Was checking postings, but didnt see this one. I had u joints and trans mount changed in past year (because of thud from back end) and last week had my buddy change shocks and struts at his garage (which were the originals), and I still get a thud from the back end over some small around town bridges where the car goes up, over, and down (and thud) from the rear. I think its when the rear drops away from the car. Definately not enough suspension travel to come from the shocks.

One new rear shock must bad (passenger rear), blasted thing is squeaking loudly when driving, sound is fairly loud inside rear passenger side of the car, the bigger the bump, the less the squeak however. Really rage inducing I must admit after 20 minutes. Squeaks more in left hand gradual turns. Now it creaks from same side when backing out of a driveway and rear slowly drops towards road. Had shock tightened to make sure it was not loose. Gotta have my shop check it out. The 3 days of solid NJ rain seems to have quieted down the squeaking oddly enough.

136,000 miles

The shocks usually wont make any noise. A poly bushing will. If you have and poly bushings in the rear,like control arms,loosen the bolt and spray some lube in there and tighten it back up. I would also check the exhaust for clearance and that all the hangers are still hooked up. That could be the clunking noise.

I have to agree with Tyler, if there are any poly bushings in the rear of the suspension, try spraying WD-40 on them to see if that solves the problem. I'm not a fan of poly bushings except under some circumstances--like when the car will be doing dragstrip duty, and even then, there are better bushings.

On the LCAs, check to see if GM still sells the 1LE bushings--they are far better than the OEM stuff and way better than poly for the LCAs. Problem with poly bushings is that they will stick then break loose making a bunch of noise at that time. They really can't be lubed properly, since poly is not compatible with steel. I like the GM graphite impregnated, cloth lined poly sway bar insulator bushings and the GM white poly swaybar end link bushings, but that is about it. Used a Hotchkiss panhard bar with greasable poly bushings and never had any squeeks from it, but would have preferred that one end had been a heim joint.

Sometimes shocks come with poly bushings and I think that is a bad idea. Poly bushings don't conform and don't really rebound and that means that the shocks are always loose.

Thanks for the info guys. Gonna look at it Saturday.

ALSO, I received a letter from General Motors today confirming the horrible stuff I have been hearing about the Pontiac division. Too band I dont have $129,000, I could buy the 8.8 litre Year One Bandit Edition 1977/78 TA

Huhhh.....had my buddy change the shock, he wasnt happy with the way it felt. No more squeaking. He used AC Delco (nice). The same day I drive over a rail road tracks lift in the roadway at 40mph and hear/feel a monster "THUD", felt like the transmission. Odd, it doesn't bang when shifting, hopefully this is my thud fix. Going back in a few days with my official GM trans mount that I have in storage. Unless its a GM, it only lasts about 1 year as I find out after about 4 of them. Original lasted 8 years. Still hear rattling in the rear. Was messing with the hatch lid, and can hear what might be the metal rattling sound coming from the electric lock area if you shake it. The roads around here are like washboards. This is frustrating. Tried some WD40 in the lock. Will see what happens when I return to the garage for the thud.

Just updating my topic. Still had horrible thud/slam from rear of car when going over dips, like the rear was slamming under the car. Seemed to be getting more frequent. SO, had my bud change the rear springs today which were the originals with new Genuine GM springs and we noticed the rubber stops on the frame just over the rear axle were gone on both sides. Musta been slamming there. Hope this is it for a while, good old New Jersey has me back out of work once again and the cash flow is limited.