Clunk / Thud in Right Rear

[discojon]

My 06 Wagon has developed a heavy clunk or thud in the right rear suspension recently. I've replaced the shock (ISC N1), and nothing is loose that I can find. I've checked the top bolts also. The car has ISC N1 coilovers and is not "Stanced" (1.5 finger gap all around). The noise only happens on a strong compression stroke on the wheel. No noise on rebound, no noise when driving. OEM bumpstops are in place and occasionally make contact. The ISC strut on that side has no integrated bumpstop (ISC never sent one with the replacement). I'm wondering if the shock could be bottoming out of travel before the OEM bumpstop fully compresses?

 

All the bushings are Whiteline, Swaybar and endlinks are Whiteline, Trailing arms are Spec B Aluminium, Lower and mid links are GTSpec. I see no evidence of rubbing or shiny metal.

 

[Rhitter]

In my experience clunks are always

1. top hat nuts

2. Swaybar hitting something or loose endlinks

 

That sounds like it could be the tophat nuts to me. Although you said you checked? Is it just your swaybar hitting something?

[CapnJack]

I've had a similar clunk in my legacy for several years now(6+). It sounded exactly like a loose tophat or bad strut. It took me 4+ years, new struts, springs, tophats, bushings, endlinks to figure out it wasn't the suspension. (in my defense, they were all worn out anyway! )

 

I've pulled everything out of the trunk that could be making noise and have reduced it to the trunk lid, rear seats, or rear dash shifting under body flex or a lost tool I haven't found yet bouncing around.

 

[discojon]

I've had a wrench on every single bolt I can on the rear end and they are all tight. I'm going to put it on ramps this evening and have someone bounce the rear to try to feel for it. The top hats and strut nut are tight also. The sway bar is close to but not hitting as far as I can tell. I'm going to swap the rear struts from side to side this weekend and see if the clunk follows suit. I'm also going to unbolt the endlinks and see if that fixes the issue.

[zactek]

I had a similar sound for months and everything was tight. (Of course it is,it's under tension)

Once I got to doing my rear axle,and unbolted the UCA at the swingarm,it basically jiggled on the inner bolt. The inner bushing was almost nonexistent,yet everything was tight when on the lift.

 

Zack K.