I am driving from Chicago to Des Moines today and all of a sudden when I pull off for gas a horrid noise/rattle/clunking/creaking starts coming from the left front of the car. I hand check everything, tugging on the wheel and making sure the top of the shock bolts are tight to the chassis and all seems well. The noise is only when moving slowly in town....on the highway there is nothing. But, it keeps getting worse. I have changed my springs to Champion Sport Springs and have always noticed a little noise but nothing like this. I am stopping at one of our Audi dealers in Iowa City (where I also have a house so I can check on things). They actually aligned the Cayman for me because one of the techs is a Porsche tech too...so I will see what they say.
Any ideas? Im wondering if I need to get out my pneumatic wrench and tighten the big bolt at the top of the shock?
Check for a rock stuck between the brake rotor and the dust shield...
Will do, although I have narrowed it down to when I push down on the top of the strut with the hood up and the plastic removed, it makes the noise.
Just had a very similar problem / noise.....then a noticed a little damp patch on the plastic just rear of the strut top.....sure enough the strut had lost some of it's oil and the seal had gone.....so the spring was doing most of the work. It retrospect it wasn't long after changing the springs, which lowered the car and the strut was then working lower on it's travel. And in a different part of the insert.
Changed the strut, the noise has now gone and guess what:- the car handles again....doooooh
So, I ended up stopping at my local Audi dealer in Iowa City on my way thru to Des Moines (hometown). They know me pretty well there, so I took off all of the plastic shrouding around the front struts and had them put their pnuematic on the 21 mm strut nut. Sure enough, they were a big loose. I had not gone over the suspension since changing the springs and Im sure things have settled a bit. Anyways, no more noise! I also checked the rears when I got home. Thanks for the replies everyone.
Tess, if mine comes back, I will check to see if I have your same problem.
Anyone else with this or similar problem? I have a similarly annoying sound coming from my car, but would like to hear more about it so that I can propose a problem/solution when having it fixed.