Suspension and interior rattles and clunks - Page 1 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

Riding on 19" wheels my Cayman is very firm and can be a bit jiggly but the suspension is silent over broken roads as is the interior. Unfortunately the road outside my place of work is dreadful, its sunken block paving mixed with blobs of concrete and collapsed manhole covers. No matter how careful or slowly I go I occasionally get a rattle or clonk from in the car somewhere, and I want to know is this because there is only so much the Cayman can put up with or is it early sign of something failing? I've not been able to pinpoint it and I could be mad but saying this but it seems the sound is more prominent from the rear but only when the front wheel falls into a hole. I've checked the obvious tail gate etc but I couldn't find any issues. It's fine 98% of the time, just the road outside my office...

I don't have a Cayman (yet), but from what you are saying, it sounds like it's not going to cause permanent damage, unless it happens more than 2% of the time!

I presume you're talking about a 987 Cayman. If so forget the idea that they are hewn from a single piece of granite- they rattle. Sometimes the rattle is a s t bit of trim that's not clicked into place and it will be as elusive as a virgin in Newcastle. Sometimes it's one of the many suspension parts that are made of chocolate and hope. The former will fvck your mind. The latter will fvck your wallet. Welcome to the world of Porsche.

A trolly jack with a flat surface is fine so long as you can get it underneath. You will see the jacking points just behind (front) and in front of the rear arches.

Be mindful of worn front top-mounts squeaking/creaking, front springs also fail too. The only rattle mine had was from the tailgate, screw-in the tailgate bumpstops (two on the leading edge of the tailgate) and it should eradicate the rattle and subdue the slight buffeting noise in the cabin. Apart from that, enjoy!

They're sports cars with big(ish) wheels, firm suspension, and our roads are rubbish. As a result I think a few rattles / knocks are inevitable. I also think then Cayman is a nightmare in that sounds tend to bounce around the cabin making it hard to identify exactly where they're coming from. I had a rattle from mine which I was convinced was coming from the door / passenger airbag area, but which was eventually identified as coming from the seat. I've since been driving around making sure it's gone only to pick some sort of noise from the back - which I am going to ignore! On a related matter the tailgate rattle should be gone from the 987.2 as they fitted extra rubber blocks. At the end of theday if you want a car as close to silent as possible then a Cayman etc is not the one to go for. What I'd say though is that unless it's something which suggests a part is failing or a rattle where something has clearly come loose then enjoy the car for what it is - a brilliant sports car which you should be proud to own.

ilduce said: I presume you're talking about a 987 Cayman. If so forget the idea that they are hewn from a single piece of granite- they rattle. Sometimes the rattle is a s t bit of trim that's not clicked into place and it will be as elusive as a virgin in Newcastle. Sometimes it's one of the many suspension parts that are made of chocolate and hope. The former will fvck your mind. The latter will fvck your wallet. Welcome to the world of Porsche. Why thank you for that entertaining and charming welcome Ok good to know its not just me. Funny I did try a car with PASM and the interior suddenly started rattling, and that was down a lovely smooth dual carriageway! PASM in Sport mode found bumps I never new existed. Anyway, so a rattle or two is normal. I can live with that, I just didnt want to have a wheel alignment done only for my suspension to be slowly s tting itself. I may take jack the car up for peace of mind and have a good look, is there a special jack adapter I need or will any regular trolley jack with a flat surface do the trick? Edited by Beknown on Sunday 7th September 10:24

I had a Porsche dealer check the front strut mounts but no issue found. Mine is a later car so I believe they fixed the tailgate issue, I did try adjusting the bump stops but all this did was make it difficult/impossible to shut the tailgate! I get no buffeting anyway. The last owner had new exhaust clamps fitted despite the low mileage, I may jack the car up and make sure they did the job correctly.

Beknown said: Anyway, so a rattle or two is normal. I can live with that, I just didnt want to have a wheel alignment done only for my suspension to be slowly s tting itself. I refer to my point concerning the suspension made of "chocolate and hope". In 65k miles I had to replace the following: Both track rod ends Both coffin arms Both support arms In effect, nearly everything bar the springs and shocks and they had advisories against them on the OPC check list. If you take it in anywhere decent for tracking they will tell you if the TRE's are fvcked. The coffin arms will give you a creaky noise going over speed humps. The support arms will give you a light clonky noise from one side of the car (depending which one is dead)but only over slight changes in road surface. Swapping them from side to side (they are identical) will confirm this. Good luck.

ilduce said: Beknown said: Anyway, so a rattle or two is normal. I can live with that, I just didnt want to have a wheel alignment done only for my suspension to be slowly s tting itself. I refer to my point concerning the suspension made of "chocolate and hope". In 65k miles I had to replace the following: Both track rod ends Both coffin arms Both support arms In effect, nearly everything bar the springs and shocks and they had advisories against them on the OPC check list. If you take it in anywhere decent for tracking they will tell you if the TRE's are fvcked. The coffin arms will give you a creaky noise going over speed humps. The support arms will give you a light clonky noise from one side of the car (depending which one is dead)but only over slight changes in road surface. Swapping them from side to side (they are identical) will confirm this. Good luck. Are the gen 2s not much better? I have no idea what a coffin arm or support arm is anyway, if you care to clarify

ilduce said: The coffin arms will give you a creaky noise going over speed humps. The support arms will give you a light clonky noise from one side of the car (depending which one is dead)but only over slight changes in road surface. Swapping them from side to side (they are identical) will confirm this. Good luck. Mine makes a slight clonk over the tiniest bump but nothing over a big one. I suspect the support arms by your description but it just passed the MoT with no advisories. I presume it's because the car makes no noise when stationary even if the suspension components are wiggled about, only on the move? Coffin arm: Edited by ianwayne on Monday 8th September 20:49

ianwayne said: ilduce said: The coffin arms will give you a creaky noise going over speed humps. The support arms will give you a light clonky noise from one side of the car (depending which one is dead)but only over slight changes in road surface. Swapping them from side to side (they are identical) will confirm this. Good luck. Mine makes a slight clonk over the tiniest bump but nothing over a big one. I suspect the support arms by your description but it just passed the MoT with no advisories. I presume it's because the car makes no noise when stationary even if the suspension components are wiggled about, only on the move? Coffin arm: Edited by ianwayne on Monday 8th September 20:49 Yes that sounds like the support arm.(part no. 3 on the exploded diagram) 20 mins to swap them left to right- just two 14mm bolts and no tracking needed. Some places call it the control arm and you can get it for £36... (or £150 if you want it in a shiny Porsche box) It fits the 997 too- anyway, part number is 99734104300 http://www.incarmotorfactors.co.uk/en/2898-control...

That's a good suggestion, thanks. Swapping them left to right will establish if that's the problem. The front ones are the same as well I believe, which is handy I suppose. Unfortunately, from inca motor factors, the arms for a 986 (& 996) model seem to be £102 instead of £36 the 987 and 997. http://www.incarmotorfactors.co.uk/en/2878-control... Edited by ianwayne on Tuesday 9th September 23:43

The TRE's are made of chocolate on the 987.1, they were uprated on the 987.2 and when (it's not an if) they let go on a gen1, get the gen2s fitted. Mine had play in the TRE after 10k... Should have been a recall IMO as they're simply not up to the job. If your roads are as bad as they are around here and you have standard (not PASM) suspension, I'd think about fitting wheels/tyres with a bit more sidewall personally. My car rattles quite bit, and clunks occasionally.

juansolo said: The TRE's are made of chocolate on the 987.1, they were uprated on the 987.2 and when (it's not an if) they let go on a gen1, get the gen2s fitted. Mine had play in the TRE after 10k... Should have been a recall IMO as they're simply not up to the job. If your roads are as bad as they are around here and you have standard (not PASM) suspension, I'd think about fitting wheels/tyres with a bit more sidewall personally. My car rattles quite bit, and clunks occasionally. Even with your itsy bitsy 17" wheels? Car looks stunning btw.

Beknown said: juansolo said: The TRE's are made of chocolate on the 987.1, they were uprated on the 987.2 and when (it's not an if) they let go on a gen1, get the gen2s fitted. Mine had play in the TRE after 10k... Should have been a recall IMO as they're simply not up to the job. If your roads are as bad as they are around here and you have standard (not PASM) suspension, I'd think about fitting wheels/tyres with a bit more sidewall personally. My car rattles quite bit, and clunks occasionally. Even with your itsy bitsy 17" wheels? Car looks stunning btw. Mainly in winter But the most annoying one is a loose screw under the dash somewhere. In the scheme of things it's a Rolls compared to the Elise that preceded it )

On really coarse roads I get the most horrible resonance coming into the cabin which consequently rattles all of the trim in the rear of the car and maybe even the lower door cards. In fairness I only know one piece of road which is bad enough for this to happen and the 19” wheels really don’t help here. Sometimes I get a terrible rattle from the tailgate but it goes away/reappears simply by opening and closing it again, thats more annoying.