Bloody noisy rear suspension.......

[mstothard1234]

THIRD set of shock absorbers?

I would have thought that unless something else was wrong and breaking them, the likelihood of two sets being faulty was fairly minimal.

If it was something like that, we'd all be hearing it, which is why I asked if you have tried another car to listen to see if the noise was the same on other Mk7's - albeit annoying.

3rd set and all the same. like i say, an inherent design fault i reckon. Either that or I am just unlucky. I have driven another MK7 gti, gtd and diesel match and all quiet with those...

[fredgroves]

The third set are broken too?

[Stuartr1024768]

Had them look at the rear shocks on the GTD at the first service (18k) recently after reading these kind of threads on the forum for a while, even though mine did not seem particularly bad.  Low and behold was told there was a VW PDi out on the rear shocks and they would be ordered in and replaced under warranty.  Also had recall for the unsticking rear spoilers though mine seemed fine ! As people have already pointed out this looks like a pretty common problem for GTD/GTI.  It seems crazy youve gone through 3 sets though ! Will keep an eye on mine now replaced, I don't fancy having new shocks every 18k though ! What's your mileage msto ?

[fredgroves]

What's more concerning here is not that VW may have had some failing shocks from a faulty batch or that early production had a technical design issue.... its that the OP is saying that even under a PDI replacement the units being fitted are also breaking and breaking quickly.

Sounds more like VW probably know that there is a more complex, expensive, problem at the root cause but tell dealers to replace the shocks first to make sure its not shock damage caused by speed bumps etc.

Maybe its a suspension arm design fault.

I wonder if the other VAG MQB vehicles are having the same problem? In theory they probably should...

[silver38]

I have a GTD with DCC and as yet haven't noticed this. Don't know if this has been linked before, http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2568&page=22 . Can't get to page 23 to see the outcome.

[fredgroves]

Looks like "fuelboss" and our OP might well be the same person ;-)

[mstothard1234]

Had them look at the rear shocks on the GTD at the first service (18k) recently after reading these kind of threads on the forum for a while, even though mine did not seem particularly bad.  Low and behold was told there was a VW PDi out on the rear shocks and they would be ordered in and replaced under warranty.  Also had recall for the unsticking rear spoilers though mine seemed fine ! As people have already pointed out this looks like a pretty common problem for GTD/GTI.  It seems crazy youve gone through 3 sets though ! Will keep an eye on mine now replaced, I don't fancy having new shocks every 18k though ! What's your mileage msto ?

Hi Stuart
My mileage is currently 14,000miles and yes, the 3rd set of shock absorbers are now starting to make the same noise as before!! They seem to manage 500 miles or so then off they go again. VW this is poor......

[fuelboss]

Gentlemen,

Just how many of us are there with this noisy rear suspension that VW has faffed around with for over 12-months. See my story on www.vwgolfmk7problems.uk. I am sick of the BS that comes out of VWUK and I am now determined to tell my story and that of any other owner who would like to join me in fighting this to get what we deserve and that is, a rear suspension that works correctly or in my case a full refund.

Some of you may already be aware of story and battle with VW as I am out to prove they are fitting shock absorbers that very quickly fail to the point where they create an unacceptable level of noise at lower speeds.

 I have rejected my car and despite the fact that I have owned it for 11 months and have completed 4,500 miles I want a full refund. At the present time, the line taken by Mr Kattenberg of the VW Exedcutive Office in his latest email to me is that my car suffers from “residual noise”. In an earlier email he referred to it as a “characteristic of the model”. I am taking issue with him over the use of the word residual. It is not residual noise as the level of the noise is exactly as the original noise and in fact it is quite possibly louder and just when does a fault becomes a “characteristic”. It becomes a "charateristic" when it suits them to say so.

I wrote to Germany and I received a reply last week and naturally they would not comment. I spoke to German Customer Services and they apparently spoke with the Department that deals with the Golf and "charateristic" was not a term they considered appropriate.

My advice is to arrange an inspection through DEKRA or the AA as at least you know it is independent. VW Finance have put forward a proposal for my car to be inspected by DEKRA https://www.dekra-expert.co.uk/ at my home on July 20th. As I am out of the UK I am not able to have an earlier inspection. Now as DEKRA are a German Company that VW use for this type of inspection I worry that they may be biased toward VW. I may be wrong but it’s not difficult to take this cynical view. I think the result from this inspection will be interesting to say the least and I am sure many of you may be watching for the results that I will gain make public.

In a way I am happy that my car is still on a finance agreement with VWFS as the rejection of the car and refund has to be done through them. Had the car been purchased outright then I feel I may have been in a weaker position and probably would have had to go through a legal process that may have been costly.

The whole issue and response by the dealers and VW is a confusing picture. On one hand I have received an email this week from an owner who has mentioned that the dealer now changing an array of parts on his car despite the work already carried out and on the other hand you have this man Kattenberg from VW flatly refusing to do anything else other than refer to the noise on my car as a Characteristic of the model. I think they are playing around in the hope that we as customers will eventually give up and go away.

Please feel free to use my videos from the website or anything else I have written if it will benefit you. I would ask your dealer to look at the shock absorber just as I did, where I show on the videos how the component will rattle when tapped on the side of the barrel and see if the same thing occurs on your car. I would be interested to know if the same nose could be heard on a brand new car. I have asked the question as to whether they think that rattle is normal but VW will not answer, though the after sales manager at my dealer thought that something was wrong.

Is there something or is there not something wrong? It’s as simple as that yet no one is prepared to discuss or investigate this. Just one other thing I have thought of. If it is the shock absorber that is the cause of the noise then does VW actually examine the component after it has been removed. Do they strip it apart and look for the reason for failure. If not then they should.

I have an interesting few weeks ahead. Naturally I will let you all know the outcome of the inspection.

Please feel free to use anything from my emails or forum posts if you feel it may benefit you in anyway when dealing with VW or the dealer. Write to Mr B Kattenberg at the Executive Office with your complaints at executive.office@volkswagen.co.uk The more people who send emails, not one but many may eventually get a more positive reaction from VW. I am looking to write to the MD here in the UK on Monday and also contacting Watchdog. VW have got away with this for too long and its time they owned up as to why the components should fail after a short period of use.

Given the amount of questions I have put to VW and the lack of answers I can only conclude that they either have their heads in the sand, have no clue how to come up with a permanent solution or actually don't give a damn about this issue. I would like to know where the actual manufacturer stands on this issue and why Germany is not more involved but I doubt we will know that. Lets hope the DEKRA inspection goes in my favour and we can prove once and for all that the shock absorbers in my case are faulty and not fit for purpose.

Regards
Rich

If anyone has a story to tell or wants any further information from me then email me richard@fuelboss.co.uk For your interest, VW Financial Services has also requested as much information as possible on this issue. If you would like your story passed to them, please let me know. No names, addresses, or information that would identify you would be passed on.


Here are a couple of recent emails from the executive office of VW to just prove to you that they really do not want to really know about our problems as they don't consider that we have a problem

Dear Mr

Thank you for your two emails received 22 June 2015.

I can only reiterate the comments made in my previous emails to you. We acknowledge that we have had complaints about the degree of suspension noise in certain Golf Mk VII vehicles but, following the introduction of shock absorbers with improved valve flow, we believed we had satisfied most customers with that complaint. The improved shock absorbers are the same type currently being fitted to new vehicles. We are sorry that, after replacement units have been fitted, some customers find unaccepatble the level of residual noise experienced when travelling over rough road surfaces, but that must now be deemed a vehicle characteristic.
There is no pronouncement from Germany to that effect; this is the opinion of ourselves at Volkswagen UK supported by the views of our *Technical Department.

* my comment. Technical Department, what technical department. I have never had the ooportunity to talk technical. All I am dealing with is a faceless person sat behind a desk. VWUK why not give me the opportunity to discuss this with someone in a high level technical capacity who fully understands and who has been involved with this suspension issue.

Yours sincerely

Brian Kattenberg
Customer Relations Manager
Volkswagen UK Executive Office

Tel: 0333 003 7199
E-mail: executive.office@volkswagen.co.uk
Internet: www.volkswagen.co.uk
----------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr

Thank you for your email and attached letter dated 10 June 2015. Please accept my apologies for delay in my reply.

In my email to you dated 1 June 2015 I advised that, following release of a new shock absorber with improved valve flow, we believed we had satisfied most owners who had complained about rear suspension noise. I am sorry you continue to remain dissatisfied with your suspension system after the new shock absorbers were fitted. Despite our trying further sets in case of issues with the initial replacements, we are now forced to conclude that the residual noise can only be regarded as a characteristic that you personally find unacceptable. I must note that, up to the end of last year, we had sold over 124,000 Golf Mark VII in the UK alone, although we are still disappointed that we have been unable to satisfy all of our customers.


Yours sincerely

Brian Kattenberg
Customer Relations Manager
Volkswagen UK Executive Office

Tel: 0333 003 7199
E-mail: executive.office@volkswagen.co.uk



I have replied appropriately to all of the communications from VW and I will leave that to your imagination as to the tone and content of my replies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bvS3g2vXFI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN3-8Ib4k_g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_1cLNtr75Y

[fredgroves]

Not that I expect you to answer Fuelboss, but have you driven another non-DCC Mk7 GTI and got the same problems?

Has the same problem been reported with any other MQB platform model? The parts will be identical for sure.

Have you thought of just buying a nice CD to listen to? "No Sleep Til Hammersmith" by Motorhead is pretty good.

[fuelboss]

Not that I expect you to answer Fuelboss, but have you driven another non-DCC Mk7 GTI and got the same problems?

Has the same problem been reported with any other MQB platform model? The parts will be identical for sure.

Have you thought of just buying a nice CD to listen to? "No Sleep Til Hammersmith" by Motorhead is pretty good.

Hello Fred,

I have driven another non-DCC GTI that was very new. It was driven over road surfaces that would give rise to the noise issue on my own vehicle. While it was considerably quieter I could none the less hear a similar but far more muted sound, It was rather like my own car immediately after a shock absorber replacement. As I have reported previously, the last set of shocks reduced the noise by around 85% and I was happy with the result only to find that 24-hours later after driving over an extremely poor country road that the noise was back and no better than before the shock absorber change.

I am unsure with regard to other vehicles using the MQB platform but the VW technical rep who came down to the dealer explained that, despite it being called the MQB the actual bits that are bolted on could be entirely different from make to make and model to model and therefore in the case of our noise issue, the idea that other makes using the same platform may not experience the noise issue simply because the actual suspension design and component specification could be entirely different in so many ways. What could be interesting to know and that is, does any other make using MQB use exactly the same specification of shock absorber.



What was noticeable is the fact that a DCC fitted car has a far better ride quality and during my test drive of one of these cars I found no evidence of the sort of noise that is being discussed on this and other forums. In the words of Mr Neil Gomm a technical representative from VWUK in Milton Keynes who drove my car and then a DCC fitted car with me as a passenger the difference was "like chalk and cheese".

Now what does that tell everyone with the noise issue? You spend £30,000 for a GTI and have the potential for this noise or you spend another £800 for DCC and you will not have this noise. When you have reached this level of cost I would have gladly sacrificed a Pro Sat Nav system for DCC.

Thanks for the tip on the music. Unfortunately as I have tinnitus I keep the music low but which is worse, tinnitus or the dreaded rattle. Actually after disconnecting that stupid artificial sound device I actually enjoyed listening to the real sound of the engine and exhaust burp.