front trailing arms important or not (£220)

[patch]

Hi - was at OPC yesterday with a bit of a rattle, went out with mechanic and he identified it as both trailing arms (front). He also checked them before and after visually. He couldn't identify any play in the joint but reckons they will only rattle when under load (typically I notice it at lowish speeds on rough surfaces). His view was put up with it if not overly annoying otherwise change them. He seemed very fair and not interested in over-selling me the job.

Do you have any thoughts on whether to bother or not? - it seems they can't degrade to a point where supension/steering is at risk...
Many thanks
Des

 

[Michael996]

Hi Des

How sure are you that it is the trailing arms? or is it just the mecs best guess.

My brother and I yesterday replaced his drop links on his C2 to fix a similar rattle, it was an easy job to do and cheap.

 

[adrian996]

Sounds like the drop links to me.

I know that it's a completely different car but I've just replaced the drop links on my Citroen ZX. They were rumbling under load over slightly rough surfaces - very annoying. But when they're so cheap and the car has covered 164,000 without them being changed before - it's a pleasure to do![]

 

[dij999]

Had something similar in my 996 C4 for the past 3 years (would describe my noise more like clunk and creak rather than a rattle) but is present over uneven ground (especially cobbles) usually at slow speeds. Often not present in the first few miles of a journey but gets worse after longer stints when the creak rather than clunk becomes more dominant. Nothing ever found on examination but was considered probably to be the strut top mount. Changing (I did them both) did nothing. It has been suggested that changing the struts would solve it. They perform perfectly, the car handles well and there is nothing else to suggest a suspension problem - like uneven tyre wear. Repeated examination since has found no cause. In the three years it has possibly got a bit worse but as have I have experienced no other issues I have put up with it. The cost of changing both struts I have decided is not worth the cost - especially as having to do them in pairs - particuarly where there is no guarantee of resolution. Does annoy me a bit though.

 

[NXI20]

ORIGINAL: dij999

... would describe my noise more like clunk and creak rather than a rattle) but is present over uneven ground (especially cobbles) usually at slow speeds.

Classic bottom arm wear. Often undetectable with the car on a ramp. Had it on my old C4 and changed both arms (£200 a side inc labour). Transformed the slightly unfocused front end too - bonus!

 

[dij999]

Thanks for that - but forgot to mention that bottom arm had been replaced before top mounts. One independent Porsche specialist thought, like you, that symptoms were typical (main dealer had no idea). I thought it had fixed it at the time but just wasn't doing long enough journeys to make the noise audible. It really does get quite loud after a longer journey especially when have been pushing it in the twisties, at journey start you would hardly know it was there. Give it a couple of hours and it's quiet again, which makes me think it could be the strut, but I suppose it could be any part of the suspension cooling down.

At no time does the car feel any different no matter how hard I push it, certainly not unfocused, which is the only reason I'm still tolerating it.