Got a clunking noise from the rear over bumps, on the lift there is play in the rear wheels when pulling the top towards you (when you are facing the wheel) and back towards the car. When looking from under the car while wiggling the tire, the suspension or inner hub does not appear to move at all, just the outer wheel and tire.

Going to swap the shocks anyway because the lower rubber is visibly worn - mechanic says the play is from the wheel bearings, does that sound correct? There are inner and outer bearings, should I swap both? What would be the driving-symptoms of worn bearings in the rear?

 

You should also check the u joints I had a bad one and thought it was a wheel bearing

 

If its a 98-03 sedan there was always a bit of movement at the differential end of the half shafts in the back. If the movement is at the bearing, then the issue could be a bearing. But, most of the time the bearings made a roaring noise and you could run them in the air on a lift and hear it quite noticeably (pull the e brake cables individually left then right to isolate which bearing or possibly the diff.). But, in my experience, most of the clunking noises from the rear have turned out to be the shocks.

Cheers

 

The noise is a mild clunking over bumps, like a bad sway bar bushing, except the VDP does not have a rear sway bar. A bad U-joint would sound very different (according to what I've just researched on Youtube) and the bearings are inaudible when the wheel spins on a lift, so (thankfully) that does not seem to be the issue. Starting with shocks, and hopefully that will fix the sound

 

With excessive movement when grabbing the top/bottom of the tire I first look at the wheel bearings, the diff output bearing(s), hub pivot bearing/pin/shaft(s), axle u-joint, incorrect cone lug nuts for a wheel requiring ball seat, loose lug nuts, axle bolt not tightened down far enough or other stupid little things like that.
With that being said, if your symptom of a mild "clunk" on bumps are only on bumps then it sounds like rear shock bushings to me.