[fortythirtyfive]

Around 18 months ago I had an incident where I set off from a pedestrian crossing (rolling speed - 5mph) and hit a section of the road that was freshly dug up, the side which made contact was the front right. There was zero street lighting and no markings or signage so I didn't really see having just turned onto the road.

It felt like I had ploughed through someones living room wall but after doing several checks I couldn't see any tyre damage, no alloy damage and the car drove perfectly.. around 3 months after that I began to notice a wooden rattling noise coming from the same impacted area (front right) - it only appeared when driving over cobbled roads, road markings/cats eyes or anything else slightly raised.

I had it checked out by two garages who couldn't find it and just called it a quirk of the vehicle, however I was pretty sure it only appeared after hitting the poor road surface. Fast forward several months and I had new tyres fitted, immediately the noise vanished but as they've begun to wear the noise is coming back.

I have a 3 ton jack and regularly take my wheels off to fully clean them so I do have access to inspect the suspension, is there anything I should be starting with to track down the noise? I don't seem to be having luck with most garages and I plan to switch to coilovers shortly so I am keen on resolving it

I should also add my rear right dust cover has fallen down and the foam bump stop which was holding it has torn, however I am fairly sure the wooden clunk sound is coming from the front not the rear.

[Billfitz]

I had a similar experience with my last car. After a nasty pothole hit I had a rattling sound that I couldn't track down. Only after pulling a wheel did I see that the coil spring had broken and the top part that had broken off was wrapped around the strut. What was odd is that the car felt fine, other than the incessant clanking with every rough spot in the road. Pull the wheels and make sure you have a good torch to shine a light everywhere.

[fortythirtyfive]

Thought it was worth wrapping this one up.. had my car in at a handling/tuning garage and they found my drivers side front control arm (the banana one) had A LOT of play so they replaced it.. low and behold the noise has gone.

The garage was fully booked out so couldn't initially replace them, but because I was adamant I could still drive on it (have been for 2+ years) he was kind of worried and worked late to get it sorted the same day.