"Chatter" from right rear of car
06-05-2002, 07:23 AM
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
"Chatter" from right rear of car
I wonder if anyone has had this:-
Very occasionally, if all is quiet in the car, windows closed, you can hear a chatter from the right rear of the car. It needs to be very quiet in the car to hear it. My right rear bumper behind the rear wheel has more flex in it compared to the left bumper. I wonder if it could be something rattling against the exhaust? If i play about with the right rear bumper after hearing the noise, it disappears. You can't hear the chatter when you're outside the car.
The bolts seem to be okay on the right rear bumper but it is still looser than the left.
More of a slight annoyance than a problem but anyone had anything similar?
Ajit.
Very occasionally, if all is quiet in the car, windows closed, you can hear a chatter from the right rear of the car. It needs to be very quiet in the car to hear it. My right rear bumper behind the rear wheel has more flex in it compared to the left bumper. I wonder if it could be something rattling against the exhaust? If i play about with the right rear bumper after hearing the noise, it disappears. You can't hear the chatter when you're outside the car.
The bolts seem to be okay on the right rear bumper but it is still looser than the left.
More of a slight annoyance than a problem but anyone had anything similar?
Ajit.
06-05-2002, 09:20 AM
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Hi Ajit,
You might want to check the two tubular steel hangers inside the bumper, to which it mounts, one at the front edge and the other near the rear corner. On the passenger side of my '96 car, with 59k miles, both had rusted almost completely through and had to be replaced. Could be the drivers side on your car is suffering a similar problem. I guess the passenger side may pick up more salt/crud in winter, as the various exhaust mounting bolts on that side were also completely corroded up (which made fitting a set of RSR mufflers this last weekend a much more painful job than expected).
You might want to check the two tubular steel hangers inside the bumper, to which it mounts, one at the front edge and the other near the rear corner. On the passenger side of my '96 car, with 59k miles, both had rusted almost completely through and had to be replaced. Could be the drivers side on your car is suffering a similar problem. I guess the passenger side may pick up more salt/crud in winter, as the various exhaust mounting bolts on that side were also completely corroded up (which made fitting a set of RSR mufflers this last weekend a much more painful job than expected).
06-05-2002, 11:04 AM
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Instructor
Thread Starter
John - thanks for that. I think you're right - when i feel the inside of the bumper, bits did crumble off. Can I ask how painful it is in terms of cost for a replacement? Does the whole bumper need replacing?
06-05-2002, 02:05 PM
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The good news is you do not need to replace any of the bumper, the supports are separate parts of their own that bolt to the bodywork at the top and the bumper at the bottom. I'm afraid I can't tell you what they cost, as my local OPC seem to have made the change during some unrelated warranty repair work they were doing (Lancaster Cambridge - top marks for them 
). The supports are simple tubular parts but that doesn't mean they will be cheap, of course. If you call the parts deaprtment at your local dealer they should be able to figure out which bits they are and how much they cost, however at an OPC the labour charges for fitting the parts may well exceed the cost of the parts themselves.
). The supports are simple tubular parts but that doesn't mean they will be cheap, of course. If you call the parts deaprtment at your local dealer they should be able to figure out which bits they are and how much they cost, however at an OPC the labour charges for fitting the parts may well exceed the cost of the parts themselves.