Suspension noise

[THR]

Hi all,

I'm not really car literate so this may be perfectly normal for a new car.

My TDI Golf Comfortline has done about 1,100km since new (bought in Feb). Anyhow, whenever I go over bumps, and more notably judder bars/speed humps, the suspension makes a noise - sounds like air/springs being compressed/decompressed (or whatever... again, not car literate so hard to describe). Sort of like what you hear on those hydraulic cars that they make go up and down. Although, not quite that loud.

Is this normal for a new car? Does it take a while to bed the suspension in, or is this a constant sound?

Is something loose?

Any help appreciated

[mikinoz]

Mine still does this after 15K...

I am not sure that it is a fault, never suspected it was a problem.

Now I'm not so sure.. :/

[7164]

Mine started sqeaking and so on the momen i drove it out of the driveway of the dealership. It has been back 3 times, and over $10K in parts & labour later (no cost to me) it has been repaired. This is what they did.

1) Took out the stirofoam chocks from the shocks which they left in there from the transportation....Apparently this happens all the time.

2) They changed the sway bars front and back with all the associated bushes.

3) Replaced springs, shocks, strut tower mount & brace for both front and back......twice

Now all is good....Take it back to the dealer...but they will say they don't know anything about it until i landed them all in the sh*t ( after the dinted the car twice while repairing it) and now they all now me by first name basis.

[acdcfan]

Now all is good....Take it back to the dealer...but they will say they don't know anything about it until i landed them all in the sh*t ( after the dinted the car twice while repairing it) and now they all now me by first name basis.

Now that is the way to get stealers to get thing right in the frist place

[Greg Roles]

My car sure seems to handle just fine, and makes the same noise.

I figured the shocks were air ones, and this is just part of the bleed mechanism for sharp bumps. I'll look into it a bit, but everyone I've spoken to, and the other golfs I drove both at the dealer and dyno day all did the same thing.

Be interested if it can't be the stock shocks though!

[motk]

Sounds like standard gas-damper noise from the description.
I'd be interested in see if I still have the suspension chocks in - how do I check for that?

[THR]

So it's common then...

It's kinda annoying though. If there is one thing I don't like, it's that damn noise.

[motk]

Just about every car fitted with decent dampers over the past 15 years has the swish-swoo noise during suspension travel events

Next time you're at a shopping centre carpark, hang out near a speed bump and listen to cars as they traverse it - you'll see it's very common.

[VW Convert]

Hi all,

I'm not really car literate so this may be perfectly normal for a new car.

My TDI Golf Comfortline has done about 1,100km since new (bought in Feb). Anyhow, whenever I go over bumps, and more notably judder bars/speed humps, the suspension makes a noise - sounds like air/springs being compressed/decompressed (or whatever... again, not car literate so hard to describe). Sort of like what you hear on those hydraulic cars that they make go up and down. Although, not quite that loud.

Is this normal for a new car? Does it take a while to bed the suspension in, or is this a constant sound?

Is something loose?

Any help appreciated

What you have described sounds like normal shock absorber (more correctly known as damper) operation. Dampers contain oil and as they compress and rebound oil is forced from chamber to chamber through valves. The noise you hear is the oil being forced under pressure through the valves, perfectly normal and nothing to worry about.

Cheers

George