My bushings came with a zerk fitting to allow re-greasing. I bought a grease gun today and greased them. It seems to be marginally better but not gone. I have the Hotchis sways as well, does anyone know of replacement bushings that might be of a better design or higher quality?

 

I think the problem is only the inner 50% of the bushing gets grease. The other 50% is tight against the bar. I'm going to try and modify the bushings this coming week. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Well guys after a long process I have finally fixed my rear suspension noise. I previously greased the heck out of them (via the grease zerk) and it helped a little but there was still noise and it got worse very quickly.

Today I took off the bushings and cleaned them out. Then I once again greased the heck out of them. I wrapped the sway bar with teflon tape and re-installed the whole mess. It took me only about an hour, didn't even have to take the wheels off. Now the noise is essentially gone. If it comes back then it will be time for new bushings and the expensive grease that Hotchkis sells online.

 

Did you get this resolved?

 

Any update on the rear, right side THUD over a bump?

 

The fix for my car was to bore out the bushing slightly to make less binding. The issue is the bushings, NOT the endlinks like everyone thinks. The bushings are so tight that they limit that initial movement of the bar over very small slower speed bumps. Over larger bumps, the movement is a lot greater therefore there's no noise. The pop/clunk you hear is the endlink, but it's not because it's failing. The only problem with boring out the bushing is that the grease leaks out a bit quicker and you need to remove the bushing to adequately clean them and regrease them. I'm having to do this about every 6 months or so. No big deal.

 

Would installing an aftermarket sway bar and bushings solve the problem. Are you using stock sway bar bushings?

 

hi all,

stock 04 6mt sedan here, about 56K mile, but over the 48 month 48/60K bumper to bumper. yesterday, developed a very noticable clunk, passenger side rear. slow over bumps or slow and turning wheel back band forth to get some body roll. if the car is parked, i can get it from pushing down on passenger side bumper, bouncing.

thoughts? help? not looking forward to getting banged by the dealer. i am pretty good with diy, but some direction would be helpful.

thanks in advance.

 

Hey man,
The problem you are having is similar to what I had. I will list the symptoms I had and then what had happened to fix the problem.
I would get a single clunk noise (like metal on metal) when going up an incline at an angle, like one front wheel would go up first and then the second wheel would go up and then one real wheel. so both front wheels didn't go up the incline at the same time. The point where the body was flexing the most up the hill is where I heard the single clunk noise. The noise only happened going relatively slow up driveways and inclines and wouldn't only make the noise again one the car was flattened out and then went up another incline. I couldn't reproduce the noise be going up the incline and then reversing down the same path.
I initially thought it was something in the suspension making the noise so the car shop I had taken it to tightened all the suspension bolts in the rear end. Problem was still there. Then after going on a test drive with the tech at the shop, he was sure that the noise was comming from sun roof on the rear side of the vehicle. I picked up the car the next day and no more noise. The tech said that there was a loose bolt in the sunroof assembly that he had to tighten and it fixed the problem.
Hope this helps

 

Hello all,

I've noticed that my vehicle, 06 Coupe 42k, has this clunk noise too. It does sound like it is coming from the rear passenger side trunk area.

I have noticed that is usually happens on a turn, either up hill or uneven surface. Im guessing it is only happenning when there is some body flex as the noise does not happen on straight driving.

The car has no mods and is stock. So is this the endlinks or bushings on the rear sway bar? Or is it a loose bolt on the sunroof? I took out EVERYTHING (spare, jack, plastic trims) from my trunk and it is bare and the noise is still there.

Thanks for any help!

Also, this is a noob question, but what is that bar called that is in the trunk next to the rear speakers? The 350z has it exposed but the G35 does not.

 

TSB.. Rear axle problem? You should check