The saga continues regarding my rear suspension clunking noises. I finally got the car over to Nissan after 2 other local shops could not diagnose the problem.
After 3 days in Nissan's service department they concluded the clunking was coming from the HKS coilover shock. Time for a rebuild?
I'm about to remove the rear shocks and send them to HKS for a revalve and reinstall the stock shocks and springs when I discovered that the OE rear springs come with rubber isolation mounts capping the top and bottom of the springs.

Question: should these rubber caps have been reinstalled on the HKS springs during their initial install? Their big caps and I have to figure they're there to help quell road vibration (not that the HKS springs without them deteriorated the ride too much). Are they suppose to be removed when a set of coilovers are installed?
I'm hoping someone on this site has done their own suspension and can shed some light on my dilimma. Thanks!

 

I think I answered my own question. I went ahead and pulled the HKS rear springs from their perches and reinstalled the lower rubber piece (can't reinstall the upper one beacause the height adjustment collar is there).I then put the HKS springs back in and took the car for a spin, looking for as much broken pavement as I could fined. I think that did it! After 3 months of driving around with a nasty clunking noise (I was beginning to hate my car) and multiple attempts to fix it, I think I finally found the culprit. I LIKE MY CAR AGAIN!!
Why am I telling you all this? I have know idea. All anyone ever talks about in this forum are wheels anyway.
Have a nice day!

 

I always wondered if people didn't reinstall those pieces when doing an install. I mean of course its going to clunk in the back if there is only metal to metal contact. I know in the Tein Basic install you use that large rubber piece in the back. If you guys aren't using that in the back, then I totally understand noise. Here is a pic of the Tein Basic install:

 

That's exactly it! I didn't reinstall the upper rubber insert because I thought it would interfer with the adjustable spring collar and severly limited the amount of spring travel after you lower the car to a desired ride height. It's interesting to me that Tein recommends reinstalling BOTH rubber inserts. The bottom one alone raised my suspension approx. 10mm..
King Tut..thanks for the diagram.

 

I have both rubber inserts bottom and top of the spring and still get the clunk noise in the rear passenger side.

 

If you want a upper isolation bushing, but don't want the thickness of the oem part you do have another route. Part number 9.6101, second from the top. 3/8" thick vs 1"+ on the oem part.

http://www.suspension.com/COILS_SPRING_ISOLATORS.html

Beyond that, the upper shock mounts should be checked, and all other nuts and bolts involved in the install. I'd also check out the locking collars too.

 

I'm looking at pulling the shock out and driving on the spring to see if the nose persists.

 

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....08#post2453608

Solution is on post #7 by Z talker which I quote.