Knocking sound - Front Arb

[GoogleBear]

The garage informed me on friday that the knocking noise i have is the joints on the anti roll bar or something.

was told the poly bushes i fitted have contributed to this and i should fit a stronger bar

Does anyone have any idea what he's on about and best course of action without spending a small fortune

 

[paul6316]

Did you fit the right size polybushes?

 

[Dozer360]

I have a worrying knocking noise, when do you hear yours?

 

[GoogleBear]

yeah sorry i should of said poly wishbone bushes, not poly arb bushes which i been running with for at least a year now

i hear it knocking when i go over small bumps like on country roads, speed bumps etc

garage looked at it friday and said the noise is coming from the arb ball joint or something?? not 100% meself what he ment

 

[epts2008]

sounds like they mean the anti-roll bar drop link from the shock to the anti-roll bar. As far as im aware they dont do stronger ones. just get a replacement one for it there usually under £20 for an oem one

 

[GoogleBear]

right i was hoping perhaps it would be a cheap fix something like that; he did say i needed a new arb though? preferably a stronger one ??

 

[GoogleBear]

you could be right on that one

do the drop links have ball joints??? ; that could well be the suspect part then

 

[GoogleBear]

sounds like they mean the anti-roll bar drop link from the shock to the anti-roll bar. As far as im aware they dont do stronger ones. just get a replacement one for it there usually under £20 for an oem one

yep garage confirmed it is that drop link should i replace one or do both sides??

 

[MK R BOY]

Never heard of the drop links knocking that much. The original ARB on the leon has plastic lugs that the bushes grip to. After a while those lugs break, there is nothing you can do about it and when they go they creak and knock like hell. It is normally the passenger side that goes due to the extra wear cause by driving nearer the curb.

The new ARB does not have plastic lugs but metal ones as part of the bar it self, so they cannot break.

It will be worth checking what you have and whether its a new bar that is needed.

ATB

 

[GoogleBear]

it does sound like its coming from the passenger side, however the garage told me it was the ball joint on the drop link that had failed.

how difficult is it to change the arb and will i need it re-tracking? I have been thinking of a rear arb for a while now want to concentrate on getting better handling, i'm not spending any more on engine mods

just reading about lot saying about r32 arbs but not sure what cheapest/best setup option. Is the standard front arb worth keeping ??

 

[ReDBull]

I bought Nuspeed 25mm front and 28mm rear from Awsome who gave me a discount for buying the pair together. I've only fitted the rear one so far. The quality is great and I'd recommend them.

 

[LickyDischarge]

My other car, (not my LCR) eats front drop links due to being quite low, so we ended up making custom extra strong ones, will try and post a picture.

 

[paul6316]

Never heard of the drop links knocking that much. The original ARB on the leon has plastic lugs that the bushes grip to. After a while those lugs break, there is nothing you can do about it and when they go they creak and knock like hell. It is normally the passenger side that goes due to the extra wear cause by driving nearer the curb.

The new ARB does not have plastic lugs but metal ones as part of the bar it self, so they cannot break.

It will be worth checking what you have and whether its a new bar that is needed.

ATB

I changed the arb bushes a few weeks ago for polybushes and the plastic lugs came away with the old bushes. I didn't think too much of it at the time as the new polybushes seemed snug enough. I have now checked and there seems to be a very slight gap between bush and arb. I guess the only solution is to change the arb for either a new oem with the metal lugs or go for an uprated arb?

 

[GoogleBear]

I checked all the bushes and the plastic lugs which where all fine. So I did some digging on here and found someone who had bought replacement drop links made by meyle. These links are O.E quality but stronger and re-enforced. I got them from VWspares about 30 quid for the two. Fitted them last weekend and have made a big difference. No more knocking and car feels so much tighter at the front.

I also found that the drop links on the cupra r are completely different to the cupra ones. the cupra r links are long thin things with ball joints at each end where as the cupra ones are much smaller with rubber bushes.

So looks as though I got away with a cheap fix on this one.