Rear clunking after changing shocks

jski

Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
MA
TDI
2000 Jetta
I recently changed springs, shocks and struts to Bilstein TC sports on my 2000 Jetta. I now get a clunking sound in the rear passenger side when hitting small bumps (especially when they are consecutive). I've re-tightened the lower bolt on the bottom of the shock, but the sound remains. I can't get the car to make the noise when jumping on the trailer hitch or by any other means. The car handles nicely and seems to deal with bumps normally. The noise is just annoying. Any ideas out there? Thanks for the help.
 

Cas

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2006
Location
Chicagoland
TDI
2009jetta
did the rears come with new upper mounts? when I replaced mine with oem boge, they came with the shocks
 

abranz

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2005
Location
Wallace, ID
TDI
2000 NB & Jetta
My NB does the same when hitting bumps. I replaced the shock mounts which did not help. I've taken the shock off twice to check the top nut and bottom bolts for tightness and they are fine. I cannot figure it out but it is annoying.
Tony
 

robhegedus

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2008
Location
Saskatoon Saskatchewan
TDI
2002 Golf
Bushings are the only thing that I can narrow my clunk down to. Sounds exactly like your symptoms...but they look like a tough job to tackle. Anyone know how much work is involved?
 

jski

Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
MA
TDI
2000 Jetta
There were upper mounts with the set from Peter from TDI parts. There was no clunking before making the change, however. I can't figure out why there would be no clunk on bigger bumps. I did replace the rear bushings last year and it was a big job. It was still under warantee thankfully, but it took almost 6 hours for the shop to do it. I ride over a lot of country roads that now drive me crazy with this frequent clunking.
 

sdk131

Veteran Member
Joined
May 19, 2004
Location
Calvert County, MD
TDI
2004 Jetta GL RC1+
Hmmmmm... Do you have an aftermarket rear sway bar? Mine occasionaly makes thunks over varying bumps in the road. At a minimum I need to lube the bushings, but they may be due for replacement. Have you verified all bolts were properly torqued (including the single top bolt on the shock that secures it to the upper rear mount)? Is it possible one of the shocks was blown from the start, and is not really dampening anything? Is there anyway you could get someone to ride in the back seat while you drive down the road to listen for the source of the sound. This might at least get you closer, since you can't replicate sitting still in the driveway.

Is there anything in the trunk or spare tire area that could be rattling? I had a metal mag lite in the spare tire well clunking around for weeks before I remembered it was in there...drove me nuts while I kept checking for loose suspension bolts.
 
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Rickstah

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2002
Location
Yukon, Oklahoma
TDI
NB, 2002, green, Eurotek STG1
I had this same problem on my A3, and it was because I didn't have the rubber mounts tightened down properly so they would keep the shaft from jiggling back and forth or up and down. Went back through both and got them tightened down and expanded properly to keep the shaft from moving and the clunk went away.
 

Lug_Nut

TDIClub Enthusiast, Pre-Forum Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 20, 1998
Location
Sterling, Massachusetts. USA
TDI
idi: 1988 Bolens DGT1700H, the other oil burner: 1967 Saab Sonett II two stroke
Loose attachments, most like the shock shaft at the upper end. Go back and recheck the fasteners at the shock to mount and mount to car body.
Large individual bumps won't make the noise. Small ones, particularly at high frequency will. New dampers are resistant to motion. If there's 2 mm of looseness and you hit a rapid series of 2mm high bumps the wheel/tire and lower shock tube move, but the shock's piston and rod does too because of the newly restored stiffness. That 2 mm of movement and hitting the end of the loose gap is the thunking you hear. Bigger bumps create more tire noise and mask the single thunk as the play at the shock top is used up. Bouncing the car is too slow a motion especially with gas charged dampers. The gas allows the rod to remain in contact, only rapid bumps faster than the internal oil valving can react will make the thumping.
 

n1das

TDIClub Enthusiast, Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2002
Location
Nashua, NH, USA
TDI
2014 BMW 535xd ///M-Sport, 2012 BMW X5 Xdrive35d, former 3x TDI owner
Driving across railroad tracks is often a good test, particularly where the pavement has crumbled away right where the tracks cross the road.
 

jski

Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
MA
TDI
2000 Jetta
This may sound naive, but can I tighten all of these suspect bolts by simply removing the wheel and not removing the shock and spring?
 

sdk131

Veteran Member
Joined
May 19, 2004
Location
Calvert County, MD
TDI
2004 Jetta GL RC1+
in the rear you don't need to touch the spring at all. You can actually even remove the entire rear shock with the wheel on if you are a bit flexible. To get to the top shock nut (top of shock piston, on top of upper rear mount) you'll need to remove the entire rear shock.

Look at the bottom half of this link for some pics:

http://fortuneman.tripod.com/suspension/install.htm
 
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Occams_Razor

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Location
Dayton, Ohio
TDI
Jetta Wagon, 2003, Reflex Silver
jski said:
I recently changed springs, shocks and struts to Bilstein TC sports on my 2000 Jetta. I now get a clunking sound in the rear passenger side when hitting small bumps (especially when they are consecutive). I've re-tightened the lower bolt on the bottom of the shock, but the sound remains. I can't get the car to make the noise when jumping on the trailer hitch or by any other means. The car handles nicely and seems to deal with bumps normally. The noise is just annoying. Any ideas out there? Thanks for the help.
Did you follow the correct procedure to tighten the upper mounts? (You have to have weight on them and the car has to be on the ground. All explained in the Bentley manual)
 

Lefty

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2005
Location
Lazear,Colorado Population 60
TDI
Jetta, 2000,Green GLS
First time I replaced Shocks and had the same bumping from the rear. I was then told I needed to tighten the shock all the way down(Didn't do that) and thought it was supposed to be just a little way's down on the shaft. Tightened it down as far as I could and all was fine.
 

abranz

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2005
Location
Wallace, ID
TDI
2000 NB & Jetta
After the first round I figured I did not tighten with the weight of the car on the ground so I disassembled and repeated the process, no change. The nut on the top of the shaft is tight. The axle bushings appear fine. Did not know where to turn so I gave up and try to turn up the radio.
Tony
 

jasonTDI

TDI GURU Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Location
Oregon, WI
TDI
20' RAM 3500 CCLB dually HO/Aisan. 2019 Cherokee 2.0T
It seems to be an endemic problem with SOME of the Bilsteins. Always the right rear corner. 1 of 10 or so have it. Why, who knows never the left side so maybe the car loading has something to do with it...who knows.
 

jski

Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
MA
TDI
2000 Jetta
Lefty, When you say "tighten the shock all the way down" I assume you are talking about something other than the shock mount, right? Is this something that I'd do with the shock off of the car? I'll try the mounts first today and see where that gets me.
 

fruitcakesa

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Location
Vermont
TDI
04 jetta 5 spd wagon
Since I changed out shocks to Koni Reds I get a right rear thump irregularly and that I now ignore as it blends with other car sounds. I did not know about tightening while the car is on the ground. Would I have to remove the shock or can it just be retightened in place?
 

tothemax

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 7, 2006
Location
Nevada
TDI
TDIs: 2003 Jetta, 2016 Q5 3.0
Faulty strut mounts

I had exactly the same problem.

I changed the struts and shocks and got some new mounts and Koni Reds from TDI Parts. There was a horribly loud squeaking on one side and a loud squeaking on the other side after installation.

My mechanic and I spent a bunch of time checking everything and finally we isolated it came from the shock mounts after installing and taking everything apart a few times.

The way to do it is to remove the shock and the mount and to simulate a bump by depressing it while one end is on the ground.

We finally re-installed the old mounts and the horrible loud squeak went away immediately.

On the Mounts was stamped " something somethin ....Germany... " but inside whatever was there before had been filed off. maybe is used to say "Made in China" I don't know.

I sent them back to TDIParts and am expecting a refund.

P
 

pepper10

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Location
Manchester, NH, USA
TDI
:)2002 A4 TDI , 2006 A5:)
hmmm.. I installed Bilstein HD's 2 years ago and have the same problem... right rear wheel thumping loudly. I changed the upper mounts at the time too. Anyone had any luck by re-tightening the bolts?
 

UhOh

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Location
PNW
TDI
2000 & 2003 Golf GLS (2005 Mercedes E320 CDI)
Going to add to this thread after an experience I recently went through.

Installed all new suspension on the daughter's wagon and it ended up with a clunking in the right rear. Nothing turned up loose. Did not have time to investigate any further as the daughter needed the car. Some time later I was able to check out more closely. I pulled the shock and checked the mount- it was fine. I then messed around with the shock and discovered that it had this dead spot in it when fully extended. If you extended the shock and then pushed in the shaft real quickly and then pulled it back again you'd get this 1/2" to 1" travel without resistance.

Replacement shock arrived (Koni Red) and I did a straight up comparison (with mount removed from the suspect shock) and sure enough, BAD shock. Installed the replacement and no more knocking/thumping.

No idea how common this might be, but from now on I will check every shock before I install it.
 

KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
I'm pulling my hair out with this.

Bilstenin TC's all around, new OEM springs all around, upgraded HD mounts from UROtuning.
After 3 months, had that rattle/clunk coming from high frequency small bumps or a heavy hit.

Pulled 1 rear shock and it was definitely bad, sent back for a warranty set. One of the URO tuning mounts' rubber was starting to pull from the casting. Great. Got a refund for those.

Went with a set of ECS tuning HD mounts (much better quality). Installed this weekend, torqued per the Bentley spec on everything. While on the ground, with a person in the car (granted she was 115 lb soaking wet...). Went to take the car to work this morning, the clunk in the right rear was even worse!!

Turned the car around to go park it at home and grab the truck.

The axle beam bushings are newer Cupra R's within the last year or so.

I need to get the car backed on ramps and check them. I know they were clocked how the old ones came out even though clocking isn't critical with the Cupra's.

I'm seriously at a loss...what else is back there?? Wheel bearing spun normal and felt tight, could not feel any play...
 

KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
I'm pulling my hair out with this.
Bilstenin TC's all around, new OEM springs all around, upgraded HD mounts from UROtuning.
After 3 months, had that rattle/clunk coming from high frequency small bumps or a heavy hit.
Pulled 1 rear shock and it was definitely bad, sent back for a warranty set. One of the URO tuning mounts' rubber was starting to pull from the casting. Great. Got a refund for those.
Went with a set of ECS tuning HD mounts (much better quality). Installed this weekend, torqued per the Bentley spec on everything. While on the ground, with a person in the car (granted she was 115 lb soaking wet...). Went to take the car to work this morning, the clunk in the right rear was even worse!!
Turned the car around to go park it at home and grab the truck.
The axle beam bushings are newer Cupra R's within the last year or so.
I need to get the car backed on ramps and check them. I know they were clocked how the old ones came out even though clocking isn't critical with the Cupra's.
I'm seriously at a loss...what else is back there?? Wheel bearing spun normal and felt tight, could not feel any play...
Wanted to follow up on my post in case anyone else comes across this thread:

https://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=504315
 
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