Chery, Haval and Geely have taken a visible share of the roads within a few years, and a fairly recognisable set of complaints came into workshops with them. Breaking those down by exact model and year is thankless work: trim levels change and so do component suppliers. It is far more useful to understand which groups of noises are typical of this fleet and why, so you do not pay for searching where there is nothing to find.
Where the typical noises come from
The main factor is age. Most of these cars are under five years old, and that shapes the whole picture. The wear that produces “grown-up” noises — knocking bearings, a stretched timing chain, a collapsed catalytic converter — does not usually arrive by that mileage. What is very audible instead are things that would simply be lost in the background on an older car: a settled bush, a loose clamp, a rattling trim panel.
The second factor is good cabin insulation. The quieter the car, the more noticeable any foreign note. The owner hears what would have gone unnoticed on a noisier car of the same class, and quite reasonably goes to find out what it is.
The third is roads. A large part of the fleet lives on city expansion joints and patched tarmac, and that is exactly the load that tires small joints and rubber components fastest. The same car used on motorways and in a city cycle reaches its first knock tens of thousands of kilometres apart.
Suspension is the most common group
That is where most enquiries land. The typical scenario: in the second or third year a dry click or knock appears over small bumps — slab joints, speed humps, patched surfaces. In the vast majority of cases the first candidate is the anti-roll bar links (the thin rods connecting the anti-roll bar to the strut). They are a consumable across the whole class, not just on Chinese brands, and they are cheap to replace.
Next on the list come strut top mounts, control arm bushes (rubber-and-metal sleeves that damp vibration) and subframe mountings. The order to work through is the same as on any modern SUV, and it is set out in finding a suspension knock without a lift. The general sound portrait is on the symptom page knocking over bumps.
What else makes noise: engine, gearbox, cabin
| Source | Typical sound | Where to start checking |
|---|---|---|
| Accessory belt and idlers | Squeal at a cold start, chirp under load | Inspect the belt, tensioner, idlers |
| Dual-clutch gearbox | Hum and clicks at low speed, jerking when pulling away | Dealer diagnosis, adaptation |
| Brake pads | Squeak at low speed, wear indicator chirp | Measure pad and disc thickness |
| Exhaust heat shields | Rattle at particular revs | Look underneath, tighten the fasteners |
| Cabin plastics, trim | Creaks in the cold and over bumps | Localise with a palm, check seals |
Belt squeal deserves a separate mention: on turbocharged engines with tightly packed accessories it is especially audible and often written off as “Chinese quality”, though the cause is the usual one — tension, wear or water on the pulley grooves. The sound portrait is on the symptom page belt squeal, and telling a belt from the units it drives is covered in whine under the bonnet: alternator or water pump.
The order of action
If the car is under warranty, the first step is always the same: have the noise recorded by the dealer on the work order. Even if the verdict is “within normal limits”, you are left with a dated document. Repairing a component yourself when it later turns out to be a warranty case usually closes off any claim.
The second point is what to insist on being checked before parts are replaced. A knock over bumps is diagnosed on a lift with a pry bar, not by guesswork: the mechanic loads each joint and looks for movement. If you are offered a set of parts without that check, ask which joint showed play and how it was found.
Before the visit it helps to arrive with specifics rather than “something is knocking”: at what speed, on what surface, cold engine or warm. You can record the sound and break it down by conditions in the Pro-Stuk app — it matches the recording with your answers to a few questions and shows the likely causes with percentages, which makes the conversation at the service desk noticeably easier.
