Any ideas on what this suspension (?) noise might be please? Vauxhall Corsa D

  • 404State's Avatar
    Hi

    My car has been making a couple of noises for some time, mainly on country roads. It sounds like it’s coming from behind the front foot-wells, or perhaps a bit higher than that. Really tough to tell. I initially took it to a couple of garages, both of who put it on the ramp and couldn’t see anything. One of the garages said they didn’t think it was suspension related. Here's what it sounded like (best heard at middle/second half of recording):

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Uuz...ew?usp=sharing

    A couple of months later we tried a third garage. We also brought the MOT forward three months and had that done.

    ***Front drop link anti-roll bar*** This is what they diagnosed as making the noise. And it also failed the MOT for this (certificate said "Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt NSF Upper"). The work/replacement has been done and has cured one of the noises.

    Everything else on the MOT was fine. No advisories. And everything else suspension related looked fine, including:

    ***Lower arm bush, passenger front*** The mechanic had a look and said it seems ok and he would not bother doing anything. It's not perfect, but there's not enough play/movement/problem to even be a MOT advisory. He said it might cause a slight noise when turning corners or heavy steering, but it's nothing to worry about.

    However, drove it home and one of the noises is still there. It's the main noise you can hear in the above recording. I've done some new recordings and will put a link below. The first one is pretty good but have included the others too in case they are helpful.

    It has since been back to the garage. They've had another look and took it for a drive to listen. They say there is nothing obvious, and so they are suspecting the noise is the front shock absorber. They said it is hard to visually tell or to test if this is worn (something about balls or ball bearings near the top that you cannot access?), and seeing as everything else looks fine, all points to this being the problem. Will be around £200 all in.

    I wondered what you guys think about it being that please? Does it sound likely? The noise seems to be coming from the area behind the pedals, but tbh it's tough to tell exactly.

    Any replies would be a massive help, as the bills are building up which is fine if the issue gets sorted but not if it keeps having to go back for more work.

    Huge thanks

    https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...lu?usp=sharing
  • 2 Replies

  • Best Answer

    404State's Avatar
    Best Answer
    Just wanted to come back to say we had the shock absorber and top mount changed today and all is good. Perhaps that might help someone in the future trying to diagnose a similar sound, although to be fair it seems like a lot of things can make this type of sound! Well, if that's case, here's another thing to add to the list of potentials for you!

    Cheers
  • Mark07's Avatar
    Community Manager
    Just wanted to come back to say we had the shock absorber and top mount changed today and all is good.
    Cheers

    I'm glad to hear that it's fixed!