Noise comes from the pass front wheel. Usually when I first start moving the car at slower speeds. Noise is best described as a clunk clunk clunk. Goes away when I increase my speed or if i lightly apply the brakes. Any ideas? Could it be the pads/caliper? I have Jacked the car up to check for any play in the suspension, but nothing noticable except for a small amount of play in the steering rack. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Well no play is acceptable. NONE. So if there is play then something needs fixed. Unless your talking about it moving the steering wheel itself.

Most likely Inner or outer tie rod or upper control arms. If you are over 100k miles and havent done any of them then you probably have a few that are bad. A full kit is about $600. B5 suspension can be really hard to inspect if you have no experience with it... you have to know where to pry (it's usually easier then just trying to shake the wheel lmao) to show if the part is bad or not.

 

CV boots/halfshaft? Have you inspected your CV boots to see if they are cracked?

 

CV boots look good. Can't remember exactly when the suspension was replaced but it has been done. The thing that puzzles me is the fact that the noise goes away under light braking??? thanks for the replies.

 

steering rack play....you need at address that problem asap. Seriously. I just helped my buddy with steering system in his f350. He was lucky and is just went out when he was parking. Had that been on the road, he would have crashed for sure, no question. That's not something to play with.

 

Gonna inspect the steering play again tonight. Hard to tell if it was play or if the steering wheel was moving. Any tips on how to check the steering rack properly?

 

Jacked up the pass front side again. I think I can rule out the steering rack. The play that I thought i felt was actually moving the steering wheel. I think i may have found the cause of the clunk. the pad seems to move on the caliper slides about 2 mm. Just moving it by hand i could make a pretty loud noise. Not sure how to remedy. I did not see any stainless steel slide covers? Don't recall there ever being any???

 

Can anyone measure the distance between the slide surface of the caliper bracket where the pads ride? I need to determine if my bracket is messed up. Clunk noise is getting worse, especiall after I changed tires with less road noise. Wondering how long this has been going on for??? thanks for the help.

 

^^ Irrelavant. And Ill be able to look tomorrow

 

Thank you everyone for your help. I figured it out last night. The clunking was caused by the pads moving fore aft on the carrier which was caused by the spring retainers. I was able to re-shape the retainer which keeps the caliper snug to the carrier and the noise is gone. So I will order new hardware kit along with a cv boot which I just noticed is starting to leak. Thanks again!