Vanslam Knocking

[Mote365]

I have a 4000mile old T6 Kombi with van slams, fitted from new. after 5-600 miles the rear end started knocking and it sounded like hitting bumps stops or shock toping out.

I spoke to van slam and they didn't give a damn.

I trimmed down the bump stops and this did not help (should have been trimmed by installer)

I tried all sorts to stop the knocking but last night after just getting fed up with it i sprayed the rear springs with lithium grease because i assumed the spring was catching and making the noise and i was right.

The van is now totally silent over the biggest fastest bumps!

So now i have to try and figure out why the spring is making a noise as it appears to be installed properly.

So I just tried this Lithium grease spray option, not having much faith given the sort of sound tbh, and IT WORKED!

You have saved my sanity! it was seriously getting to me.

I believe it’s the rubberised coating on the coil under pressure and moving slightly during use. It’s amplified by the spring I guess. The near side doesn’t do it, just the offside.

Regardless, it’s quite for the first time since fitting.

Thanks for posting this, really, I can sleep at night

 

[Vxlgsi]

mine makes a sounds like the shock topping out or someone tapping under the van floor with a hammer, its a proper clonk and it is the springs coils rubbing on each other. which would explain why it didn't happen until the paint rubbed off the spring.

Its just a cheap product, these companies don't realise you can only sell a cheap product one, no one will come back and buy again!!

I noticed the Bilstein springs have a thick rubber sleeve on the 2 lower coil springs which i assume stops this happening.
I'm putting the van on a ramp tomorrow so i can have a look with the spring compressed to see what is up.

 

[Mote365]

Interestingly, the Van Slams I have also feature that rubber sleeve on the lower part of the coil where they overlap. And that is exactly where I sprayed the grease.

So, even with this sleeve update they still make that noise (like a toffee hammer weight clonking).

The material they use to cover the coil is clearly not low friction enough (and it must effect many other installs of this product). I will be following up with them. I do wish I’d gone with the Bilstein set up now and not cheaped out. Ah well... just carry lithium grease in the van at all times now then

 

[Vxlgsi]

Right. I found the answer. It's just coil clunk when the spring coils bounce and hit each other. Seems to be very common. Still I say that van slams are crap and avoid them just by bilstein but at least it's an easy fix. Spring silencers were even fitted on some cars like saab from new to reduce spring noise.

 

[Absolut5]

We installed a few sets of them and never had a issue until the last set, where the banging noise was coming from the near side, swapped the shocks back to standard and it was still there, narrowed it down to the springs, as our thoughts were the same as Vxigsi mentioned above, contacted Wheelwright, and they sent us some different springs, all sorted now and customer is happy

 

[Vxlgsi]

Well if wheel right are the distributer then they played dumb with me saying they never heard of this problem. And the technical guy was a right arse on the phone. If somone calls my company with a problem I've never heard of I'd want to know everything so I could help. To tight to replace some faulty coil springs they probably get from China for £5 each.

I rang bilstein and they were very helpfull and had time to talk. So the lesson here is stick with bilstein.

 

[Vxlgsi]

The clunk is now back although much less frequent.

 

[NickyRider]

I know this is an ancient post but just incase anyone is having a lovely annoying creaking noise coming from the rear suspension - mine has disappeared after fitting new lower spring cup rubbers!!! My friend who is a tech said they don't exactly fit snug with the b14 komfort (eibach) springs. It looks like the eibach springs are thicker than the stock springs which could be why they have needed changing after 8months of wear, it becomes apparent after reading @CRS Performance posts that the actual quality of the genuine vw rubber cups could be to blame as well. I believe that Chris @CRS Performance is developing an upgraded cup! fingers crossed for that