My car is running koni yellows with tsw springs and 22mm alta RSB. After coming back from the track, my car has been exhibiting a clunking sound in the back right whenever i go over bumps; on a road with no potholes or bumps, you can not hear it though. Any thoughts on what I should check? I checked the endlinks and they're tight. I also switched back from my track wheels back to OEM and the sound is still definitely there so I know it's not the wheels/tires. Thanks.

 

maybe the bushings on the swaybar? shock mounts? can you replicate it by jacking up the car and manipulating the main trailing arm?

brad.

 

Re-torqued everything and tried to maniuplate the shocks but the sound could not be replicated unless driven. Sound still exists. I might see if I can re-torque down any other underbody bolts that i can access this weekend to see if that solves the problem.

 

One time I accidentally didn't put the felt wheel well liner is place correctly and it was rubbing on one of my adjustable control arms. It's something stupid but it can happen to anyone.

Did you check the strut top mount nut? That can produce the sound you're talking about?

 

I'll check the wheel liner out. I've already torqued the top strut nuts.

 

I have this as well. Happens more and more now so I am thinking it is either my end links or sway bar bushings. Both are Alta w/ ~20k miles on them. Very annoying after a while though. I have checked every bolt down there and everything is to spec, nothing seems loose, liners are correct and not rubbing. The endlinks and bushing all seem to check out fine too from what I know to my knowledge. If you figure something out, I may buy you a beer or six.

 

I've had something similar as well for awhile now. The rear suspension is 70k miles stock with the exception of the Koni yellows that are 30k miles old.
Today I disconnected both swaybar links and retorqued everything to isolate it, but no luck, it's still there.

 

Is it a groan versus a clunk?

Check the sway bar again. Those Alta's can be noisy. You may have to regrease the bushings. If you happen take them out, wrap the bar at the bushings with teflon tape. As a good measure, grease it with white lithium as well.

 

It's a pronounced clunking sound. So far I've only tightened down everything again with the torque wrench yesterday but have not test drove it yet. Will report back later about it.

 

Test drove it on my way back home tonight (65 mile commute) and the sound is silenced a bit after re-torquing the shocks, endlinks, bushings, even underbody bolts. However the sound is still there. Fail.

 

Any latest on your fix?

 

Nope. Ordered some of the energy suspension grease packets from Amazon and they're on the way (estimated July 9). I'm also looking for a set of replacement bushings from Energy Suspension as well on Amazon but not sure which one to buy (i made a thread about asking for the part number that Alta uses) just in case regreasing the bushings doesn't work out.

 

I had this with my ALTA end links. It turned out that the ball joint stretched so the ball was loose in the joint, causing it to move around and clunk.

 

What's the remedy for this? I can check it out later this afternoon. Thanks!

 

ALTA sells new ones for $15. You have to call to order them.

 

I just noticed you said endlinks. My endlinks are still OEM, but the rear sway bar is Alta. So my OEM endlinks might have gone bad?

 

Doubt it...

If you wiggle them around while everything is bolted together, you will here the "clunking" noise, if it's the end links.

 

Its not the safest idea, but you can remove the rear sway bar and endlinks and go for a ride (or maybe just the endlinks and wire the sway bar up out of the way?). The cars handling will be awful, but if you hit bumps and the noise is still there, then you know it is not related to the RSB. If the noise is completely gone, then you know it is endlinks or RSB mounts. Just don't push the car too hard, it will understeer like you have a flat tire.
If the noise is still there, then you can look at the shocks or spring mounts. I have a set of TSW's on my car, and I know that there is not much preload on them with my stock shocks. There is a slim chance that the spring is not seated properly if the suspension drooped fully.
I had an odd noise, then I remembered that I had a maglight in one of the vertical elastic nets in the trunk...... felt pretty silly crawling under the car.

Have fun,
Mike

 

Just an idea. Check your exhaust hangers. I have an issue where my exhaust swings back and forth hitting the plastic trim. The only way I figured it out was because I painted my tips and can see where the paint is getting worn.

 

+1. This will let you know for sure if the noise is related to the RSB/endlinks. I did this to rule them out with the suspension rattling I'm currently experiencing...grrrr.

 

I may actually attempt this this weekend. If that doesn't help, I might even try installing my stock shock on that corner to see if it's the shock etc. Wish me luck!

 

Checked the hangers and everything's good. =/

 

Any more updates on your clunk?

 

I did attempt to work on it a few weeks back, but it turns out the bottom shock mount screw on the trailing arm got stripped. I made a thread about it in the suspension section asking how to fix it. Long story short, the helicoil kit came in last week but I need to find time to actually fix the thread and then continue troubleshooting. Real PITA.

 

That is the cast alunimium trailing arm.

If you put coils, I would be a little hesitant to run track with that fix. I had to replace that trailing arm about six months ago.