Q&A

 Master

If the noise is not in the shock absorber I wonder if one of the sway bar end links is the source of the noise. Perhaps disconnect the end sway bar links and secure them out of the way prior to driving the car to see if the noise goes away.
If someone bounces the car up and down (without getting injured) could you locate the noise.
I forget if that car has rear disc brakes, I have seen several cars have worn brake guide pins causing a noise from the rear, I've taken them off and packed the guide pin/sliders with brake grease to see if the noise changed or went away.

I have the same issue and have been living with it for years. Toyota has a Tech. bulletin titled "Rear suspension Thump Noise" SU002-06. The fix is to replace rear upper supports & rear shock absorbers with updated ones. Since my car was past warranty they wanted to charge me for the work. I declined.

My 2002 solara has been making a rear noise for awhile. It always sounded like the exhaust but my husband (who is a mechanic) couldn't find anything loose. He thought perhaps rear struts but the local repair shop wanted over 800.00. We said no. Last weekend we determined that the rear spoiler was loose and was rattling. He plans to take spoiler off and put some sort of cushion between spoiler and car. This noise was driving us batty as we could not determine if it was passenger or drivers side....turns out it was both. The spoiler has no bolts on the far outside to keep it from coming loose.