Had quite a lot of banging from under my car. Been to mates garage to look underneath and bottom arms were knackered (as per previous post somewhere) These have been replaced.

However, still got a lot of banging, though not as much, and noticed today back end appears to be quite low down, and looks lower on one side than the other, though difficult to tell as road surface has a little bit of camber.

How much clearance should there be (roughly speaking) between the arch and tyre? I know on other cars I have had, general consensus was between two and three finger widths.

Exhaust has also been knocking underneath recently, thought that was due to rubber mount which was changed, but still knocks a bit -which further makes me think that shocks at fault.

Seen threads on here indicating unlikely to be springs, but will investigate that also if needs be

Ours is 35-40mm gap between top of tyre and outer wheel arch. 14" steel rims with 165/70 tyres.
After replacing the bump stops inside the springs the back box knocking disappeared.

Brendan W said:

Ours is 35-40mm gap between top of tyre and outer wheel arch. 14" steel rims with 165/70 tyres.
After replacing the bump stops inside the springs the back box knocking disappeared.

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So a good 2.5 / 3 finger width then opposed to 1 (just!).

Sometimes does feel like its from the front, but given wishbones have been done, and struts and track rods looked at, can only assume noise is at the rear - and given suspension is very low!

The banging I get (other than the back box) is more like something under tension moving, so gives a hell of a clack rather then a thud like the exhaust.


One thing I have just noticed (theres an advantage to driving with the radio on) when braking - I have a noise from the rear - hard to describe, not so much a squeak, but sort of the noise you get rubbing your fingers back and forth on plastic (actually thought it might be the adjuster springs on the shoes?)

Check shock bushing havent failed
Dowt it tbh

The most common banging noise on rear is backbox hitting rear axle or like me the prongs were too long on hanger and it smashing into body
Ive cut like 1inch of them

Ziggy

As ziggy said, not uncommon for rear shock bushings to fail but on a glance look perfectly normal and ok. They are supposed to be really stiff and should be difficult to move. If they are very easy to move then it's likely they have gone. Put the car up and see if there is movement in the shock bushing when jacking under the wheel.

AndyRKett said:

As ziggy said, not uncommon for rear shock bushings to fail but on a glance look perfectly normal and ok. They are supposed to be really stiff and should be difficult to move. If they are very easy to move then it's likely they have gone. Put the car up and see if there is movement in the shock bushing when jacking under the wheel.

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Mine got to 92k before i replaced em last week due to advisory play
And you can see the 1mm total around the metal bushing and the rubber where my slop came from
Excessive speed bumps is the issue in my case
Never replaced the mk2 at 113k, but where i live now its hell!

Easy change tho
20mins if you have impact tools
2hrs if you dont....

Ziggy

This isn't a knock - and isn't the exhaust (although I do occasionally get that knocking the rear axle / subframe. - its quite easy to distinguish)

This is a bloody good crack / bang.

Other than clearance, is there a way to check the rear shocks (opposed to springs) - obviously bouncing on them, but I know there should be more clearance

Check that the handbrake cable isn't hitting against the inside of the wheel. This can make a fair old bang. It's secured with clips to the trailing arms, and these rust away over time.

i know this thread is from the Panda section...but it helped me diagnose that my rear shocks were knackered..
https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-cla...change-your-rear-dampers-shock-absorbers.html

Thanks for that scud ...... I am going to family member this weekend and they have an elevating ramp, so will have chance to look underneath for anything else as well.


Given the low clearance is at the back, I am confident as can be they probably need replacing (just hope nothing else does!)

It's also worth pointing out....that if you take the shocks off then it is easy to check condition of the rear springs...once the shocks are off ( bolt at the top and bolt at the bottom) you just push the axle down and pull the springs out. Makes it easy to do a visual inspection of them.

Scudmonkey said:

It's also worth pointing out....that if you take the shocks off then it is easy to check condition of the rear springs...once the shocks are off ( bolt at the top and bolt at the bottom) you just push the axle down and pull the springs out. Makes it easy to do a visual inspection of them.

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I did see that they weren't compressed previously. Cant recall if that was on here or not.


If its them, all well and good, if its the front (bearings or spring), I can see me replacing the strut with a couple from the breakers.

Sound like my daughters car. Cheap buy with knocking noise. Changed wish arms as they where knackerd. Change both struts both springs both top mounts. And both drive shafts. New bushes on roll bar. And still knocks over bumps and speed bumps. Just feels like the front end is loose and there is play somewhere. But when it's on a ramp everything looks good.