No screw. Just hit em with a hammer, or 3lb mini sledge (eliminates any possible resistance :D). Pop the new ones in. What sucks is when someone screws up the jack points and then just lifts from the metal underneath... and bends it. Then you have to spend time with pry bars and the like to straighten it before putting the new lift points on. Been there on multiple bimmers. :rolleyes:

Definitely a case of thread hijack! :)

I wonder if the OP ever got a resolution from his “old school” mechanic.....

Unfortunately, I am still having to drive with the annoying clunk as the car is my daily drive but next week I can pinch my wife's car as she is off work for the week. My car is booked in for major investigatory inspection to find the clunk and fixing it, a full service and its annual MOT inspection. So fingers crossed all will be solved soon.

BUT

I have a question, as I remember when I used to drive Mitsubishi Shoguns (UK version of the Pajero or Montero) the parking brake was a drum brake, but the normal brakes were disc (rotors) and pads...... are the e70 the same or does the electronic hand brake somehow operate the rear pads?

There is a reason for asking..... yesterday, I parked the car, 5 minutes later, I got back into the car, selected reverse, pressed the parking brake to disengage and the brakes didn't release, selected drive, brakes released, selected reverse and all was good..... if there are drum brakes with shoes, the clanking noise could easily be a shoe that has come loose and maybe catching on a rotating piece, I imagine that the noise that a loose shoe would make a similar noise.

I am prepared for a hefty bill, not looking forward to it, but if that is what it takes for another 40k+ miles of relatively trouble free motoring, then it is worth paying.

did you ever upload a recording of the sound?

if you can't do the tape test you can unbolt the sway bar links to confirm they aren't the problem. also; sway bar is tied to the 'frame' with 4 stretched to yield bolts; most often people don't re-install those properly and if they get loose they make a TERRIBLE RACKET; (i know from experience); that is very much a clunking vs. tapping noise.

Silly me i took off the stiffening plate and just hand-tightned the bolts to make a quick run to the car parts store, holy hell it was like somebody hitting the bottom of the car with a 3# hammer every little bump in the road!

E70 parking brake is as you describe, a drum inside the rear rotors. Likelyhood of something coming undone in there is fairly low. The items in there are bog standard brake technology and should stay put.

Given that the noise relates to road speed my guess would be on something to do with the drive shaft or an axle shaft.

One other thing that goes bad on some E70s are the front top spring perches but that noise would not be speed related.

Sorry for not recording the noise, the noise was very intermittent and of course in the UK we can be stopped and fined for just holding a phone when driving, let alone actually using it. Anyway, the good news is that the fault has been found...... the drivers side/off side front coil spring was fractured/broken.

Aaaah, yes, I have seen posts on that before. Didn't think that would make a clunking noise in rhythm with wheel rotation but it is possible of course. Congrats on locating the issue and thanks for reporting back.

Glad you found it!


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Awesome it was found and "oh yay" one more thing to consider next time.

As already mentioned, when the car had it's annual MOT, the major faults/failure found were with the front right (drivers side) spring and a ball joint, which have now been replaced. There was also an advisory which were the front pads and discs (rotors) as they were found to be coming close to their sell by date. These have been replaced as it was a case of do them now rather than having to return again in a few weeks time. I also had a full service done, all fluids and filters etc..... hopefully it now has a full bill of heath.
As cars go, this has been one of my better choices. I bought it 3 years ago (well it will be next month), there have been a few issues that have cropped up, but nothing really major, a parking brake issue where the brakes wouldn't release, but the most frightening being the recent clunking, I was so worried that it was going to be the transfer box or something just as expensive, fingers crossed I have got away quite lightly. Other than usual wear and tear service type items, my only other niggle has been the A/C system that has never really worked as it should, but is on the list to be sorted before we head across Europe in the summer (if we are allowed to).
Anyway, hopefully this will be the end of the clunking, if it isn't, then I will let you know. Thank you for all of your input with trying to help me solve my issue.

Feel free to Hi-Jack as much as you want :D:D:D