toad

The noise is a very loud "PONG" sound and can be felt through the floorboards on both the driver and passenger sides. The noise seems to occur randomly and does not always immediately follow the bump or pot hole. Speed is not a factor as the car has made this noise at 30mph, and as low as 1mph. I have noticed it, for instance going over a sharp speed bump in a parking garage at speeds just fast enough to push the car over the bump, and then when I turn the steering wheel to the right to continue down the ramp, the car will make the noise. The noise and vibrations vary in intensity.
A spring is coming off the perch and then reseating itself perhaps?

Kipik

Definately sounds like a spring issue

toad

I hope it is no big deal. Thanks for the thoughts

DeS4

I tried the suggested solution from post below but I think I didn't get the correct nut so it didn't help.

Give it a try and let me know if it works. I think I'll try to locate the nut again sometime.

It's driving me crazy.<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/s4/msgs/500447.phtml">https://forums.audiworld.com/s4/msgs/500447.phtml</a</li></ul>

AlanL

when there was a weight shift in the car - going around some turns, pot holes, and my driveway. I have figured out how to "fix" the problem and here is my theory on what is wrong:

It seems to be related to the unibody construction and the jack points. If I raise my car with a jack not slotted for the unibody lift points, the unibody appears to shift and will cause the popping sound. First couple of times I had this happen, I was changing my wheels at home and did not have the proper jack support.

I took the car to the dealership and they definitely heard the sound and tried to find out what was wrong. They lifted the car on a 4 point lift with the proper unibody supports and the sound went away when I drove home.

At my 10K service, the dealer apparently used a floor jack without the unibody supports and I got the popping noise back. My cure was to jack my car up with the jack support behind the unibody seam until I heard a POP. Problem has been gone ever since. I am guessing that the outer part of the body is out of alignment after being improperly jacked up and the sounds will continue until the body gets back to the proper alignment.

The jack support piece came from the Eastwood Company at the URL below. I cut mine shorter to fit the width of the S4 jack points.<ul><li><a href="http://www.eastwoodcompany.com/cgi-bin/sgin0101.exe">http://www.eastwoodcompany.com/cgi-bin/sgin0101.exe</a</li></ul>

DeS4

What is a jack without the unibody supports?
and what is the unibody seam?

Thanks

AlanL

The unibody seam is the tab of metal that runs the length of your car from the front wheel well to the rear wheel well.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/14388/shot1.jpg">
You are supposed to lift your car with a jack support that straddles the metal tab - you should not place the jack in front of or behind the tab.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/14388/shot3.jpg">
Properly placed jack support
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/14388/shot2.jpg">

Paul C

great!