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The rear end of the Q (passive suspension) seems a little hard over some of our crappy roads. This fall I replaced the rear shocks, mounts, and bump stops; those are all new. It is possible that the "thump" can be more in my head and is just a result of everything being cold. The sway bar links were replaced at 100k, and they didn't even seem like they were worn. I was shocked. I learned that unlike American cars, I can't just assume that things breakdown quickly with age on a German car.
I'm at 125k miles and live in an area that gets snow and uses road salt. I got under and looked around the other night and I am wondering if these rear bushings are shot or if they are supposed to behave like this. One image shows the gap with the body being lifted by my jack. The video shows me lifting the Q, directly under one of the mounts and it shows the movement. Are these mounts supposed to have this much play? Aside from the mounts, any ideas what would make the back end feel a little jarring over heavy bumps?
I'm more concerned though with your rear sway bar bushings (based on seeing what appears to be a large, off-center gap in background of the photo), as those will definitely cause a loud, hard thunk if they are significantly worn or disintegrating-in-place, and then you've also got the rear swaybar end-links, which are wear items, but they don't get the attention that the front end-links get.
Last edited by '10Q7TDI_Prestige'; Jan 17, 2025 at 05:55 PM.
I think the swaybar bushing in the background is just the shadows playing tricks. It looked solid in there. I also have another photo of the subframe bushing.
Interestingly, they used 'stretch bolts' in this application (subframe to body).
Here's a reference of torque values for the entire car...it's searchable and you can type in the page # you want also. Rear suspension starts on page 102:
I'm trying to remember on mine. I know that I often use the front bolts to raise the rear of the car when I do so with my old bottle jack. But, I don't recall any movement. I'd need to go out there and actually inspect them / test for this type of movement. I feel like they won't, and that this is a problem on yours, but that's just my gut talking.
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Chasing hard thump in rear
