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Rear suspension noise - are you affected?

Is your Mk7 Golf affected by rear suspension noise - Yes/No?


  • Total voters
    47
  • Poll closed .

fuelboss

Go Kart Newbie
Location
United Kingdom & Portugal
Car(s)
GTI MK7.5 DSG
Managed to get underneath it today.. the part numbers are still the same, but each set I have had have never changed part numbers. Interestingly however the stickers on these are very different to the others I've had and do not say Sachs on them anywhere

Interesting!

Will also be interested in reading whether they have solved your problem. Somehow I just cant believe the Bilsteins you fitted were the cause of what you hear. Do you still have the Bilsteins?
 

MarcA

Ready to race!
Location
Sheffield
Interesting!

Will also be interested in reading whether they have solved your problem. Somehow I just cant believe the Bilsteins you fitted were the cause of what you hear. Do you still have the Bilsteins?

Yes I still have the bilsteins. Obviously visually they look fine and I can compress by hand. The noise is the same and as soon as the shocks are changed it's eliminated completely. Then it slowly returns over time or more accurately mileage. This was the same on the Bilsteins but lasted far longer before the noises returned leading me to believe either my car has an underlying issue resulting in very quick shock wear or it's the same issue regardless of shock brand.


I have some pics on the shocks that are on now and will try upload them. It's possible there are vw stickers over where it would say Sachs but as I don't have a ramp it's hard to say
 

MarcA

Ready to race!
Location
Sheffield
20170924_resized.jpg
 

dr_mat

Go Kart Champion
Location
Berkshire
Dr Mat,

You have written quite a lot relating to rear shock absorber issues but you have never fitted Bilsteins as far as I know or changed to another make of shock absorbers. The issue has nothing to do with rubber bushings or "damping" of the top mount bolt. The issue is with the piston rod play within the barrel. I have demonstrated this previously and I have proved beyond all doubt that the Sachs shock absorbers were at fault due to poor design or manufacturing.

Marca may genuinely have noise again from the Bilsteins or it may be something else. If the Bilsteins are producing the same irritating noise as the original parts I would be very surprised indeed. If they do then in my view he has been very unlucky. Myself and many others around the world have used the Bilsteins an have eliminated the rattle with immediate effect and for good. In my case 16K on the Bilstein B4 and no noise from the shock absorber.s

With regard to shock absorber noise - the action of a shock absorber should not be heard within a vehicle as general road noise would probably eliminate any movement sound anyway. With all due respect if you write so much on an issue, which largely appears to be resolved as far as I can see, then making suggestions, other than changing the make of the shock absorber is not that helpful as items such as top mounts on the MK7 have no bearing on the problem.

Over the past 3-years since I proved that the Sachs shock absorbers were the root cause of the rear suspension rattle I have received scores of enquiries via email from all parts of the world and those who have followed my advice have always been satisfied after fitting Bilstein B4 parts.

If you have the rattle then simply jack-up the car and give the shock absorber a good thump or grab it and see if there appears to be movement in respect to the piston rod and barrel. If either or both is the case then fit another make of shock absorber. Its a simple and quick fix and worth doing. While it maybe good practise to change the bolts you dont have to. 16K since changing mine and I used the same bolts and we are still in one piece despite travel through Spain, Portugal and the UK over a huge variety of road surfaces.

www.vwgolfmk7problems.uk
I didn't disagree with you. I can see quite clearly it's the shock absorber at fault, but I deliberately went down the path of ranting at VW to see if they were prepared to fix it.

I still think that they should have foreseen this problem because of the way the top of the strut is hard mounted to the chassis and they should have given it a soft mounting.

VW replaced my shocks, again, FOC, and so far they have not been as bad as previously, but I am not holding my breath. If they get bad again I will be ranting at VW again, not dipping into my own pocket to solve their problems.

I appreciate your feedback that Bilsteins fixed the issue for you, but I have chosen a different approach and I think we're all grown up enough to see there's room for both.

Cheers.
Matt.


...if it creaks, it's probably made by VAG
 

Musrosa

New member
My 2015 (MY2016) 2.0L TDi Highline wagon has creaky rear suspension. I'm pretty sure it's been like that from new, it's now two years old and has 93,000 kms on the odo. Up until now it's always been one of those slight annoyances that I've never gotten around to looking into and thought perhaps it was some stuff i've got stored around the spare wheel. finally got around to clearing that out and the noise is still there - and a quick google search has lead me to here.

I'm in Adelaide Australian and VW offer a 3 year unlimited km warranty here, so thinking I should get on to the dealer to have a look at the next service.

Has anyone had this successfully resolved by VW or am I wasting my time and should instead just get some Bilstein B4 shocks fitted?

the front suspension creaks occasionally on speedbumps too, but that's less annoying. The rear end is constant on rough surfaces.
 

Musrosa

New member
Shocking

If everyone with the inferior Sachs rear shock absorbers fitted the Bilstein BLS19-230559 then the rattle from the rear suspension would be eliminated immediately.

As I have pointed out a long time ago the issue is with the piston rod being slightly loose within the shock absorber barrell. Unless VW have made some radical improvement to the Sachs SA then it is pointless and a waste of time having VW replace like for like.

I know that VW will never openly admit to a manufacturing or design problem and therefore fitting your own Bilsteins will at least give you greater satisfaction with the vehicle than by continuing with the VW parts. 10000 miles since fitting my Bilsteins, with many of those miles throughout European countries over a variety of road surfaces and no rattles.

If everyone who fits Bilsteins or similar has a good result then post the information on the forum to help others. I have seen others on this forum go on about this shock absorber issue for sometime. In my view its not a lot of good going on about the problem that VW do not resolve when there is a clear solution to the problem. That solution may cost a couple hundred pounds but its well worth it.

That's probably good advise. Anyone fitted these in Australia?
 

carl s

Ready to race!
Location
United Kingdom
I'm getting the same noise that everyone reports on this thread from my 2013 GT TDI estate. Seeing as it's well out of warranty (88,000m) I'm happy to replace myself with the Bilstein B4 shocks - Does anyone know if there is a special one for the estate? or is it the same as the saloon. Also can anyone recommend a supplier in the Uk to get them from please?
 

ABQ

New member
Location
Albuquerque, NM
I have a 2016 NAR GTI PP with DCC and I believe I have this issue. There are about 12,000 miles (~19,300km) on the odometer. The noise just began to present itself about 1000 miles ago.

I tried searching the thread, so forgive me if I missed something. Has anyone to date reported this issue with DCC cars? The manufacturer of the rear shocks on mine is Monroe (not exactly known as a high-quality damper brand).

Let's just say I have very little confidence in my local dealers and so if anyone here can confirm this issue has occurred on cars with DCC, it would go a long way toward helping me decide to just fit Bilsteins (DampTronic DCC-compatible shocks are now available).

Thanks!
 
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bullitt2655

Ready to race!
Location
Nova Scotia
I have a 2016 NAR GTI PP with DCC and I believe I have this issue. There are about 12,000 miles (~19,300km) on the odometer. The noise just began to present itself about 1000 miles ago.

I tried searching the thread, so forgive me if I missed something. Has anyone to date reported this issue with DCC cars? The manufacturer of the rear shocks on mine is Monroe (not exactly known as a high-quality damper brand).

Let's just say I have very little confidence in my local dealers and so if anyone here can confirm this issue has occurred on cars with DCC, it would go a long way toward helping me decide to just fit Bilsteins (DampTronic DCC-compatible shocks are now available).

Thanks!

Not sure about anyone else, but I have a noise in my rear suspension that just started within the last 500 km. Mine is a '16 GTI PP with DCC and 25,000km. Will take it to the dealer in the new year to get it checked out.
 

ABQ

New member
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Not sure about anyone else, but I have a noise in my rear suspension that just started within the last 500 km. Mine is a '16 GTI PP with DCC and 25,000km. Will take it to the dealer in the new year to get it checked out.

Please update us here if/when your dealer finds anything. So far I've only been able to find info on non-DCC cars when relating to the rear suspension noise.

Also, I'm considering taking mine into the shop as well. If I find anything out I will update here.
 

MarcA

Ready to race!
Location
Sheffield
Yes 17k miles and 2-years later since fitting the Bilstein rear shock absorbers and no issues and importantly no shock absorber rattles.

I'm up to near 10k on the latest vw revision and about 5% noise has returned but so far so good. Usually 3 to 4k and they were done.

I still have a set of bilstein in the shed if anyone wants a noisy set LOL
 

IDriveaGTI

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Georgia
While I’m not affected by this issue I have a theory. As I was lowering my car with Springs, I removed the bumpstop to trim it. The bumpstop on the rear have a hard plastic ring build into the bump stop. The shock cover also has a “pinch” in the plastic that is smaller that hard plastic ring. This effectively keeps the bump stop from sliding down the shaft due to gravity. However due to the design inner diameter of the bumpstop it normally sits up high and is at the top of the shaft. I’m thinking that the bump stop gets dislodged from the top of the shaft and slides down and allows the hard plastic ring on the bumpstop to contact the hard “pinch” on the hard plastic shock boot. That would seem to cause his hollow sounds. When people replace the shocks they set the bumpstop back up the shaft or trim off the ring.

Thoughts?
 
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