Clunk when turning steering wheel?

[Nico3d3]

Last summer, I knew I had to change both inner CV joint because I was getting vibrations under hard acceleration and it was also making clunking noise when turning while I was pressing the gas pedal. Now the problem is back but it's a little different this time. I get the noise, when I turn the steering wheel even if I'm not moving at all. I tried to turn it on both direction while I was stopped at a red light and I was still hearing it. I'm wondering what could it be? Could it be caused by a failing rack & pinion?

 

[Anomie]

Have you inspected your ball joints for wear? Double check that they're also tight, I've different seen cars with ball joints a few turns loose. Scary thought.

 

[Nico3d3]

Could it also be caused by a faulty tie-rod end?

 

[Anomie]

Possibly. Bottom line: inspect the front end in its entirety. If you can raise the front and find a helper (pizza and/or beer helps) to turn the system back and forth, you can look for abnormal movement and listen for noises that should not be.

 

[PDJetta]

It could be a failed strut bearing. This binds the suspension spring and the spring will pop loose as the steering wheel is turned further. Have someone turn the steering wheel while you look closely at the strut spring. You can feel the "pop" if your hand is on the spring. Be careful and make sure car is in neutral, parking brake firmly applied if you stick your hand behind the wheel to check.

--Nate

 

[n1das]

It could be a failed strut bearing. This binds the suspension spring and the spring will pop loose as the steering wheel is turned further. Have someone turn the steering wheel while you look closely at the strut spring. You can feel the "pop" if your hand is on the spring. Be careful and make sure car is in neutral, parking brake firmly applied if you stick your hand behind the wheel to check.

--Nate

I concur w/PDJetta, most likely a binding strut bearing. These are at the top of each strut tower. They start to bind up when they get close to needing replacement. You can go quite a while with them like this if the struts are still OK. It's more of a nuisance type problem than anything else.

I've had it happen in my 02 Golf and they were replaced when the struts were replaced. My 02 Golf "only" has 354k miles on it now and they've been replaced twice when struts were replaced each time.

Good luck.

 

[Nico3d3]

Okay good then if it's not that dangerous. I'll take a look at the strut tower. All struts were replaced at 170 000km with Bilstein Touring pieces but the strut bearing weren't replaced. Also both front coil spring were replaced too. Now I'm at 240 000km, the engine still feel like new but there's a few strange noises coming from the front end.

 

[PDJetta]

"but the strut bearing weren't replaced. "

You should ALWAYS replace the mounts/bearings with each strut change. The mount/bearing comes as a set and costs about $20 each. Two are needed (one for each side). The strut has to be removed and disassembled to replace them. FWIW, I had a strut bearing seize solid at about 95,000 miles.

--Nate

 

[Anomie]

PDJ speaks truth. Kind of a tedious task to have to pull all of that apart again for the strut bearings that SHOULD have been replaced though. Ah well, live and learn.

 

[Shawn_alh]

i have had this same problem do you also get this sound over some bumps?

check your ball joints -- the usual suspect

 

[LethalMindNinja]

same thing

I'm getting a clunk when i'm going around corners as well. My car also shutters when accelerating and i'm getting a clunk when i hit a bump as well. These are the things i'm hearing could be the problem. Order of operations on what you guys think it is would be great. Here's what i think it could be.

-U-joint
-half shaft
-ball joints
-binding strut bearing
-cv joint

Any thoughts would be great!

 

[fruitcakesa]

I diagnosed this on our car about a year ago by puuting my hand on the spring while my wife turned the steering wheel. You can also see it occur if you watch.
I have about 95k on the Koni's and the strut mounts and bearings.
Finally bought a replacement set that hopefully will go in soon.
Really is just annoying at this point.

 

[04SlvrJetta]

I'm getting a clunk when i'm going around corners as well. My car also shutters when accelerating and i'm getting a clunk when i hit a bump as well. These are the things i'm hearing could be the problem. Order of operations on what you guys think it is would be great. Here's what i think it could be.

-U-joint
-half shaft
-ball joints
-binding strut bearing
-cv joint

Any thoughts would be great!

To the bottom of the list I would add strut not seated in knuckle correctly. But this would be only if it was recently apart. Ask me how I know when I changed wheel bearings I must not have had it in where it belonged...but the bolt still went in with little persuasion. Had a thunk and checked everything and this was my problem but I would say its more rare.

To the OP... If you're doing the work yourself this is only a waste of time...if you have to pay a shop it'll cost as much as having struts installed so it's well worth the $40 to do it right the first time.

 

[Wook660]

I had a similar problem and it was the rear lower control arm bushing, worn completely out. The rubber wasn't bonded to the sleeve anymore.