On a journey today I noticed a creaking and slight knocking sound when pulling away from a standstill. As I hve only just replaced my front ARB bushes I thought that perhaps this might have something to do ith the noise. However, the noise suddenly got worse, much worse, when pulling out of a car park. It sounded as though something like the ARB knocking against the offside front drive shaft. The clonk, clonk, clock sound increased in pace relative to the speed of the car. Above 15-20mph the knocking disappeared and so i drove the 3 or 4 miles home very gently.

Once home I had a quick look under the wheel arches to check if anything had come adrift but all seemed well. I have seen posts on here that said they had experienced ARB bushes "popping out". Mine are still in place. Could this be a drive shaft issue or perhaps an engine mounting?

I will try and get it to make the noise for me again tomorrow morning and have a more detailed inspection when I have more time. Any suggestions as to what I might look for would be extremely helpful.

Whilst relacing my ARB bushes the other week I noticed that my offside driveshaft is extremely corroded with a lot of the plastic coating breaking off in chunks. Should I worry about this or is it a common problem. I am assuming that these two issues are NOT related.

:bump:

:bump:

Thats exactly it:thumbup:

If anyone is interested, upon further investigation yesterday, I found that the ARB had "slid" through the bushes so that the curved part of the roll bar had been fouling against a point adjacent to the offside ARB mounting. I slackend off the mountings realigned the ARB and everything is fine.

Could it be that the copious amounts of grease around the new bush that everyone is suggesting is the cause of my problem especially now there is no plastic collar to stop any movement?

Have you got the correct clamp and bush combination?

The design of clamp changed midway through and one has a ridge in it.

If you have the smooth clamp then I suppose the bush could slide out.

No, but thanks for the thought. I ordered new clamps with the ridge in as well as the bushes. The bushes were still in place but the roll bar had moved. I think I may have got bushes with an 18mm instead of a 17mm hole by mistake.

The new bars have metal collars that sit next to the bushes to stop the bar moving so this may be your problem

The new bars have metal collars that sit next to the bushes to stop the bar moving so this may be your problem

...especially now there is no plastic collar to stop any movement?

I am sure the lack of this collar, whether is be metal on new bars or plastic of my original is the reason for the movement of the ARB I have experienced. Bushes with a smaller diameter will obviously reduce the chances of movement but ultimately the collar being part of the original design stops any potential movement hence. I guess thats why VAG designed it like that in the first place. The only sure cure is to fit a complete new ARB. In the meantime another set of bushes with a smaller hole will have to do.