I am in my new gti, owned for 6 days, waiting for a tow truck. I was driving down the freeway when it felt like I blew a tire. I pull over to the side of the road and none of the tires are flat. I look under the car and a piece of the rear suspension has come loose and jamed itself in front of the tire. Its a long peice of metal with a hook on the end.
View 24 RepliesSo I have had my coilovers in for a little less than 2 months now and i have been noticing that my front suspension is becoming loose at the mounting points under hood and needs to be re-tightened periodically. I will say that unfortunately i have to drive in and out of some steep inclines and funny angles where it puts the car into tripod mode regularly. I'm not rubbing anywhere (fenders or bumpers) upon entry or exit but I am very low and really getting every bit of movement out of each corner, lots of creaking and popping (all from front, rears are fine) until tightened then its quiet again, but it all comes back after 3 or 4 days. I haven't tried driving for a week without hitting the steep inclines so I'm not sure if this is even the reason. But its the only thing that i can think of.
View 10 RepliesI have a sound that sounds like something is loose in the left front suspension area. A few weeks ago I put on VWR springs and 034 strut mounts. Then I got a tire rotation and alignment with in the same day. On Friday night it started making noise. While driving at any speed and the slightest bump I will hear the noise. There is no vibration in the steering wheel and nothing seems off about how the car handles. When I parked the car I tried pushing down on the front end and I didn't hear any thing abnormal. I jacked up the car today and I looked around and felt around on most of the suspension to see if anything was loose or out of place. I didn't notice any thing.
View 6 RepliesI owe a GTI autobahn 2015! I have problems with the front suspension (left side) sounds like is all loose, took the car to the dealer all they did is tight a bolt that is part of it! Problem still remain!!
When going over speed bumps and pot holes the front suspensions hit very hard like the shocks are not doing their job property!! This is causing the body of the car to start coming loose! I can hear some noises like an old car!!
Is normal or they need to be replaced,, i always drive in sport mode!!
Front driver side area making a flat tire noise. Replaced the tires and axle and wheel bearings. Kinda lost on what could btw making the noise. Alignment done 15k miles ago when lowering springs and new shocks were put on.
View 5 RepliesSo my strut mounts are shot and I wanted to add adjustable rear control arms to eliminate tire wear. So thinking of going with Bilstein HD's with the stock springs. Oh and BTW want to keep stock ride height since it is my daily. The only option I would consider for springs would be the euro version of the stock springs.
View 4 RepliesI have recently replaced all 4 struts in my car with monroe quick struts. I have a 2002 Accord. Everything went wonderful until a few weeks later I heard a rattle from the front passenger side. Its a light "tinny" rattle, almost as if a bolt was loose and it was jiggling around. It doesn't happen every time and sometimes goes away altogether. I took it to my trusted mechanic, and they spend a good 45 minutes inside looking at things and overtightened everything to no avail. I have ruled out a defective strut (as I replaced it with one and the new one does the same thing) and I ruled out the stabilizer bar bushing (brand new OEM part I installed) and I ruled out the sway bar link (also new).
View 4 RepliesI have a '99 F250 w/ PSD with 165k miles.
When I drive, I move the steering wheel and nothing happens for the first few degrees of turn and then I encounter resistence and it turns. It's the same either way. The vehicle seems to track nicely, doesn't pull to either side, just a lot of slop in the steering wheel.
Is there a way to determine if this is really steering related or is it just loose/worn front end suspension parts making themselves known? My guess is suspension items, but the fact the front end behaves itself when the truck is moving has me doubting that just a bit.
I fixed a slow tire leak today and in the process I examined the rear suspension closely. I had one rear corner jacked up and could easily see the difference in position of both rear wheels compared to the frame. The difference was only in the range of 1 inch. Mind you one wheel was in the air, and the other was bearing the doubled weight.
I also examined the substantial torsion bar with it's C-shaped cross-section and closed edges. I don't see how any additional anti-sway bars could benefit this very stiff arrangement.
I know that members that installed rear anti-sway bars raved about performance increase.
I have a 06' Ranger 2WD with General Grabber tires that have about 30,000 miles on them and still show significant tread remaining.
Within the last 2 months, I have experienced excessive tire noise - like I am driving a Humvee or something. Also, when I turned right or left the tires would make even MORE noise - it seemed to be coming from the right front tire mostly. 2 weeks ago I had the tires rotated and the sound seems to have reduced while turning but I still have the howling Humvee noise while driving down the road. There is no vibration coming from the wheel, so I don't think it's a balancing issue. Could it be the bearings?
I also checked the PSI all around and one tire does have a slow leak but I try to keep to topped off.
I'm having an obvious tire pressure loss on my rear left tire. Fill it up and in a few days I get the warning. I don't see any holes or anything. My question is this. Whats the cheapest route to go about this? I bought the car in June, so wondering if warranty would even cover tires? Is it worth a try? Not sure if I should take to the dealer to check it out, or just a town fair tire place.
View 13 RepliesI realize that is vague. I realize it could be anything from a wheel bearing to a ball joint, tie rod, control arm/control arm bushing, etc.
Are there any very common front-end steering or suspension issues on 2012 escapes? When tires are inflated to 32-34psi, the car tracks straight, gets great mileage --but almost sounds/feels like it's got a CV or wheel bearing issue on the front right. Every time I hit the brakes while backing out of the driveway I can hear a slight bump or pop. When the car is parked (flat, tires straight) there is slight play left-to-right in the steering wheel.
I'm a German car guy. Have never touched this car. (Wife's car) Right tire is wearing bad on inside. Looking for some direction so I can assess. Car has 88k miles. This will be a DIY fix. Don't have any manuals or anything so just looking for a heads up where to start. Also is Haynes the best way to go? Is there a Bentley? Anything online/CD/DVD?
Play in steering wheel makes me think tie rod (fine because easy/cheap) but such excessive wear on the inside right front makes me think wheel bearing. Could it be both? This is AWD. Is this (like a Subaru) a CV joint where the front spindle passes through a strut base that everything attaches to --so there's an inner and outer wheel bearing?
Does anything up front require a press or can it all be done without a press?
My 95 F150 2WD. The passenger side wheel is leaning in(top) - toed in? and I am A. concerned that this is unsafe to drive it and B. What is the most likely cause and fix? I was just looking for a starting point.
View 2 RepliesI have a 1997 F250 Light Duty with a 5.4L and 4 wheel drive, 216,000 miles. Last year one of my front tire chains broke and ripped the ABS wire. I have soldered them back together and no longer have the ABS light illuminated in the dash. However, when I apply the brakes at speeds slower than 25 mph, the ABS pulses. Over 25 mph the brakes work as they should until almost stopped and then they pulse.
View 1 RepliesI bought a 2002 F250, 2 months ago love the truck drives great for 130000 miles, but the front left steer is making a lot of noise and wearing on the inside edge and like its skipping every couple inches so very noisy thought maybe ball joints but a buddy say tire is out of balance truck does not pull left or right and drives straight...
View 3 RepliesOne of the rear doors on my Passat is jammed shut. If you lift the locking button it pulls itself back down and if you try to open the door from either inside or outside nothing happens, except lift the locking button up and down. I've taken the inside panel off as much as I can but don't know what to do now to open the door.
View 4 RepliesJust got a 2003 Touareg V10 and have come home and the rear left window is jammed in the open position - no amount of button pressing will move it. It is now taped up until 2moro when I can get it to the garage.
View 9 RepliesI've just bought a 2005 XC90 and one of the rear (3rd row) seats is jammed in the uprigh position and will not fold down. The problem is that the lever does not release the base of the seat to slide back.
I have tried poking my fingers in and have examined the side that is working to see how the mechanism works. It would appear that the catches at each side that hold the base of the seat in position do not swivel around enough when the lever is lifted up. I have tried lifting the lever as far as I dare but I'm worried that if I try any harder something will break.
I have jammed rear doors on my 1999 Ford F-150 XLT 2wd. Opened when I bought the truck a year ago, no accidents or damage since, but first one door, then the other decided to not open. Will I have to pull the interior door panel off to get at the mechanism ?
View 10 RepliesI have an 07 GS350 RWD, 132K miles.
Symptoms: Very audible squeak from suspension front and rear (not as bad in the rear) when going over bumps. It happens mostly on the driver side. I can replicate the squeak when I push down on the car in the front. It only happens when the weather is warm, lately when it's been 60 degrees or less, it doesn't make any noise really.
Another squeak I'm hearing is when I get in the car first thing after it's been sitting a while, there's a squeak that's coming from mid-body area (I think), and happens when I turn right, transferring weight to the driver side.
I've searched and saw numerous threads but haven't really been able to get a clear idea of what may be causing this. I did have someone lube the control arm bushing (at least I think we did) and the noise did not go away. Car feels smooth, but I wouldn't rule out shocks as a culprit. I'm trying to get ideas and narrow things down so I can start hunting for it when I have free time.
My R is almost at 70k miles and the front end feels sloppy and loose. What is the best option to restore that new car feel or even get it handling better than stock? I already have United Motorsport strut mounts which definitely improved the handling. ECS has some suspension refresh kits (links below), but the question is which one should I go with? Would the Stage 1 kit with OEM replacements be enough? Or should I go with the Stage 3 with Powerflex bushings? I'm always down for upgrading rather than simply replacing. I'm sure that would get it handling real nice, but would definitely create a stiffer ride, right?
Stage 1 - [URL] ...
Stage 2 - [URL] ...
Stage 2+ - [URL] ...
Stage 3 - [URL] ...