Thread: Clunking noise from rear suspension

Hi all,

My newly acquired GTP has a clunking noise from the right rear. It doesn't do it all the time but if you hit a pothole etc on the right rear there's a clunking and banging noise.

I've done a visual inspection and the trailing arms etc have some surface rust but are solid. The swaybar end links are also still attached. I see some seeping from the lower spring perch, so I strongly suspect the strut is bad... but my question is with bad struts will it travel enough to bang something in the back? I think it might be hitting the bump stops but due to the successions of clunks/bangs it almost sounds like it's hitting something else. Is it possible with extended travel it could smack into the exhaust.

Regardless, replacing the two rear struts is going to happen. I don't see anything else back there that could make that kind of noise and figured that others here more familiar with the rear suspension setup may have some insight.

Thanks!

I did bounce the rear and both sides seem to be a bit bouncy, although the left side doesn't show any obvious seeping. The right side does though. I plan to lift the car so I can check wheel bearings and brakes, and while I have the wheel off I'll take a closer look at the struts.

This area is not known for a rust belt... I looked all over the car and there's no rust on the body itself. The exhaust is in bad shape and there's surface rust on things under the car, but not the gobs of flaking rust like when I used to live further north in the snow belt. I cleaned out the trunk and there's no rust in the spare tire wheel well, to give you an idea, but thanks for the tip. I'll peel back the covers today or tomorrow in the trunk to have a closer look.

a REALLY bad strut will make a banging noise. at a certain point, the shaft will become loose in the tube, and rattle around. this is after a long time of neglect though, and i've never seen it happen to a rear, only front. nevertheless, it's possible.

sway bar links would be first suspect in my eyes. visually okay can still be loose inside the ball&socket joint. if you're changing struts, change them as well.

my $.02

Well, I finally had time today to take a closer look at my purchase. I checked each wheel, wheel bearings seem to be OK. Brakes look to be all new. I shook the sway bar on the passenger side and heard a clunk. The exhaust isn't loose, I shook it around but holy is the exhaust swiss cheese. I'm going to have to get that addressed when I put tags on it.

The springs look OK - I don't think I need to replace those. I'm going to order two new rear struts and two rear sway bar end links.

Out of curiousity I did look at the rear strut towers. I'm pretty sure this is a local car as there's no rot I can see. (Attached picture.)

I think replacing those couple bits in the rear suspension is all I need to do for now.

Update:

I learned that really bad struts can make a farting noise today. There was no oil etc left in that strut. I decided to try it to see if it was really bad and it fell down to the bottom of its travel making a farting noise, then a loud CLANK noise. The sway bar end link on that side also had a frozen ball socket, hence the banging and popping noise.<br>

This car must have been a local car, like almost no rust. I was surprised how easy it was to get apart. Attached a few pics of the strut tower, and the bolts for the strut to the knuckle bit.