Harty2000

As thedeester1 says a wheel bearing generally only knocks around corners and more of a rumble in a straight line at greater speeds.
I think im going to try the suspension theory and bounce it a couple of times cos it sort of makes sense that this is where the mysterious knocking is coming from.
Cheers to everyone who has suggested stuff in this thread, ive said it before that this place can be invaluable to a scooby owner

fieldy

second that

David_Harden

Knocking problem update!

I spent 4 hours working on the car today looking and checking things as suggested in this thread.

First I jumped up and down on the fron corners of the car (not litterally!) to make sure the front suspension moved okay. It seemed fine. Obviously with it being quite stiff you don't get much movement anyway. I don't weigh 17 stone.....

I then jacked the car up and got to work.

Job one was to grease the polyurethane anti-roll bar bushes (as suggested by me ). Easy to do. I found they were totally dry(!) which is disappointing because they were only put on the car a few weeks ago by a garage, so they obviously didn't bother to grease them. And the bar was a bit corroded where the bushes had been rubbing on it.

Next I tried to inspect the ARB droplink joints. This went wrong because when I turned the nuts to separate the droplinks from the ARB , they were seized up and the bolt turned with them. The middle of the bolt had a hole for an allen key (in order to stop the bolt turning whilst undoing the nut). Unfortunately none of the allen keys I had were the right size so I gave up. I did notice that when the ARB was undone from the 2 bushes it was free to move left and right by quite a few inches. The movement of the ARB was very smooth, so I assume the droplink joints are okay.......

Next I looked at the big joint at the bottom. It's the one which joins the lower control arm to the bottom of the strut assembly. (Am I making any sense? ) I didn't fancy taking it apart so instead I wedged a crobar in there to see if the was any play. I found that the joint could be opened by only a few millimeters, using quite a lot of force, so I concluded I was probably okay. The rubber boots were in good condition.

Next I moved onto the trackrod ends. Having removed the nuts (after fighting to remove the poxy cotterpins) I found that I could not disconnect the trackrod arms from the suspension units. I tried hitting the bolts with a hammer and I tried forcing them with a crobar, but they just wouldn't separate. I did manage to prize the rubber boot covering the ball joint open at the top and a load of thich oil oozed out. The rubber boots were in good condition, so I assume all is well lubricated. I also noticed I could twist the control arm a little. The movement was very smooth, so it seemed okay to me.

Next I checked the brake calipers were done up tightly. They were. I pulled everything around to check nothing was loose and checked all nuts were done up tight. Found nothing.

So, in summary, the only significant thing that was changed was the greasing of the ARB bushes (I did the front and rear bushes). I went for a drive. No clonking/knocking!

I'm not saying I've fixed it, but it is possible. Grease your ARB bushes people. It's an easy job.

David

fieldy

Dave. advice appreciated mate. and thanks from all of us (with this problem) for the the donkey work. i will be skipping most of the hard work you have had to do , so it will just leave me to grease up the ARB bushes on my scoob.hopefully this will be the end of the knocking noises for all of us. thanks again Mark

David_Harden

The clonking sound is back and it's a lot worse. Does it all the time down bumpy roads.

I'm thinking it's something to do with the struts now. The car is booked in to have some work done on Thursday so I shall have them investigate and I'll report what they say.

David

andypo

Had exact same problem changed drop links no change. Then tightened the nut on top of the strut now knock has gone what a bugger this was. Anyway hope this helps you peeps

KLR16V

iTrader: (2)

I also have click/clunk noise from the front of my 93 wrx every time i brake hard it clicks/clunks once sounds to be from both sides then if i accelerate it must move back to position then if i brake hard again its clicks/clunks once again , i hear the noise always from front right some times left as well , it also does it sometimes if i turn the steering wheel when stationary or hit a speed bump , i have changed front anti roll bar bushes and full greased them , changed both drop links , looking under the car i can't physically move anything i can see there must be a little movement on the large bush holding the wish bone arm to the car as i can see a small polished area of metal around bush i am wondering though if it is ball joints are these known to fail , car does not wonder at speed and tyres are equally worn ?

thanks for any ideas it has made this noise for the last 2 years and irritates me .

Mark

TimGreenuk

iTrader: (1)

Add me 2 the list mine does this aswell its also a 97uk when the weather pick up going to have a look at the things suggested

[Davey]

Dont use WD40 on Ball Joints and Bushes, thats the worst thing you can do! WD40 destroys ruber and washes away packing grease from ball joints and bearings.

If anything use a silicone grease spray..

WRXshaneWRX

iTrader: (1)

im having the same prob with MY95 wrx

johndeere

I too have a bad knocking from low speeds over bumpy roads, Went to dealer I bought car from (sorry sir nothing there)-tried on 6 different times to get them to check it out (nothing wrong sir).(it did take a year to get a paint stick out of them so maybe I will be in luck in 07.(problem is in the springs sir) So ordered as you tend to believe your dealer (ha ha ha) 4 wks later phoned to ask if springs were there yet -service manager (what springs) so went to local performance centre and ordered whiteline springs/anti lift/sway bars/bolts to tie down rear subframe (i think) Basically all whiteline and centre advised.Guess what Knocking is now there louder but on both sides.Dealer wont return calls as they are far to busy. So now car booked into Performance centre tomorrow to see if same strut/top mount fault as mentioned on scoobynet - will let u all know.Last hope before i trade in for diesel Astra. Has anyone actually fixed this problem ???

*AL*

After reading this i guess it's a knocking strut or damper.As Davey said do not use WD40 on anything rubber as it perishes in with time.

fieldy

well, found out the knocking ( and recently screatching) on my turbo wagon was a knackered wheel bearing. but i had also changed the shocks and springs to sti ones, polybush droplinks, 4 pot calipers, new discs and pads. like to see that knocking gremlin comes back now, eh? think ive covered all posibilities.