Hi all

I bought my '05 Fab Vrs back in October last year as an ex demo car. I've just hit 10k in it and tonight I've noticed a compressing of air sound in the front suspension. Generally speaking, I know this is fairly normal.

However, the noise of the air compression is fairly loud and can be heard inside the car...this is something I've not noticed before and I'm just wondering if this is some early sign of something going wrong :(

Anyone else had this?

You can hear the air con compressor running which is a similar sound to what you describe. It will sound like its coming from the passengers footwell if it is that you can hear.

I'd think LordRobs is right, if the noise is present with the car stationary.

If it's only present when going over bumps, I strongly suspect a leaky strut (which seems like a good excuse for a full set of Koni FSDs).

I'd think LordRobs is right, if the noise is present with the car stationary.

If it's only present when going over bumps, I strongly suspect a leaky strut (which seems like a good excuse for a full set of Koni FSDs).

Well if it's a leaky strut, surely this is a fault? as the car has hardly had any road miles since being an ex demo...

Ah, we're still talking warrantable age then. Yes, that's a fault, and a reasonably identifiable one if you can look at the car with dry underbody. You should see oil on the relevant strut body.

So it's not this, then?

I've never heard dampers working, and I go over some seriously big bumps. There's one in particular where I could feel a previous car's rear suspension just kissing the bump stops, and if anything was going to show up air movement noises, I'd expect that to!

:ne_nau: The reason I put what I did in that other thread was more to do with my experience of mountain-bike suspension than car suspension, and there's a lot less bodywork on a bike, I suppose! Was just a thought...

My MKII has made this noise from the shocks over speed bumps, always has, it seem to be "normal"

:ne_nau: The reason I put what I did in that other thread was more to do with my experience of mountain-bike suspension than car suspension, and there's a lot less bodywork on a bike, I suppose! Was just a thought...

Isn't an MTB front end more like a motorcycle than a car? I know the rear of a softtail is a single coilover, and a coilover is a coilover (at least if the MTB has oil damping).

My octy vrs does the same thing. According to Skoda techs it's normal.

Isn't an MTB front end more like a motorcycle than a car? I know the rear of a softtail is a single coilover, and a coilover is a coilover (at least if the MTB has oil damping).

Inasmuch as they both (normally) use telescopic forks, and so all the gubbins are on the inside. Air/oil was king when I was really into it, although I think elastomer oil is more common in these days of ultra-long travel. Where I was coming from, though, was that MTB forks (IME) produce a prononunced hiss when you hit a big bump, regardless of the spring material, because the air between the upper and lower legs gets forced out round the wiper seal. If you imagine the damper on a car is like the telescopic shock on the forks of an MTB, then the air between the cylinder and the piston rod's "mudguard" (see pic in thread linked previously) would be forced out in much the same way...

Could be wrong though, as ever!

Inasmuch as they both (normally) use telescopic forks, and so all the gubbins are on the inside. Air/oil was king when I was really into it, although I think elastomer oil is more common in these days of ultra-long travel. Where I was coming from, though, was that MTB forks (IME) produce a prononunced hiss when you hit a big bump, regardless of the spring material, because the air between the upper and lower legs gets forced out round the wiper seal. If you imagine the damper on a car is like the telescopic shock on the forks of an MTB, then the air between the cylinder and the piston rod's "mudguard" (see pic in thread linked previously) would be forced out in much the same way...

Could be wrong though, as ever!

That's pretty clear. Any car dampers I've examined the skirt doesn't seal the same way the rubber gaiters on MTB and (some) motorbikes do, so there isn't the same air compression to produce a "hiss".

Pharoah Nuph

My original fabia shocks did this over bumps, a sharp hissing noise up and down the bump/hump.

Stopped doing it when I fitted Koni FSD so I put it down to cavitation inside the shocker as there was no leaks and the Konis use the same bellows/gaiter.

Having a shock doing this is rubbish but I'd like to see you get it replaced under warranty.