Fiesta MK6 Noise

[Shikari]

Hi Everyone, this is my first post here.

I am looking for some help, i recently had a wheel bearing replacement (yesterday) on the front right and since collecting it from the garage and driving it home i have noticed a noise whenever i go over bumps, a tapping sound, sounds almost like a horse clopping. I thought it may have been a CV issue although it didnt seem consistant enough and doesnt change when i turn in either direction. I had 2 new front tyres today and i asked if they could just have a quick look at the CV boot while they have it in the air just to make sure there are no tears and the clamps hadn't come off and they're both ok.

Because of my curious nature, i decided to jack it up when i got it back from the tyre fitters and see if i could see anything wrong myself and when i took the wheel off i noticed that the hub assembly has a bit of play in it. Could this be a faulty replacement bearing or simply not tightening the hub nut to the corrent torque value? It's a bit of a pain since its near to christmas and i have a 115 mile journey to do on Christmas day. I don't know if it's worth going and buying the socket and giving it a tighten (if i can).

Edit: Forgot to mention the sound is from the same wheel i had the bearing replaced on.

Thanks

[isetta]

certainly sounds like they have done something wrong. there should not be any play. check the nut. if you carry on driving it without the nut done up properly you may damage the splines on the end of shaft and in the hub (or worse). has the nut got any sort of locking thing on it, or been staked, to stop it coming off.  bit annoying having to buy a socket just to check, have no neighbours etc got one you can borrow for two minutes?

i don't like lending tools, but this is not so bad as if a neighbour asked me in these circumstances I could stand there and watch whilst he used it so it would never leave my sight. when you lend tools and let them out of sight you tend never to see them again. 

 

[Shikari]

Thanks for the reply, i think i'm going to nip to Halfords and pick up a socket to fit it and see what i can do. I don't really have a long breaker bar to do it with (mine is only an 11inch one).

[Shikari]

I gave it a shot with the socket but i cant get much movement out of it at all, i got a long breaker bar while i was there but still nothing. I guess it's back to the garage on monday (if they're open) or i don't see my family this christmas/risk driving with the car in that condition.

[Tizer]

The Bottom Balljoint may have been damaged when the Bearing was done. This is the first place I would check with your description of the symptoms.

If the new Bearing was faulty I would expect it to be obvious when cornering.

[Shikari]

In the morning i'll get a couple short videos, one of the hub assembly play that i observed as well as another video to capture the sound that it makes and see if that will help. 

[Shikari]

So i am back and i've recorded a few videos just to see if anybody can help me pinpoint the issue.

Here is a video of a short drive, just up the road: Short drive knocking

Another video of the play i observed: Hub Play

And two more videos showing the sway bar link which i seem to be able to move by hand whether the suspension in loaded or not (which i think should not be the case?)

Sway bar link - no load

Sway bar link - with load

I have also had a look at my bottom ball joint and the rubber seems to be intact and actually quite clean, no cracks and no movement with suspension loaded or not. No sqeaking sounds when turning etc.

Thanks for the help so far guys, hopefully i can get to the bottom of this.

[clarkey1984]

The video that is named hub play is just the brake disk moving around because the wheel isn't there to clamp it to the hub, if you look then it's only the disk that's moving, the hub itself isn't moving.

The sway bar movement is normal as there's a ball joint on each end, however the sound of the first video sounds exactly like one of my car's when I forgot to tighten the sway bar down hard enough, so I'd stick a spanner on there and make sure they're not loose, if they turn just with a spanner on the front (or in this case back) nut then they need a little bit more, if they do move you'll need to then hold the threaded part still by whatever means, ford usually have flats behind it to put an open ended spanner on (usually 15 16 or 17mm, generic image for illustration purposes) and then once it's held give it a good old crank.

If however everything is tight as it should be then it's likely that the sway bar link / drop link itself is had it, I'd check for slack either side to side or up and down as opposed to rotation, a large screwdriver is perfect for this, it could have been on its way out before and disturbing the area doing the bearing change could well have pushed it over the brink so to speak, although unless you're removing the suspension strut completely (which isn't necessary to do a wheel bearing I don't think) then there's no reason to really touch the drop link, it's possible that either the ball joint on the bottom arm or the one on the track rod end has gone but they'd have noticed that when putting it all back together, at least they should have done anyway, a drop link is infinitely more likely.

 

[Tizer]

The knocking sound is almost certainly from the suspension, not the Wheel Bearing, and as @clarkey1984 says the play in your video will disappear when the Brake Disc is clamped in place by the wheel.

If you put the wheel firmly on and shake it at 12/6 and 3/9 o'clock there should be no play. If there is then you would need to look behind the wheel to see if it was coming from the suspension or not.

From the sound alone and without knowing the history I would also suspect the Antiroll Bar/Drop Links. I did suggest the Lower Ball Joint because this would have been undone and could easily have become damaged in the process. To check it you would need to try to pry it apart with a long bar.

It is also worth checking everything else that was removed to change the Bearing including the lower Strut Mounting. It is hard to tell from your video if the Drop Links are ok or not. 

[Shikari]

Thanks again for the replies, i managed to get the top part of the drop link tightened up by hand without it trying to spin too much. I got it hand tightened as much as i could and then went for a quick test drive. It was more or less the same except it (Feels) like its a bit less frequent now. I think i'll try and get these changed ASAP.

Would it be wise to do a journey with it like this or do you think it'd be fairly okay as long as its sorted soon?

 

Luke

[clarkey1984]

I'm unsure on fiestas specifically but I usually run Volvo v40s from the late 90s / early 2000s (I've still got 2) and on every one I've owned the drop links have been had it and rattled like anything when I've bought the car(s) sometimes I've replaced them asap, sometimes I've had to leave it a while due to money and time to sort it, never any damage or anything, and not particularly dangerous so far as I know, it's just annoying to listen to.

[Shikari]

I've got two new ones on the way, thought i may as well replace them as it can't really hurt. Thanks for the advice, i'll update this thread when i've fitted them. Provided that the courier delivers on the 24th i should have them delivered and fitted that evening. 

 

Thanks again, Luke

[Shikari]

It took a little while due to work/christmas/new year but i have returned with an update.

I have installed new drop links both sides which unfortunately did not solve the issue so i ordered a complete lower control arm and fitted that yesterday.

I am still having the same knocking noise 😞 (I think it's time to take it to a mechanic and see if he can help me locate the issue)

 

Thanks for the help guys, although the new parts didn't solve my issue the parts i took out were very much past it and would have probably gone fairly soon so the effort was not wasted 😄

[Shikari]

Thinking about it, i should probably go over all of the strut bolts to make sure they're tight. Going ot get that done tomorrow i think, imagine if all of this was just a loose strut mount/top bolt 😂

I also have some new sway bar bushes on the way as they're only cheap and why not right?

[Martin-Fiesta-MK6-1.4]

Are you absolutely certain the noise is coming from the front? i was having an issue on the front left of my car (or so i thought) turned out it was loose heat shield in the back/middle, sometimes noises that seem to be coming from one area are coming from another, its quite difficult to determine when you're driving, have someone sit in with you, see if they can pinpoint the exact location.

[Shikari]

I've had another family member drive my car and they seem to think it's coming from the same area as me, as far as I can tell that's where it's coming from. It may be worth trying to listen from outside the car. 

I have dropped it in to the same mechanic who changed my wheel bearing while I'm at work today and he's going to give it a quick test drive and see if he can help diagnose what the issue is. 

I'll keep this thread updated

[Shikari]

Just picked my car up and it's all sorted now. 

It was the top nut on the strut mount BOTH SIDES, I've owned the car since June/July and never done anything to the strut mounts. The guy said that they were so loose he could just freely move them around with a screwdriver both sides and was very surprised when I told him that I've never removed the struts or had a coil spring done. (it was actually one of the only things I hadn't checked as I don't have a difficult access socket set and once I saw I couldn't reach the bolt I didn't think to try move it by hand) 

Cost me half an hours labour so I could've saved myself some pennies by not replacing parts but doesn't hurt having new stuff. 

 

Thanks for your guys help 😁