Suspension Knock / Bang on Drivers side

[smudger170]

I picked up my GTi yesterday and had a great journey back, but over some of the bumps and holes I had a bang from the drivers front suspension, as if it was bottoming out. I set off from the garage in sport, but changed to Comfort for most of the journey home. I have heard stories of dealers leaving the travel spacers on the struts, have you heard of any stories or had similar problems?? On the motorway it was spot on, it was on in town or side streets, that this occurred. I was going to have a check, but will need to jack the car up.

On the upside, what a fantastic CAR!!! Feels like a giant leap from my old Mk5.

[Bill_the_Bear]

I'll chip in.

BMW have been leaving them in by mistake, sometimes only on one corner.

See here for an example:
http://www.f30post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=815777

I've also heard that manufacturers using adaptive suspension are sometimes having problems with knocking/banging on bumps like speed bumps.  Lots of reports for both BMW and Audi (which I assume use the same system as BMW).

See here for BMW example:
http://www.babybmw.net/viewtopic.php?f=74&t=51976

I assume you have adaptive suspension?  If its not the transport blocks then might be worth registering a concern with the dealer now so they can't later blame it on you if you do have a problem?

[smudger170]

Yes it's fitted with ACC, I have left a message with the dealer and in the process of writing an email.
It just seemed weird it was on one side. But thanks for the information..... Hopefully nothing to serious.

It certainly feels like it bottoming on something hard.

[Bill_the_Bear]

If its just transport blocks they can solve it easy.  I'd get them to do it and depending how forgiving you feel you could act put out and see if any compensation is forthcoming.  I've heard of a BMW dealer in the US offering a customer $1000 and a UK dealer offering £500 as a sorry.  On the one hand its quickly solved and unlikely to have caused any damage.  On the other hand what the hell are they being paid for if they can't even get a simple job like this right?  Some people have driven around with these things in until the first service!  If nothing else its a safety issue.

If its not transport blocks I get the impression (see the babybmw thread) that you'll need to put on pressure to get it sorted.  Thus far it seems the manufacturers are trying to fob people off with "its supposed to be like that".

[smudger170]

Thanks, it's definitely not right.... If it's was supposed to be like that, it would do it on both sides.
It's a shame, as I wanted to go for a good drive at the weekend, but will wait to hear back from them today!!!!
I would imagine jacking the car up and having a look under the Suspension Gaiter would determine whether it is the blocks or not.

[Bill_the_Bear]

Apparently its really easy to see them even if you don't jack it up.  The only picture I've seen of them still on the car is from that first BMW thread.  You could also check the ride height by measuring the gap from tyre to arch on each corner.  If its 10mm extra on the suspect corner then thats evidence its not like its supposed to be!

Here is the image from that thread:


Probably similar on all makes of cars.  Thinking about it I'm going to check mine just in case!

[smudger170]

Ahh brilliant!!! I tried to have a look last night, but with the wheel is so close to the Arch it was difficult.
Will get a trolley jack out and at least lift her up a little. Fingers crossed it is this, and it can be fixed easily and no damage is done.
Does make you wonder what these Technician actually do.....

[Bill_the_Bear]

Good luck!

I edited that last post with the bit about the ride height as that might be an easy check to do as well.

[smudger170]

Thanks much appreciated.

[CraigW]

No offence but why do people not use the search function. The thread about this is even on the first page. You don't need to look hard 

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=259329.0