And nothing to do with the curry I had last night either.

Ever since I bought it, my Octi estate has creaked and groaned a bitfrom teh rear when low speed manouvering (with or without the seats up). Since there is bugger all back there, I'm guessing it has to be the boot door itself or the suspension.

If it were the suspension that would leave me with either the top mounts or trailing arm bushes to investigate I guess. Anything else it could be?

What's the easiest way to test the rear bushes?

Cheers,

iep

I have exactly the same issue with my Octi 1.8 estate, did you figure out what this was?

The road springs can break at the bottom where the coil narrows, such that it'll barely drop and won't be that noticeable. That'll cause a creak when its under load.

No, springs on my are fine, still get a bit of noise but it seems to have been reduced by tightening up the rubber stoppers that pre-tension the rear seats when they are in their upright (normal) position. I also moved the rubber stoppers on the boot so that it is under greater tention when closed. All seems to have helped.

Ive started getting this too ! ? Not sure what the hell it is, i have a rear arb, new koni shocks and h&r springs so i would'nt of thought it should creak!! Rear bushes maybe? looked fine and went through mot though, any thoughts thanks.

What's the easiest way to test the rear bushes?

I'd like to know this too.

I can't see the bushes well enough to get a visual inspection, and I've even tried poking a camera in there to get an image but you just can't see enough.

Would they creak, knock or rattle if they were shot. Or would you just find that the rear beam alignment would go off. I'd guess that the rear beam would knock if you were cornering hard and pulling some G's!

Do the rear beam bushes even wear out? I've not really heard of it. Most people just change them to get a stiffer car.

Since most wheel alignments align the front wheels to the (assumed straight) rear wheels, then I guess you'd rarely pick it up that way.

Someone must know!