Question about rear bumpstops

[Grippy]

Hey Fellers,
I took the A4 into the local dealership yesterday because there was a noise in the rear right suspension during larger bumps. I took a tech on a ride and he agreed something was up and thought he could find it. They took a look and were convinced it was because the dealership I bought the car from had neglected to add bump stops to the rear suspension upon receiving the car from transport. Having done suspension jobs on multiple VWs and Audis over the years I was confused as how that could cause a noise, especially on just the one corner. Of course unless I had been bottoming out the suspension... but these bumps were not nearly big enough for that, and the noise would have been much more alarming. Now don't get me wrong... if the car really doesn't have rear bumpstops (and I will find out myself when I get a minute), I am happy to have some installed. I just don't think it is a possible cause of the noise I had been hearing. Any thoughts? This seems shady. Do these cars really transport from the factory without bump stops? Does the bump stop give structure to anything in the rear that might make noise without it? Does the dealership have a procedure for accepting cars from transport that would have included tightening something else on that corner that was also looked over?

So I did search the site as much as I could on this issue and anything that could contribute. Also I guess this is kind of a black hole of an issue, so thanks in advance to anyone who wants to dive in with me

[kkemp]

I have not heard of them shipping without bump stops. The more common complaint was always that they shipped with an additional piece in the suspension(presumably to prevent the cars from bouncing at sea), which some dealers forgot to remove. This extra shipping brace caused a poor ride (and maybe some additional noise?) until it was removed.

[Grippy]

I had the dealership lift the car for me before I drove off the lot and there was no shipping brace. I also took a gander myself this morning and much to my surprise, there are indeed bunpstops on the shock. You can see them pretty clearly. I'm at the dealer now for them to install the new part. They now claim they're replacing them. We'll see what happens

[Grippy]

Well, turns out the bump stops were there, but hadn't been pressed all the way into the top of the shock assembly. When I checked to see of they were there they were both loose on the shaft of the shock.

The new ones have been properly installed and no more noise... It's hard to say if the bump stop was causing the noise I originally brought the car in for, or if in the process of removing both shocks and reinstalling everything, something was retorqued better than it had been, but either way I'm satisfied.

If you're driving an A4 built in late '15 you may check your rear shocks just in case.