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lupo sdi clunking of full lock, please help!


agilecanonbal
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Hey guys, really hoping someone can help. My sdi lupo has a horrible clunking when on full steering lock, quite bad on full left lock, can feel it through the car, also happens on full right lock but not quite as bad, but still obvious. It's had new drop links, new outer cv joints, anti roll roll bar is nice and tight, just don't know what to do next! The car has been lowered on coilies approx 65 to 70 mm, some mechanics have said inner cv joints and some say the differential is on its way out, and some have said that due to the car being lower it's placing extra stress on inner cv joints, No one seems to know and I've spent a fair bit already, so hoping someone with actual knowledge/ experience of this can please help me, much appreciated.

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Have you kept your original struts and springs, if you have I'd re fit them. The diesels carry considerably more front weight than the petrol engines as a consequence of this the factory fit beefed up front suspension, reduce the ride height by 2 and a half inches and you are creating stresses that were never anticipated. You also risk your sump too. Sorry to be negative but when style affects your ability to drive you know that it's not worth it

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I think it's your inner cv joints to. Lowering out stress on everything espicially at 70mm but usually cv joints, ball joints are driveshafts. Depending on fwd or rwd.

But lowz over driving though. Just wait until whatever breaks. Then you will know what was at fault.

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Right guys, have bought another car to keep me going whilst I try and sort this, hence delayed response.

Things done so far....

New lower arms,

New drop links,

New CV joints,

Mechanics rekon inner CV joints are alright(don't know how they check them)

Now beleive it's the differential on it's way out! So gonna have to get a recon done on the gearbox, was considering just getting rid of the car but as I've come this far might as well carry on!has anyone had issues with their gearbox? Drives great in a straight line with no whining,and when turning,only on full lock does it clunk, so bad you feel it through the car,can't be suspension related as once full lock is reached the steering obviously is not turning any more, and also has been checked! Thinking I've just gotta bite the bullet and recon the diff!so much for vag reliability hey!?!...

Also, as many people have lowered their cars more than mine and run around just fine, is it just pot luck that they don't get these kind of problems? Starting to lose faith lol, thanks again for the help so far guys.

Edited by agilecanonbal
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I think it having to be full lock steering before clunking is trying to tell you something. I dont think that is the diff.

You can eliminate the steering input as a cause by doing the one wheel in the air thing i said previously (you have two threads on this)

To eliminate the steering input:

jack one wheel off the ground by about 1 inch so if it comes off the jack it doesnt have far to fall. Drive it in 1st gear above idle.

The diff is now driving one wheel and is behaving as if on full lock internally, your steering input now should be having no effect on the diff.

You can stress the diff, cv joints and suspension of the driven wheel by gently applying the brakes, if you over do this it will pull itself off the jack, but you'd have to be a complete numpty to do that!

Repeat the other side.

If you still only get your knocking on full lock when doing this it is not the diff itself that is the problem.

if it doesnt happen under these circumstances, then the only thing changed is the ride height of the driven wheel in the air, stick a jack under the suspension arm and raise it to normal ride height while it is in the air.

If it still, doesnt happen even doing that then only inertia and body roll are missing and you should have already checked that the drive shaft isnt hitting the chassis.

Edited by Sausage
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Cool, we did have the car in the air letting the wheels turn whilst in gear, and no knocking/clunking even when on full lock, but the wheels were hanging with no weight on them,the mechanic did say it was probably not clonking as there's no resistance from vehicle weight, but as you've said there needs to be weight on them I'll try and do what you've suggested and keep one wheel on the ground in turn, and let the other spin with a little brake pressure on them whilst turning to full lock to see if there's any sound. As said everything else has been checked and changed, nothing is loose, no rubbing on springs from wheels and everything else is nice and tight, seems only 2 things left it can be! Wish I stuck to bikes lol

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hey guys, I did manage to sort the problem! After trying everything, it was my gf's dad who solved it.

With the car being lowered 75mm all round, excess force was being placed on the inner CV joints, as you all may or may not know, the inner CV joints move in and out, and lowering the car pushed the inner CV joints in quite a bit, so when turning the steering wheel on full lock, the last bit of travel on the inner CV joints was being taken up and then some! So the excessive pressure was causing the clunking, we simply raised the front suspension by 20mm and the problem stopped!it was alright raising the suspension by 15mm, but still a slight clunking when I had a passenger in the car, so 20mm was the sweet spot.

All you guys were a great help! Always ready to give advice, great forum! Once again thanks to everyone who gave their time and helped :)

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I think it's your inner cv joints to. Lowering out stress on everything espicially at 70mm but usually cv joints, ball joints are driveshafts. Depending on fwd or rwd.

But lowz over driving though. Just wait until whatever breaks. Then you will know what was at fault.

Remember when I posted that. Yeah welcome to the past.

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The shafts bottoming out crossed my mind, but as people seem to slam lupos and not report this, plus any car should allow for full suspension swing without bottoming the shafts anyway I didnt suggest it.

If you have worn bushes in your suspension or saggy engine gearbox mounts you might see this happening, which would be why full lock makes it happen as the outside wheel is forced in a turn if the suspension is worn or the engine / gearbox is forced out if the mounts are weak. If there's enough movement then your shafts will run out of end travel and bottom out.

Edited by Sausage
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I know dblock,you were right, one for the memory banks! As sausage says, lots of people have slammed their lupos and not reported this problem, although mine was 70mm, there was still quite an arch gap so thought it would be fine, but all lupos have their own ways I guess, anyways it sits a little higher now, but it still handles great so still happy.

Edited by agilecanonbal
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