Rattling Front End/suspension?

[millbeck12]

Hi all

I have a 2001 998cc Toyota Yaris (made in France). However, since I bought it it's had a mysterious rattle which seems to originate from both sides of the front suspension and comes on whenever i'm on an uneven road or hit bumps/potholes. Its a metallic sounding rattle rather than a plastic one, which would tend to suggest that something was loose.

We've given it a good "going over" i.e. it's been up on the axle stands and we've tried to poke at everything that might move or be loose, but all in all nothing has presented itself as being immediately obvious. We've also has a look behind the back interior panels and found nothing but a loose clip, which we've since removed. The exhaust also seems to be fine.

Has anyone else experienced a similar rattle on the front end of their yaris and found a solution? I know that it's not meant to be there because my dad has an identical Yaris to mine (but Japanese), only a year older, but there's no noise on his.

Cheers.

[stantheman1]

Sounds to me like the drop link bushes (anti roll bar bushes) have gone, a common fault on the yaris i'm afraid.

[millbeck12]

We did actually notice that they were very worn, but didn't think it would have been big enough to make the amount of noise that we were hearing. However, we'll definitely investigate it now that we've heard it from a second opinion too! Do you know of a good place to source replacements?

Thanks very much for your help!

[Raeman]

Have you checked the suspension top mounts?

Open the bonnet and check around the struts, something could be at fault there.

[r0b3r7]

Have you checked the suspension top mounts?

Open the bonnet and check around the struts, something could be at fault there.

Hi I have a 1999 Corolla which has a rattling noise when going over rough ground/potholes/speed bumps. Could this be the caused by the same problem?

Thanks

[millbeck12]

OK. So I rang the Toyota dealer and they quoted me £60 for the two anti roll bar bushes. This is more than I want to pay, especially when it does not guarantee to fix the rattling noise. Therefore, I had a look on eBay and found a set for around £13.

Obviously, these are CONSIDERABLY cheaper: anybody know why?

Cheers for all the advice guys, keep it coming!

[Kcs]

Hi, the inner roll bar bushes do not tend to make a mettalic rattle, if the drop links are worn,

you tend to get a solid knock-knock over light bumps and speed humps, the lower arm

ball joint and inner bushes could also give a rattle or knocking sound ! do you get vibration/

wobble at higher speeds when you ride over bumpy ground ?

[millbeck12]

We've just replaced the anti roll bar bushes and it hasn't made a difference :-( In response to Kcs, there isn't any affect on the driving performance of the car such as vibration or a wobble, just an annoying rattling sound when i drive over uneven road surfaces or bumps. The sound resembles what you would hear if you rattled a screwdriver in a hole in a piece of metal.

[Raeman]

Might be a long shot but have you checked the springs?

My mate had an old(ish) mondeo and he had a similar rattly noise, turned out to be one of the rear srings had totally snapped! :o

The noise was the spring hitting the strut.

It might be worth jacking each corner at a time, remove the wheel's and have a good check round the springs.

Good luck. ;)

[Chris81]

I'd put money on it being the driveshafts. Have you tried going to an empty car park and driving it on full lock in both directions to see if you hear a click-click-click. I wouldn't bother replacing them as the new ones (from Toyota, at least) will just do the same.

[Madasafish]

....

[Kcs]

This could be something that has worked loose,or has not been put back correctly !

need to check all lower suspension arm bolts, sub frame bolts, steering rack bolts,

has it had a new exhaust yet, mine is a x reg 2000 on original but if yours has been

changed, it could be touching the body ( perhaps ! ! )

[

quote name=millbeck12' date='Jun 12 2009, 04:39 PM' post='903222]

Hi all

I have a 2001 998cc Toyota Yaris (made in France). However, since I bought it it's had a mysterious rattle which seems to originate from both sides of the front suspension and comes on whenever i'm on an uneven road or hit bumps/potholes. Its a metallic sounding rattle rather than a plastic one, which would tend to suggest that something was loose.

We've given it a good "going over" i.e. it's been up on the axle stands and we've tried to poke at everything that might move or be loose, but all in all nothing has presented itself as being immediately obvious. We've also has a look behind the back interior panels and found nothing but a loose clip, which we've since removed. The exhaust also seems to be fine.

Has anyone else experienced a similar rattle on the front end of their yaris and found a solution? I know that it's not meant to be there because my dad has an identical Yaris to mine (but Japanese), only a year older, but there's no noise on his.

Cheers.

[ste.m.24]

i had the same problem on my 52plate and it turned out to be the spacer between the anti roll bar and the wish bone. i managed to pick a pair up for 12 quid off eBay and it took about 10mins to fit. ive had it done bout a month now and the rattle has gone.

hope this helps mate

[whooshy]

Can anyone offer a thought on my issue??

I'm experiencing near indentical rattles to above, however, my Yaris is only 3yrs old (2006, 1.0 Ts2) and covered 15k miles - we run it as a second car and have owned from new so I know it hasn't been abused over the years.

My rattle sounds like a front end issue, certainly more metallic sounding than thud or clunk - almost sounds like a stone is stuck in the wheel or imagine a tin can hanging below and catching the road. I've stuck my head below and nothing obvious is hanging off or looks out of place! (i'm no mechanic thou!!!)

Just had tyres replaced yesterday and thought anything stuck in or around wheel would have been resolved but still i'm getting this annoying sound.

I differ slightly from above since I experience noise at very low speed, notably only in 1st gear or pull away slowing in 2nd, once i hit 10/20mph the noise disappears. Noise occurs in full lock both sides or dead ahead, rough ground or smooth tarmac.

Vehicle was serviced (main dealer) and MOT'd only 7 weeks back so I assume anything major would've been spotted! (probably kidding myself right?!!)

any advice comments greatly appreciated.

[millbeck12]

Whooshy - it sounds exactly the same as what mine does. Exactly the same sound description etc. I also only notice it at low speeds, but still haven't found a solution yet (after changing the anti-roll bar bushes). I recently resorted to fitting new Speakers to drown out the noise :D

[millbeck12]

ITS FINALLY FIXED AND SORTED! After much messing around, yesterday we decided to switch the shock absorbers with those from my Dad's yaris, to see if this made a difference. However, whilst we were fitting the second one to my car, we managed to knock the brake disc/pads and heard the sound that's been plaguing the car for months! Turns out, the brake pads in my car did not have any shims, whereas those in my Dad's car did (nothing to do with the shock absorbers, so that was a waste of energy!). Therefore, they had room to move and rattle around when the axle moved (such as going over bumps etc.). So, we went to the local scrappy and took the shims off an M reg Yaris that they had in.

However, when we got them home, it seems that my 2001 Y reg has different brake pads to the M reg and my Dad's X reg (only a year older), therefore meaning that the shims didn't quite fit and we had to shoehorn them on. It's sorted the problem, which is fantastic. Still, does anyone know if my Y reg takes different shims, if at all, seeing as they were missing in the first place?

[stantheman1]

An M Reg Yaris? Not seen one of those! (Are you sure it wasn't a Yaris registered in Manchester, with the 'M' prefix?)

Your Y reg Yaris is very likely a French built car while your father's X reg will be a Japanese variant, therefore will have different components doing the same job. Having said that the wife has a 2001 French Yaris which has Bosch brakes, and I don't remember them having any shims. Do you know what make your pads are?

[millbeck12]

Unfortunately not, although I know they're definitely third party ones, which may explain why they're not such a great fit and rattle around without the shims. One possibility is that the Evans Halshaw garage we bought it from were lazy whilst doing the service before sale, and didn't put the shims in when they they changed the brake pads (they're pretty new). Either that, or no shims are required and they've used cheap/the wrong size brake pads.

[J.M. Honaker]

I have a 08 corolla. I can physically shake both axles.