Bouncy clunk / rattle from rear of car - FIXED

[_jal_]

Just for info, I had a rattle that I heard only at slow speeds going over big bumps - like speed bumps on residential streets. I wouldn't hear it at high speeds. I'd hear it only when the suspension rebounded but not on the jounce. In other words, I wouldn't hear it when I first hit the speed bump, but I'd hear it on the back side of the bump after the struts had extended. Sounded like someone dropping a superball in the trunk. It started coming from the left side, but then it seemed like it was also on the right side. I couldn't tell. The car was 3 days old when I first heard it on December 19, 2016. MS60

I took it to the SC and they ordered a new left rear strut. The replaced it but then called me and told me they hear it from the right side too. I was very skeptical because it seems like a weird mode of failure to begin with, but it's even weirder to have it happen to two struts. But they overnighted another strut for the right side and replaced that one too.

All better now!

 

[bishoppeak]

Coil or air suspension?

 

[scottm]

Bad lot of struts if both were affected. Or they might have just under-tightened bolts on the struts during car assembly.

Expecting others near your date of manufacture to have same issue, or at least more likely... when was your car assembled?

 

[_jal_]

Coil suspension.

Assembly was December 5-9, 2016 (thereabouts). They said they checked "suspension torque," but I'm not sure if that means they checked all the fasteners or what. It was weird, like I said, that it only happened on the rebound and not the jounce. And if I was going 40 and hit a bump, I didn't hear it. I should have put it up on the lift and looked, but it was like the boot on the shock absorber was getting hung up on the spring or something. It was definitely those struts though.

I live in downtown Chicago and we have these big speed bumps all over the residential neighborhoods and in alleys. If I lived in the suburbs where there are nothing but luxurious, smooth, well-maintained roads, I'm not sure I ever would have noticed it.