POP goes the left rear.
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 29,937
Likes: 22
St. Jude Donor '03-'04
Cruise-In 1-2-3-4-5 Veteran
Still looking for anyone who's got a clue about my rear-end "POP!" 
When I'm driving, and have to brake fairly hard, there is a very loud "POP!", only one, coming from right behind the driver's seat - left rear wheelwell. It sounds like something thumping a fiberglass tub - it's not a metallic sound.
When I load the rear suspension up with hard braking, it's "POP!" sometimes followed by a softer pop or two, and I can feel it in my butt. Repeated hard braking sets it for a while - I can go BRAKE (POP!) BRAKE (Pop!) BRAKE (pop!) BRAKE (quiet), but when I accelerate away, it will be back at the next hard stop.
When the car is put up on a jack, or on a lift, when the weight comes off the suspension, something unloads with the same loud pop. But I can't find it (I haven't had a shop go looking for it yet.)
I have absolutely no unusual tire wear on my left rear tire. I was rear-ended at a traffic light about a year and a half ago, just had to get my bumper cover repainted - she hit me square on the license plate a low speed.
The noise is there even when the driver's door is open when I stab the brakes.
The black paint is flaking off of the body bracket that mounts the upper and lower control arms on the left side, but the paint is not flaking off on the right. But all of the bracket bolts and spindle bolts check tight with a torque wrench.
Anyone?
When I'm driving, and have to brake fairly hard, there is a very loud "POP!", only one, coming from right behind the driver's seat - left rear wheelwell. It sounds like something thumping a fiberglass tub - it's not a metallic sound.
When I load the rear suspension up with hard braking, it's "POP!" sometimes followed by a softer pop or two, and I can feel it in my butt. Repeated hard braking sets it for a while - I can go BRAKE (POP!) BRAKE (Pop!) BRAKE (pop!) BRAKE (quiet), but when I accelerate away, it will be back at the next hard stop.
When the car is put up on a jack, or on a lift, when the weight comes off the suspension, something unloads with the same loud pop. But I can't find it (I haven't had a shop go looking for it yet.)
I have absolutely no unusual tire wear on my left rear tire. I was rear-ended at a traffic light about a year and a half ago, just had to get my bumper cover repainted - she hit me square on the license plate a low speed.
The noise is there even when the driver's door is open when I stab the brakes.
The black paint is flaking off of the body bracket that mounts the upper and lower control arms on the left side, but the paint is not flaking off on the right. But all of the bracket bolts and spindle bolts check tight with a torque wrench.
Anyone?
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 29,937
Likes: 22
St. Jude Donor '03-'04
Cruise-In 1-2-3-4-5 Veteran
Re: (jiml94)
Okay, good news and bad news, team!
The good news is, the pop apparently was coming from the rear upper shock mounting bracket.
The bad news is, I overtorqued one of the bolts and snapped the head clean off.
The good news is, the car does not pop with that missing bolt. The bad news is, of course, that my left rear shock bracket is only held on by one bolt at the moment. :eek:
So tomorrow (Tuesday) I'm going down to the dealer and get some new bolts, then pull the fragment and pop in a new bolt. Meanwhile...I'm driving around very...VERY easily...
~Matt
The good news is, the pop apparently was coming from the rear upper shock mounting bracket.
The bad news is, I overtorqued one of the bolts and snapped the head clean off.
The good news is, the car does not pop with that missing bolt. The bad news is, of course, that my left rear shock bracket is only held on by one bolt at the moment. :eek:
So tomorrow (Tuesday) I'm going down to the dealer and get some new bolts, then pull the fragment and pop in a new bolt. Meanwhile...I'm driving around very...VERY easily...
~Matt
