Anyone also notice a fairly loud "knocking" coming from the front wheel area? When traveling on roads with other than very smooth surfaces I will hear a knocking sound that, at first, led me to believe something had broke in the front suspension. The higher the speed..the louder it becomes...and seems to be affected by the angle I might take regarding the road irregularity...more so than the actual size of it. My noise seems to come from the right front wheel. Dropping it off at the dealer Monday
Front wheel "knock"
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There are a couple of different things that could cause this. Most are minor, but echo through the carbon fiber tub and make the issue seem louder and worse than it really is. I hope the issue was not there from new, and that the dealer did a proper road test and confirmed no noises. Noises are easy to fix just take a little time and due diligence. I notice your in So-Cal so if you are taking the car down to Newport I'm sure they will take good care of it. If not good luck.
Appreciate the feedback...didn't notice it driving city streets...when I got on a fairly high speed road that suffered from extended patches of "rippled" tarmac did the loud and somewhat consistent knocking occur. I'm not talking about potholes....just an aged surface with consistent irregularities. Spent some time on some other canyon roads and the car does just FINE. Purchased from Bev. Hills McLaren (Auto Gallery)....will let them tale a look next week.
Thanks again..
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Yep, suspension definitely has a knocking, my tech said a lot of them do this, sounds like a floating rotor knock or a bushing which is not pre loaded.
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Cort, thats a cop out. there is a specific set of circumstances that might cause an occasional "bump" knock from the suspension, but to say " a lot of them do it" is crap. If it was normal then they would all do it , correct ?. When its right the 12 C is as quiet as a church mouse and the smoothest quietest riding super car. If you have a knock or an abnormal noise, then something needs to be fixed.
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It's not a cop out. I have owned a Carrera GT since new in 2005 and have great experience owning carbon tub street cars. The truth is that it is extremely difficult to have control arms, steering racks, shocks, etc. all attached to a carbon tub without transmitting some kind of noise at some juncture of load and flex. If these cars were soley built for luxury it would be easy to isolate all of this noise out with massive rubber bushings which have way too much flex for the purpose of why these cars were built. Because these street cars need to do everything at all times (track, street, crusie around in traffic) there will be ceratin sacrifices of which I am certainly glad to make as I think the "balance" that Mclaren has found between all these demands is pretty amazing. Not a cop out, just my two cents which is probably only really worth about 1 1/2 cents. Cheers.
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+1.....
Hey Cort...noticed your in LA...I'm a member out at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway about an hour east of Palm Springs...when things cool down you're welcome to come out for some hot laps with just 2 or 3 others out there at the same time....fun track.
Mark
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L.A. Based
Hi Mark,
Actually in Palisades as well. Email me, we can go Ferrari hunting in the canyons some time :[email protected]
Hi Mark,
Actually in Palisades as well. Email me, we can go Ferrari hunting in the canyons some time :[email protected]
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Fill the monocell with expanding foam. It would add about 3-4kg of weight, but it has excellent sound deadening properties. Not sure why they don't already do it, as it seems like a pretty obvious solution.
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Not that simple, as wiring, hydraulic lines, cables all run through the cell and it's structure. Also, the tub is carbon, the forn tand rear attachements are of aluminum and magnesium.
I think maybe you just buy a Porsche turbo and you can enjoy it's quietness, lol.
I think maybe you just buy a Porsche turbo and you can enjoy it's quietness, lol.
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Cort, you misunderstood me. I meant it was a cop out by the dealer telling you that "some do it"
I know of your experiencece with cars, which is why i tried to make the point that you would know if something was normal or not. You are right in the fact that the carbon tub acts like a drum at some point and can make it more difficult to locate a noise that is transmitting through the chassis. If you look at the rolling chassis at the dealers, not much actually bolts to the carbon tub, most is mounted to sub-frames or chassis extrusions. There is a specific circumstance that causes the dull "echo" effect that you speak of but that is an intermittentnt noise not a constant bump noise. My problem is i love chasing and isolating noises in cars...but that may be a personal problem
. I fixed a carbon chassis car once that sounded like the front was going to fall off every time the front wheel deflected. Turned out to be a $5 plastic linkage.
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I am very happy with your passion of finding all these crazy noises. I hope you find the source of ours, as I too have that knock when hitting sharp bumps in the road. I have to believe it has something to do with the hydraulic suspension, maybe a ram being in an unsprung state and when a high speed unsprung wheel movement happens it "rattles" through the chassis. I am told it's from the steering rack but cant imagine how this would make the noise.
Good luck and keep me informed.
Cheers.
Good luck and keep me informed.
Cheers.
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Wiring, lines, cables etc run inside a conduit, problem solved.
The "tub" as far as I can see, is not like other carbon chassis. It's hollow, containing around 40litres of empty space, hence it acting like a drum and transmitting the low frequency thumps and bumps. Expanding foam of the type used in yacht building, not only would damp out the noise but would further add the the structural stiffness.
These thumps and bumps have been widely mentioned in the press, seems odd that McLaren can't find an easy solution.
Cort,
A helpful member directed me to this thread as your problem is exactly what I experienced on my recent first Mac test drive. I own a MY12 458 and my dealer is just a few blocks away from McLaren so I know the roads well.
For a first timer this knocking or constant thumping over average roads and speed humps is disconcerting. The demo car had 9000kms and it challenges you, can I live with this especially as other cars of this ilk don't display this problem. Hope to get a second drive to compare. Has your problem been sorted and if not has McLaren stepped in to address the issue?
I suspect on a track it would be less noticeable with baby smooth surface.
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All fairly normal,you will get used to it,its just the hollow tub acting as a drum,although ive not noticed any vibration but im assuming they are concrete roads,something we dont see much of in europe ? Think positively,you could be in a normal sprung supercar !!
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