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Ok so as of yesterday morning there is a new knocking / tapping sound coming from my front right section of the car. It happens on smooth roads, bumpy roads, when I turn corners or drive straight, when I speed up or slow down and when I go up driveways. I haven changed anything on the car for weeks.
I can't see anything loose / hanging (the noise sounds as if a key chain is suspended next to a metal panel and hits it). It's not rhythmic and it doesn't happen if I drive straight and turn the wheels left and right quickly (if that makes sense)

I know this is vague as f***, but any help would be good. I'm also expecting "use search function" which I have but it's hard when I don't know what to look for!

Cheers

try gentle braking when you hear the noise.
try to emulate a situation you always get the noise and do gentle braking.
if the sound disappears you have a loose anti-rattle plate behind your brake pad.
they are mild steel and bend easily so don't retain themselves in position.

Thanks pez ill give that a go..

Likely to be related is the fact that I changed all brake rotors and pads myself last year and probably didn't do a great job of it (had another brake-related sound from the rears a month or two ago)

First thing is to determine whether it's road speed related, engine speed related or not related to either.

If it's road speed and it's at the front then you need to start looking at front hubs and brakes. Jack it up and feel for looseness in the wheel bearings or things like pads catching on the slots in the brake rotors (if you have slots), etc. Also check tyres for damage and big nails or rocks embedded in them.

If it's engine speed related then you can try and hunt it down by touch and ear. A mechanics stethoscope is handy, otherwise make one with plastic tubing.

If it's just random and fairly light tapping then it's most likely some loose bodywork or something bolted to the body rattling. I tracked down a similar noise last week - it was a bolt holding the back of the headlight retractor assembly to the body. If it's a pretty meaty sound then loose suspension components or worn control arm bushes are possibles. Either way you just have to try prying and moving everything you can until you find it.

It might help to say that the noise isn't a vibration or typical rattling sound (that you'd hear from, say, a loose heat shield). It's a slight tap/knock that happens between 1 to 4-5 times per occurrence, with around half a second pause between taps.. and it's driving me crazy

Hey manga, I don't think its either road speed or engine speed as I did a few tests already: Driving slow or fast in low or high gear still generates this noise, as well as taking off from stationary and slowing to a stop. I also went up and down my driveway and it happened about 3/4 of the time! I'll have a more thorough look in and under the car though.. hopefully its something stupidly simple

Shock mounts or shock shaft nut

I had similar few years back, the screw holding the clamp for abs line came loose. So it rattled around the shock.

I'm pretty sure mine doesn't have ABS brakes

Wheel nuts tight?!

NMX516 wrote:Wheel nuts tight?!

... checking this now ...

edit: yes. haha

Clear out behind the bottom of the quarter panels, something might have fallen in there, if not at least you'll know they're clean and not going to rust.

Nothing in the quarter panels, sound persists

Indicator lamp plug hanging loose?

Nah, it's all neat and tidy in there, I cleaned them out a while back and made sure wiring was tight.