[KDragon]

FIRST Thank you everyone that has helped in the past my BugBug is running better than ever!

Moving on..

I have had a clunking in the front driver side wheel-well since I bought the car (about 10k miles ago). now this is the fun part. The dealer said the front anti-swaybar bushings were replaced as well at the front struts.

I only here the knocking when driving at a constant speed or accelerating but NOT while slowing down (I'm guessing because the front is loaded). This is on almost all bumps no matter how big or small.

I check the anti-swaybar bushings and they seem snug (not loose).

I don't know much about the suspension or have any cash. I'd like to fix it when I can or drive less if its unsafe..

Thanks in advance!

 

[pencilneck]

Could be the sway bar itself. I had one that would make a pop noise when going over bumps at times. I went over this car several times and never could find any signs of wear. In talking with one of the Audi techs, he had run into the same issue on a TT that caused by the sway-bar. I unbolted the sway bar links and tied the sway bar up... never could get a popping noise out of it after that. Installed different sway bar links, the popping noise returned. Replaced the sway bar, problem solved. I've only seen this happen a few times, kind of a rare thing to happen... but it can.

 

[IndyTom]

My money is still on the Sway Bar bushings. You really can't tell by looking at them to see if they are worn or not. When I first bought my car it made a clunking noise and the first thing I did is replace the Sway bar bushings and the Endlinks.
Bingo, no more clunking. I wouldn't trust the dealer or whoever you bought the car from saying that those bushings have been replaced. Those bushings are cheap so why not replace them and see what happens? I would get new endlinks as well, eventually you will need them and that way you don't need to mess with them again. Once you take the old bushings off and compare them to the new bushings you will see a huge difference.

Another suspension item that wears out are the rear lower control arm bushings. They look like a metal doughnut. In the center is a hole and that is surounded by rubber. In case of the beetle they decided to have slits/holes in that rubber so the ride would be softer since the bushings give more. When I replaced mine the rubber on the drivers side was almost completely gone and it caused the whole front end to shift forward by about an inch everytime I had to make a quick stop. I replaced them with heavy duty TT/R32 SOLID Rubber bushings and the handling improvement was incredible. No more clunks at heavy braking and much more steering control.

I would replace those bushings as well. They are a bit more tricky to replace. Since you need to press the old ones out and the new ones in which is a pain but once it's done it's well worth it.

Good Luck and keep us posted.

 

[KDragon]

Another suspension item that wears out are the rear lower control arm bushings. They look like a metal doughnut. In the center is a hole and that is surounded by rubber. In case of the beetle they decided to have slits/holes in that rubber so the ride would be softer since the bushings give more. When I replaced mine the rubber on the drivers side was almost completely gone and it caused the whole front end to shift forward by about an inch everytime I had to make a quick stop. I replaced them with heavy duty TT/R32 SOLID Rubber bushings and the handling improvement was incredible. No more clunks at heavy braking and much more steering control.

I would replace those bushings as well. They are a bit more tricky to replace. Since you need to press the old ones out and the new ones in which is a pain but once it's done it's well worth it.

Good Luck and keep us posted.

Thank both of you for the response. IndyTom the only time I DONT get the rattle/knocking is when I AM breaking.

Ill crawl under there in the next few days and take a look. If any photos/sound bytes would be helpful I can provide them.

 

[IndyTom]

Thank both of you for the response. IndyTom the only time I DONT get the rattle/knocking is when I AM breaking.

Ill crawl under there in the next few days and take a look. If any photos/sound bytes would be helpful I can provide them.

Since you mentioned "Rattle" it could also be one of your wheel bearings.