advice needed 111s

[kerry11]

Hi all,
Looking to buy a 53 reg 111s car looks great only prob on test drive loud clunking noise from rear,
A mate said could be suspension or engine mounting from the sound of it, wondering if this was a common problem ??
any help appreciated.

[Scuffers]

kerry11 said:

Hi all,
Looking to buy a 53 reg 111s car looks great only prob on test drive loud clunking noise from rear,
A mate said could be suspension or engine mounting from the sound of it, wondering if this was a common problem ??
any help appreciated.

you mate is probably right, it's certainly not normal and I would want to know exactly what it is before considering buying it.

it might be something trivial, or something quite serious, either way, you need to know...

[kambites]

Shouldn't clunk. You'll get thuds from the rear suspension over particularly viscous bumps, but that should be all.

[braddo]

Have you tried driving any others? My experience was that a lot more suspension noise gets into the cabin compared to modern cars, especially over potholes or patchy asphalt. I was quite surprised but I believe it's normal.

[SeanyD]

As others have said, worth getting checked out. If you're driving along a smooth road or a motorway at speed, there should be no knocking sound. If however you're driving over pot-holey type roads, Elise suspension can be noisy/clunky compared to other cars. The first time you hit a real pot-hole you'll know about it, seems almost chassis-shattering, but you get used to it.

[kerry11]

I've driven 2 others but no sound like this one,
I was thinking if the rear toe link (common prob) was faulty would that cause the noise ??

[kambites]

kerry11 said:

I've driven 2 others but no sound like this one,
I was thinking if the rear toe link (common prob) was faulty would that cause the noise ??

It could be almost any rear suspension component. Elises do tend to wear their suspension surprisingly quickly - get it checked and if it needs work doing, haggle hard.

[Mr_C]

kambites said:

kerry11 said:

I've driven 2 others but no sound like this one,
I was thinking if the rear toe link (common prob) was faulty would that cause the noise ??

It could be almost any rear suspension component. Elises do tend to wear their suspension surprisingly quickly - get it checked and if it needs work doing, haggle hard.

Apart from the springs and dampers mine's all original and tight as a drum after 60k miles, and it gets driven hard.

[kambites]

Mr_C said:

kambites said:

kerry11 said:

I've driven 2 others but no sound like this one,
I was thinking if the rear toe link (common prob) was faulty would that cause the noise ??

It could be almost any rear suspension component. Elises do tend to wear their suspension surprisingly quickly - get it checked and if it needs work doing, haggle hard.

Apart from the springs and dampers mine's all original and tight as a drum after 60k miles, and it gets driven hard.

60k miles is not very far in general automotive terms.

[braddo]

SeanyD said:

chassis-shattering

Try saying that 3 times quickly while going along a rough road!!

Brad