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Knock sound on front wheel


Wiggers
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To keep it short I had a knocking sound at the front. Found when pushing the front wheel at 12 o clock position there was a knock and slight movement. Found ball joint rubber split and bushes worn out so replaced lower arms.

Lower arms done i still have a knock, and still knock when pushing the wheel at 12 o clock. Checking it over i have noticed there is in & out movement on the drive shaft.

The knock is only there while the car is on the ground if i jack it up it doesn't do it. Any ideas?

Thanks

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If the driveshaft was going you would get vibrations, clunking, rattling and scraping noises whilst driving. I would check the outer tie rod ends or swaybar links first then the inner tie rod links. 

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1 hour ago, F0CUE said:

If the driveshaft was going you would get vibrations, clunking, rattling and scraping noises whilst driving. I would check the outer tie rod ends or swaybar links first then the inner tie rod links. 

Thanks for the reply

I've looked over all that when doing the lower arms, all looked ok.

I was thinking outer CV joint or wheel bearing. The thing I don't get is normally to check a bearing the car is raised off the ground yet it won't do it when off the ground.

And I didn't think CV joint would cause wheel movement?

There is definitely a noise and I think slight movement if I push and pull on the top of the wheel when on the ground.

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You would need to place a jack under the control arm to take off the load but be careful they are slippy. Wheel bearings are hard to diagnose until they make a noise and spinning them you hear the brakes grind you will defo know when the bearing goes as it sounds like you have a noisy gearbox and gets worse round corners. 

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Right I've had the front wheel off and had a good look at everything. Jacked up lower arm and gave everything a shake. No play or noises from anything apart from in out movement on drive shaft. Car back on ground and noise is back again. I'm now thinking it could be play the suspension strut mount. 

This would maybe be why it doesn't do it when its hanging as it need the full weight of the car on it.

Thoughts?

Thnaks

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It could well be the strut bearing they can knock when worn out. They are relatively cheap to replace. 

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^ Had this on a mk2.5 after upgrading shocks, the lad that did the NSF dropped the mount and lost a couple of balls out of the cup, assembled all back and it bugged the living feckery out of me for a couple of months until I px'd.

It worked fine but the cup would bind and catch despite turning being absolutely fine driving, lower speeds were worst, and stopped showed it right off. Jacked up it was hard to tell as there was less load to force the error.

I think a new top mount and bearing was about £18 from GSF and I've still got it in the loft 😅

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok So I've now replaced the lower arms and anti roll bar links. The car is quieter but i still have the clunk / knock sound.

Turning the steering lock to lock is ok no noises, its sometimes when braking at low speeds and when pushing on the side of the wheel at top. I can also get it to make the noise by reaching under the wheel arch and pushing on the side of the strut, I can also feel it when doing this.

I think their must be play in the top mount, is this possible?

I was considering getting a complete strut from breakers and just swapping it. The question is do the shocks and springs differ?

 

1401470644_FrontShock.thumb.jpg.f731a71247666e2282e6644e8181dd97.jpg

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Yes they differ it will have to be the same model and engine size due to weight difference and some are equipped with stiffer springs like the sport and the Zetec s. Be careful when removing the pinch bolt use a 6 point socket and lubricate well before trying cos when they get rounded off it's a pita. 

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1 hour ago, Wiggers said:

The question is do the shocks and springs differ?

The original springs have 3 different coloured paint marks on consecutive turns of the spring  and each combination of colours is for a different spring rating.

I'm not sure about the shocks though, but it is likely that the same spring rating as your one will have the same shock rating.

 

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2 hours ago, Tizer said:

The original springs have 3 different coloured paint marks on consecutive turns of the spring  and each combination of colours is for a different spring rating.

I'm not sure about the shocks though, but it is likely that the same spring rating as your one will have the same shock rating.

 

Ok that's a useful bit of info.

So do you think I'd just be better of replacing the top mount and bearing then?

First time doing all these jobs so a bit of a learning experience 

 

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43 minutes ago, Wiggers said:

So do you think I'd just be better of replacing the top mount and bearing then?

If it was my car and I was going to keep it for at least 2 or 3 years I would replace the Shock Absorbers and Top Mounts with aftermarket ones to improve the ride comfort because if the original ones are still on the car then they are bound to be worn after 13 years.

You need to compress the spring with spring compressors to change the mount with the ball bearings anyway. There is a thin rubber piece between the Strut Mount and the Strut housing in the inner wing, but it is very unlikely that this is your problem.  

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I had a knock on my Merc.  It was either inside the shocks, there was a technical bulletin about it, or the top mounts.  I changed both as top mounts are relatively cheap and if you're taking the strut off anyway, why not?

Struts are a fairly simple job but you definitely need spring compressors and you may need a drop-head ring spanner, and a long torx/nut bit to remove the top nut but stop the strut turning.

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14 hours ago, Tizer said:

If it was my car and I was going to keep it for at least 2 or 3 years I would replace the Shock Absorbers and Top Mounts with aftermarket ones to improve the ride comfort because if the original ones are still on the car then they are bound to be worn after 13 years.

You need to compress the spring with spring compressors to change the mount with the ball bearings anyway. There is a thin rubber piece between the Strut Mount and the Strut housing in the inner wing, but it is very unlikely that this is your problem.  

yeah its never really needed any work so all parts are original pretty much. The biggest problem I'm  having is finding part numbers for all this stuff. There's about 15 part numbers for Ford front shocks :(

So is it possible the noise is from inside the shock or would it just be the top mount bearings?

 

Thanks

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1 hour ago, Wiggers said:

yeah its never really needed any work so all parts are original pretty much. The biggest problem I'm  having is finding part numbers for all this stuff. There's about 15 part numbers for Ford front shocks 😞

So is it possible the noise is from inside the shock or would it just be the top mount bearings?

 

Thanks

It could be the shock but it is difficult to tell. Either way it is the same amount of work to replace either of them or both and both sides of the car should be done.

If you do decide to replace the shocks only then the bearing will probably loose some of its balls and you will be worse off than if you did nothing.

As for the part number, if you google the number from the photo you posted it may bring something up. As a general rule cars with either sports suspension or heavier engine ones usually have stiffer shocks, so if your car is standard I would go with whatever the shock manufacturer recommends.

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33 minutes ago, Tizer said:

It could be the shock but it is difficult to tell. Either way it is the same amount of work to replace either of them or both and both sides of the car should be done.

If you do decide to replace the shocks only then the bearing will probably loose some of its balls and you will be worse off than if you did nothing.

As for the part number, if you google the number from the photo you posted it may bring something up. As a general rule cars with either sports suspension or heavier engine ones usually have stiffer shocks, so if your car is standard I would go with whatever the shock manufacturer recommends.

yes I've looked into it and if I'm taking it out then might as well do the lot. I just don't see how you find your part numbers?

That number brings up loads of used ones on Ebay 

Dealers don't seem to like giving out part numbers so i don't see how to find out? As I was saying there's about 15 different Ford part numbers for Shocks 

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If it's of any use, I bought a pair Bilstein B4s a few months before selling mine and they were absolutely bob on for the money. Damon Tweeks had them at I think £65/pair at the time and I was already looking at swapping shocks anyway as I planned to keep the car and then eventually drop it 20mm all round. A very worthy upgrade if you do want to keep the motor and a straight swap too. They're friendly for lowering springs too if that tickles your fancy, mine were eBay # 301750249162 and 142410473607 for reference, I know they're a heck of alot more expensive at the moment but the specs are there for part numbers and such. I also know they say ST, mine was a Zetec and were absolutely fine.

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The only place where you will get the original specification ones is if you buy then from Ford.

If the car was only 3 or 4 years old that is the route that a lot of people would take, but when a car gets to a certain age it makes a lot of sense to use much cheaper aftermarket parts, which will not behave exactly the same as the original but given that all the other suspension parts will not be behaving as they did when new, it will not matter.

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  • 1 month later...

Update

Sorted it out car is now really quiet.

Orders a new strut mount and bearing and removed front offside strut. Once I started to remove the old bearing I found the nut on the top was not tight, it could just just be undone by turning the top plate by hand. Once off I found the hole where the the top of the shock bolts through was shiny on the top and bottom suggesting it had been moving.

Fitted it all back together with new bearing and mount and all good.

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