Luke968

Hi folks,
First time poster. As this forum contains a wealth of knowledge a good seach normally results in finding the information I am after without bothering anyone. But this time I need some advice and any suggestions would be most welcome.
I have also posted this problem on the UK forum, the guys there have been very helpful but I am still yet to crack the problem.

The front right suspension has developed a clicking/snapping noise which at first was quite subtle and occasional but over the last month has become louder and regular. The Porsche dealer has looked at it twice and say they can find nothing wrong.
The best way to mimic the sound is to snap your fingers hard and if you do it at arms length then thats almost how loud it is.

It occurs as follows ....
Leaving my driveway I slowly decend down a fairly steep ramp and turn hard left into the lane, no noise. The lane has a couple of small speed bumps, drive over them, no noise.
30 minutes of driving to work on average roads with a couple of stops and starts for lights etc., no noise.
The entrance road to work has two small speed bumps, approach them in a straight line and brake, click, the wheel encounters the speed bump, click, down the otherside, click, accelerate away, click, same for the next one. After that, at a fairly slow speed, every minor change in the road surface results in the clicking until I park the car.
Start to go home, over the speed bumps, no noise, everything is fine all the way home until the last couple of klms where the road is a bit bumpy at about 40 klm/hr and the clicking starts again. Slow hard turn up the ramp into my driveway, no noise. Kick the dog !

I have mentioned these slow hard turns because I understand that this would be where the ball joint would play up if it was shot.

I have had the wheel off several times, given everything a good hard shake, checked ARB and control arm rubbers, wheel bearings, crossmember bolts, and visual inspection of the ball joint, all seems fine, compared to the left all seems identical. The car handles and brakes well, no shaking at certain speeds and no abnormal wear on the tyre to be seen.
Top mounts and shockers are less than 2 years and 20,000 klm old.
There is definately something wrong, its getting worse and has destroyed all confidence in pushing the car, especially if it is the ball joint despite Porsche's assurances.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Cheers, Luke

944Ross

Sure it isn't the brake pads moving in the caliper? The pins and clips can get worn. If it doesn't happen except on vertical movement of the wheel, I'd suspect something besides suspension. Otherwise driving in the "troughs" of a well-worn road would provoke some noise.

Luke968

OK, thanks for that. I have done a bit of searching on the pads moving etc. and will look into it this afternoon. If the noise continues I will disconnect the sway bar as a process of elimination and see what happens. Thanks again.

944Ross

Just put on the brakes lightly when you go over a bump, see if it stops the noise.

PorscheDude1

CHeck your castor blocks. These are the rear mounting points of the lower control arm.

JohnKoaWood

You say you have checked the wheel bearings, but have you repacked or replaced them?

Having this only occur AFTER driving some distance leads me to believe it is a part that is getting heated during the drive, but not immediately... leads me to believe the noise is in the rotating parts (hub or wheel bearings), rather than the suspension.

Also have a shop verify the condition of your struts, as the strut movement durring the drive COULD be causing some binding internally (internal component in the strut heating up durring your drive causing binding ONLY once it is warm... cooled off, no more popping untill it warms up again..).

Lucky for you both wheel bearings and struts are relatively inexpensive to replace, so you could elect to replace both and see if the noise is gone.

Luke968

Checked the brake pads, including the slight braking over a bump and the noise is still there. Have inspected the castor blocks several times and they look in good condition, both appear the same. Disconnected the sway bar and it made no difference so at least I can rule that out.

I have not repacked or replaced the wheel bearings but I have had them go before on other cars and it really doesnt sound or feel like a bearing problem but for what it costs I will get them done.

Regarding the strut, when everything is cold, the shock makes a noise like a quick release of air when it goes over a small speed bump (cant think of any other way to describe it). That is replaced by the clicking/snapping sound when it all heats up.

Anyway, looking at replacing the OEM struts with Bilstein B sports, would anyone like to comment on whether this is a good choice.

Thanks for all the feedback so far.
Cheers, Luke