paulsky

I keep hearing this metallic rattle (noise) when going over bumps in the road. I don't hear it all the time and it seems to be coming from center of the car.

Heat shield maybe? Last time the dealre told me that I may need tail shaft seal. Would that become so noisy?

I have 00 1.8t with 102k miles.

ex-quattro PETE

is it a high-pitched noise?

RKA

Swaybars and exhaust would be the first things I'd look at.

paulsky

...I think something might be rattling there.

Pads? Caliper?

RKA

The rear pads have a little spring clip attached to them. If it falls off while installing the rear pads, the pads will rattle around creating that sound. You'll notice the noise will go away if you have your foot on the brake when you hit those bumps.

Anyway, if the little wire clips are still trapped in the caliper, you can remove the pads, reinstall the spring clips, and you're good to go. If the spring clips have been lost, talk to the mechanic that installed the pads, and convince him to give you a new set of pads, because he really should have installed them properly. If you're the mechanic, hit yourself on the back of the head!

paulsky

I had front pads installed and rotors resurfaced. I went with PBR pads so I wonder if something was not installed properly there. Mechanic did the job.

RKA

The front pad doesn't have a spring clip like the rears. Instead the inner pad has a metal bracket attached to the backing plate that fits around the piston. I think that should keep the inner pad from rattling. Hopefully that little brass bracket was there with the PBR pads. The outer pad has a wire retaining clip that hold it in place. If you peek through the wheel spoke you should see the silver wire on the face of the brake caliper. If it's missing, I think that could result in some noise, but I'm not really sure. Easy enough to check for it's presence though.

paulsky

thanks a lot