Noises from the rear

[soobusdriver]

Helloes,

I got my 04 A4 quattro avant a few months ago, I used to hear a large washer jangling loose on a big bolt when driving over potholed roads, a few weeks ago it stopped so I reckon the bolt has finally dropped out...
So instead of the jangling I now hear a noise of two metal bars clattering against each other. I had a VAG specialist garage have a look at the ARB and suspension while it was in for a handbrake adjustment. They said it looks like it had a new ARB fitted at some point but nothing else was missing or out of ordinary.

I usually only drive on small twisty country lanes (max 60mph) to work or in town, but yesterday went a different way home along a major A road and took it up to 80mph. I felt a slight vibration of the whole car from 60 and got worse up to 80. Will have the wheels balanced and checked for 'eggs' on the tires. But what concerned me was that I heard a sort of crunching noise a few times when going 80 while slowing down or going round bends, which I could still hear asometimes after I had slowed down and drove through town.
Do you guys have any ideas or experienced similar?
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers

[soobusdriver]

Update:

After a shirt trip through town I reversed up a short hill to get to a parking space and as I started to reverse I heard a noise again, though only really shortly...

[nevo]

Somethings amiss there,there are many bushes on the rear subframe, the anti roll bar usually clunks going over potholes,if you aren't connfident of your skills the cheapest way of checking would be to put it in for mot you can get them for about £30,my bet is there's a bush shot.

[johnca]

Get the inside brake pads checked because you might have a caliper sticking and it might of run the pad down to metal. Not having a pop at you but why would you take the car upto 80mph if you had a problem with tyres,wheels,suspension ? Only pointing out that if something did fail and locked the wheel up at 80 then you would probably not be here to get help with your problem. I had a friend who had a similar issue with a car and he did something similar to you but he didn't get off so lucky and rolled his car 9 times into a field and now is pushing up flowers himself.

[soobusdriver]

Hi nevo and johnca thanks for your replies.
I think you might be onto something with the bushes, nevo hope that's all.

I wasn't aware of the vibration until I took it above 60mph and wanted to see if it got worse with speed. It still feels really solid, ie the vibrations are pretty slight, but I only got the crunching noises after driving this speed. Thank you for your concern and sorry to hear about your mate!

Will see if I can get my car in for a check this week before my 3month warranty expires.

Anything else I should check for warranty issues?

Cheers

[soobusdriver]

Another Update,

It seems more common when driving downhill and slowing down, either using brakes or gears.
The sound is more of a tin scratching or stressed rubber releasing, so will have bushes checked out.
I'm used to working on my old VW bus where you can easily slide under to inspect anything, but on this car I can't even slide under and everything is covered...

I'm not quite sure but it seems to be coming from the front passenger side now?

[johnca]

Try jacking up each wheel separate and spinning it to see if you can hear anything but don't forget to use axle stands. It could be something simple like the backing plate on the disc catching or even a low brake pad catching on the lip of the disc.

[soobusdriver]

Sweet, will do.

Will keep this updated for future reference.
Cheers