strange noise that seems to come from rear left wheel

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Niklas,

I did not read from the start of your post this time, when I submitted my post, that new shock absorbers and bearings have already been fitted, my mistake, and if you are happy with those items and that they are operating properly, then they do not need to be replaced again. And in all honesty, I did not think that bearings are the cause of the noise.

I have had rear bearing failure on an Elan. When travelling in a straight line, all fine, but on cornering, when the bearing was under much more load, a horrible graunching, rumbling sound. I left it for a few thousand miles until the noise got worse, and then had to tackle the job. That bearing only lasted 38k miles which was surprising. I dont remember looking to see what the make of bearing was, which is a bit annoying.

However, from what I can see on the pictures that you have shown, the wishbone and caliper look quite rusty, the handbrake pads are almost worn out, very little material left on them, and the small bush on the outside of the A frame, again looks quite rusty, and certainly has not been changed for a long time. If the other 3 bushes on the A frame look like the one you have pictured, personally I would renew them all. Those 4 bushes do a lot of work in conjunction with the dampers and springs in making an Elan handle like it should.

The bushes will however, not account for the rubbing / noise issue, and heat build up in the disc under normal driving conditions. If you have been driving the car hard, with a lot of hard braking, then the disc will get hot, but I suspect the noise is a brake pad or handbrake pad, either sticking on or not being adjusted properly.

Out of curiosity, what does the part of the housing look like on your car that I have pictured.

Leslie