If you jack up a corner of the car try to move the tire in and out, or side to side (like press on the top of the side wall, and on the otherside pull it). See if there's any play on any of the 4 wheels.

 

I have been in a similar situation. Open the hatch, look at the top of the shock towers. Compare both sides. If 1 or both interior carpet panels are raised then you will need new shock mounts. Here's what mine looked like after removing the interior:

I do have after market coilovers that are stiffer then the stock SVT set so I don't see why your mounts would fail. Even my situation was quite unusual I think.

 

I will check out the tire wobble and the strut moutn. I had the strut mount fail on my old Escort and it made a similar clunking sound now that you mention it.

 

put a floor jack under the front LCA's (one at a time). Position the jack as close to the wheel as you can. Lift close to the ball joint. Raise that corner up so that you can slide a piece of wood (2x4) between the tire and the ground. Jack it up just a little more so that you can pit a prybar between the wood and the tire. Use the pry bar to lever the wheel up and down. This replicates hitting a bump. on one corner. Use a flashlight and look at the action in the ball joint, tie rod end, and end link joints. I suspect you will see the ball joint moving up and down. The joint should never compress and expand, it should always stay as it is. If you see it rising and falling as you lever, the ball joint is bad.

 

I had a similar problem. When one rear wheel went through a pot-hole, the car felt like moving side-ways in the rear. The rear control arm was replaced and problem disappeared

 

I found one problem on the front of the car today that is probably contributing to the bulk of the wobble. The front sway bar end links have about a 16th of play in them on each connection. There is still a clunk from the rear of the car when I shake it, but I haven't found that yet. Atleast I found one of the problems though.

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

 

I finally replaced the sway bar links and the problem is completely gone. The rear end of the car has stopped the "wobbling" and the noise has gone away.

 

Sorry to necropost, and I'm not even sure if you're still on this forum, but I'm having the same issue on my '06 and would like to do this repair. I just want to clarify -- it was the FRONT sway bar links that you replaced, and the wobbling on the rear of the unit went away?

(is there even such a thing as a rear sway bar link?)

 

Yup!
http://focus.c-f-m.com/prothane20mmrearswaybarbushingsandendlinksfor00-06focusexcsvt.aspx

 

OK, so there are rear sway bar links, and I see that they're totally different from the front ones... I'm still curious as to whether a problem on the front sway bar can cause the "fishtail" motion on the rear. No idea how sway bars work.

 

You said it right. When I replaced the front sway bar end links, the back of the car stopped wobbling when I went over bumps. Also, about 75% of the "clunking" I heard went away. A few months after I did the links, I replaced the struts and shocks and the car has been like brand new since. I can't believe I held off so long on replacing the struts/shocks, the car rides much much nicer now (and never bottoms out on speed bumps like it used to.)

 

Same thing happened with my ST. Sway Bar links went bad. Not a cheap but not an expensive fix either.

 

Were you having the same problem as rurockn and I, the wobble of the rear end when going over uneven bumps? Was it the front or rear sway bar links you replaced?

I figure, based on instructions I've seen on this site, that I can replace the front sway bar links without too much of an issue. I've seen no instructions for replacing the rears, though. If rurockn really solved his issue with the replacement of the front links, then I think I'm good.

 

It was the front links but I didn't have the wobble, I had the nasty clunking and metallic clanking noises when going over bumps. Cost me like $134 to fix at the dealership.

 

I've got a clunking, but it's not metallic. At first I thought the trunk lid wasn't secure. It's definitely coming from the rear. My other issue is the same -- go over an uneven bump (under only one rear wheel) and the rear end of the car jerks sideways slightly.

I suppose I should take it in, if there's no real consensus about the part that should be replaced. Another thing I found on the internet was the alignment (which should have been checked recently, but I can't be sure -- just bought the car). I've got an extended warranty with a $100 deductible, so if repairs are likely to go over that, it's probably worth my while.

 

Suspension isn't covered under warranty plans its a wear and tear item. Which is why I always have problems trying to get them to adjust my shifter cables. They keep wanting to tear the clutch out and I refuse to let them when its the shifter cable alignment issue again.

 

Good to know. Well, screw the dealership, then. Brake Check is like 2 blocks from my house, and I know those guys.

 

The dealership I go to works on our equipment for my job so I get good deals on repairs which is why I think it was that price to redo the links for the antisway bars but if I remember right also it included alignment I'll have to check my service records.

 

Thanks for the reply! OK, so looks like the front sway bar links are something to look at. I should probably do the shocks and struts as well, since it doesn't appear that they've been replaced yet.

 

How many miles are on your Focus just out of curiosity?

 

42,000 miles.

 

Wow, I'm pretty sure I had the problem the OP was describing (thread here) and after going through a lot of the rear suspension and finding nothing obviously wrong, I checked the front and voila - a left front swaybar endlink was destroyed. Really strange though, as it DOES FEEL like it's coming from the right rear and not the front. Anyway I'll update tomorrow after I get another one from the junkyard to report if the problem goes away.