Loud clunk from rear only turning left.

[premier]

Hi. I am having an issue with a 71 280sl. When I turn left there is a harsh clunking sound from the rear. The more I turn the worse it gets. I've been under the car and would expect to find something loose but nothing can be seen? Any ideas? Thanks

[Shvegel]

Try jacking up the rear. And pushing and pulling on the wheels in and out. Try turning the wheel while pushing and pulling as well.   Sounds like maybe a wheel bearing might be going bad or the sliding sleeve on the right axle is going bad.  When you are going left you are pushing in on the right wheel bearing and pulling out on the left.

[scoot]

To to the rear of your car (when it is not hot) and shake your exhaust tips left and right.  Is it your muffler banging on something?

[Tom]

Perhaps a failed center differential mount.  Can be accessed in the trunk area.  See pictures and explanation at the bottom of the page of the following link:

http://www.190slgroup.com/tech/230sl/02_230sl.htm

[Pawel66]

I had a clunking noise from the right wheel while turning left. It was rhythmical noise matching wheel turns. The reason was, as Shvegel is sugesting, the axial (in-out) play in the right wheel bearing - the special one, discussed here in a lot of posts. On turning left the wheel was pushed too much in, the wheel bolts were touching the handbrake shoes assembly that was, by the way, a bit lose. Bearing replacement fixed the issue. As the seats for the wheel bolts in the rims are worn over time, I figured the bolts may be sitting a bit deeper than the design would suggest, so I also did some grinding of the bolts (1mm) to make them a bit shorter, just in case.

Once before I had a case that the handbrake shoes assembly just got lose (one of the springs holding it came out of its slot) and was also making noise. Removing the rear wheel, brake caliper etc. was an easy job even for me. So I could do a simple fix.

[Bonnyboy]

I had a loud clunk coming from under my car and it turned out to be loose mounting bolts on one of the brake calipers

[Khurram Darugar]

Engine rebuild and subsequent correct mounting/placement means that the exhaust is now hitting the body.   I notice it more on the left turns.  It took me a while to figure it out, as it really only does it over bumps..... when the exhaust gets a shake, so initially I thought it might be suspension  I'm hoping the my local guy can adjust bend it a bit, its only been in the car a year or so.