Rumbling / soft knocking noise on imperfect road

[Casa1862]

We have a Astra H which has been a decent car, if the road surface is not perfect I get a rumbling or a gentle knocking noise which i think is coming from the front passengers side (not 100% certain) it's always there. It certainly seems to be suspension related as it happens on poor surfaces, I had a snapped rear spring replaced last week but that made no difference, the garage looked at it on a ramp but said all was fine. Any ideas?

[Casa1862]

Thanks, I’ll try and point them out when the car goes in for MOT, the garage I currently use just said leave it until it gets worse as the couldn’t see anything obvious. Even though it’s a 12 year old car it’s never had rattles or odd noises.

Any idea how much the repair would be for the bits you suggested looking at?

[Casa1862]

Thanks for all the help, I’m fairly certain it’s the front but not certain. I’m going to take it to a different garage to see if they can find it. I’ll get the cheaper/ obvious bits done first, if not I’ll either have to live with it or look to trade it in. It’s only worth maybe £1200 so can’t spend too much on it. Saying that it will still be way cheaper than the £32k 5 series bmw I somehow started considering!

[Casa1862]

Just an update, I took it in to a different garage and they are also not 100%.A small amount of play in the droplinks found but nothing major, they thought the noise could be coming from the rear and hence suggested rear suspension bushes could be the issue.

Not had a price yet, but I would assume that the droplinks are cheaper to fix so might try that first, any idea how much both of those jobs should cost?

[Casa1862]

Drop links changed but the noise is there, downside, cost £120 for the pair, upside the steering feels better, also would have failed it’s mot with the current worn drop links.

Not sure what to do now, drive it as it is until it stops or have the rear suspension bushes replaced which he was saying at least £500 including the labour.

The garage seemed to think the noise was from the rear, I stripped out the boot carpet and parcel shelf to see if the noise was loader, seemed no different. I can’t carry on spending money on a 12 year old car, but appreciate can be difficult to find these noises.