Jim Spahr

I have a 1996 Lumina Sedan with 74k miles on it. I hear a clunking noise at low speed-- up to 10 mph--- which goes away over 10 mph. The 96 has struts in the rear. The noise is definitely coming from the rear passenger side. The tires are fairly new Michelin's. What could it be and how to test for it? Hub bearings, separated tire, strut noise? Suspension noise such as trailing arms? If I jack up the rear wheel and spin it, should I be able to hear a bad bearing? How do I test for the different problems? TIA, Jim.

Jim Spahr

Mystery solved. The 'bounce test' said nothing. The spin test was quiet. We put the Lumi up on my neighbor's lift. There was no play in the rear wheel hub's on either side. Then he could see that the right rear McPherson strut lower spring seat was split and coming out of the 'pocket'. That was causing the noise in the right rear. The front struts are gone, ie worn out, and the rear's are almost gone. So rather than just replace the lower spring seat, we might as well go ahead and replace all four of the struts. Any recommendations on best struts? I keep hearing KYB GR-2 and Monroe. Anyone know of a Quick Strut or Easy Strut replacement? All the sites I have checked don't list one.

Jim Spahr

I ordered from RockAuto the following parts for the rear of my 96 Lumi. two KYB GR-2 struts, two KYB bellows with bumpers, two MOOG Coil Springs, and two MOOG coil spring insulators. IOW I ordered everything new except the top bearing plate. I hope and trust the old ones are good. Another note: I know that Moog is now a four letter word on this forum and others. I hear their quality has taken a nose dive. I nope it isn't so because they were the only ones to offer these parts. As the blind man once said, we'll see. Total was 272.77 for all of the above including shipping. They shipped today.