Rubbing/Banging/Scraping From Exhaust

[dr. benway]

I've noticed that when I have someone in the back passenger-side seat I get what seems to be a bunch of horrible noise coming from the exhaust. The car's lowered by about 35mm so I thought it might be rubbing on the arch, but there's no signs of that. There are a couple of other threads that suggest it could be the ARB? Is it low enough for that? And how come it's only on the passenger side?

[tech1889]

driveshaft knocking.. over 40mm and without adjustable drop links the driveshaft catchs on the mk4..

[vwfiend]

Or a sloppy exhaust rubber so the exhaust is hitting the rear bar

[houston]

check the exhaust centre mount, common fault for the welds to fail

[nige_s]

My money is on the exhaust where it kicks over the rear beam.  There isn't much tolerance when the car is lowered, couple that with aged mounts and the rear part of the exhaust bangs on the beam.  Follow the flow of the exhaust with you hand (obviously when cold) where it kicks up over the rear beam if you can only fit a finger or two between the two then contact will happen when the car is travelling, especially with rear passengers.

[p11jon]

My money is on the exhaust where it kicks over the rear beam.  There isn't much tolerance when the car is lowered, couple that with aged mounts and the rear part of the exhaust bangs on the beam.  Follow the flow of the exhaust with you hand (obviously when cold) where it kicks up over the rear beam if you can only fit a finger or two between the two then contact will happen when the car is travelling, especially with rear passengers.

i would have to agree here! 35mm drop shudnt affect much especially on back so defo exhaust fouling something. get it sorted or tell your heavy lardy friend to sit the other side of the car when in the back.lol.

[dr. benway]

i would have to agree here! 35mm drop shudnt affect much especially on back so defo exhaust fouling something. get it sorted or tell your heavy lardy friend to sit the other side of the car when in the back.lol.

He's not even lardy, he's like a rake!

My money is on the exhaust where it kicks over the rear beam.  There isn't much tolerance when the car is lowered, couple that with aged mounts and the rear part of the exhaust bangs on the beam.  Follow the flow of the exhaust with you hand (obviously when cold) where it kicks up over the rear beam if you can only fit a finger or two between the two then contact will happen when the car is travelling, especially with rear passengers.

I'll try and stick my hand under there and check the clearance. If it's as tight as you say, what's the best thing to be done? Is it enough just to sort out the mounts?

[nige_s]

Can be the exhaust failing where the pipework enters the silencer or the mount itself sagging.  I did a temp/bodge/repair on mine with some cable ties, it'll do for a while.