ! Cmon VW! (No doubt there's a special tool...)

[davoc220]

The top mounts on the shocks can cause the same noises, worth checking and also the arb bushes


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[STP]

Thanks mate, the top mounts came to mind after I posted this. Might see if I can nip them up a bit.

[SnoWhite]

So what might be moving enough on a rough road to cause that clack. Sounds like you have covered most of the suspension but might be worth checking exhaust hangers and the steering rack bolts.

[STP]

Thanks, I'll check those too.

[Danny1221]

Did you manage to find the issue? Having same on a 2014 caddy starline

[STP]

Well I've changed the wishbones both sides with included ball joints and bushes, drives really nice, didn't do the drop links yet as the originals are solid but I have the new ones if need be.

Now before I did the wishbones it clacked constantly on any rough patches and now it doesn't, but on one bit of road I travel every morning to work, I get a clack or two on a bit with horizontal cuts in the tarmac, like splits running across the road and there are quite a few in a row - so the full front braking system is new, drilled and grooved discs, pads and calipers but I didn't get the outer springs in the kit and didn't bother putting the old springs on as they were rusty so maybe it's the outer pads giving a bit of a noise, or the strut tops as suggested earlier however not got round to pulling the bulkhead panel out to check and not sure how else I can test those.

Otherwise it's very quiet now except for that one bit of road and that's where I first noticed the odd clack which eventually got a lot worse, so I'm kind of back where I started!

I have just thought about trying to bounce the front end to see if I hear anything but modern struts are so stiff you can hardly move anything by hand. I'm going to get the brake pad springs and fit them, to see if that cures it and will feed back. If you find what it is first, post on here?

[Danny1221]

Will do,

I haven't started yet, gonna change the disks first and check that the caliper is on good,

Then I'll check everything suspension and let you know.

Ive seen people online say check that the driveshaft isn't bent as sometimes it can hit the wishbone arm so I'm gonna take the wheel off at some point and make sure everything looks fine.

[STP]

One thing to mention is my passenger side wishbone rear mount bolt (which is a bolt with a separate nut on top unlike the captive one on the front mount) was not tight, probably a previous person was at them as the bolt thread had copperslip on it, so that could have been making a noise too. The rest were FT so possibly that was clunking before I replaced both sides.

I am going to be doing my alternator clutch pulley and stretch belt today as the clutch pulley is chattering (slipping on the ratchet) occasionally and then the belt squeals for a bit, so changing them before a holiday road trip mid September as I don't want to get stuck with a broken belt in the middle of nowhere. I'll have a test of the outer pads when I have the wheel off to see if they can be prompted to rattle. Rubber hammer on the calliper etc.