I am having a clunk/pop noises on the front driver side wheel. The noise occurs while turning at low speeds, occasionally while reversing and most often over bumps. I have recently changed ball joints, tie rod ends and sway bar ends. The steering has a slight sway to the right even after an alignment.

I suspect the CV Joints but my mechanic says no. The lower boot does not seem to be cracked but it was covered in grease. The mechanic say the grease is not from the CV Joint. I have thoroughly cleaned it off to see if it gets covered again. In the meantime any suggestions?

Thank you for your help.

 

Doesn't sound like a CV joint.

Did you check the upper strut mount, there should be a bearing under the top plate which holds the strut in.

Also, the lower control arms have bushings in them, check to make sure they aren't ripped.

Other than that, it has to be one of the links are loose or something.

 

I am happy that it doesn't sound like CV Joints. I just had the strut mounts changed as they were making noise but not the bearings. Since they are cheap I will investigate having them chnaged.

Thanks.

 

The bearings are pressed in with the mount, so you replace it as an mount assembly. However, they could have given you some cheap chinese junk, so i would check the mount.

It's easy to check, just pop the hood and rock the car up and down on both sides. You shouldn't see any side movement of the strut top nut. If you can see side movement it's bad. Also, you can have someone start the car and turn the wheel fully from lock to lock several times, if you hear a noise, your bearing is bad.

 

Had a similar issue. Check the suspension and it was fine. Found the issue to be a worn steering gear that had play - it's supposed to be firm when you pull it out. Seems the bearing inside the gear was failing to hence the clicking noise. Replacing the gear and rack stopped the noise and play.

However, you can continue with a noisy gear until it becomes hard to steer, which is usually tens of thousands of kilometres later from when it starts making noise.

 

Have you checked the Shock absorbers and springs?

 

Yes, both were perfectly fine. The steering had taken some damage from corrugations.