undercarriage noise, B5 gen cars

[B4passatglx]

Whats the control arm noise sound like? I get a metal tapping metal sound from under my car when I am going slow like in parking lots. The sound instantly goes when I brake, but as I speed up the sound repitition speeds up too. It sounds like someone is tapping the under of the car with a wrench or something and its very noticable. Seems to go away after a while of driving though. I heard something about control arms or something. I dont remember.

[crew219]

Whats the control arm noise sound like? I get a metal tapping metal sound from under my car when I am going slow like in parking lots. The sound instantly goes when I brake, but as I speed up the sound repitition speeds up too. It sounds like someone is tapping the under of the car with a wrench or something and its very noticable. Seems to go away after a while of driving though. I heard something about control arms or something. I dont remember.

Sounds like a bad CV joint.

[meatwad!!]

you engine is loose. better check it before it falls out

[customfabvw]

it makes a popping noise, can tell during slow braking!

[b5crazy]

My wife's '02 wagon has had a tapping sound for 40K miles now. It only occurs at low speeds and sounds like a loose piece of metal trim tapping on metal. Most of the time it seems to be coming from the right front.

It doesn't happen all the time and disappears above 40 mph or below 20 mph. Very strange but appears to be harmless just annoying.

[B4passatglx]

thats exactly what my car sounds like. Its been that way for awhile, and it is quite annoying

[b5crazy]

At first I thought it was that stupid trim insert piece in the roof that always pops out. But I've checked and its not the source of the noise.

[lite1979]

Do you have a harmonic balancer on either or your CVs? I had one come off on my 89 Jetta and I couldn't figure it out for three months because it had come loose and rattled its way toward the control arm and was rattling between there and the tie rod. I couldn't see it behind the disk. I replaced the CV (because you can't buy just the balancing weight) and it's been quiet ever since. It'll be worth your while to get the car up in the air and put it in neutral so you can move the CV shafts yourself and find out what the noise might be...