Knocking noise in the rear...
 

Hey guys...

I have a 2008 A3 2.0 and I'm hearing a strange knocking noise every time I go over bumps in the road. I've inspected the entire rear hatch and spare tire compartment and everything is tight and secure. I jacked the car up and inspected the underside and there is nothing visibly loose other than two plastic shields beside the interior of the rear wheels.

Has anyone experienced this before? If the shields were causing the problem would I be able to hear it that well inside the car?

Does your rear seat fold? If so, make sure its latched.

Your noise might be from the cargo cover. Here's an excellent "How To" on the subject:

http://oooo-a3.blogspot.com/2006/03/...noise-fix.html

I recently looked at a new Mazda3 5-door, and noticed it had small rubber dampers on the cargo hatch for exactly this reason. I might investigate getting some of those.

Knocking noise in the rear....
 

Hi
I also own an 2008 A3 2.O T and it seems I have the exact same problem on mine. In my case, the noise clearly comes from the left rear of the car. I will probably know more on Monday as I am taking the car to the dealer. I thought at first that it was the exhaust pipe that came loose or was missing a clamp somewhere but the whole assembly seemed pretty tight to me when I checked it. It is definitely a loud metallic sound though.... One can really feel it when sitting in the back with a foot on the transmission tunnel.

More to come...

Tarik

Thanks for all the responses.

Today I got a chance to look at my car again and I went over everything. I checked the back seats, the cargo cover, the spare tire compartment, the rear lights, the hatch, and still I came up with nothing. Finally I got the trusty duck tape and I was going to attempt to tie down the plastic shields but because of the way it's attached to the car it was just pointless. So I ended up just taking the shields off car. PROBLEM SOLVED!!! The plastic pieces holding the shield onto to the car are just garbage, I think I'm going to put them back on using screws and washers instead. So if you have the same knocking noise check those shields to see if their loose.

OK. It was the shield on mine too..haha. Only they charged me $50 to screw it back on!!! I'm gonna try to forget that part asap...

I'm sorry. I must have missed something. What shields are you talking about?

noise from the rear
 

My noise is more like a muffled rattle that seems to be coming from the right rear at 30 to 40 mph over a series of bumps, e.g. broken pavment. The first thing I did was remove the cargo cover, then stuffed foam rubber in various places including the gas filler door. No luck. Seems to be worse when it is cold out which would be consistent with a plastic part.

Will definitely check out those shields.