spagolli94

Lately I've noticed a knocking noise coming from the front suspension on rebound.

It's a rare occurrence, but somewhat predictable. For instance, if I'm driving on a new road surface and go over a dropoff to an old road surface, there's like an inch or two of dropoff, the front will knock.

It never happens when you hit a bump (compression), it happens when you come off the bump (rebound).

Other than that, the suspension is silent. No clinking when steering lock to lock in parking lots or anything like that. Feels tight. DRC recall was done last August.

Anybody else experience this? Any ideas?

hawkinsmc

Mine does the same thing. Just bought it 2 months ago. The dealer said DRC recall was done also. Anyone have any thoughts

spagolli94

After a quick Google search, I'm thinking this might be "normal." Luckily, the conditions that trigger the knock are somewhat rare, so at least it's not overly annoying.

ELEVENS

One of two things, not necessarily in order:

DRC. (pretty much a sure thing unless it's been repleced)

control arms. About 25K miles life expectancy

spagolli94

I'll have them check the control arms the next time I'm in. Typically, when control arm bushings are worn, you can make the suspension pop by stabbing the brakes. And you're likely to get lots of knocking noises over all sorts of bumpy pavement, not just on rebound. The infrequency of the knock is what make this issue so odd.

ELEVENS

I'm at about 38K miles, and I'm noticing signs that I need another set of control arms due to the telltale clunk over big bumps which is worse in the cold. I believe that the horrendous Michigan roads just beat the **** out of the poor suspension.

silverRS4

Mine clunked on rebound over particular bumps as well. It started when there was about 12k miles on the car. Had Stern control arms put on and the clunking continued - I didn't expect it to go away, I'd thought it was the DRC to begin with. Finally got the DRC work done and that was the first time the suspension didn't clunk. But after about 6k miles, it returned but not quite as bad. The only other time I've heard that exact same sound was on a different car that had a strut that had leaked out most of its fluid. It is a very distinct "clunk". Elevens, you are the only RS4 owner I know of that had clunking associated with premature bushing failure. My roads in South Dakota are minefields as well for 6 months out of the year and I know that my RS4's clunking was the shocks. When I had the DRC work done, I looked at the bushings on all the control arms with the tech and they were in great condition. I also have the stock front control arms taken off when I put the Sterns on and their bushings look brand new.

Isn't is also true that most RS4 owner's that had the DRC recall work done comment that any clunking they had disappears? It seems more and more of those cars are having the clunks slowly return but to a lesser degree. The only "new" part in the recall shocks that I know of was a different seal material and/or design. It seems to me that the new seals are better, but still didn't solve the problem.

spagolli94

Interesting info... I guess I'll just have them inspect the DRC as a whole, with a close eye on the control bushings as well.

The roads here in and around Philly are completely shot. They've always been pretty bad, but now with the recession, they just keep doing cheap patch jobs, rather than properly repave roads that are in desperate need. The funny thing is, the RS4 suspension as a whole is fantastic. My 330i used to bang and clatter over even the smallest ripples in the pavement. To this day, I'm scarred for life. hahah. I still cringe when I see a big bump coming, but the RS4 just deals with it. It soaks up terrible stretches of pavement, with nothing more than quiet thumps coming from the tires.

But then, I'll go over a certain type of bump (often a small, seemingly harmless crack) that is more of a drop-off than a legitimate bump and... CLUNK! On my car, it's always the front, and it seems to come more often from the passenger side. This could just be because the pavement along the right edge of the road is worse, thus it's more likely I'm going to hit the specific type of bump with the right wheel.

And, as others have said, the noise is very distinct and definitely not the normal tire thump. And it's not necessarily a big impact either. Nowhere near big enough to bottom out the suspension. Sometimes I hardly even feel the actual bump, but hear the clunk. Other times, I hit huge bumps and can really feel them, but only hear a quiet, solid thump sound. It really does seem to require a specific type of drop-off bump to cause the clunk noise.

Also, I never hear it when I'm out on country/suburban roads because in general, those roads are MUCH better than what we have down here closer to the city.

JMSIV

Also could be bumpers on top of front struts. They tend to compress over time, and then the top of the shock can clunk in rebound. Mine did this and it went away with installation of new bumpers.

Stasis was the one that told me about it.

Dakota123

Ancient thread, I know but this is the only one on any Web site I've ever seen where the symptoms described by the OP are exactly as I'm experiencing -- only difference being that my car is a 2003 RS6. I've sent a PM to the OP, but in the meantime, anybody else out there experience the same thing and have a resolution? I've replaced all arms and ARB links and bushings. Checked the top mount (looks perfect, although I guess it could be compressed as noted above) but did not replace. I'm hoping it's not a bad damper but that's about all I'm left with - -which is a shame, because the system is working perfectly and there are no leaks.