Clunking from the rear question...

[audiquattrot]

Today I went and replaced my bad rear shock mounts, in hopes that it was the culprit of my clunking from the rear of my car.

Just to give you a quick synopsis, a couple months ago I had to replace some hard brake lines right above the rear subframe. In order to get to them, I needed to remove my exhaust and drop the rear subframe in order to gain access to it. After reinstalling everything, I was getting a rear clunk, almost as if something in the suspension had play....happens when the car jerks in a forward/backward motion. I took the advice here, and replaced the worn rear top shock mounts which were in fact shot.

I took it for a test drive today, and the clunk is still there. The shocks are new, which I replaced several months ago along w/ the springs. I guess what I wanted to find out is what other potential areas should i be looking at? Is there any visual way to see if my rear subframe mounts are bad? I had the car up on the lift, and were trying to see if there was any play in them.....but it was tough to diagnose. Visually they look fine. I really want to convince myself that I reinstalled something wrong, but I had a couple friends check it out....and everything seems to be tight.

Advice needed. Thank you!

[jlevie]

The car is 18 years old, so it is safe to assume that the subframe and trailing arm bushings need replacement as well as the differential mount. In a like manner on a car of that age the transmission and motor mounts are suspect. Any of those could cause a clunk when the drive train loads/unloads.

[audiquattrot]

The car is 18 years old, so it is safe to assume that the subframe and trailing arm bushings need replacement as well as the differential mount. In a like manner on a car of that age the transmission and motor mounts are suspect. Any of those could cause a clunk when the drive train loads/unloads.

I agree....the only thing i do find a bit odd is that the clunk happened after I disassembled & reinstalled everything. I'm pretty confident w/ the work I did, I just hate not knowing exactly where the problem is coming from. I even brought it to a shop, and they themselves were baffled. I'm really trying to avoid spending a lot fixing things (that don't necessarily need to be fixed), simply b/c I've misdiagnosed it.