weird noise coming from front end

sebastianlieken

Hey all, wonder can someone help me out. Just after driving home from the garage there and noticed a weird new noise coming from the front left. Car just had front left suspension coil spring replaced.

driving under 50mph there's no noise at all, all is normal. but if I go above that I get a weird basey kinda noise from the front left. (not vibrating or anything, just a weird base noise coming front left, a little bit intermittant/cyclic in that it comes and goes in a pattern.

i'll call the garage back tomorrow but has anyone any ideas?

wheel imbalance springs to my mind but why on earth would the wheel suddenly be imbalanced after a spring coil change??!

Ronnie Beck

sebastianlieken wrote: »

Hey all, wonder can someone help me out. Just after driving home from the garage there and noticed a weird new noise coming from the front left. Car just had front left suspension coil spring replaced.

driving under 50mph there's no noise at all, all is normal. but if I go above that I get a weird basey kinda noise from the front left. (not vibrating or anything, just a weird base noise coming front left, a little bit intermittant/cyclic in that it comes and goes in a pattern.

i'll call the garage back tomorrow but has anyone any ideas?

wheel imbalance springs to my mind but why on earth would the wheel suddenly be imbalanced after a spring coil change??!

You normally change the coils on both sides. Just doing one creates an imbalance especially if a brand new one was fitted. You'd feel an imbalanced wheel through the steering wheel.

Mech1

Just a guess, we had a car in that failed NCT on a broken front coil spring last week. Test drive before work no noises, test drive after 2 new front springs rattling like crazy from anti roll bar links.

When one spring is weak / broken, the anti roll bar was "loaded" due to differing heights L/R when new springs fitted no loading but major rattling. should have been picked up at NCT but no real suprise as they get soooo many things wrong.

Mech1

Make / model / year

always helps.

mickdw

Would your plastic wheel arch liner be abit out of place causing wind / road noise at speed.

sebastianlieken

well the front right one was changed 3 weeks ago under warranty so they wouldnt fix the front right as it wasnt broken (according to them). I then went on hols for 2 weeks and noticed front left wasnt right so called up and dropped off car for front left. both front springs changed.

Just took the wheel off and had a bit of a jiggle and poke but nothing obvious

the anti roll bar links could be worth a look, gonna go for a quick test drive real quick to make sure it defo isn't in the steering wheel

it's a 2007 mk5 VW golf 1.6fsi

nct tester

Mech1 wrote: »

Just a guess, we had a car in that failed NCT on a broken front coil spring last week. Test drive before work no noises, test drive after 2 new front springs rattling like crazy from anti roll bar links.

When one spring is weak / broken, the anti roll bar was "loaded" due to differing heights L/R when new springs fitted no loading but major rattling. should have been picked up at NCT but no real suprise as they get soooo many things wrong.

you just said there was no rattling before the new springs were fitted so how would nct have picked up on it??

sebastianlieken

right, i'm back from a quick scoot about. Now i'm not 100% it's actually coming from the front. just the left somewhere. tell you what it sounds like, sounds like i'm after having a different exhaust fitted, something a bit lower and boy racery.

if both font springs have failed from corrosion, (salt on roads, hydrogen embrittlement, snap) it's not unreasonable to think the rear ones may be an issue aswell right? how could you tell if a rear spring has gone? - come to think of it, when jackin up the car to take wheel off, there was some creaking from the rear suspension... hmmmmm, would that explain the noise i'm describing?

nct tester

if you jacked up the car with the handbrake on there would be creaking from the back brakes alright. is it a wheel bearing noise you're hearing in the front??

Mech1

you just said there was no rattling before the new springs were fitted so how would nct have picked up on it??

NCT dont do "test drives" to check for noises, they use the ramp and raise the body so the wheels "hang" on the shocks, in this state drag links are not loaded and should fail if damaged,obviously worn or insecure.

nct tester

Just a guess, we had a car in that failed NCT on a broken front coil spring last week. Test drive before work no noises, test drive after 2 new front springs rattling like crazy from anti roll bar links.

so the rattling only appeared after getting the springs fitted??

sebastianlieken

nct tester wrote: »

if you jacked up the car with the handbrake on there would be creaking from the back brakes alright. is it a wheel bearing noise you're hearing in the front??

ah okay that may explain the creaking. wheel bearing noise... i'm not really sure what that sounds like from the driver seat to be honest, wouldn't that kinda sounds like marbles grinding or something? I dont get why wheel bearings would suddenly be an issue after the spring coil is changed though.

nct tester

wheel bearing is a deep humming noise that gets louder the faster you drive. shouldnt be an issue after changing suspension though. just when you said 'basey' i thought wheel bearing. best thing to do is bring it back to them in the morning and drive under 50

Mech1

nct tester wrote: »

Just a guess, we had a car in that failed NCT on a broken front coil spring last week. Test drive before work no noises, test drive after 2 new front springs rattling like crazy from anti roll bar links.

so the rattling only appeared after getting the springs fitted??

Yes the "noise" appeared (if thats the right word) after springs where changed, the links where well worn out, play was obvious when we went to inspect, before springs where replaced. They where not replaced at the same time as they had passed NCT and had not been ordered in.

nct tester

you cant fail arb links and bushes just cos they are worn, so that may explain why they passed. they have have to be excessively worn and in the testers opinion maybe they werent , we give the benefit of the doubt to the customer in cases where the wear in such items is debatable as to whether its bad enough to fail or not. same with ball joints , can be worn but not excessive. track rod ends and inner tie rods can also have slight wear. so sometimes/ a lot , people think we have missed something, whereas in actual fact we have spotted it and decided its not bad enough to fail.

Mech1

Believe me these where well worn.

I have had arb links fail before because of cracked (not torn or holed or missing) boots, but no visible or detectable wear to the actual link / joint.

nct tester

sometimes people need to challenge results and not just accept them. its wrong to be failing dust covers if the link, track, ball joint has no play in it imo.

Mech1

If you wish I can give you the reg number tomorrow of another car that has just gone through NCT last week and failed on one tyre and a ball joint.

I looked at it today and one arb link so worn its about to fall off but not mentioned on failure sheet.

nct tester

Mech1 wrote: »

If you wish I can give you the reg number tomorrow of another car that has just gone through NCT last week and failed on one tyre and a ball joint.

I looked at it today and one arb link so worn its about to fall off but not mentioned on failure sheet.

id prefer not to get into that to be honest. there isnt anything i could do anyway.

sebastianlieken

A new Thought. Wheel alignment???

spring change could have affected that right? plus that would create that humming sound between 40-60mph that I was on about right?

so is the solution for that to take it to a volkswagen dealer to get it laser aligned or can an indipendant mechanic do that?

Mech1

no

sebastianlieken

balls

sebastianlieken

feckin garage better not have bucked my wheel off their speed bump while test driving it so!

sebastianlieken

em, if i put the spare wheel on (space saver), and drive into the range of 40-60 and the vibration is gone that would pretty much single out the wheel as being the problem right?

can I drive to 40-60mph on a space saver wheel?...

sebastianlieken

just fyi to close out this thread, it was the front left wheel bearing. went very suddenly it seems. somehow.