tick / pop noise from rear shock mount
 

For a few years i've had an occasional noise from the rear of the car. It sounded like there were two pieces of metal that had wet paint between them that would make a pop / tick noise when they seperate... basically a stick slip sort of noise.
I finally tracked down where it was coming from and want to share with the group.
It was the upper shock mount at the rear, there's a convoluted rubber bit right around the shock shaft @ the top that rests on the vehicle frame. I hung my head into the trunk with the trim removed and that moves up and down just a little bit when the shock moves - and it was making the noise when hitting a bump.
I had not attributed it to hitting a bump since the rear bumps are far more isolated than the front and the timing just didn't fit to figure out it was suspension noise and not the chassis / trim / window flexing somewhere.

I fixed mine with some cloth between the rubber and the vehicle frame. Now that I figured out that fixed the noise i'm going to seal it better with some foam or something to prevent moisture from sitting there.
In the midst of figuring that out, i'm suprised to see there's a decent air gap between the shock mount and the frame, i'm suprised that more salt & crap didn't sit in that little space and cause corrosion problems.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the post. I am having a similar problem and I would like to know a little more about your solution. Did you unscrew only the two bolts in the wheel well or did you also have to take out the bolt from inside the trunk? my car is still under warranty and I am debating whether the dealer will fix the problem If I described the solution or if it's easy enough to do myself?

You can do it yourself easily, if yours is as repeatable as mine, you can verify that's where the noise is coming from by pulling out the trim in the trunk and hanging your head back there with the seats down with someone else driving. I put my hand right on the top of the shock when going over bumps and it was very obvious that it moving is where the noise was coming from.

The bolt inside the trunk... do you mean the one that's on the top of the shock? - No, that didn't need to be touched at all.
I jacked up the car, removed the rear wheels, then one at a time supported each rear spring just enough to get weight off the suspension to get the lower shock bolt out easily. Then removed the two nuts holding the top of the shock in place - BTW, those are covered in dirt & crap so it takes a bit of time if you're unscrewing by hand tools, clean them first & use oil :)
I still have just a piece of rag in there, i'll be getting to foam soon - possibly when I replace the shocks.
Let me know if you have any other q's. Or if you get the problem fixed.