I've got a 95 SE 5-speed w/ 105k miles. As far as my suspension goes I recently replaced front struts (OEM), I've got an FSTB.. and everything else is stock from the factory.

More recently the rear suspension of my maxima sounds like it's about to fall apart whenever I go over any reasonable sizes bumps, or especially when I go over small bumps in rapid succession (rail road tracks, brick roads, etc). It's LOUD. It sounds like somebody took a big can full quarters and strapped it to my rear suspension. It could also be described as metal against metal "chattering" like you chatter your teeth when you are cold. It's loud enough for me to hear it even with the radio on, and for people within 50 feet of me to look up to see what that noise was. It mostly seems to do it when my left side rear wheel is going over road irregularities, but I can sometimes hear it when only the right wheel is going over them... so I'm not sure.

I'm hoping that this isn't an expensive repair and hopefully is just something that came loose. But I was wondering if y'all had any idea what this could be, and is it something that commonly happens with Maximas?

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....sion+questions

Towards the bottom of the first post there is a section about if there is anything else you should change. Read that thread.

SuDZ

 

Inspect your rear suspension visually. Check for loose bolts/nuts.

Are you sure you didn't drop some 'coins' in the trunk?

 

LOL no I didn't drop any 'coins' pocket change or *other* in my trunk. Not enough room for the *other* even if I wanted to.
And besides that.. the sound is very very loud... when I said coins I really meant like a can full of coins... except amplified times 10.

SudZ, I didn't see any mention in there... they are all talking about aftermarket suspension stuff. Not OEM suspension making metal on metal "clanking" noises.

 

Make sure your emergency jack is secured tightly. If not, it will rattle in the bracket.

 

Actually I thought there was a small chance that might be it so I took that stuff out, and the problem still remains. It's an "external" sound for sure. I mean if you have the windows up you can hear it, it sounds like it's coming from outside the car. When you have the windows down it gets 5 times as loud and clear... something that was in the trunk would not get that much louder (if at all) when the windows were down vs up.

Help!

 

Brake Pads and Calipers will rattle as well. This is easy to spot, take your car over the same bumps that make it rattle while your stepping on the brakes. If your rattle is gone, your brakes are your problem.

I had a Honda that did this. It was the pins and anti rattle clips in the rear. Pins needed to be greased, and the anti rattle clips were replaced. Rattle gone!

 

Same thing happened when we changed out my buddy's suspension. We stayed up way too long working on the car and we forgot to tighten down the center bolt that attacheds the shock to the strut. We thought it was just random junk chattering in the trunk. but it was just loose bolts.

 

AND THE COOKIE GOES TO.... NJMAXSELTD!!!

Thanks bro, you hit the nail right on the head. I would have never guessed it was the brakes in a million years. There is this one dip in the road that I hit and every day and without fail it rattles like hell... today I sped up and then hit my brakes lightly as I went over it and not even a hint of the rattle. I guess now it's time to figure out how to replace/lube an "anti-rattle" clip. Actually I'm going in to have my clutch done next week... it sounds like a quick 10 min repair so I'll prolly ask my mechanic to take care of it as well.