Creaking suspension

[kieranp]

Over the last few months I have been getting what feels like creaking or juddering from the right hand front which can be felt through the steering and the floor.

This mainly happened at low speeds on smooth roads and when reversing up my drive. Today I got my dad to reverse the car up the drive while I watched. I noticed as the front right suspension was compressing the wheel was moving up in steeps, not a smooth motion like the left hand side.

Could this be down to worn shocks or bushes? Or something else.

Btw I asked for this to be looked at the last service, with the result of no fault found.

Thanks

Kieran.

[mlhj83]

Is this a Mk4 or 5. What 's your mileage?

To check for worn dampers, try bouncing the car. Does the car wallow on cornering or going over speed humps? If it doesn't, then it is unlikely to be worn dampers.

The other possible sources include:

Anti roll bar bushes

control arm bushes

Coil Spring

Jack the car up and have a look at all the bushes and the coil spring to see if there is any obvious abnormalities. However, judging from your description, if you can actually SEE the wheel compressing in steps, then something must have seized up tight to produce that effect.

If not the only thing you can do is make the vw technician come out with you to show him the fault. I have learnt that it is pointless to ask VW dealerships to have a look at a fault, as they almost always say NFF. Best to drag a technician out and point it out to them.

Give us a video of the problem if you can. They can be very helpful.

[kieranp]

The car is a 2003 MK4 which has done 44k, I have tried bouncing the car but the suspension is so stiff there is barley any movement.

The car fells fine handling wise, no wallowing over speed humps. I will have a look at the items you suggested in the morning and try and get a video done.

thanks, kieran.

[mlhj83]

Also, it is not uncommon for bushes on the Mk4 to pack up at that mileage. Don't despair, your problem can be fixed. It's just a matter of locating the culprit, and given that it is most definitely suspension related, there are only a few parts that would cause the problem on your car. I put my money on ARB/control arm bushes being the culprit as dampers don't usually seize or creak, coil springs are usually known to produce clunking noises if they have snapped, strut mounts usually produce clunking noises and strut bearings usually cause creaking on steering or a clonk sound if they seize up causing the coil spring to re-coil back into position.

[kieranp]

I jacked the car up this morning and had a look at everything as suggested, all the bushes looked ok, nothing loose . I tried compressing the suspension using a jack under the trailing arm to see if I could locate the sticking part, everything moved smoothly when moving up and down. I’ll try replacing the ARB bushes first as they seem a logical place to start. If this doesn’t work I will try and get the dealer to replicate the fault and see if they can work it out.

I managed to do a video, I think you can just about see it if you watch between the top of the tyre and the wheel arch.

video link: http://video.cardomain.com/Clip.aspx?key=7E4298A0C526C6D9

[mlhj83]

Yes, I can most definitely see it moving in steps, however I could not hear the creaking clearly as there was just too much back ground noise. One thing you could try is to get some silicone grease and spray it into the ARB bushes and repeat the test. If that doesn't work and move on to the control arm bushes. If the silicone grease reduces or alleviates the problem then it is pretty obvious as to which bush is causing your problem.