Firm

My 96 Firebird (base, 3.8L, auto) with about 50,000 miles has been making a clunk from the left rear for awhile now. Sharp bumps seem to cause it the most. The car is my winter beater/daily so recently I've been driving on a lot of rough snow covered roads, so it seems to be getting a little worse.

Back in the summer when I began noticing the noise I changed the rear shocks and springs thinking that they were probably at the end of their life. It improved the ride a bit, but the clunk didn't change.

Next I inspected the sway bar end links and bushings, they all appear to be in pretty good shape, so I don't think they are the issue.

The rear end of this car is pretty basic so I don't think their is much else that could cause it other than maybe the control arm bushings? or maybe the panhard bar?

What do you think? I hate replacing unnecessary parts.

Also, if it is the control arm bushings, is the replacement as simple as bolt on/off the control arm and have the new bushings pressed in?

boostit5.3

iTrader: (3)

i had a similar clunk and it was that the bolt for the passenger side lower control arm was slightly loose and slightly smaller than the mounting hole in the car. i put in some founders performance lower control arms and tightened the **** out of them and the car doesnt clunk no more! it could also be your bushings though, which would have to be heated up and knocked out. but for $130 bux you can get some founders performance lower control arms and tubular pan hard bar, and you could just bolt it all in and have a better ride!

98silvermaro

iTrader: (8)

mine did the same thing on my driver side of my car and my control arm bushings were completely wore out

Latch

iTrader: (8)

I had to replace my control arm bushings as well, they would squeak and clunk over bumps. My dad and I were able to do it without a press, however it required some creativity to say the least.

Firm

Sounds like a pretty common issue. I'll order up some aftermarket replacements and change them once the weather warms up.

Anybody have any issues with alignment (thrust angle) after changing these?