Technical Front suspension knock?

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Technical Front suspension knock?

dac69er

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My girlfriend's 100hp has developed a knocking at the front when turning right and hitting any sort of bump. If it's a smooth roundabout or similar it is fine. There is also no noise on bumpy roads if going straight.
It makes a slight noise when turning left too, but nothing that bad.

Top mounts are a couple of years old, lower arms are both a year old with the beefier 100hp bushes. Drop links are probably about 3 years old.

Nothing is loose or obviously worn. I am at a bit of a loss as to what it could be!? Does anyone have any ideas of anything I could have missed?
 
you might have to check the drop links again. Did you check them while up a ramp or jacked up.


its the usual suspect and is the first symptoms before they go rattily


the have to be checked at normal ride height or you have to lift the wheel to match the other side.


turn the steering to full lock and then check for play even better if you have an assistant rock the car at the same time.

can normally be heard if there is a private road and you drive slowly 5-10 mph while rocking the steering from side to side.


no point in suggesting any other tests until there is some feedback
 
Easy to check items -


Turn the car on full lock (both ways) and listen for clicking at the inside front wheel. Clicks indicate a worn CV joint. A badly worn joint will clatter.
Its a quick and easy test. No clicks = No problem. Clear clicking = worn joint needs replacing but it's unlikely to fail yesterday.

Broken road spring with fragment rattling in the shock absorber spring pan.

Badly fitted shock top mount causing the spindle to jump inside the top mount.
 
This was with the car on the ground. I would be dissapointed if the overpriced droplinks have failed already!

I will double check them to be sure though.

It's not a cv joint clicking noise, it's a metal rattling/knocking against something type noise.

Could be bad topmount as they were cheapest ones I replacement them with, but shouldn't be poor fitment as they have been on the car a couple of years with no issue.

Springs are fine, I checked them all as I suspected it could have been that as they are original
 
This was with the car on the ground. I would be dissapointed if the overpriced droplinks have failed already!

I will double check them to be sure though.

It's not a cv joint clicking noise, it's a metal rattling/knocking against something type noise.

Could be bad topmount as they were cheapest ones I replacement them with, but shouldn't be poor fitment as they have been on the car a couple of years with no issue.

Springs are fine, I checked them all as I suspected it could have been that as they are original
Hi,

check steering tie rod ends inner and outer are not insecure or worn out.


Cheers

Jack
 
Lower arms have only done 10kmiles and were decent ones.

They seem ok as far as I can tell too!

Outer balljoints for steering are fine, but inner could be worth a look. Would have thought they would rattle on a straight line though as they wouldn't be under any load and would rattle more!?
 
Knocking has been pretty intermittent. Mostly it's ok, but under certain conditions it knocks.

Had another check around everything and only thing I can find is that the bumpstop are pretty rotten and are falling apart!

Will have to swap those out and hope that is all that was the issue!
 
It was the lower balljoint and probably a little bit to do with the knackered rear arm bushes.
Both sides were well worn out, passenger side slightly worst as expected.
I even fitted the "uprated" versions of the rear bushes and they havnt faired that well.
Only lasted about a year and a half!!!!

Good thing is that everything else is in decent condition :D
 
It was the lower balljoint and probably a little bit to do with the knackered rear arm bushes.
Both sides were well worn out, passenger side slightly worst as expected.
I even fitted the "uprated" versions of the rear bushes and they havnt faired that well.
Only lasted about a year and a half!!!!

Good thing is that everything else is in decent condition :D

whats a uprated version ?
 
These are example only. I have not used these suppliers.

The 100HP version is usually about £70 each so these are not bad.


100HP type https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Track-Co...474200?hash=item2165d674d8:g:xncAAOSwCH9d3Q2o
s-l500.jpg


This is the ordinary version https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIAT-PAN...:Panda&hash=item365c971932:g:IV4AAOSwjLZeNCgC

s-l500.png
 
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From my experience they aren't worth the money. Just buy the cheap ones that are about £20 each. They last longer.
 
From my experience they aren't worth the money. Just buy the cheap ones that are about £20 each. They last longer.

I went for the "correct" 100HP bottom arms, because there were reports that ordinary spec arms don't last very long on 100HP. I did not relish paying silly money and had to wait ages for delivery but did not want to be doing the job again. Was I mistaken?
 
what we know

100HP and standard arms measure the same size

The casting numbers on the arms are the same. There is one exception shop4parts have a casting thats different.

some online shops grind off the casting numbers so they can't be compared

every s/h UK 100hp I have seen has the different bush

s/h 100hp arms from Italy May have either type of bush.

You can by both types of bush. In fact there are three types. 100HP, standard and there is an unusual oval centre type.

The different bushes are listed as equivalent just different manufactures

personally I like to change like for like

I wouldn't have a problem putting standard arms on a 100HP because this has been done in the factory

I not so sure about doing it the other way round though due to the extra vertical movement. As the bushes are listed as equivalent I doubt it would cause an issue, but having never seen it from factory so probably stay with the cheaper and easily available ones

I would be very surprised if the ball joints were different though and thats the bit thats worn out. Should be Good for 100K unless the cover gets damaged.
 
I don't have any proof but the 100HP but the steering with stiffer arms does feel more accurate than the Dynamic 1200. Unfortunately, the latter has the original 13 years old bushes so its not a fair comparison.
 
I went for the "correct" 100HP bottom arms, because there were reports that ordinary spec arms don't last very long on 100HP. I did not relish paying silly money and had to wait ages for delivery but did not want to be doing the job again. Was I mistaken?

I was really dissapointed. With those bushes I was expecting the arms to last a good while, but there are complete toast with about 18months and 12k miles on them.

I would never waste my time on them again.
 
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