Clunk/pop from rear end

[emac]

i had a similar noise from my 2011 laredo and it turned out to be the insulators wrapped around the upper most coils on the rear sprint had deteriorated

the upper spring coils are thinner giving the variable rate, and would smack together over bumps, i could see a wear mark , or clean area, as a test i jacked the rear up by the body

letting the suspension drop reducing the spring pressure and wedged some carpet strips between the first and second coil.

took it for a spin and no more noises, ive been meaning to do a proper repair, but 6 months later still all good.

worth considering, as i did upper shock mounts, shocks, stabiliser bar end links, emptied the luggage area remover spare tyre remove interior panels all trying to find this noise.

give it a go

[desertman]

Seems like this was a tow vehicle and some of the symptoms can be related rear diff bushes being worn. I'm getting some rattling/rumbling noises from the rear and at the last service I was told that these need replacing at a cost of around $800.

Cheers,

DM

[emac]

"Russc0123" and others PLEASE read my post.

i spent months trying to track down the clunking in the rear of my WK2

TRUST me unless your shocks or shock mounts are visibly had it, that it NOT the problem.

seriously this will take you minutes and no cost at all, isn't that worth it.

get on your back with a torch and get under the rear of your vehicle.

now shine that torch up into the top of the rear springs, IF the upper coils are thinner in cross section than the lower check if the insulation tubing is still intact, if not and likely it won't be then you have found your problem.

on short sharp bumps, pot holes etc the upper coils collapse on to each other causing the clunk, you may even be able to see a wear, or clean area.

now how you fix is up to you, new OEM springs, same problem will eventually return, try to wrap the upper coils, or fit after market coils without the variable rate.

DONE

it won't cost a cent to get under and have a look.

from my previous post i did this the hard way by searching forums.

i had the rear shock upper mounts off a dozen times, cleaned lubricated fabricated a packer, left the top plate off, finally bought new ones, still had the clunk, bought new Bilstein shocks still had the clunk replaced the stabilised bar end links still had the clunk.

stripped out the whole of the rear cargo area, still had the clunk.

it was so noticeable that a friends wife who has no interest in cars commented "what's that noise"

what led me to the springs was that the noise was much less noticeable when it rains

anyway don't take my word for it go waste your time with a dealer

but if you see anything of value in what ive said go get under the back of you car and have a look

im done to much typing i have to rest hahahah

[drover]

I just had a lookie at my old OE springs, they are just black painted steel though the only wear marks are where they fitted in the spring housing........... I have heard the carpet trick used many years ago for damping springs as it does work.............
The thing is with knocks and clunks from front or rear, the cause is wide and varied, it is always best to find the source yourself otherwise a workshop will cost you a monza and the usually solution is to replace everything.....
Putting the vehicle up on hoist or stands with a jack to apply various loads on each axle/hub while you lever various spots with a long tyre lever has always worked for me, sometimes a flogged shocky bush, others a slightly dicky ball joint, saved me heaps as the replace front drive hubs advice wasn't needed....... new torsion bar rubbers....

Emac is right though many comments are made on many forums not just here where the poster never reads the whole thread, just a few recent posts...........problem with these WK2's is they have evolved over the last 10 years that makes many variations underneath..............so year/model/engine is a must.

The pink bit is the bottom................

[emac]

good feed back, thanks Drover.

looking at your spring it doesn't appear to be a variable rate spring.

in my Laredo V6 the upper coils are smaller in diameter, designed i guess to soak up small bumps while the rest of the spring carries the load.

so what im banging on about may only apply to Laredo, or models with variable rate. ( easily determined by the plastic wrapping around the 3 upper most coils.)

as the wrapping/insulating fails so over short sharp bumps the thinner coils at the top collapse onto each other causing the noise.

thanks for the image and for showing the part number.

im going now to have to check my springs and see if i can get an image of the PN:

thanks again for the excellent feed back.
PS ok just looking at your stats you have a CRD so maybe the diesels have different at least rear spring, fronts are probably different also to carry the extra weight.

im guessing you replaced your rear springs to either raise the height or for towing??

do you recall if your car with the OEM springs was the same ride height as other models i.e. my V6 for instance ?

[drover]

Originally Posted by emac

good feed back, thanks Drover.

looking at your spring it doesn't appear to be a variable rate spring.

in my Laredo V6 the upper coils are smaller in diameter, designed i guess to soak up small bumps while the rest of the spring carries the load.

so what im banging on about may only apply to Laredo, or models with variable rate. ( easily determined by the plastic wrapping around the 3 upper most coils.)

as the wrapping/insulating fails so over short sharp bumps the thinner coils at the top collapse onto each other causing the noise.

thanks for the image and for showing the part number.

im going now to have to check my springs and see if i can get an image of the PN:

thanks again for the excellent feed back.
PS ok just looking at your stats you have a CRD so maybe the diesels have different at least rear spring, fronts are probably different also to carry the extra weight.

im guessing you replaced your rear springs to either raise the height or for towing??

do you recall if your car with the OEM springs was the same ride height as other models i.e. my V6 for instance ?

Going by the RVDS listings the petrol has the same base line height as the CRD Laredo but is about 200kg lighter, they do have different rated springs on the front that I do know not sure about the rear.
I changed mine because I find on all vehicles the OE suspension usually fails fairly quickly, my front end had sagged about 40mm in 50K km, so to replace it with factory was just asking for the same thing to happen, so after market gives me a bit of lift and won't sag away again..doing the whole lot means I won't have to revist it and its all in tune.......
If you want to look at what a vehicles dimensions were originally check this site, all lifts base their amount on these figures, thats why some say they achieved a 70mm lift, they didn't really just 70mm on their sagged set up...

https://myrta.com/rvd/searchRVD.do

[emac]

thanks for that,

so my front suspension has sagged 10mm
and the rear is up 3mm ( that could be my carpet mod

thanks

oh i noticed and JGC Jet quoted so that would answer someone else's post