Knocking under braking & at low speeds

[The Glove]

Hi All,

New to this forum and indeed Audi ownership and would really appreciate you help.

I have had my A4 sport 1.9 TDI 130 tip(saloon) for a couple of weeks now and have knocking noises from the front of the car. It feels / sounds like its coming from the front passenger side wheel area but on occasions it travels to what sounds like the middle of the car or drivers side. It only seems to happen below 30ish mph when driving over bumps in the road, drains, speed humps etc and not every time, enough to be annoying though!!

I have taken it to a couple of places to get it checked out both by road test and up on the ramps but the feedback I’m getting is nothing seems obvious and wait for it to get worse. The guy who put it on the ramp said there was no signs of anything on the suspension or role bar joints / brushes and that it maybe in the shocks or drive shaft; this would need further investigation.

Also maybe unrelated but under braking there is sometimes a grinding noise, again appears to be from the front and / or a single 'Clunk / Knock' when the breaks are applied.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[nickynibbles]

How old is the car & how many miles on the clock?

[Silver]

Hi

I've experienced a clicking of noise coming from the front brakes, when braking. This I found was due to the front pads being put on incorrectly.
The Pads are marked left and right.
Mine were fitted :
Left wheel had the right hand Pad fitted
Right wheel had the left hand Pad fitted

Thk

[The Glove]

Hi NickyNibbles,

The car is a 2004 '04' with 23k on the clock, any advise gratefully received

Thanks

[The Glove]

Hey Silver, hope this isn't a daft question but is there anyway of checking this with out removing the wheels & pads?

Thanks

[nickynibbles]

Hi NickyNibbles,

The car is a 2004 '04' with 23k on the clock, any advise gratefully received

Thanks

If its an '04 reg then I presume its out of the original manufacturer warranty?

Its unlikely to be a worn out damper causing the issue, they would go on 80k+ miles normally. Probably a failed component in which case & would be hard to diagnose without spending time looking at everything. Couple of obvious things to check if you can get under the car, and yes you'll need to take the wheels off so suggest you get out the jack:-
1. Check exhaust mountings & brackets
2. Check the brake pads & discs are fitted ok & plenty of meat left on them (as per Silver's post)
3. Check the plastic cover underneath the engine is secure
4. Take the handbrake off whilst at standstill with the engine off (obviously do this somewhere flat where the car wont run away somewhere!!) & bounce the 2 front corners. The car shouldnt make an undue groaning noises & should just recoil smoothly back when you push down on it. Do this quite hard though to move the suspension a good amount. If it groans a lot and/or bounces about a bit before settling then you could have a damper problem.

Anything more advanced and best bet is to find a local Audi specialist to check it out for you. Was it privattely bought by the way?? If not then suggest you take it back to the dealer to enquire what they can do to help.

[The Glove]

If its an '04 reg then I presume its out of the original manufacturer warranty?

Its unlikely to be a worn out damper causing the issue, they would go on 80k+ miles normally. Probably a failed component in which case & would be hard to diagnose without spending time looking at everything. Couple of obvious things to check if you can get under the car, and yes you'll need to take the wheels off so suggest you get out the jack:-
1. Check exhaust mountings & brackets
2. Check the brake pads & discs are fitted ok & plenty of meat left on them (as per Silver's post)
3. Check the plastic cover underneath the engine is secure
4. Take the handbrake off whilst at standstill with the engine off (obviously do this somewhere flat where the car wont run away somewhere!!) & bounce the 2 front corners. The car shouldnt make an undue groaning noises & should just recoil smoothly back when you push down on it. Do this quite hard though to move the suspension a good amount. If it groans a lot and/or bounces about a bit before settling then you could have a damper problem.

Anything more advanced and best bet is to find a local Audi specialist to check it out for you. Was it privattely bought by the way?? If not then suggest you take it back to the dealer to enquire what they can do to help.
Thanks for your help & advice, will give this ago, yes it was a private sale so no comebacks!

[nickynibbles]

Bummer, if you've got any dealer receipts with it then have a look to see what work its had done to it, if somethings been changed might indicate a problem & possibly a faulty fitment. Also, if its got main dealer stamps in the service book then call/visit the dealer & ask for any details on parts replaced on the car, helps fill in any gaps if your missing receipts. Good luck with it, there's only so much you can check youself unfortunately on this kind of thing before you've just gotta get your wallet out, welcome to Audi ownership! One suggestion, get yourself kitted out with Vagcom so you can check the rest of the car over for any electronic issues with the car, cheap leads on ebay or Carl can help out with a set up, his tag is Eshrules (i think thats spelt right!), his signature has a link to his site. Free software from www.rosstech.com allows you to check the cars elctronics over, handy if anything else crops up & might even tell you something about the current problem if its related to something electronic & not just mechanical.

[The Glove]

Just phoned the main dealer who supplied the car and then the main dealer who serviced it. At Nov 06 service Audi recommended a brake fluid change, std every 2 years they inform me but they didn't do it at that point and a couple of new tyres on the front. Tyres have been done (cheap and cheerfuls!) so likely that something has happened with the brakes. Nothing else on record - good shout thou!

[Highermileage]

My A6 avant has developed this niggle. There does not appear to be any problems with braking or distances, just a very annoying single knock. Have you had it diagnosed yet?

Any tips would be appreciated.

[The Glove]

I checked the brakes out on mine and discovered that 1 front pad was worn out (1mm left) on inside of disc on drivers side so had all front pads replaced, the rest were all half worn?? Before I did this though it seemed to be that the pads where moving around in the callipers and where very dry, suggest you try this and follow Silver & Nickynibbles advice above.... seemed to work for me as I have no single knock or grinding noises any more.

The steps suggested by Nickynibbles where also followed, I pulled all the plastic trim underneath the engine off, tightened everything I could see / reach including exhaust and put the covers back on..... hard to say what did it but no more knocking at slow speeds!!!!!

Thanks to all and good luck!

[jockthedog]

Hmmm, sounds very familiar.

Check if your pads are loose in the calipers when you're at rest with no brakes.

If so, there's your source of knocking, perhaps?

[The Glove]

Hi, its been about six weeks now since front pads where replaced and still all seems to be ok with mine thankfully

[kevinrich]

Did anyone ever find the cure for this ? i have a single knock / bang when i break hard and again when i move away again. car is a 2004 a4 3.0 quattro. great car but its driving me nuts !!!!!

[kevinrich]

sorry, didn't see this was 2 pages ! idiot

[The Glove]

:beerchug:
sorry, didn't see this was 2 pages ! idiot