More on the clonking.........

Anonymous · January 9, 2004, 11:31

I asked at the service this morning for them to have ANOTHER look at the suspension to see if they could sort the clonking. They came back with the same answer as they did before christmas and that it was the tyres jumping across the tarmac. So, no change there then.

What I want to know is, has anyone with anything OTHER than stock tyres had the clonking noise, as the garage was blaming the tyres.......

Interesting..........

Slacey · January 9, 2004, 11:35

Quote from: "John Woodward"What I want to know is, has anyone with anything OTHER than stock tyres had the clonking noise, as the garage was blaming the tyres.......

Interesting..........

Yep, I had the clonking with 17" rims and tyres as well as the stock stuff.

Liz · January 9, 2004, 11:55

I think that I may have this clonking coming from the suspension, either that or it is the hardtop wriggling around. Noticed it today, worse when I have a passenger in the car, another one for them to do when I take it in!

Anonymous · January 9, 2004, 12:03

Interesting..........

Was wondering about the tyres as Mr T seemed to be blaming my drivers side tyre having a little bit too much outer edge wear, which didn't seem right to me. But still, it was consistent with what they said beofre and with what some people have said they have encountered. AND they acknowledged that the mounts had already been cganged less than a year ago, but they say it wasn't them.......

Weird........hope it isn't detrimental to the car cos it sounds bloody awful but the car drives fine..........

Anonymous · January 9, 2004, 12:30

It may not be related, but over on the m http://www.vx220.org.uk/ m board they're experiencing a similar problem... I'm not a member so can't post the link correctly, but navigate to Forum/general discussion/page 2 and it's there under the title "weird vibration on full lock".

Incidentally I still have a slight clonking sound when reversing on full lock,despite my top mounts being replaced under warranty about 6 months ago... s:? :? s:?

Tim

Anonymous · January 9, 2004, 13:02

Yeah, my mounts were only changed last April, so less than a year old and it did cure it for a little while, but since the crap weather has re-appeared, it has come back with a vengeance. Which DOES make me think that there may be something in what they say. Will only be able to tell when the weather gets better and warmer really..........

But, what riles me is that if this is so common, why wasn't it picked up before the car was launched? They do summer hear testing, they do winter testing, the car should have been pummeled into to ground, yet a very loud clonking on full lock, in reverse, was missed by the testers? I mean, it sounds so bad, yet the car was 18 Grand when launched and that is a lot of money for a car to have so much nasty noise coming from it.......it still beggars belief to me that they miss these things sometimes........ s:evil: :evil: s:evil:

paul russell · January 9, 2004, 13:11

Mine clonks/judders when I drive forward on full lock and the conclusion that the dealer made was the tyres. My front tyres are wearing on the outside edges as well and the dealer blamed it on too low tyre pressures. However, I check my pressures every few weeks and they have never been anything other than spot on (26psi front, 32psi rear). Other than pressures, what would make the tyres wear on the outsides? And if the problem was the tyres, why should the noises disappear after I have driven a few hundred yards? I'm not convinced.

Anonymous · January 9, 2004, 13:21

Me neither Paul, me neither............... s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

aaronjb · January 9, 2004, 13:54

Scrubbage on the outside would normally indicate a camber or toe problem - either you have +ve camber (very unusual indeed) or the wheels are toeing in too much.. Actually, alignment could well be a cause of this noise, if the wheels aren't perfectly aligned..

I wonder..

Anonymous · January 9, 2004, 14:22

I had the wheels 4 wheel aligned just after the mounts were changed. I suppose they could be out by now, although 8 months does seem a little short time forthe wheels to be out of line already......

Could be though. Might get that done when time for the next MOT in April........

Anonymous · January 9, 2004, 14:26

does anybody have a cost for replacing these mounts out of warranty?

Anonymous · January 9, 2004, 15:54

Quote from: "paul russell"Mine clonks/judders when I drive forward on full lock and the conclusion that the dealer made was the tyres. My front tyres are wearing on the outside edges as well and the dealer blamed it on too low tyre pressures. However, I check my pressures every few weeks and they have never been anything other than spot on (26psi front, 32psi rear). Other than pressures, what would make the tyres wear on the outsides? And if the problem was the tyres, why should the noises disappear after I have driven a few hundred yards? I'm not convinced.

I did some testing this lunchtime, and mine actually does it slightly going forwards too.. although is much more noticible in reverse.

I've consistantly had scrubbed off outside edges on my front tyres in various FF hot hatches, and the MR2 is no exception. It's because I can't resist the temptation to corner quickly around roundabouts.. and believe me, there are a lot in my town!!

My front tyres are just about ready for replacement now, so it will be interesting to see if the clonking is improved when the new set are on.. the current ones are quite bady worn on the outside edge... although the nearside tyre is worse of course! s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

paul russell · January 9, 2004, 16:14

Quote from: "aaronjb"Scrubbage on the outside would normally indicate a camber or toe problem - either you have +ve camber (very unusual indeed) or the wheels are toeing in too much.. Actually, alignment could well be a cause of this noise, if the wheels aren't perfectly aligned..

I wonder..

I had 4 wheel laser alignment done last week and they reported that all the settings were bang on, so I don't think that's the problem.

heathstimpson · January 10, 2004, 08:09

Quote from: "c_a_r_t_e_r"It's because I can't resist the temptation to corner quickly around roundabouts.. and believe me, there are a lot in my town!!

A lot in your town; come to Milton Keynes then!!!

Anonymous · January 11, 2004, 09:58

On a recommendation I changed the tyres from Yokohama to Goodyear F-1s. And at £269 for 4 tyres I couldn't be more pleased.
Now the car is sure footed as hell compared to before, and the tyre change was well worth it for that. But - the clonking has just GONE!
I must say, this came as a surprise, even though I was told it would happen.
I question whether the lifting of the front to remove the wheel could have anything to do with this, the tyre guys spun my steering back and forth to check my pads while they were at it.
Years ago with a mk2 Escort Mexico, jacking up the front and turning the steering to one side (to change pads) very often (usually in my case) introduced a steering pull to one side, which was a bugger to sort out until I watched how the Ford RS dealer did it.
The mechanics used to loosen the top strut bolt (with the wheels off the ground), and turn the steering the opposite way to the pull, and then retighten it up there in the turned position, while another hung onto the steering wheel, then drop the jack. Sometimes needed a couple of goes to sort it as it may have been the other suspension leg causing it. It was because the spring was wound up and trying to come back to rest that caused that particular problem. If you jacked my car up just to take the weight a bit then turned the steering wheel lock to lock, you could hear (and see!), the suspension clonk as the spring first twisted up, then released. We tried greasing all sorts of things but I don't think it ever went away in the 4 years I drove and rallied the car. The rallying bit was another clue - if it had developed a pull to one side then a good blast down a rough track sorted that one out in a hurry - but I wouldn't recommend it in a Roadster!
We could be getting the same with the Roadster whereby on full lock the springs may be trying to rewind.

Mine was always worse in wet conditions, and even worse in one particular place I regularly park, here the car is angled forwards down a slope on the right side of a one way street - it has to be reversed to the right, first to level across the road then down the slope in the opposite direction, all going right - this used to result in some serious clonking and was maddening.

paul russell · February 6, 2004, 11:27

My dealer has just contacted me and said they had another owner reporting clonking from the steering. Having replaced her top strut mounts and shock absorbers to no avail, they are now saying her problem has now gone away after having new Yokohamas fitted. They are suggesting I replace my front Bridgestones (which have about 4mm of tread still left) with Yokos. Unfortunately, I have just fitted a new pair of Bridgestones on the rear and I don't want to mix tyres.

If they are suggesting the tyres are at fault then surely they should replace them under the warranty? I know tyres aren't normally covered but if they are causing this fault I think this is a special case. Thoughts?

I don't believe that the Yokos are curing the problem, I think it's more the fact that they are new and therefore have a deeper tread which is more able to absorb the juddering. I think people have also reported juddering with Yokos as well, is that correct?

I phoned Toyota head office but all they say is the issue is between me and the dealer. How on earth do Toyota keep winning customer satisfaction surveys?

I've only got 7 weeks of my warranty remaining so I'm starting to get a bit worried the problem won't get solved in time and then develop into something serious when the warranty expires.

Other than that, I still love the car!

markiii · February 6, 2004, 11:52

arguably teh Yokos are a softer compund as well.

Slacey · February 6, 2004, 11:53

I'm not convinced on the tyre thing. I had the stock Yoko's on 15's and it clonked, then when I fitted the 17's with wider Falken rubber they still clonked - replacing the top stut mounts cured it for me.

Anonymous · February 6, 2004, 12:06

Slacey, I had the strt mounts replaced like you and it DID cure it for a while, but it has come back with a vengeance. But, interestingly enough, as I have already posted, onluy on WET and DAMP days. I reckon the tyre thing MAY have a element of truth in it. I also think, as kind of implied here, ther tread depth might also have something to do with it. not sure how, but we will see. I reckon I am going to be due to change the typres within the next 2-3 months and I am going to stick the Toyo Proxies on it. Will be interesting to see what happens with those on (pre and post scrub).......

Anonymous · February 6, 2004, 12:39

John, I think our cars were seperated at birth! s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

My clonking has come back with a vengence recently too, after having the top mounts replaced a while ago under warranty.

New front tyres next week for me though, so will see if it makes a difference.. I'm going for 195/50x15 S03's... can't wait to get some front end grip back in the wet! s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

Tim

paul russell · February 6, 2004, 12:42

Perhaps we could set up a poll to see how many people have had the clonking and whether new top strut mounts or new tyres had cured the problem.

Tem · February 6, 2004, 13:25

I had that clonk with the stock Yokos and otherwise stock car.

I changed the tyres to Bridgestone S03's and the suspension to Sportivo and the clonk went away.

Can't really be sure, but I assume the clonk went away when I cleaned and regreased the mounts...I don't think the tyres had anything to do with it.

Anonymous · February 6, 2004, 13:44

Tim, we are getting scary here...........

s:shock: :shock: s:shock: s:wink: :wink: s:wink: s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Anonymous · February 6, 2004, 15:25

Quote from: "heathstimpson"
Quote from: "c_a_r_t_e_r"It's because I can't resist the temptation to corner quickly around roundabouts.. and believe me, there are a lot in my town!!
A lot in your town; come to Milton Keynes then!!!

Just mind the one that Kris smacked his 2 on !

paul russell · February 23, 2004, 08:27

Quote from: "c_a_r_t_e_r"My front tyres are just about ready for replacement now, so it will be interesting to see if the clonking is improved when the new set are on.. the current ones are quite bady worn on the outside edge... although the nearside tyre is worse of course! s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

c_a_r_t_e_r.......have you replaced your front tyres yet? If so, what effect did it have on the clonking?

Paul