Auto Gossip

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33815, 11 April 1975, Page 4

Auto Gossip

by

A.J.P.

Car-buyers these days; are very conscious of noise, I ..nd one of the most com-: mon sources of noise in new ■ and nearlv new cars is. probably the differential., Some models are noted tori either having noisy axles, i or developing them within 1 a few thousand miles. Once| the noise level has reached a certain point, there it; seems to remain, with nofurther trouble. One British car-maker has said that some of his I models nearly always have some axle noise. not because of the design of; the axle units, but because of the nature of the con-; nections between the rear! axle and rhe bodywork — they transfer the noise to the body panels nearby, which act as soundingboards. Fitting a new axle did not cure the noise, the maker said, and the degree of noise varied from car to; car. while car-owners atti-l tudes to the noise level: varied just as much — in; other words, some complain ( bitterly.

Rolls-Royce has long had] a policy of testing all differ- ' ential assemblies when they: come into the factory from outside suppliers, rejecting. those which produce more! than a certain level of; noise. Apparently the rejec-j tion rate is very high, andi more than half the differ-j entie.ls delivered are sent! back, and presumably later fitted to other cars.

Occasionally, of course, a ; manufacturer seems to encounter a run of noisy! differentials, and at one j stage a few years ago. for; example, one Christchurch I franchise-holder had shelves I of nearly-new back-axle I units which had been ( removed from new cars I under warranty because of) customers’ complaints about noise. It was a good thing for those seeking cheap replacement differentials and willing to put up with some noise, but was a rather expensive exercise for the manufacturer concerned. not to mention i annoying for his customers.;

Generally, however, it seems that with many cars, if your rear axle is ’ noisy, the easiest, thing may he to put some heavy felt or carpet on the floor of the boot and under the rear seat to cut down the racket, and just put up with

Some garages tell me they have often replaced rear axle units at customers' insistence, and at considerable expense, only to find (as they had predicted) that the new axle was just about as .nojsy as the old one.