rear suspension clunking noise?
 

sorry if it has been asked before.
I can hear clunking noise from the rear when going over bump or uneven road.
It is worst when the car is still cold.
Any idea what's causing the noise?

I had been having the same symptoms on a 2010, right side rear it seemed. TPM was not indicating a problem. Both rear wheels looked fine and bearings seemed fine when I rocked the wheel from the top. Pushing,bouncing on the rear bumper didn't cause the noise. Sad ending, the rear right tire gave out on the highway. Not repairable. I am thinking it may have been a sticky brake pad that caused the tire to overheat. My car is manual transmission so the emergency brake is used often. I will test that theory today when I get the chance by jacking up the car and seeing if there is rotational resistance on the spare. Hope your problem doesn't create as much pain.

For the OP check out rear suspension bushings n such, only thing im inclined to point you towards is a bad shock or wheel bearing, and I'd lean towards the shocks cuz wheel bearings have other failure symptoms. can get a free suspension inspection at Evan's if you're sans jack.

To the second poster, brakes wont make for tire failure. Though the systems interact, it ain't direct. There's no thermal transfer or correlation that'd cause tire failure unless you were straight up dragging your rear tire.
Without intent to be inflammatory with this sweeping statement, some folks don't inspect their tires enough and don't change em when they should. 10+ years past the DOT date, trash. Bald in the shoulders (under-inflation)? trash. Over-inflation (bald in center) yup.
Cheap off-brand tires with inconsistent rubber density are a problem too, but less so in our size range. Still, I wouldn't trust westlakes to hold up as long as the good stuff.

There's not a lot of stuff that can thunk in the rear of the car. Can certainly look for mechanical failure within the drum brakes, but that system is closed up in a drum for a reason: corrosion resistance/low maintenance.
:popc:
Hope none of this came off rough, it's been a long week.

Today I took out the rear shocks, spray all the rubber bushings I can see with silicon spray, re-installed the shocks back.
Been driving for a few hours since, no more clunking noise :thumbups:
Let's see how it goes.

strut and shock mounts make thunks when they slip, and man it's a really hard sound to trace :rotfl: seems like it resonates from everywhere but the problem area. I figure deterioration can do it, and I know first-hand lube can if its slick enough. Maybe a hard impact caused the strut to shift, or are we thinkin it's lose?If I were to guess, breaking stuff loose and re-torquing did the trick vs. the lube. lube can help seat stuff in its natural place but they actually need to be grippy to avoid goofiness.