Annoying Tapping Noise

[chocolate_o_brian 0]

the pug has developed an annoying tapping noise, 99% of the time when going round a corner, id say more right than left.

 

the tapping noise feels as though its coming from the n/s rear wheel. basically ive jacked the car up today and had a gander round to check for anything that may be loose. all wheel bolts are tight, no play in the wheels themselves, pads/discs are tight etc.

 

im really confused as to what this could be. its hard to pin point it when driving as the noise could be getting thrown to make it sound like its coming from the rear when it may not be. it doesnt affect the cars performance etc, and is generally more annoying over anything else.

 

can anyone suggest anything for me to check?

[Goliath 94]

sounds like either a bent driveshaft or a wheels bearing thats starting to go. probably best to change the wheel bearing and see if that sorts it.

[chocolate_o_brian 0]

having popped down asdas a little while ago with the windows down and the sunroof open, it really seems its coming from the rear. so annoying, and im pretty sure its audiable to people outside. genuinely stumped, unless its a bearing on one of the rear wheels??

[Pugnut 9 1 Cars]

i had this exact same problem a few years ago on my 309 and it took me ages to find it . I'm desperately trying to remember what it was and i'm 70% sure that it was the handbrake cable that was tapping/rattling.

 

it was possibly adjusted to tight or slack and was vibrating and knocking against something

 

Sorry for being vague , it was a while ago. Its certainly where i'de be looking first.

 

iirc it went away with a light pull on the handbrake while driving

[chocolate_o_brian 0]

definatley something to ponder. i have had a lot of trouble recently with hanbrake cables.

 

my issues started with an m.o.t fail on the n/s cable having little/no effiency. so i bought two new cables which were the right ones (ie slightly differening lengths). this then took myself and "flix" 5 hours to figure it out. niether of the original cables were siezed or stretched etc, so we were dumbfounded as to what it was. eventually a combination of the old drivers side cable and the new drivers side cable and 3 washers on the n/s cable sorted it out and the handbrake was generally the same both sides.

 

me and chris had absolutley no idea what the fcuk was going on but it passed it retest easily.

 

buuurt now its slackining again on the n/s side, ie more washers may be required. what the hell is going on with this car i wonder if indeed this may be my issue, but where is it tapping from? and why does it do it round corners only, and once, ie not repetitvley on the same corner, just once and thats it. then again on the next corner.

 

is it something im gonna have to live with, ie tapping and a shagged n/s/ handbrake efficiency.

[Pugnut 9 1 Cars]

did you fit the correct cable to the correct side? one is slightly longer than the other and i cant remember which is which.

 

if it does it on a corner it will easily clunk as you load or unload the suspension and it definately sound as if you've done something wrong if you needed to use washers

[chocolate_o_brian 0]

did you fit the correct cable to the correct side? one is slightly longer than the other and i cant remember which is which.

 

if it does it on a corner it will easily clunk as you load or unload the suspension and it definately sound as if you've done something wrong if you needed to use washers

 

 

this is it.

 

i bought the correct cables as they were marked correctly from the auto parts shop i purchased them from.

 

but when i fitted them, the difference was unreal. one side was far too tight and one side was far too loose.

the difference was massive. so after checking the original cables and seeing no fault with either of them, we tried to get the closest combination for equal tightness on both sides. this ended up being 2 drivers side cables and one with 3 washers on.

 

what gets me now is then when we did it, it was absolutley fine, but now its not. i cant put my finger on it as the cables arent physically stretching, and when lined up, all 4 were differing lengths

 

all i can think of is whether the car has been slightly modified in the past and now needs different cables altogether if you jacked the car up and had a look, you would see exactly what i mean. only problem is there are 12 previous owners, so no chance of finding out what is what. after discussing me and chris decided this was the best option, and the parts bought were correct for the car/model/year/engine/break set-up etc etc.

 

all i can think of doing, is stick the car in gear tomorrow on my drive, leaving the handbrake off, jacking the rear up and seeing if indeed it is the rear n/s cable tapping by having a fondle round.

[Pugnut 9 1 Cars]

from experience i have always found that one always seems every so slightly to long . sounds like you had them the wrong way round. make sure the cable is tied well onto the bracket hanging from the shocker bolt and into the clip on fuel tank (the fuel tank clips should have metal locking clips over them and with the car down on level ground there should be a slight bit of play on the loop between the two clips to allow for suspension travel .

[Guest 205bandit]

I have a tapping noise 99% of the time when I am driving, it is the handbrake cable being as when I pull it up a little bit, it stops. If thats any help.

[chocolate_o_brian 0]

I have a tapping noise 99% of the time when I am driving, it is the handbrake cable being as when I pull it up a little bit, it stops. If thats any help.

 

 

mines still there. definatley coming from round the back when i turn right at a certain angle. one tap, thats it. its weird as its not repetitive, just one tap and then gone until i turn right again

[chocolate_o_brian 0]

well whatever it is, its getting worse. ive just been to pick my partner up from work, and even she can hear it. she says its definatley coming from the rear nearside corner and you can almost feel it too. a proper clunking.

 

im starting to think its the wheel bearing, but i was always under the impression it doesnt make a clunking tappy noise but more of a general whine?

 

can someone clarify this for me. im going to try get the pug to chris's house asap (flix) and take him out to listen for himself.

 

if indeed it is the bearing, where is a respectable place to purchase one? ive seen them on ebay for around £30 plus post.

 

help and advice appreciated on this as 1. its embarrassing in public as its very audiable now and 2. i dont wanna hurt my little car but need it everyday

[chocolate_o_brian 0]

right, i pulled my finger out just now, got the car on my rear driveway and jacked the little hairy french beast up.

 

right it seems there is play on/around the rear n/s brake caliper. i made sure the pads wer tight within the pins etc, not that.

 

but then i noticed what seems to either be a loose bolt allowing play, or indeed a crack on either the section that connects the wheel to the shock (trailing arm?) or the caliper itself. there is definatley play on this although not noisey its not on the other side. i havent had chance to get a piccy, but it does seem to be loose or cracked.

 

so im thinking worse case scenario is a trailing arm/caliper depending where the crack is or if its loose taking it to chris's and tightening it up.

 

sound familiar to anyone?

[chocolate_o_brian 0]

another update.

 

right there wasnt anything wrong when a closer investigation was had. the only issue was that the lower bolt to hold the caliper onto its bracket was all loose, due to the thread being bunged up. took the bolt out and cleaned it through and this solved the play issues.

 

but... the tapping noise is still there!!

 

all me and chris can now think of is that its one of the rear bilstein shocks. he has a pair of standard shocks which if time allows, we will swap over tomorrow and see if that solves it. all bushes/bolts/other connections are niceand tight. really stuck for other options now.

 

it also seems there is a little play in the front drivers side track rod. not the track rod end but the stright section it joins onto. where the bellow joins it to the rack itself there is a little play and its sending vibrations through the steering wheel while making the tracking seem out.

 

so i may need either a new track rod or indeed a whole steering rack minus track rod ends.

 

any ideas on where to source these reasnably priced or second hand?

[chocolate_o_brian 0]

i think i may have sorted the issue.

 

me and cgris took both rear shocks off (bilstein ones), and noticed straight away that the bushes were shot. the metal innards of the bushes werent even and pushed to one side. after an inspection of the shocks it showed they were scratched all down one side. so in summary i believe the bushes have allowed movement of the metal bolt innards to occur, leaving one side of the shock itself culprable to rubbing on the suspension mount itself, thus cauising a squeek on the thin metal holding.

 

the car still knocks occasionaly, ive heard it three times, but i can certainly live with that over constant tapping. for the record i have a spare set of shocks on now which chris had spare.

 

one question though... where can i get a set of replacement bushes for the shocks from? i need two set, one set per shock. that or i have to renew both full shocks when i dont really need to.

 

cheers

[chocolate_o_brian 0]

Bugger! It wasn't the shocks, as the ******* noise is still there

 

I'm really out of ideas now. It's tapping all the time and audiable inside and outside the car. It's coming from the back end definatley. Proper getting pi$$ed with it to the extent of flogging the car and buying something else