Clonking noise

[james butler]

I have a cloncking noise when I pull forward and when I brake.
Not entirely sure what it is.
I have replaced both wishbones and associated bushes, plus the ball joints and I've replaced both front wheel bearings.
The suspension has recently been replaced which leaves the top mounts which are 3 years old and the steering which is origenal.
When I rock the steering there is some play in the rack but has always been like it.
Would this cause this kind of noise?
It seems to come from the passenger side but noises sometimes travel. It doesn't really make noise when driving over bumps, just when pulling forward and reversing/ braking.
I don't know what to look for now.
I've checked the wish bone bolts and the wheel nuts and driveshaft bolts

[ianaudia4]

Top mounts would be my first port of call, especially if you have recently changed the suspension and not the mounts. Top mounts can be picked up for £12 each from GSF.

[james butler]

Ok will grab some new ones and see how it goes. Is there any recommended mounts? I seem to remember someone saying the febi billstein ones are no good?

[go-for-it1]

Febi's are good. Make sure you get new spacers which fit over the shock spindle before fitting the top nut. They are only about 50p each but they are a set length and once worn cause the top end floppy ness and possibly the clunk so dont fit old ones. Have you checked your brake pads are fitted correctly as movement when braking and rolling could be caused by them not being right?

[james butler]

Ahh hadn't thought of that. Will definatly give that a look as I had the whole lot apart when I did the wheel bearings.
May have forgotten to tighten something
Where can I get the spacer things for the top mounts?
Are they Vw only part?

[go-for-it1]

Try VWS. Had loads of stuff from these before and all good quality. Use the links below.
http://www.vwspares.co.uk/product_info. ... cts_id=547
http://www.vwspares.co.uk/product_info. ... cts_id=548
Most of the Golf Mk1 stuff fits also if stuff you need is not listed under Scirocco
Rob

[james butler]

Yay!
Got a nice package waiting for me full of top mounts, brake drums and top mount spacers.
Thanks go for it for the links.
Can't wait to fit them the weekend and get rid of this annoying/worrying knocking noise.

[G-Dub]

Picked up a similar clonking noise on thurs/fri last week. It manifested itself after I changed the rear discs and bearings. It also sounded to be coming from the passenger side. Looked at it a couple of hours ago and found the rear nearside brake calliper carrier hex headed bolts were not tight enough. 8mm Allen key and mallet sorted but must get an 8mm hex head for a socket. Def worth checking.

[james butler]

Fitted the new mounts today and found out what was clonking. The camber bolts that hold the suspention leg to the hub were loose! Blooming cambers out now since I tightened up the bolts the steering is on the piss to the left.

[go-for-it1]

Jim, As an initial set up of camber get hold of a small spirit level with a vertical measuring bubble and put it on the wheel (not on the tyres) when the car is on the ground, i.e. not jacked. Do the same on the other and it will show how far out they are to each other. I just got the bubble slightly over from vertical (it should only be about 1°) so that the top of the wheel is further in than at the bottom. It's a bit agricultural and adjusting is a bit guesswork as you need to jack up to do it but you can get it close without too much effort, then get it set up with your tracking when you have the funds.
Rob

[Nate]

Feel obliged to point out the above camber adjustment method will only work with the car on level ground!

[go-for-it1]

Well obviously Nate, but I agree worth pointing out.

[mark1gls]

If your car is standard height you can losen and adjust the camber bolts with the car on the ground, theres just about enough room to get your tools and hands in there. You might need to losen the bolts first when on a jack then put the car on the floor, roll it back a couple of meters backwards then forwards so the wheels are flat then put the level on the wheels reach behind and adjust the camber then do up the nuts and bolts as much as possible, roll the car backwards and forwards again and double check.

The hardest thing I found doing this is finding a level bit of ground to do this, car parks etc have a slight slop to drain rain water off.

[james butler]

cheers guys, i managed to sort it by propping a straight edge against the Tyre/floor and against the wheel arch and measure the gap between the top of the rim to straight edge and one side was 25mm the other 30mm.
i did try the spirit level way but just couldn't find level ground
corrected the 30mm to 25mm and now she drives straight again
this is how i set the camber when i changed the suspension the last time before i had the tracking done.
the camber not only angles the wheel but also brings the two front wheels closer together the more negative camber you have and vice versa the more positive camber you have the further apart the wheels are. because the track rods are further back on the hubs in a fixed position this causes the wheels to toe in and out when adjusting the camber.
therefore the tracking goes out.
because the left wheel was more negative (30mm sticking in at the top) than the right this would cause the left hand wheel to toe in slightly thus overall to go in a straight line the steering wheel would appear to turn left all the time as the wheels would both have to toe in to while going in a straight line.
(hope that made sence )
so to get round it i moved the camber out to a 25mm gap making the left wheel toe out again. so overall the steering is back straight.