Banging And Rattling!

[anaxcrosswords]

I have a Y reg Mondeo estate. On Saturday it developed a severe-sounding banging and rattling from the n/s front wheel, very loud when going over the slightest bump or hollow in the road. This happened suddenly, but I hadn’t run over anything or hit a pothole.
Despite the noise, handling, steering and braking seem fine (admittedly I’ve been treating it rather gently) and it got me home – about a 20 mile journey – without incident… just the noise!
Any suggestions about what might have broken?

[tonyav]

Check the suspension spring on the nearside strut, quite common for the spring to snap, if it ( the break on the spring ) is not obviously visible just run your hand around the spring, but be careful where it has snapped can be razor sharp.

[Buenchico]

Noise coming from a wheel itself is often caused by worn bearings but I'd expect that to be more of a squeal than 'banging'. My guess is that a front spring has broken which, fortunately, is something that's usually relatively cheap to fix

[anaxcrosswords]

Thanks guys. I'm quite surprised though - if a spring has snapped wouldn't that have a severe effect on handling and/or steering?

[tonyav]

Not Necessarily, If the spring had totally collapsed then yes it certainly affect your steering / handling.
Had a front spring snap on me once on a Mondeo MK 2, the only way I new something was wrong was by the strange noises coming from the suspension strut.

[anaxcrosswords]

Thanks Tony!

[tonyav]

Careful with your fingers though when you check it.

[anaxcrosswords]

Just a quick update on this. Turns out the suspension spring is fine; it appears to be the top mount that's damaged. My mechanic removed the cover and it was obvious the central mounting bolt was anything but central and surrounding metal plate had lots of metal dust. Until he strips it down tomorrow we won't know if anything else is damaged.

[tonyav]

Thanks for the update, anaxcrosswords, by the description you give then it sounds like it's the upper seat and bearing thats kaput.

[malagabob]

Glad you found out cause. I was going to suggest anti roll bar bush.