hi,

my skoda felicia (00, 1.3, mpi) has started making a loud knocking noise from the front passenger side wheel when making sharp turns to the right. it's progressively gotten worse over a few months, and at the last mot, the mechanic noted some wear on the bearings of that wheel. is this the likely cause of the noise? it's only noticeable on the turns.

my exhaust got detached yesterday, so i have to take in to the garage this week for a fix anyway, but would appreciate a bit of forewarning about the likely cause (and hence cost!) of the knocking noise! i have never been more terrified in my life than when the exhaust came apart. i thought my poor car was a goner!

thanks as ever!

lottie

i've just looked about the forum more and it looks like my problem is probably the cv joint and might cost about £100 to repair?

(the problem with sounds when you are trying to search the forum is that different people describe the noises differently! )

I have the same problem on mine - took it to the garage and they replaced a suspension strut which didn't fix the problem!! Does it on both sides and they don't know what else causes it! It got worse before christmas, but hasn't been so bad since - and I have still been giving it the same sort of treatment

The next time I am at the garage I go to (about 30 miles away) I will try and show them the problem. Its probably been doing it for the past 3K on mine.

glad it's not just me! i shall update this post if the garage come up with anything!

To be honest if a mechanic has looked at it and came up with that diagnoses I wouldnt really doubt it. A wheel bearing can make a knocking noise more prevalent on turning as well, its a slightly different noise to CV joint, and a CV joint doesnt last months slowly getting worse it starts knocking and then shortly later goes, a wheel bearing will progressively get worse and worse and can hang on for a long time.

i have a sort of dull rubbery squeek coming from the front right when i turn left. seems to co-inside with the wheel going round, but it started suddenly when i changed the springs.

any ideas????

regards edd.

Try refitting the cat and see if chases the mouse away?

Were the springs standard ride height? were the suspension mounting rubbers in good condition? assuming it was front springs you replaced are the top mount rubbers in good condition?

If its wheel spin back off or fit new tyres :D/

they are lowering springs, and all the rubber mounts are in good nick.

is seems to be (but it may have nothing to do with it) squeeking in time with the wheel going round, as if it were tyre rub. but no sign if that.

at a loss at the mo, have taken the shock out and refitted it twice now and no change. have been thincking about greesing the rubber mounts, its getting no my tits that much now.

Standard shocks with lowering springs?

Any signs of scoring on the exposed piston? Has you car got rubber bellows fitted to the strust to keep it dust free?

Check the springs any sign of coil on coil contact?

Any signs that the coils might be moving around in their pans? Ive seen it before that lowering springs on standard shocks allow the springs to turn a bit when extended and the spring to slide back to correct position as load is applied.

Does this happen more when cornering hard or generally when cornering regardles of speed?

yer the dampers are standard (due to the price of hp's or pro-flex) and they do have the rubber boot thingys. and no skratches.

the moving spring idea sounds like it could be a goer. i know it has a bit of play when the unit is off the car with no preload. how would you eliminate this?

i have been thincking of putting heavier oil in the dampers, to counter act the stiffer springs. what do you think?

another thourght was that i could take the damping pistons out and tern the top ends down 30 odd mm and re-cut the same thread, so the piston is 30 odd mm shorter. again, what do you think.

Shorter pistons would help cut the problem with spring movement but what you would find is damping problems.

With shorter springs on standard shocks you are effectively preloading the suspension as if it was cornering under normal driving this gives the car slightly more sporty dampening at the cost of overheating oil and damageing valves. Shortening the pistons would get rid of this preloading but also reduce the dampening effect back to standard rates which with heavy springs would mean some very bouncy riding. Possibly uprate the oil and shorten the pistons together. Although I couldnt guarantee the dampening affect would be exactly right I have no maths whatsoever on those effects.

Trying to remember what we did with the car with the moving springs it was a LONG time ago . it might have been as simple as zip ties to hold the spring in place as it extended. A few holes drilled in the pan ought to allow this and the favorit spring pans could do with a little extra drainage anyway .

It might be worth if you ahve the time and facilities to do it easily to put the stock springs back on and see if the noise does go away even under hard cornering, (couple of inches extra suspension travel).

By the way are the aftermarket springs or cut down originals?

i got the car back from the garage last night and he doesn't think the knocking is loud enough to be a serious problem yet, although he suspects the cv joint. he's asked me to keep driving it and come back when it's worse! it was quiet last night (it's not consistent anyway) so i will update again if it turns out to be a more exciting problem, or the cv joint needs replacing later on.

good to hear its not to bad lottie.

By the way are the aftermarket springs or cut down originals?

there after market. would never chop springs down, thats just not right!!!!

good to hear its not to bad lottie.

there after market. would never chop springs down, thats just not right!!!!

Glad somebody relaises that.

hay ugluk, we should realy start our own threads, instead of hijacking other peoples al the time

usualy my fualt mind.