Loud clunking sound over bumps

[Anker]

A very simple test to verify that it is the read control/trailing arms is to either brake or accelerate over a bump. If the rattle diminishes greatly or disappears than it is confirmed. If not, it must be some other suspension component.

If it is the trailing arms they are easy to replace yourself as long as you have a good set of sockets, a breaker bar and a big torque wrench. The bolts take a lot of torque, up to 118 ft lbs.

[DWBOX2000]

Does the noise go away when the car warms up?

[Rom]

Originally Posted by DWBOX2000

Does the noise go away when the car warms up?

Nope - temperature does not seem to affect it at all...

Thanks!

S.

[Rom]

I wanted to close the loop on this thread in case anyone looked at it (annoys me when I see threads with no solution posted!). The sound ended up being the rear passenger side top mount - the rubber has sheared completely so the suspension was moving freely up and down over bumps, knocking loudly. It didn't fall out because of the large washer on top of the damper, but was surprised how the rubber completely failed.

It was a brand new OEM top mount when the suspension went in, but of course the suspension being much stiffer put a much higher load on it.

Thanks!

S.

[Starter986]

Originally Posted by Rom

I wanted to close the loop on this thread in case anyone looked at it (annoys me when I see threads with no solution posted!).

Thank you. Welcome, new person. Se ya around.

[steved0x]

Originally Posted by Rom

I wanted to close the loop on this thread in case anyone looked at it (annoys me when I see threads with no solution posted!). The sound ended up being the rear passenger side top mount - the rubber has sheared completely so the suspension was moving freely up and down over bumps, knocking loudly. It didn't fall out because of the large washer on top of the damper, but was surprised how the rubber completely failed.

It was a brand new OEM top mount when the suspension went in, but of course the suspension being much stiffer put a much higher load on it.

Thanks!

S.

I've seen this happen twice now, but only in cases where the lower cupped washer was failed/forgotten to be installed - the OEM strut top mounts require both the upper and lower cup washers to hold in the rubber bushing and give it something to push against for compression and rebound loads. If the failure looked like this, it is from a missing lower cup washer, you can see the top washer in this photo.