UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

This car is causing me no end of problems at the moment!

I was pulling out of a parking space in my local shopping centre today, and as I turned the wheels right to pull out into the car park I suddenly hear a load, alarming 'dongggg' from somewhere in the right wheel arch. As I straighten the wheels, again 'donnnggg'. Sounds as if something heavy and metal is catching and then springing back as I turn the wheels and then straighten them.

Drove slowly home from the shopping centre. If I ever turned the wheels a fair distance (when turning into streets for example), again I would get the loud noise from somewhere below my feet, near the right wheel. The car isn't handling any differently, and there are no major noises when going over speed bumps. However, if I drive over small bumps like drain covers and ditches in the road, there is a horrible rattle that sounds like metal banging together, emanating once again from under my footwell.

I come here in the hope that someone may have some idea as to what has happened, and how big a fix it is likely to be. I took a few pictures of the inside of the wheel arch once I got the car back in the garage. Have a look and see what you think - I don't notice anything obvious.













Sorry for the poor quality. I couldn't really get the camera any further back!

Thanks for any help!

Did you check the spring and top mount?

Yup, turns out spring had cracked. Repair came to £100, but all sorted now.

tim80bwi wrote:Yup, turns out spring had cracked. Repair came to £100, but all sorted now.

Did you get both sides replaced as springs are better changed in pairs when the car gets a bit old. Also, I'd think that this spring broke due to excessive rusting - as well as pot holes - that means that the other side, if not replaced will soon be ready to snap due to corrosion -these parts are low quality CZ made by a Skoda supplier - like most of the "under carriage".

I've forgotten if you have had the usual "old type" ARB failure, replacing that item can require the garage to fully compress these springs, which in my case, I think, caused my wife's car to suffer a broken O/F front road spring only a few days and maybe 20 -30 miles after getting the ARB replaced by the dealer - I was not too happy about that - as you can imagine!

Yeh i thought springs before even finishing reading your post. Common problem with 9N's unfortunately.

exactly the same happened to me a couple of months ago. scared the Sh*t out of me. new spring for £18 from my dads work and about £10 labour

Glad I came across this thread.

Mine's just starting doing exactly the same. Didn't really have a clue what it was but I chose to ignore it as I'm a student and simply haven't got any cash to fix anything major.

MOT is coming up at end of month so I'm guessing this will cause it to fail and then I will have to get it sorted anyway. At least I know it aint gonna cost me too much now!

If you've got a broken spring please don't continue to drive your car!

david burton wrote:If you've got a broken spring please don't continue to drive your car!

Nah don't worry, it's currently under about 6 inches of snow. I deliberately haven't cleared it off so I'm not tempted to drive it. Going back to uni this weekend so next time I drive it will be to the garage for MOT.

i've just had my offside front spring snap today after replacing the nearside 2 months ago.