Hey everyone,
I've been noticing a noise at my rear passenger wheel and I'm suspecting a suspension issue.
it began as a slight whine once in a while I thought was a bearing beginning to go, but the past few days especially has become noticeably worse.
it occurs over bumps and uneven road. It sounds like a soft rubbing or friction; or a spongy clunking. Spongy is how I would describe it. Took a sound clip but not sure how to add it if I can..
I looked under the car for what I could and there is hardly any rust except for the shock absorber itself and the sway bar end links. The end links look good with no splitting or leaking boots. Nothing loose. Bushings for the toe rod look good. There is no noticeable difference in height of the car.
My guess now is the shock absorber...
Any thoughts are of course much appreciated.

 

The mounts above the spring to the rear seats underside are clean with no rust.
Sorry this is noob, but I'm not sure what the round rusty 'bracket' is, and I'm not sure what piece the upper portion of the end link is connected to...

 

looks like the shock's bushing is worn (first pic). Did you also feel around for any looseness on the sway bar end link (pick 3)? Creaks are usually when the bushing rubber hardens up but I've also see springs make noises - particularly if they break off an end piece (common issue on the S40 Neds cars) There you'd get spring metal rubbing on the spring seats

 

Hey mt6127
I saw that bushing in the picture as well and double checked.. it was the wrong picture. (Absorber from driver side, and it is shot as well..) So, new shock absorbers soon regardless...
The end links have no looseness or play. A bit of rust but the wear is good.
I checked for a broken spring as well but they seem okay.
A friend believes it to be the spring mount rubber bushing at the top which I'm leaning towards as well.
The shock absorber is a quick fix in the driveway but the upper spring mount that goes to the underside of the rear seats is unfamiliar ground..
I'm worried I will need to do things I'm not sure of going in... Or, will it all just drop down with the car in the air and I just bolt new parts right back in? Again, loving the YouTube...
Again, I like to do as much of my own work as I can, not just to save money that I don't have but also because I enjoy it. However, if there IS a piece of broken spring at the top that I can't feel or see right now, anything I can do, or is that a trip to the shop?
Here is a pic of the shock I'm hearing the noise from.

 

upper shock mounts are pretty easy to replace - hardest part is moving the trunk liner out the way! You'll find two bolts then the shock's upper nut. If you are to replace, then you might as well throw in new shocks at the same time since you need to drop the shocks out to remove the mount.

 

That's the plan. Going to do shocks and upper mount for driver and passenger side next week. It seems like a pretty simple procedure.
whew... as much of a pain as it is when something unexpected goes bad, gotta be happy about simple parts that can just be swapped.
if it was a spring I'd be a little more bothered.
I'll consider this case closed, but next week when I put in the parts I will come back and finalize this thread.

Thanks MT