Awful clunking noise, 99.5 jetta

So I've been chasing this noise down for a month or so now. When coming to a stop or slowing down enough to shift weight to the front of the car I hear a clunk, just one, from somewhere on the left, and fairly high up I think. I had guys at work today listen while I went back and forth in the parking lot.
When I speed up again or leave from a complete stop I'll hear it again.
I've replaced the strut bearings and the control arms w/ bushings, the stabilizer bar bushings. I've also gone under the car just last night and tightened up the subframe mounting bolts and the inner CV joint bolts. I'm at my wits end here. I have no idea what it could be outside of a bad motor mount but IDK how to diagnose that.
Should I check wheel bearing or something? The ball joints were done when I did the LCA's, not very long ago at all and it did it then, too.

Did you check your dogbone mount (soft/perished bushings) and the brake caliper (stripped bolt thread)?

Did you torque EVERYTHING to spec when you changed everything out? I had the same problem after I changed all of my LCA bushings, ball joints, tie rods. I just tightened everything goodntight, and I was wondering the same thing...where is that noise coming from. Then after tightening to torque specs it took care of all of the knocks, and noises.

If anything I torqued things over the limit. Dogbone mount is fine. The clunk only happens when accelerating or decelerating, the brake doesn't have to have been used.
I'm thinking engine mount on the driver's side. Wheel bearing?

Did you use a torque wrench then over torque, or did you just tighten to what you thought was the torque setting?

I checked it w/ a torque wrench. Some bolts say torque to x then an additional 90 degrees.
Something is shifting when the car stops and goes, indicating something is loose and/or broken.
Wheel bearing? Not likely, but IDK. Engine mount worn out? IDK because I've never had one.

Did you change sway bar end links too?

Not the links themselves, but they have poly bushings. Same w/ sway bar bushings, now poly.
Jettascuba might be onto something. The left rotor is out by .010" and I'll be swapping them out for new later today; the loose caliper bolt might be worth checking out; I've had that happen before on the rear and man is that loud.
Another thing-I noticed that when on hard acceleration and going through the gears I hear the same noise sometimes but much quieter, right at the moment I step on the clutch and the car's weight shifts a little bit from back to front in that space where you're shifting and the car is in a neutral balance point.

Mystery solved! The left inboard brake pad (front) had worn unevenly, and was getting stuck on and off the rotor. New discs, pads, everything is all better now. It looked as if everything was wearing evenly when you looked at it from the outboard side. Inboard was something of a nightmare.

...Or maybe not

Noise is still with me. Seems to start once the car has been driven for a couple miles. Sometimes.

My 99.5 was doing the same thing, in reverse. Once in while I would get a big clunk/thud somewhere. Pretty sure its a brake pad hanging up somewhere although it seemed to have stopped lately.

turbocharged798 said:

My 99.5 was doing the same thing, in reverse. Once in while I would get a big clunk/thud somewhere. Pretty sure its a brake pad hanging up somewhere although it seemed to have stopped lately.

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Oh, yeah. I can get it to do it in reverse too. I think what I need to do is sit in the engine compartment with the hood open and have my wife go backwards and forwards while I watch and feel around. It's the only thing I can think of. Sounds stupid but I can't figure out any other way to diagnose it.

sisyphus said:

Oh, yeah. I can get it to do it in reverse too. I think what I need to do is sit in the engine compartment with the hood open and have my wife go backwards and forwards while I watch and feel around. It's the only thing I can think of. Sounds stupid but I can't figure out any other way to diagnose it.

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Thanks, you have just reminded me, I must go out and buy the latest copy of the Darwin Awards book....