A mate of mine has an 05 Prodrive STI with not very many miles on the clock, he's complaining of a clonk from the rear end when he pulls away.

He took me out in it tonight and typically couldn't get it to do it

I've had a good feel underneath, the only thing that concerns me slightly is the apparent amount of movement in the rear diff with the handbrake applied. From what I can tell the handbrake locks on the prop or the centre diff some place on these models?

If I grab the drive flange on the front of the rear diff there's about 5 to 10 degrees of movement, is this normal?

Also with the handbrake applied and the car on the ground I'm able to turn the rear wheel forward and backward a small amount {again about 5 to 10 degrees} with a noticeable clonk when changing direction, again is this normal?

Assuming the above is normal where else should we be looking for causes of clonking?

many thanks

 

What appears to be a fair amount of movement is pretty normal but unless you really know how much there should be, it's difficult to judge if it's excessive.
I had a similar problem on my 99MY when only 1800 miles old and had to have a new rear diff. fitted.
Does it knock as you reverse? or whine excessively when reversing?
JohnD

 

my 05 sti has a definite klonk from the rear when you launch it, I assumed it was normal - perhaps its not !

 

This is more apparent when pulling away slowly.. though it oddly seems to have gone for the time being :S

Anyone know if it would cost me anything just to get it look over seeing as its under warrenty??