Rumbling on uneven surfaces

[21TonyK]

Where to start looking? I had a poke around the front, nothing looks worn and I cant seem to create any movement between "bits" of the suspension. On the rear the same.

Lots of grease the answer?

[21TonyK]

Today I replaced the front top mounts and rear top bushes. The fronts were wobbling and rattling, the rear bushes looked like bath sponges they had disolved in parts.

However, much of the rumble remains. New tyres, wheels "round", no metal on metal I can find.

However, the shocks are over 100K miles old so had their day. Given the car doesn't "bounce", there is little corrosion on them or the springs and no visible leaks are these likely to be the source of them problem?

ETA: Given I've just done the mounts if I do replace the shocks should I be doing the springs as well even if they "look" good, ie. no rust just a few bits of bubbling plastic coating.

Edited by 21TonyK on Sunday 12th April 19:06

[acricha3]

When you say rumbling, what do you mean?

Generally suspension issues (i.e, bushes) usually come through as clunking/metal on metal sounds.

Rumbling usually points to bearings or even just noisy tyres!

[21TonyK]

Will be another week but I'm going to swap the front wheels over with another (same) car which has new tyres and is faultless (at least by comparison!).

Also going to check the lower wishbone bushes properly and the ball joints again, potentially just swap the balljoints anyway but the lower wishbone is a huge job.

ETA: rear hubs were changed (they were whining), the fronts are silent. Its only on rough surfaces, ie. concrete roads and roads where the top surface is breaking up/potholed.

Edited by 21TonyK on Tuesday 14th April 17:58

[21TonyK]

No real play in any bushes but new top mounts on the front and new top bushes on the rear helped a little. As a last resort I replaced the front shocks which made a 50% improvement. Swapped the tyres over and that was the other 50%. World of difference.

Problem is this has highlighted how bad the rear shocks are... so thats this afternoons job.

ETA: rears now done, overall its solved 90% of the issues. The rest is the fact its a 14 year old car and without removing the subframe(s) and completely refurbishing them its not going to get much better. Job jobbed.

Edited by 21TonyK on Tuesday 21st April 17:29

[21TonyK]

Just to put this to bed. Watched a couple of utubes highlighting rumbling from drop links so I changed those as well.

Huge difference again. Put the old tyres back on and no worse, they were a bit of a red herring.