S4 Suspension knocking

[Tdi_dan]

My s4 N/S/F suspension is creaking and knocking. When rocking the car and looking at the top two arms that jin the main strut, the creaking is coming from them.

However, i cannot find for the life of me where the knocking is coming from! All of the ball joints rubber seals are fine?

The track rod end joint i can move the arm a little, this is maybe what is causing my steering to pull slightly when i go on uneven sufraces or cats eyes etc.

Would replacing the spring and shocker unit resovle this problem?

Which arm/arms usually wear out and how the hell do i test / check them properly?

Regards,

DAn

[SimonS4MTM]

Probably one of the top two arms, it can be a real ar#e locating the source of the knocking on these cars. I had mine doing it for over 6 months before I finally found it to the the top rear arm.

They are not too expensive and reasonably easy to change.

[tartan_rob]

Best to buy a kit from VAG Parts. I changed all my arms at least twice in 4 years. If one has gone, the rest are right behind it. 4wheel alignment is required after changing the arms..

[SimonS4MTM]

But i think that the kit does not include top arms for the S4, only A4 arms.

I changed just one arm 12 months ago and the others are all still fine. No wheel alignment afterwards either.

Sorry Rob, dont take it the wrong way, just voicing my opinion.

[dodgydave]

I have a knocking on one side on my RS4 . It's been driving me crazy since i had the car. I changed absolutely everything on that side except the damper. So it must be the damper I guess. If it's still knocking after that I get my head checked !!!

[Tdi_dan]

The top arms seem cheap enough from ebay. states they are a modified version due to common failure!

Would these top arm cause the knocking AND the creaking?

[Tdi_dan]

I have a knocking on one side on my RS4 . It's been driving me crazy since i had the car. I changed absolutely everything on that side except the damper. So it must be the damper I guess. If it's still knocking after that I get my head checked !!!

the damper? is that the part at the top of the strut where the spring / shocker meets the bodywork??

[s4woody]

dave have you also checked the plastic drop link that connects the anti roll bar to the strut..its a bush at 1 end and a ball in a plastic socket and the ball knocks itself out and makes a noise..

[littleblue]

i've recently been trying to sort a very similar problem.

cant fully locate the noise, other than its nearside, but at times i think its coming from the front, other times the rear. i've had the arms replaced on the front, they were worn, so not too much complaint at that, i then had another knocking from the top of the shoock mount, that had worn itself loose, so the top of the shock was moving slightly. got the car back today from the local garage (not stealer) that i trust to fix the car, and the guy was still baffled as to what it could be, to the extent that fater several more test drives, even he cant tell if its front/rear or both.

he has given it back to me, and says the last thing is to replace the struts, which he says he doesnt think need replacing, but he doesnt know what else it could be.

on one of the test drives, he disconnected the ARB from the fnearside suspension, and it was still knocking.....

its difficult to describe, other than the nearside feels like its unsettled, like the suspension is patting over bumps, or crashing over them and Knocking something.

on smooth tarmac, its silent, on the pot hole ridden roads here in west yorkshire, it makes a hell of a racket. everything feels ok when driving, the steering is fine, but there is a slight vibration that has developed and it feels like its from the rear, at about 85 to 100 mph, but i dont feel it below that speed.

the noise has been slowly getting worse in the last 6 months, and each time i get one thing "fixed" the noise is still there. when they replaced the arms, you could tell they were wron on the ends, so would have required doing soon anywway, but its driving me round the twist at the moment.....

any ideas?

[QuantumJohn]

Dan,

The knocking I refered to in my pm was just as littleblue described. It was on my old A4. I cured it by buying the individual arms and replacing them. I wish I had bought the kit from vagparts because it would have been cheaper than buying pattern parts individually and it turned out to be both front and back top arms on both sides that had wear in them.

As Simon mentions it's not too bad a job to do if 1) you know exactly what you are doing (having done this once already i could do it in half the time it took me first time!) and 2) you don't have to heat the top bolt that holds the arms into the top of the hub carrier to red hot to get it out. It quite often rusts in solid.
If you have to replace all 10 it is a lot easier to do them all at the same time then come back to replace others at a later date.

However, I am not saying that this is exactly the cure to all front suspension knocking noises just the most common cause!

John

[littleblue]

thanks for the info, looks like i've got to replace the other arms then....

has ANYONE had the struts wear out causing a similar knocking? or has it always been cured with the arm replacement?

and have people also had problems with the rear arms wearing out as well?

i'm sure my car has developed these problems due to the excessive speed humps and poorly surfaced roads around where i live....

[craigs4]

this sounds exactly the same as my car , my wife describes a knocking coming from the rear driver side over bumps but try as i might i cant make it knock so ive never heard it , i thought the strut might of come loose on the top nut but didnt want to strip out a load of stuff to see, so unless it starts to bug me il leave it alone..

[craigs4]

this sounds exactly the same as my car , my wife describes a knocking coming from the rear driver side over bumps but try as i might i cant make it knock so ive never heard it , i thought the strut might of come loose on the top nut but didnt want to strip out a load of stuff to see, so unless it starts to bug me il leave it alone..

[craigs4]

this sounds exactly the same as my car , my wife describes a knocking coming from the rear driver side over bumps but try as i might i cant make it knock so ive never heard it , i thought the strut might of come loose on the top nut but didnt want to strip out a load of stuff to see, so unless it starts to bug me il leave it alone..