I always hear the term bottoming out but I really don't know what it sounds like or if it's happening to me. Sometimes when I'm braking alittle harder than normal and I hit a bump at the same time I hear a vibrating metal noise from the front end. Is that bottoming out?

 

im pretty sure thats abs kickin in

 

But I never feel any pulsing in the brake pedal, I don't think I'm hitting the brakes that hard, I'm not slamming on the brakes when this happens.

 

trust me when you bottom out you will know it because it will be followed by the "Oh ****!" moment

 

followed by the cold sweats as you pull into the nearest parking lot to do a quick underbody check to see if there is anydamage

 

Dude, you would know if you bottomed out. That's all that needs to be said.

 

Ok thanks for the replies everyone, so I guess it's nothing major then. At least I know for a fact now it's not bottoming out from hearing everyone description.

 

Why would you drive so fast towards a bump, and then have to break hard like that? Why not drive up to it slowly so you don't have that problem?

 

gtfo

 

5 post all about the same thing. Mods get this guy.

 

Well it doesn't happen often, usually when I'm going alittle too fast and the light changes on me there might be a pothole infont of the crosswalk.

 

How low is your car? I lowered mine with coilovers and went down 1.5 or more. About 10k miles later I noticed some knocking around on the drivers side. TOday I went to NTB (tire place) and we found the bushings on the lower control arm to be bad. Lowering the car put excess strain and stretched the bushings. Now they need to be replaced. Put your car on a lift and look at the black bushings on the control arm that connect it to the chassis. If they are torn this could be your problem.

My 2 cents.

Also, if you are reading this and have a real solution for me please let me know. I have just started my research.

 

I haven't lowered mine yet, I got Sportlines but won't put them on until spring because I fear my car won't make it through the winter snow that low. The sound I hear really isn't a knocking sound though more of a metal jarring/vibration sound when hitting a bump while braking. But I'm gonna check out the bushings too juat to be sure and when I go drive today I'll keep my radio off so that I can try to look for any unusual sounds and compare then to your sounds.

 

What you hear is the ABS.

If you bottom out, you will hear it and you will think "Oh god, what just broke".

 

OK I'm glad to hear it's nothing serious then. I've always heard the term bottoming out but I never knew it was that bad until hearing the explanations from the other memebers. I hope I never do that.

 

One more thing I've been thinking about, sometimes going over slow bumps I hear a light squeeking noise coming from the rear. I can only hear it when I have the windows up and radio off. Could it be my shocks going bad? I have 43k and I have terrible Chicago roads. I'm gonna be searching in the meantime but I wanna throw it out there to anyone who might now.



EDIT: I found a topic with a similar question, the OP came to the conclusion that is was the exhaust hangar. I noticed I can move my exhaust without much trouble. Well at least I know I won't have too much of a hard time removing the OEM exhaust when I go aftermarket.