Any Vag mechanics on here ?
my 2004 mk1 seat leon fr(180 bhp) has got a knocking noise from front suspension.ive changed the ball joints, track rod ends and the bushes on the front wishbone but the knocking noise is still there.can anyone give me some ideas of what the problem could be.

cheers mark

 

Have you got link bars between the bottom arm and suspension? Mine started rattling on my VRS, so maybe these?

 

sorry forgot to quote that yes i have replace the links and had a new steering rack and tie rods.think im gonna change the wishbone arms
as they look of a weak design to me.

 

Topmounts are not great on any VAG car, check these. Also, if not carefull when fitting the rear bush on the front wishbone, you can damage it. I presume you have checked the ARB bush's

John

 

check the ARB bushes, they are a hard plastic and do wear out, the rest dont really wear at all to be honoust.

 

Might sound obvious but is EVERYTHING tight??

 

VAG multilink is quality bit of kit for knocking.
Car on the flat, h-brake on...Get a decent size power bar , whack it on a wheel nut thats forward of the centre of the hub and rock the car...without tightneing the wheel nut,lol. Get somebody to crawl under and put there hands on each ball joint, you can normally feel the one/all of the offending items.

 

is it lowered ??

 

yeh it been lowere but only by 20mm nothing to much

 

Might be way off the mark but a mate had a 1.8T Golf with a persistant knocking. He fixed loads of stuff only to eventually find it was a knackered engine mount allowing the engine to move more than normal which caused the manifold/exhaust to clonk into the shell! Think it may have been an aftermarket system though...