My 98 1.8 Quattro has a rattle/knocking coming from what sounds like the front right suspension area. I jacked it up and there is no play in the tire in any direction. Some of the arms look brand new like some work has been done within the last year or two. The only thing that seemed somewhat out of place was the height. The car seems to sit just a hair lower on the right side vs the left. The direction of the tire or turning doesn't change the noise but road condition does. Something sounds loose. Are there any checks I can do to help pin point the source of this rattle/knocking?

Thanks

 

Check your steering rack, I have constant knocking while braking/acceleration and going over bumps, looks to be my steering rack.

 

Well, it doesn't seem like braking or accelerating affects the noise. But larger bumps make the noise louder and more pronounced. It feels and sounds like some is loose and knocking around. Like a golf ball bouncing around in in the front right fender well. But bouncing very fast and in time with the road bumps, if that makes any sense.

 

Time for new control arms.

 

Will the control arms affect the ride height? The right sits just a hair lower than the left and that's where the noise is coming from. Is there anything else I should look at or check while I have it torn apart?

 

Hey. when you take off your control arm make sure to use anti seize on the hardware. It will pay off in the long run. This is just my 2 cents, also my friendly reminder!

 

No. Ride height is controlled by the spring. Make sure you measure your ride height from the center of the wheel to the bottom lip of the fender so that when you have it up on jacks stands you can duplicate that prior to torquing the bolts. I used a jack stand on each side so that the vehicle was evenly lifted and then used a small floor jack under the rotor to raise the suspension to that height before setting the torque on the bolts. Make sense?