Noises

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I am still amazed by the amount of things you can hear the car does, especially when the top is closed.
After I put new shiny General Exclaim UHP's on my car, the driving noise is very much reduced and the car feels at least 20% better. The squeaky sound and the little shaky feeling at 40-45 m/h are gone now. This was clearly something that had to do with a very worn out tire that was overly hard and even started having cracks.
However there are still a few sounds I cannot fully explain (given my limited experience they may all turn out to be normal). When I set backwards, I sometimes hear a high pitched sound, not loud, but notable. A 'clonck'-sound (I try to describe the sound here as good as I can)  when going over bumpers (more than I know what a car should do). When changing from back to front, I can also hear an engaging sound from the automatic, also a bit like a silent 'clonck', where I would expect no sound (please note that I never had an automatic and that might just be a stupid question, so don't stone me if it is  ).  To me, it also sounded like the breaks were worn out, when comparing how those condition sounded with my Ford Escort 1992 in those days, but after having this checked when getting the tires I was told they are fine.
Another potentially silly question, is it normal that you can feel the break pedal go up when you pull the handbrake? Are there that direct?
The car runs fine, just wondering, and also hoping your can tell me that these sounds are normal.
Thanks,
Ralf

Most Miata's are going to make some more noise than other cars.  A good bit of it has to do with being a light weight convertable.  If the noises aren't loud there might be nothing to worry about.  It's possible that the sway bar bushings or endlinks are getting worn and causing the noise when you go over a bump.  I notice my brake pedal moving a bit when I engage the parking brake as well.  I believe it's due to the way the parking brake is built into the rear caliper.  I would think the noises when you shift from Reverse to Drive are normal since that's what I've experienced with most automatic cars.  The high pitched sound might be the fuel pump.  It's just behind you in the center of the car.