Noisy Cab, Need Help/Advice...

[roscosmythers]

Needing some advice from people hopefully in the know.  I must come clean before i continue. I am a rare breed of individual that absolutely adores everything VW, but actually knows nothing about how cars work and am so non- mechanically minded its untrue. So my apologies in advance. This may be a hanging offence on this site... Hope not though!!

I have recently acquired a beautiful 1992 Red Sportline Cab. Since i got the car i have been amazed at the amount of noise and rattling in the car when driving at either 60mph plus or in town on dodgy/uneven roads. When driving at speed it is impossible to hear the passenger or radio, and in town my fillings are rattling around my head.

The car failed its MOT due to suspension problems, which I have now spent £700 resolving, but the car is still a bumpy ride to say the least.

Am i just being naive in thinking i should have a smooth/noise free ride from a 92' cab or is there any advice anyone has to make this a more enjoyable experience. The car right now looks the nuts but drives like a boneshaker.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[matsk1]

Hey, dont worry.  I have a 1990 mk1 cab and it can be noisy as hell at 60+ mph.  The suspension tends to ride hard, also due to lack of power steering but you will probably find that the bulk of the noise is coming from the clamps holding the hood down rather than the suspension itself.  There is an incredible amount of drag at higher speeds in the cab and it sounds like a hurricane but this is normal too.

I love the feeling you get driving an old golf...you feel every bump in the road but that is what real driving is about.  Be careful of large bumps though, the oil sump tank sits quite low and if you give that a knock and manage to crack it you wont get much further.

Hope this reassures you.

[gibby]

It depends what you mean by a noisey bumpy ride, it shouldn't be so bad that it's unbearable, but on the other hand it's not going to be as smooth as a rolls royce ! I for one will freely admit that my cab is an absolute nightmare to drive and the clutch pedal feels quite stiff (yet I love driving it !  ) but I dont actually notice all this until I drive a more modern car. If the noise and bumps are bearable then welcome to the world of driving a mk1 cab, if it's not, then you may have other problems that need sorting.

One problem I had especially with noise at 30mph was when I had a new hood put on and the front of the hood didn't go tight enough to the top windscreen rubber, if yours is like this then it's an easy fix as all you need to do is get the hood lever hooks on the inside and tighten them up so that the hood is tighter to the top windscreen. I tightened these up and the noise went down loads.

[roscosmythers]

Was reading another thread about this and it sounds like "scuttle shake" that someone referred to. Seems to mirror the kind of problems im having. Anyone know if getting a new roof would help towards reducing the noise and stiffening up the car? The roof at the moment seems to have shrunk slightly!!!

[gibby]

Scuttle shake should be hardly noticeable at most speeds and you may notice it slightly more at higher speeds but it shouldn't shake a lot. A new roof will make no difference to stiffening up the car what so ever. If the roof has shrunk slightly try tightening the hood lever hooks slightly as mentioned earlier, but not so tight as you break them !!!!

The shaking could be suspension mounts, engine mounts and possibly many other reasons. How bad is it ? If someone sat in the car would they notice it shaking a lot ? 

What suspension is on the car ??

[roscosmythers]

When i got the car the suspension was needing fixed, which i have now done. Whenever i have someone in the car, they nearly always comment that the suspension has gone, and then i explain that i had it all completely fixed recently. When driving in town, going over drains or uneven patches in the road, the dash will rattle and is noticeable for anyone in the car. It is not constantly rattly but on uneven surfaces it sometimes sounds like it is bottoming out, but i cant see how as i have had the suspension fixed....

[gibby]

What did you get done to fix the suspension though ? Dampers and springs ? £700 is a hell of a lot to pay for the suspension to be fixed. What make is it do you know ? You will get a harsher, bumpier ride if the car has lower suspension on it, even harsher if it's running coilovers. Are the wheels and tyres stock ? The wheels on a Sportline should be black BBS's and the tyres will either be 185/55/15s or probably 195/50/15s. If your profile (middle number) is lower than 50 then that will also give you a harsher ride. You'll need to tell all the information as it could be anumber of things. Some pics may help too.

[roscosmythers]

Gibby, been away for the weekend, just read your advice just now. Thanks for this. I have just dug out the receipts and it was £700 total spent. There was other work such as new petrol tank, so it wasnt all spent on suspension. The suspension is standard stuff, not been lowered so dont think it is that. The wheels are black BBS's but the tyres are 45's which is probably not helping. A couple are needing replaced soon anyway, so will probably just renew all. Which would you recommend? 185/55/15's or 195/50/15's?  Will also try tightening the hood lever hooks for the noise and see if that helps.  Thanks again for all your help mate. 

[kraM]

Er where do you live,

I think you need to ask if someone who owns a cab and has mechanical knowledge to go for a ride with you to try and determin whats wrong with it.  Please don't take offence, but £700 is a f*****g huge amout to fix something that other people comment on needing fixing. 
Ask around, you never know...

Just a thought, hope it helps you to a speedy soultion,

Cheers

kraM

[gibby]

I had a new petrol tank put on mine for my last MOT and that was something like £250 - £350 to buy and the labour but lets forget about that bill it's done and paid now I guess.

I think what kraM says is a good idea so get a mechanic to get in the car with you and see what he says, you may well live near someone on here that would be willing to help you out.

As for the tyres, when I bought mine it had 185/55s on but they looked too thin from behind so when I changed mine I put on 195/50s, I was tempted by 195/45s but as I use my car daily I went for 195/50s as a bit of a compromise. I've lowered mine slightly too so you may find that if you go for a 50 profile with stock suspension then you'll have more space in your arches so the car will look like it sits slightly higher than stock. Here is a good website that will explain a few things for you, -->  http://www.chris-longhurst.com/carbibles/index.html?menu.html&tyre_bible.html if you look at the links at the bottom it has a few "Bibles" so have a look at the Wheel & Tyre one but if you've anymore questions then ask away and I'm sure someone on here will know the answer.