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Hi everyone got a bit of an issue on my 2010 polo just wondering how serious it is if you could help me out?? Had my rear shock absorbers done on my last MOT and now there is a weird knocking noise coming from back of my car whenever I go over small bumps in the road (it’s worse at slow speeds) just had a look and it looks like something is loose on the shock absorber?? I’m attaching you a pic do you have any ideas what’s making the noise? It’s driving me mad
Thanks a lot

Is the shock oily?

From your description and pictures I would say your noise is a failed rear shock , the ring piece in your picture is the top of the dust cover ( where is the rest of it ?) it should be attached to the bump stop (foam bit at the top) which is broken.
This has no doubt contributed to the shock seal failing and leaking its oil out down the shock.
You can get the bump stops and cover separately from the shock .

It should look like this.

Thank you so much for your help!

So if I just buy a new dust cover remove the old and replace with new that should be okay?

Thanks guys. It turns out the dust cover had somehow got free and fallen down so I clipped it back onto the loose piece. I’m just a bit worried now as it looks like there is a leak? Oil maybe? What do you think?

The reason it’s fallen down is because the bump stop is broken as I said and pictured, these are relatively cheap to buy and easy to fit ,these keep all the road dirt away from the seal at the top , your shock will also need replacement

get bilstein, sasch, kyb, monroe shocks.

Sachs not Sasch if you are looking for rear dampers, places like ECP sell that brand cheaply and they should sell the bump stops as well. I think that the top bolts are torqued to yield so they should be replaced as well.

Why not change both sides including the bump stops, from memory these dampers when new come banded to keep them compressed and so save space when packaged, that means that you will need to compress them with your hands after cutting the banding off - that oily one has probably lost most of its oil and gas, so will not try to extend when you remove it.

Edit:- spray some rust proofing fluid up into the area where the top mountings are, as it looks like it has started to rust, I tend to Waxoyl - warm the can up first and shake it well.

The ribbed bump stop deteriorated on mine aswell but replacing mine wasnt that straight forward , mine has electronic damping system so the shock has wiring so when i needed to change the ribbed dampers i had to take the wire terminals out of the adapter plug as the damper would not go past the adapter ,i could then free the damper & slide the new ones on , it was a bit of a nightmare but done the job
Thes ribbed dampers are notorious to breaking apart so the dust covers flap lose , your damper is broken apart & is now shorter & wont have the correct travel when suspension does its thing.