I'm having a very annoying problem that's primarily coming from right rear area of the car. I get a rattle and sometimes more of a rattle + clunk that can be pretty constant depending on the road, this happens when there's vibration to the rear like if the road is rough or lots of cracks in the road. You can usually hear it if you get a bump as well but is it's worst when just driving straight and having a road that's not very smooth. The sound really sounds like the hatch isn't closed the whole way but that is the case.

I have a Hotchkis rear sway bar set on the middle setting, that's the only modification to the suspension, and I've had that on now for months with 0 noise from it. If I take a turn there's no noticeable noise though if you start rapidily moving the car right to left to create roll you can hear some noise back there but nothing like the constant noise I hear just driving straight.

I first thought sway bar but also thought it's odd it would all the sudden act up, but I pulled the wheels and checked everything and nothing has come loose, there's no play in the end links or anything else. I did check torque on all the bolts and confirmed it's still nice and greased up as well. No signs of wear or where something would be rubbing either, I looked for this very closely and can't see a thing.

The next step was to take it to the dealership, as soon as they saw the rear sway bar that's where they went and are convinced that's the culprit. They believe it's the connection to the end link that's causing the sound, even though they confirmed there's no play in it and it's torqued correctly. Basically what I have to do now is install the stock one back before they'll do anything else. I mentioned the hatch as a possible issue but they believe it's the sway bar and I think checked the hatch anyway.

Before doing that I wanted to get some thoughts on this, anything I can try to confirm or even make that work. The dealership also mentioned the other option is getting aftermarket end links, but it seems odd I'd have to do that with just the sway bar. Any input would be great!

 

Just to add to this, I contacted the manufacturer of the rear sway bar (Hotchkis) and they said the bar is 100% designed to work with the factor end links and there is no need for aftermarket. They also agreed that if everything is tight on the connections and there's no play they don't see how that could be making the rattle.

 

Under warranty? Start there. Just saying because it is hard to diagnosis your problem over the interwebs and their are people who get paid to work on cars.

 

Sounds like the noise I had when the end link connection started to slip on my Whiteline bar. It was still tight, but it would slip. It was hard to find and fixed it by just cranking the nut down tighter. Just my experience.

 

Porthos: it is under warranty and I took it to the dealership as per the first post. They won't do anything else because of the aftermarket part. If I put the factory one back in and it's still there they'll do it. I want to see if there are any other suggestions before going through that hassle.

Eddie: I did crank on those connections and they're as tight as I can get them. I had the mechanic at the dealership remove them and do the same but it's still there. Did your issue go away completely once you tightened them up?

 

Yes, it went away.
What about the bar clamps or the shocks? Sorry that is about all can come up with from here.

 

All are tightened to the recommended torque specs and the mechanic said everything seemed good to him as well, though I can't confirm he actually checked anything or not.

I'll probably pull the wheels again tonight and just crank down on those end link connections to the sway bar again, tighter than the specs, and see if there's any change. It's really rattling so I'd expect to see some sort of evidence of wear or movement on one of the parts but not seeing anything like that.

Hate these types of problems

 

I know what you mean. Mine showed up a few days before a track day. Last thing I wanted was to go to the track with the car falling apart. Good luck with it.

 

Just wanted to follow up on this issue and that it is now fixed. Eddie was correct, it was the connection from the sway bar to the end link on the opposite side of where the noise sounded like it was coming from.

Both myself and the mini mechanic focused on the wrong side and both checked all connections. However, I never took full load off the rear end but I figured the mechanic would have it on the lift and would. I ended up jacking the rear of the car up and taking the load off then when I check the end link connections again one was able to be tightened a very small amount...just enough to cause the issue.

After tightening that up the sounds has completely gone away.

 

 

I had the exact same issue, found this thread, and now the noise is gone. Thanks guys.

 

Thank you for this thread!!!! I had the same exact issue with my NM endlinks!!