Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

For the life of me I cannot figure out where this rattle is coming from. The exhaust seems to have plenty of clearance, and all the suspension bolts and adjustments are tight. It has just about every adjustable rear suspension piece UMI makes (drag bar, panhard w/relocation kit, LCAs, tunnel mounted TA, 3 pt SFCs). The guy I got the car from bought all these parts and installed them himself so I have no clue when the rattle started or what caused it. I only hear the rattle going over bumps. When the road is smooth the suspension is dead quiet even while turning or backing up. I've hit every bolt with an impact wrench and made sure all adjustments are tight. It seems like the rattle comes from the rear of the car on both sides, but I hear the majority of noise coming from the driver's side.

Vague low quality video of rattling that probably won't help anyone.

AnotherWs6

iTrader: (17)

Sounds kinda like a blown shock.

Don't tighten bolts... start taking **** apart.

JD_AMG

Are the rear LCA's rotojoints, rod ends or poly bushings?
If they are rotojoints take them off and tighten and lube them. If they are poly bushings try lubing them.
If they are rod ends then I don't think you can do anything except replace them (assuming this is the noise).

Tunnel mounted torque arms are also known to be noisy, but usually only in stop/go situations, not on bumps.

kingtal0n

iTrader: (1)

I vote LCA or Sway bar end links. I bet its the sway bar. Pull really hard on the end links I would imagine one is loose/mismanufactured, I've seen that before.

TheNutDriver

iTrader: (1)

Another vote for sway bar end links here. Had the exact same noise on mine and it was the rear end links.

Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

The sway bar end links did look a little rough, I crawled under the car and snapped a couple pics this morning. With the car on the ground I couldn't get good leverage to check if the end links moved around. Hopefully after work I'll be able to check it out a little better. And judging by the upper end link mounts this looks like a BMR anti-roll bar, not UMI as the previous owner said.

kingtal0n

iTrader: (1)

You gota grab em and pull to check for slop. I grabbed one once and it fell apart in my hand.

dlandsvZ28

My guess is the panhard bar and it is rubbing against the UMI upper relocation panhard bar. I recall mine was really close and would touch sometimes when the suspension was loaded.

I removed it and reinstalled the stock upper panhard bar because of the close alignment of the UMI panhard bar and because the bar from side to side wasn't level. UMI makes a kit to level the panhard bar.

About the same as these brackets. These brackets level the panhard bar.

TA_Freak

I always hate playing that "game name that rattle." The last time I played, I found that I have a rod end that was worn on my pan hard bar. Gotta get under there and start grabbing **** and shaking it like there's no tomorrow.... you'll find it. If I'm the winning contestant, what's my prize?

Chris Paveglio

iTrader: (2)

I have a lot of clunk from my exhaust near the axle. In fact it moved a little and got so close to the driveshaft it touched once, talk about a worrisome noise!

Chrisingermany

I'm going with panhard bar as well. Mine was making some noise. Here's a vid I did on mine.
https://youtu.be/fmJG7AmUKHg

zbugger

I have a similar sound on my car and I know it's my bushings. I'm on the original stock bushings though.

Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

Haven't got a chance to really look it over yet, but that sounds exactly like what mine sounds like when I push on the car. I need to pull the panhard bar anyway to reroute the e-brake cable so I'll check that too.

Work has been nuts so I've only been able to peek under the car every once in awhile. So far I've found the e-brake cable resting against the panhard bar, rattling fuel filter, and the brake line that bolts to the UMI anti-roll bar mount is also loose. All annoying stuff that adds to the road noise, but IMO no smoking gun yet.

Hopefully I can get the car on a lift this weekend and check out all your suggestions.

Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

Well, I found the problem! Pretty sure it's not supposed to do that.

dlandsvZ28

To repair isn't going to be that expensive (heim joints).


IMO - the problem is metal on metal (and eventually noise). If you plan to keep the car awhile I would try to find something with a nylon liner. Something like Spohn or UMI sells.

https://www.spohn.net/shop/Factory-F...ot-Joints.html

But since (all metal heim joints) are reasonably inexpensive, perhaps might just have to periodically check for play and then replace. Search google for 'heim joints" for replacement parts with nylon inserts or metal to metal.

Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

Man, they're proud of those Spohn pieces, $189 is a tough pill to swallow. I got ahold of BMR and they said replacement end links would be about $90 shipped. I may go that route since it'll match the bar.

dlandsvZ28

Yes - but that size is huge compared to what you need.

Metal to metal heim joint rod ends like what you have are less than $10 a piece if you shop around and much less.

Looks like the rod ends on yours are male rod ends. Google - you might be surprised at what you find. I would opt for the poly (Delrin) inserts if you can find the right size - BMR, Spohn, UMI, Founders.

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/shop/...4-16-578-31189

Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

Ah, I see what you're saying now. Not sure why that didn't compute the first time I read your post, thanks for clarifying. Those look like the way to go. I need to pull mine off the car and see what size I have. Both sides are bad so looks like I'll need two right hand threaded and two left hand threaded heim joints.

Golf&GM

iTrader: (22)

I bought 4 of these guys from Speedway motors and put them on the car.

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Preci...nch,29576.html

They fit great, but the ball joint I took off had a lip on either side so it's a little wider than the new ones. But the old ones didn't sandwich between the mounts, so I don't think that'll be a problem but I'll keep an eye on them to make sure they don't bind. Good news is the rattle is gone and I was able to get the sway bar properly lined up.