#1
When I drive over a speed bump I hear a rattle that sounds like the heat shield by the rotors is hitting or vibrating against something (front right). Is that what it is or what else couls it be.

#2
When you guys all drive over speed bumps, how do you take them? (2 front, 2 back, all right no left, all left no right, or at an angle 1 then 1 then 1 then 1)

 

I have always found that at an angle is the best.

 

Angle if there's no other choice. If there's a way to avoid with 2 wheels then that's the ticket. Never straight on and never at speed beyond a crawl.

For the noise, was your car eligible for the trans damper recall? Could be that.

 

straight on for even component wear, and less chassis flex

 

Agreed with therm8, i've always been paranoid with the chassis rigidity

 

Hopefully I am in my wife's Jeep Liberty instead of the 8, and if so, speed up for them . If i am in the 8 straight on at a crawl.

 

I have heard to take the 2 front then 2 back for even wear, and no I don't have that recall. Thanks for the input.

 

our car isnt low enough at stock to have to take speed bumps SOO carefully, but if you are lowered or have fatty wheels then yah i would go at an angle

 

After installing RB sways, I've found straight and slow is best.

 

If you ever jack the car up with the supplied jack or ever jack it up from one corner at a time you are going to induce a lot more stress than slowly tacking over a speed bump.

As far as even component wear, statistically, every car make way more right hand turns than left hand turns. There's no driving technique that you can do that will even out what occurs in normal driving. I'm AR but that is way AR.

 

If you live in an area that gets lots of rain and there are gutters at the edge of the road, you will also have to angle your way into driveways because of the dropoff before the incline. You don't have to be lowered. Even a stock front wheel drive sedan with long front overhang will need to be careful. You have to be able to read the situation.

 

The number of speed bumps I encounter far exceeds the number of times I've jacked the car. Tilt the sunroof (if you have one) then angle across a speed bump...the chassis flexes, you can hear it. Just becase it's less flex than some other situation, doesn't mean you shouldn't avoid it.

Similarly, why add more uneven wear when it is "statistically" already an issue. There's no benefit that I can see for a car to take a bump at an angle if it's not going to scrape.

 

God almighty, you people act like the car is made of crystal or something. Get real!

 

Well, personally, I plan on driving this car for a few years. So what's wrong with taking care of it? So maybe I shouldn't avoid potholes, bumpy *** roads, and other situations that put unnecessary strain on the suspension and chassis? The lack of a real B-pillar, even though the support in the rear doors is pretty impressive, is probably going to lead to creaks, groans, and rattles as the car ages. I'd like to minimize that by avoiding those unnecessary strains. 48000 rattle free miles for me, which is better than many people report. I don't treat the car like glass. I'll throw it through the corners any chance I get. But that doesn't mean I'm going to go drifting through a speed bump convention.

 

Heck...I accelerate over them bumps! I figure if I can get some air over the bump then there won't be any chasis flex at all.

One night I think I got 3 feet of air when I hit the bump at about 78 MPH...of course running into the lamp post about 20 feet just after the bump didn't help matters.

But hey, you can't have everything right? >:o|

 

I guned it today part way over a speed bump, the back wheels hopped up, came down, and laid a little rubber. Very odd feeling.

 

I'm fine with the speedbumps I encounter going straight ahead, as long as I take it slow enough. In a busy parking-lot situation you don't always have the luxury of choosing your angle of approach.

 

straight and slow. i only crabwalk them if they are already going diagonally across the road/parking lot or if they would cause me to scrape. of course, i will go around the ones that i can.

 

I for one would not want to be one of those poor souls who ruins thier car due to a bad approach to speed bumps.. Oh - wait a minute- that doesn't happen, therefor, this is a stupid question and any approach other than one at a reasonable speed is also stupid.

 

What I do is...

1.) Approach the bump at a reasonable speed.
2.) Begin braking.
3.) JUST before your front wheels touch the bump, let off the brakes and coast over the bump. This will cause your suspension to force the nose up before you reach the bump, thus reducing the stress of hitting it (and makes it less noticeable)