List of Skoda Yeti Front Suspension Issues (Expert Solutions)

In this brief article we are going to discuss the front suspension issues that occur in Skoda Yeti cars, what the causes are, and Troubleshooting Tips.

The Top Most Common problems with the Skoda Yeti Front Suspension are:

• Rear Suspension Rattling Noise
• Creaking noise in the front suspension
• Clunking / Rattling Noise
• Front suspension Clunk Noise
• Combination of Clunking, Popping and Rattling in Golf Mk 5

Skoda Yeti Suspension

The Skoda Yeti has the suspension carried over from the Golf 5.

The Skoda Yeti’s front suspension is a MacPherson Strut arrangement with Anti-Roll Bar (ARB).

The Rear Suspension is of independent 4 – link type, consisting of a Trailing arm, Upper Link, Lower Link and Toe Link.

Troubleshooting Most common Skoda YeTi suspension Problems

Skoda Yeti Creaking noise issue

The creaking noise, in most cases, originates in the front suspension. Situations that aggravate this problem are:

• While approaching a steep road/driveway
• While approaching large speed bumps

The most probable source of this Creaking noise is the forward inner control arm bushing.

Troubleshooting the Skoda Yeti Creaking noise

• Raise the vehicle on a lift 
• Remove the wheel from the side you suspect the sound to originate from
• Dismantle the lower control arm ball joint and lower strut mount
• Now try to articulate the control arm upwards and downwards
• If you notice the noise during this motion, then dismantle and replace the control arm bushing with an OEM replacement part

Clunking/ Knocking Noises coming from the front

• The sound was continuous and not dependent on whether it was a rough road

Troubleshooting the Clunk/ Rattle Noise

• Do a thorough inspection of the Front Drivers side (where the noise seems to be coming from)
• Check the Struts for any broken bits

• Damper Plastic Dust Cover Torn out and hanging loose
• Remove the Dust cover and check again for any noises
• If it did not repeat, then this was the issue

To identify the issue you need to follow these steps:

• Remove the rear tires and inspect for uneven wear.
• If you find that the wear pattern is ‘Cupping’ or Uneven wear, then the issue is more likely to be related to the suspension than the Wheel bearings
• Nevertheless, you should inspect the wheel bearings and rotate then to test for play, just to rule them out as a cause
• Regardless of the wheel bearings’ condition, Dismantle and inspect the Rear coil springs as well.
• If you find any sort of breakage at the bottom-most coil, then you have found the root cause.

Front Clunk Noise

• A very common problem seen in the Skoda Yeti was front suspension “Clunk” noise while going over potholes on the road. 
• It was also known from past experience that the Anti-Roll Bar Drop-links would be the first suspects since they would be the weakest and first to fail.

Troubleshooting the Clunking Noise in the Skoda Yeti

• Remove the Front Tires or get the car up on a lift.
• Inspect the entire ARB assembly Bush sets
• The ARB Drop links would usually be the first ones to fail before the other bushings within the ARB

• The Rubber boot protecting the Ball joint would have torn out or weathered and cracked quite some time back. 
• Once the ball-joint loses its rubber boot protection, the grease of the ball-joint is no longer retained and the ball-joint fails eventually

Front Clunking, Popping, Rattling and other noises in the Skoda Yeti

• Noises from the suspension while going over bumps and potholes
• Grinding noise while steering at parking or standstill
• Predominantly seen in the 2004 to 2009 model years

Troubleshooting Clunking, Popping and other noises the Skoda Yeti Suspension

• For 10+ year old cars, Skoda Yeti’s are known to have broken springs. So that would be the first and easiest thing to suspect.
• Noise while steering at a standstill is a strong symptom of something wrong with the strut and spring
• It is possible to diagnose if the spring is the problem even before removing the wheel. 
• You need to park the vehicle on a really flat shop floor or over 2 planks (LH and RH). 
• Measure the fender bottom height from the plank on both sides, if the difference is more than ½ inch, then it is mostly a broken spring
• For a more thorough look, remove the wheel on the lower height side and inspect the Front suspension strut. If the spring is broken, it would be easily visible and breakage mostly appears very close to the spring bottom seating area.
• If the Spring has surface-rust on it, there is every chance that it would already have broken

Conclusion

In this brief article we have discussed the different front suspension issues that occur in Skoda Yeti cars, what the causes are, and Troubleshooting Tips.