When driving straight on local roads at 20-30mph, when going over certain road imperfections, I'm hearing a clonking/thumping noise from the front, off-side I would say, only noticed in the last month or so. The car has done 83,000 miles. New off-side lower arm fitted in 2023 before I bought it.

Can anyone help?

Anti-roll bar link perhaps ? You need to get underneath it to check.

There's always the bottom ball join, susp. spring, strut top mount, shocker etc as well !!

Thanks for your reply John.

I have had the car on axle stands and checked underneath.

I couldn't see any visual clues to suggest the ARB links might be the problem; the dust covers are not split. Maybe I'll take the off side link off on Monday (I have no drive, so have to work at my mum's 8 miles away) and check for play in the joints.

To check the lower arm balljoint, I put a block of wood under the tyre and levered the tyre upwards; there was no movement.

I've checked the coil springs and they are intact.

I've not checked the strut top mounts.

The problem with something like knocking noises is if you don't have the experience, it's hard to know where to look, whereas for a garage this is an every day occurrence.

Edited 13 December, 202513 Dec by phs12

Had similar on my Octavia. There didnt seem to be any wear or movement but I changed drop links. They looked fine on the car but on removing they were shot. Probably as they are held in tension by the antirollbar etc. Check bottom ball joint as well.

Alasdair

get a couple of droplinks first before removing the old ones. In all my cases I ended up cutting them off especialy the lower bolts as they have an allen key to hold bolt but any corosion and it will round itself and the ball joint just turns. There not that expensive and the last thing you need is to be stuck at your mums

The thing that surprises me (if it's ARB links, which I agree seems most likely) is the car passed an MOT on 13/09/25 at 82,154mls and I'm now on 83,053mls. The garage is usually quite fair but stringent.

They dont have to have much play to cause a knock which I reckon the ARB amplifies. Chances are the garage checked same as you did and there was no noticeable movement or visible damage. The problem with MOT tests is that they dont drive car so can only check visually or some have vibration systems to check ball joints etc but not the same as driving on bumpy roads. Check the condition of the ARB bushes as well. Hope its a simple fix. I ran mine for about 3 months before getting round to changing them as I didnt have time. They also started knocking about 6months after my MOT.

Alasdair

I'm sure that the "insert" on the drop links are Torx which tends to end up looking like hex allen - so that increases the chances of chewing the hole up.

I've only ever had trouble getting one set off, that was from a 2002 Polo that was only 5 years old. (taking the TRE nuts off that car was tricky, using a hex allen bit in that ended up swelling/expanding the upper section of the ball pin - and that just added to the pain - again I'm sure that I should have used a Torx bit)

So, bought new Febi ones when working on an 8 year old SEAT Ibiza, but they came off easily and were in good condition.

Next car was my wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI, at 9 years old, and for some reason I bought genuine VW Group ones - that hurt, and they are still waiting to get used along with the other Febi pair.

Had a go at removing the ARB links today and have posted a new thread.