Rear suspension question
 

When going over a pot hole or a speed bump in my tourer there is a thud at the back of the car. Is this a sympton of a broken spring? I have checked to see if there was anything loose in the spare wheel compartment

Quite likely yeah :(

.......or a bouncing exhaust :shrug:

Both my springs had snapped. Check carefully the colour code as I got orange springs as the passenger side was orange but drivers side was Brown.

I got spare new orange springs if your interested as my car should have brown according to sticker under rear seat

If your springs are ok (when you check them) it could be knackered shockers letting the wheel thump into the pothole that is making the thudding noise.

What sort of thump is it? Thumps from large objects like exhausts hitting the underside make quite a distinctive noise which is quite different to the sound you get from the suspension with a broken spring. This in turn is different to the sound of a knocking shocker. I know it's very difficult to explain verbally. Also does it do it when going over a particular type of bump? Big ones? Sharp ones? Speed hump size ones? Try getting an assistant to sit in the back with a hand on the floor and see if he can feel where it's coming from.

A broken rear spring rarely thumps, does it skip when going over a hole?

Things to check - rear drop links, anti roll bar bushes, shock absorbers and springs.
Also check the rear upper arm which holds the spring - they rot and can fail. :)

Thanks for all your replies the car is now booked in for investigation.

Thread moved to a more appropriate forum. Re-direct left in old. This may be the better forum as threads get ‘lost’ very quickly in the General Forum. ;)