Rear clunk and squeak - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

solara002 · 08-21-2011, 07:14 PM

Hey everyone, my 02 Solara SLE clunks in the rear, il explain. Had a rear right clunk so i changed suspension with no name assembled kit. first it was fine then a few days later rear started squeeking so i completely removed the sway bar after breaking the bushing mount bolts in an attemp to change them. Clunk still remained. got the bushings and sway bar installed, redid the suspension install properly according to manual and greased all bushings, strut mount,spring seat. torqued sway links and 2 strut to hub bolts under load then torqued the upper strut mount nuts to spec. improved the noise but it still remains. all my suspension arms are stiff. WTF! maybe the new strut mounts suck? can i repair old stock mount and swap on the new kit? sway links are tight. still get random squeek and lots of clunking when going over bumps slow.

solara002 · 08-21-2011, 07:37 PM

Hey everyone, my 02 Solara SLE shakes randomly and progressively gets worse when it does ( only while moving, my engine sounds great). Ive done a bunch of research, have new tires balanced myself. All of my tierods, control arms and sway bar and links do not budge. if you read my other post yes i changed my suspension and no i have not aligned the car yet(more suspension tweeking to do yet). havnt done the job yet but it seems my front right brake may be the culprit. touched all the rims after car was shaking and sure enough i have one rim smoking hot! the sliders seems cooked and my caliper piston seal seamed melted. i hope this helps others diagnose their shake problem because it never occured to me that brakes can make you shake even when you been highway driving a while. How do i test caliper or rebuild it? or can defective sliders cause that problem and maybe i can leave the old calipers on? all my pads all around are still thick but they have so much kms on them??? and my rotor is rough. caliper pins first but id like to no if i need to order a caliper asap need it fixed and i dont wana ruin a new set of pads and rotor
PS i love solaras their great cars

littlebookworm · 10-05-2011, 04:04 PM

You've got two separate problems. The front caliper slide bolts rusting is a common problem, usually caused by not greasing them when the brake job was done. The caliper mount is probably shot. See if you can find a used set (caliper and mount) at a salvage yard. I just had to replace a rear one on my 05. Don't drive your car with a bad caliper mount. Your brakes are not working properly. That is a life-threatening risk. The clunking sound may be caused by your not installing the rear mounts properly. There are three studs on it, but the mounting plate is angled. You must make sure you install the plate with the studs in the correct holes so that the angle is correct. Otherwise, the struts will shift in the mount as you hit bumps, causing a clunking sound. Check your manual for the correct angle alignment. Hope this helps. Hy

solara002 · 10-26-2011, 06:41 AM

hey thanks littlebookworm!

the vibrations were from the front calipers, i cleaned them up put on new rings and boots on the pistons with new pins and bushings and shazam! no more vibration on highway,

Thanks i appreciate your concern i had no idea how dangerous it was to be driving!

The clunk stopped for at least a couple days before it came back i wonder if the angle could be off, i bought the full assembled kit and threw it in...there was only one way to fit it in so that the strut would align properly to bolt in.

do you mean that the upper mount may have been installed incorrectly? does the mount not fit only one way on the upper part off the spring or does it need to be oriented a certain way?

littlebookworm · 10-26-2011, 09:08 AM

The spring can be incorrectly installed in the mount itself , but that is unlikely because is a slot in the mount which lines up the edge of the spring. What can be installed incorrectly is the entire assembly in the car. The top of the strut mount is slanted. There is a mark on the mount which indicates the outward edge of the mount. Look at the top of the mounted strut, the three bolts which come through the chassis. Compare the two sides. The center nut and stud of the strut should be centered in the hole in the upper chassis mount. The three bolts of the strut mount can be installed incorrectly, which would cause the strut to shift on bouncing, causing a knocking sound and the car pulling to one side. It's not an uncommon error, especially if one is in a hurry or unfamiliar with doing struts. If the center stud and nut are not centered in the hole, that would indicate that that strut isn't bolted in correctly. You'd need to drop the hub assembly, remove the strut assembly and turn the top half of the strut assembly to mount it correctly. Then just twist the lower part of the assembly to line up the lower part correctly. Remember to support the hub assembly when you disconnect the strut so that the axle doesn't pull out of the transmission. I had a floor jack under the hub and a bungy cord holding the top vertical. It took me about 20 minutes to make that correction on my Solara after I mis-installed the upper strut end, and it took me about 2 hours to get the axle back into the transmission when I let the hub slip down. I had to disconnect the lower control arm and the torsion bar to get it back in. Hope this helps.

littlebookworm · 10-30-2011, 01:47 PM

I was just wondering if you checked the strut installation and if that was the cause of the noise from your strut. Hy

solara002 · 11-03-2011, 10:26 AM

i bet i did install it wrong as i never checked the mounting surfaces matching or twist the assembly to fit it right. no i havnt got to it yet excuses excuses i just bought a 99 solara too been trying to get it ready for etest got leaks everywhere!

i will make sure to post if that solves the problem hopefully it is and can help others too, probably in the next 2 weeks im pretty busy