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Guys, It has taken me a while to start this thread because I have been researching it for a long time with sadly no definitive result.
This is about a suspension thump noise at low speed on Fiesta ST's. If you don't have this noise its really hard to describe but its like the suspension hitting the bump stop.
If you Google "Fiesta St front suspension noise" you will get 100's of results. I have read almost all of them, even foreign language ones.
If you have this noise in your FISt you will know exactly what I am talking about, if you don't, you are very lucky.
You also may actually have this knock and think that it is normal. Its not.
Below are the facts as I have researched and my own experience.
My dealer has had my car for 4 days to look into this along with a few other issues. At first the Chief Mechanic went for a test drive and told me the noise was the Sub woofer under the seat. (WTF) I removed the Sub, back to the dealer again. This time the Service Manager went and identified the noise even before we left the car park (my god what is that, he said ?). The dealer replaced the front left shock absorber mounting bracket (but not the absorber or strut). and said they fully checked the suspension. At least they said they did, I have no way of proving it.
The noise is still there. So I have given up on the dealer.
This is a particularly annoying noise as you tend to deliberately listen for it.
My point now is maybe someone on this Australian forum can shed some light on it or make others with the noise aware and maybe have a solution.
I should point out the suggested ideas of what is causing this noise are endless, really looking for some constructive thinking.
Note:- Subaru "Shock knock" Subaru WRX and STI's had a known fault called shock knock. The shock absorber is fitted into the strut tube with a high density grease. Overtime this grease would dry out and the shock would flex slightly in the tube hitting the side of the strut tube and making a knocking or thumping noise at low speed. The solution was to simply refill the strut tube with new grease. Problem solved.
This is about a suspension thump noise at low speed on Fiesta ST's. If you don't have this noise its really hard to describe but its like the suspension hitting the bump stop.
If you Google "Fiesta St front suspension noise" you will get 100's of results. I have read almost all of them, even foreign language ones.
If you have this noise in your FISt you will know exactly what I am talking about, if you don't, you are very lucky.
You also may actually have this knock and think that it is normal. Its not.
Below are the facts as I have researched and my own experience.
- Ford seems to be aware of the noise but does not acknowledge it exists.
- It only appears at low speed <20ks
- It only appears to be only when wheels are straight, but this is not 100%.
- It is NOT a metallic noise but a very loud thump like suspension is bouncing up and hitting bump stop
- It only happens on one side, either left or right side (never both) but left side is far more common.
- It reduces in loudness if someone is in the left seat (but not much).
- It cannot be felt through the steering.
- It only happens once, needs 100 metres of flat road before it happens again, no matter how rough the road is in between.
- One German forum post said he still had the noise after fitting coil overs.
- Noise is there since new it neither gets worse nor better over time.
- It sounds like Subaru "shock knock" but apparently is not. See note below for explanation.
My dealer has had my car for 4 days to look into this along with a few other issues. At first the Chief Mechanic went for a test drive and told me the noise was the Sub woofer under the seat. (WTF) I removed the Sub, back to the dealer again. This time the Service Manager went and identified the noise even before we left the car park (my god what is that, he said ?). The dealer replaced the front left shock absorber mounting bracket (but not the absorber or strut). and said they fully checked the suspension. At least they said they did, I have no way of proving it.
The noise is still there. So I have given up on the dealer.
This is a particularly annoying noise as you tend to deliberately listen for it.
My point now is maybe someone on this Australian forum can shed some light on it or make others with the noise aware and maybe have a solution.
I should point out the suggested ideas of what is causing this noise are endless, really looking for some constructive thinking.
Note:- Subaru "Shock knock" Subaru WRX and STI's had a known fault called shock knock. The shock absorber is fitted into the strut tube with a high density grease. Overtime this grease would dry out and the shock would flex slightly in the tube hitting the side of the strut tube and making a knocking or thumping noise at low speed. The solution was to simply refill the strut tube with new grease. Problem solved.
