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i'm really worried as my car has started to 'chatter' whilst going over a bumpy road. the chattering is comming from the driverside wheel area (top mount area).

upon a little inspection today... i noticed the top of the suspension seems to have very much movement once the car has been jacked up.

even when the wheel is on the ground under the cars weight... there is still movement & a little knocking sound when i move the wheel about.

from what i can see aswell... the wheels / suspension assembly seems to have forward /reverse movement, so im damn sure this will also be happening when the car is in motion/cornering!!!

i have stripped down the full front end suspension (minus steering rack/linkages).

obvioulsy something is on tigh enough, or has even broken somewhow? i'm pretty shure it will be my negligence no doubt!

anyways, back to the spec of the suspension...

g-max shox, lowering springs (30-40mm, cant remembere which), lowering top mounts, powerflex bushes, supa flex bushes, group buy front ARB mounts (mixture of metal & green plastic looking material).

ok, so now you know the specs of the suspension.... any ideas as to where i have gone wrong?

whats the solution to this?

could it be the top mounts are not suitable???

but the other side seems to be fine!!!

im thinking that possibly i may not have tightened up the special VW style threaded nut that secures the top mount to the shocker thread (if that makes sense, lol).

thoughts & opinions please...

many thanx everyone.

Pete.

check its not your brake pads rattling, happens a lot.

really, the brake pads!!!

I've been having th same problem after mine was lowered as well. Chattering noise from the front drivers side, nothing feels loose tho.

Is this a common thing? I'm guessing that the anti-rattle shims need replacing to sort the problem out [/quote]

If the strut is moving about it sounds very much like the top mounts have been knocked out. If you have replaced the bushes, springs and shocks with uprated items it will put the top mounts under more stress. They are a known weak point on the front suspension even with a standard setup, so if they are original or very old mounts they will be destroyed in no time. It's actually the bearing within the top mount that fails as opposed to the rubber mount itself.
Get some new genuine VW mounts, there not that expensive.

The brake pads do sound just the same if they're loose, check them out, if they move at all then take them off and bend the brass shims so that the middle of the shim sticks out from the carrier a bit, so it acts as a spring to hold the pads firm.
If it is the top mount that's gone, you'll be able to feel it clunking through the steering wheel as you corner and as you change direction. The bearing assembly itself will have fallen apart and you'll have to replace it.
Just don't do what I did and try to fit the top mount upside down - it falls apart within a couple of days

hopefully gonna have a better look @ it all tomorrow (weather providing).

thanx all for your replies.

cheers,

Pete.

did you know there was a recall from VW back in the day for the front top mounts on all mk3s apart from G40s

all mk3s had G40 top mounts fitted thats why if you go to vag only G40 ones are available

random fact!

i have been advised that the top mount could be the wrong ones:-(

i purchased these top mounts from venom motorsport many months ago & just got around to fitting them a few weeks or so ago...

so, today... i have changed one of them back to a part obtained from ECP (£9 each).

whilst i was there i decided it was fiunally time to change to the G40 brakes i had laying around (just wanted some paint for them first).... so i managed to blag the missus into paiting them for me (proper porno gold hammerite, hehe).

also put some brand new discs on aswell, just cheapies @ about £9 each, hehe.

managed to destroy the bottom baljoint (as i always do!!!)... this is actually starting to ger f00king expensive for me, as almost everytime i do some front suspension work, i end up destroying the boottom balljoint without fail!!!. gets bloody expensive aswell when i also need to get the new crappy bushes that come ready fitted with them pressed out, so i can pop in my powerflex / supaflex jobbies!.

so....£38 for two bottom balljoint arms (just incase, lol), £10 to get the bushes pressed out, £18 for some discs, £1 for two new bleed nipples, £18 for two new top mounts... plus lots of jungle juice to my local ECP brance (80mile round trip ).

should have just bloddy taken it to get done as i had aranged with a VW specialist... he suggested a bill in the region of.... £90 all in to do the work to supply and fit two new top mounts

B0LL0X!!!!


oh almost forgot to mention aswell.... i only managed one side today as i ran into some other problems with parts i finally decided to use after having them many many months just waiting for the right time to be used!!!... my brake pads are the wrong ones (supplied from rally design) Martorq Kevlar jobbies, im sure they pretty much cost me the earth when i bought them 0)... only thing that seemed to go right was changing the first of the front brake hoses to a goodridge item

atleast the f00kers gonna STOP!!!!! HAHAHAHAH