I have a 997S with approx. 1000 miles. The car has had three problems to date, but they seem to be fixed now. When driving at slower speeds there appears to be an occasional clunking noise in the rear suspension, generally when encountering bumps in the road (could be tires, but it is hard to tell from the drivers seat). Not sure if this is normal suspension / road noise. I am interested in hearing from other 997S owners - is this cluncking noise normal?

 

I have it sometimes but I think it is in the front end. My wife describes the noise as someone shaking a box of cereal. I have not been able to get to the dealer to have it checked out.

 

I have noticed in my 997S that when I go over a speed bump, the front suspension moves over it without noise, when the rear tires hit the bump at any speed the rear suspension has a knocking/thumping sound . The car drives fine but I did not notice this in my 996. I assume it is due to the new rear suspension with 19 inch wheels. Any others?

 

I had a klunking sound coming from the front on braking and bumps. It was the brake pads moving. Dealer fixed it. I have the steel rotors. Another common cause of klunking noises over bumps is loose sway bar links.

 

Are your tire pressures set correctly? Two items to consider:

1 - Most tire gauges measure higher than actual.
2 - Ambient temperatures are dropping - check your tire pressure.

 

I've noticed the same thing with my 997S and had it looked at twice. It seems to occur over low speed bumps where both wheels dip into it (or go over it) at the same time. Oddly, I've gone over a particular bump at 30 and 40mph, hearing nothing, only to hear it at 35mph over the same bump. Even though it happens rarely, my hobby is audio so I am really sensitive to any kind of noise that is not right.
The Porsche mechanic heard it in my car too, but had never noticed it before and hasn't been able to figure it out. Now he hears it in others. We took a ride together in another randomly-selected 997S and heard the exact same sound in the exact same place at the exact same speed, and nowhere else--just like with my car. It is a 997S issue, apparently, and harmless.

 

I had a dealer look into the clunking. It was a loose (or missing?) bolt on the front sway bar. The dealer fastened and retorqued all sway bar bolts. The noise went away and has not returned.

 

My sympathies. My old 993 had the famous windshield rattle that drove me crazy. Never could get permanent fix. But I wouldn't accept it in a brand new car.

 

I have an infrequent clunk from the rear under relatively slow speed, sharp bumps. I will have dealer look at next service but refuse to get crazy about it.

 

Hey WTP, glad to see you're a regular reader here, though not a regular poster. It was exactly a yr and a half since your very first post and your last post this morning in this thread. That's pretty impressive that you've remained quiet in the background this whole time. Or maybe it was just a fluke that you happened to log onto Rennlist today after months of being away and seeing your thread revived decided to provide the closing details on your problem.

Thanks for letting us know what resolved your problem. I too have a noise in the front end but it's more like a creaking noise when I turn into a driveway that has a bit of a ramp. Maybe something needs tightened in the front end. Will have to take it in to have them take a look.

 

My 06 Carrera S has the same noise over speed bumps, rear only.sounds like something is loose, klunk, at faster speeds, cereal box at lesser fast speed, quiet at reasonable, slower speed.
My 92 C2 could barrel over the same bumps , at higher speed, with nary a peep.
Larry T

 

I had a similar problem in the rear when the car was a few months old - my mechanic drove it around the block, put it on the lift, and tightened the rear sway bolts - fixed the problem in 10 minutes.

 

I have exactly the same problem in my brand new 997S. The service mgr. at the dealership has heard it in other new 997s. They re-torqued all of the rear suspension bolts and it did not go away. My 05 997 did not make the clunking noise.

 

I was lucky to take delivery of mine in Germany so I know how they are SUPPOSED to feel and sound. Some have said that the shipping process CAN mess up the suspensions,--they are chained down to the deck and PCNA will allow (free) a realignment of the suspension to take care of anything that might have gotten messed up with the car enroute. I will be watching mine carefullly stateside to see that it still performs as it did over there.

If your car was a 2005 model I recall reading something about the clunking coming from having some stuff in the rear 180 or 90 degrees out of kilter...

 

Rear suspension bushings, Dan... apparently they were installed "backwards" in a series of cars... this has been fixed in the '06 models.

Also, TSB 4075 (07/05) points to creaking in the front suspension, and calls for spring replacement.

TSB 4078 (03/05) is in regard to rattling noises from the swaybars, and specifies a 10mm longer bolt with an extended hex nut at the front and rear swaybar attachment points.

-don