Rear Suspension Clunking, need to confirm something

[Solorange]

The drivers rear side suspension is clunking when I go over bumps. I have the tein/tokico setup and I installed it 2 years ago. I did a series of checking and can only come up with one conclusion. I pulled out my rear interior last night and found that the three bolts on top that hold the strut assembly in place are tight. I check all the tie bars and rear sway bar underneath the car and none of that is loose. I checked to see if the struts are blown and they are good. I jacked the car up and checked the upper insulation between the spring and the upper strut assembly to see if there was any metal to metal contact and that was all perfect. The only thing I can come up with is that the center bolt that holds the whole strut assembly together is starting to come loose. Do you guys agree? Also I can't remember from when I lowered my car, but is the center bolt accessible without taking the whole McPherson strut assembly out of the car? Some cars has a cap on top that can be removed which exposes the center bolt. If not its all good I will just use my buddies car lift this weekend and pull it all out to check it. I just hate to do all the work if I can access it without having to take it out.

[woa_its_j3ff]

its funny. I have the exact same setup.

and the same damn problem

DAmon's OLD setup.

DAmon, did you ever have this issue? fool better not have given me faulty stuff jk bro.

I believe it's the strut mount but man.. to do that work of tearing out the backseat... i dunno if i'm going to do it.. its only on the passengerside too.. in the rear.

[ThatVietGuy]

I think it's the strut mount.

[(K)]

Usually it's a bad mount, there's a bearing inside the mount that's usually the culprit. Looks like a washer.

Either way when you replace the mount, it comes as a whole assembly. So whatever the culprit is (outside of your springs and struts), it'll be fixed.

[Solorange]

I dont think it would be the mount. Isnt the bearing just on the front ones which allows you to turn? My memory is a little hazy from when I did the install but I dont remember a rear bearing. I cant see how the mount would go bad. I wish my hanyes manual had a picture of the breakdown, but if i remember correctly you have the strut with a lower insulator, then the spring, then the upper insulator and then just the upper support / mount held together with one bolt. I ran a search and found an old thread Jeff started and it sounds like it could be that bolt.
http://www.solaraguy.com/viewtopic.php? ... n+clunking
I guess I really wont know until I pull everything apart. Does anybody have a copy of the rear suspension assembly they can post?

[(K)]

That's the closest I can pull up...

You're right about the bearing though, I was thinking the fronts the whole time, sorry.

When you think about it though, there's really not much when it comes to the rear. It's either you have a few bolts loose, you replace the struts and springs, or you replace the mount assembly as a whole. Can't really replace the smaller components, sucks lol.

Either way, if you end up pulling that strut assembly out, might as well check everything closely.

[Solorange]

Thanks for the picture. Yeah I defiantly will check everything if I have it out. I guess what I was looking for in this thread is if there is a cap that comes off that would allow me to tighten that center bolt without having to pull it out of the car. Kind of just like the front. I thought about the cap thing after I put the interior back together. But then again in order for me to tighten it I would have to pull it out so I can get a wrench on the struts piston so it doesn't spins.

[Sentinel]

I don;t know if the rear has a cap or a hole or what, but I have had the same problem with my front strut mounts: I tightened them once, then replaced the mounts about a year later when they clunked again, and recently tightened the big nut in the middle once again (my car seems to eat the mounts) I don;t know if the bearing is replaceable, but the whole mount isn't that expensive.

[Solorange]

I don;t know if the rear has a cap or a hole or what, but I have had the same problem with my front strut mounts: I tightened them once, then replaced the mounts about a year later when they clunked again, and recently tightened the big nut in the middle once again (my car seems to eat the mounts) I don;t know if the bearing is replaceable, but the whole mount isn't that expensive.

What year is your car? I had the same problem up front when I bought my car and I took it to a place that works on nothing but Toyotas near Cincinnati and the mechanic told me that 97-99 cars, the front bearings were where designed poorly and would go bad on all the Camrys/Solaras/Avalons/ES300s. He said Toyota actually fixed the problem in the 2000 and on cars and he put the 2000 and on part in my car and I don't have any issues with it.

[(K)]

I got these pics from the tutorial a while back.




Those were the best shots I could get back then. Don't remember if the caps came off or not lol, been so long...plus I took the rears to the mechanic because I stripped a few bolts...

I remember my instructor also said that Toyotas have bad suspension components as well. His exact words were "These cars are known to have issues with suspension mounts and sway bar bushings."

Makes sense seeing how the majority of complaints we have on this forum are suspension related (for gen 1/1.5).

Either way, hope you get it fixed because suspension noise just bugs me to no end lol. Not to mention the ill effects of bad suspension...

[Solorange]

Looking at the pictures now, I think it is a cap. If I get time tonight, I may pull the interior again and find out. Either way if it isnt then at least ill have the interior out fo the car for saturday.

[redgen1]

haaa when i redid my struts a month ago, i took apart my front driver side assembly to have all the little ball bearings fall all over the street! it had been held together by the pressure of the spring for quite some time, i got luuckkkyyy. as for the rear, i had the same problem, it was the nut on top of the strut.. but not i have a rattle over bumps and im thinkin the RSB is the culprit.. im jackin her up this weekend to find out, hope you figure it out bud

[akora12]

I don;t know if the rear has a cap or a hole or what, but I have had the same problem with my front strut mounts: I tightened them once, then replaced the mounts about a year later when they clunked again, and recently tightened the big nut in the middle once again (my car seems to eat the mounts) I don;t know if the bearing is replaceable, but the whole mount isn't that expensive.

The bearings can be replaced w/o swapping out the whole strut mounts.

Concerning the clunking, this seems to be common with lowered solaras. My fronts knock every once in a while and I replaced everything with new parts when I first lowered my car, including mounts and insulators. I've looked over the suspension a thousand times and can't find a single thing wrong. The whole deal really irritates me.

[bassthrive]

My muffler sometimes bounces up and hits the frame. I really need to replace the rubber mount...

[no_escape]

Solorange. I'm having the same problems with my suspension. I'm running the tokico/eibach setup. Bump noises when your going 5-30mph. After reading this, I'm also going to check my strut mounts.