I'm having trouble diagnosing a small clicking sound from my front suspension. It appears to come from the driver side. On the MOT the guys gave me an error for the driver side front wheel bearing... I thought it was odd as I never heard ANY rumbling from the bearing, but praised myself lucky that they "diagnosed" the clicking sound.. So I changed the wheel bearing, which was a bit of work as you have to remove the strut from the car and have access to a 20 ton hydraulic press.... Clicking sound still there.... ¤#¤#"!! I changed a bearing that was completely fine!

I was in need for a wheel alignment on my car after changing the outer tie rods for the MOT. I was tired of the clicking sound.. so I ordered new strut mounts, strut friction bearings, stabilizer mountings and track control arms! I changed front shock absorbers in 2012. The only things NOT changed at the front end is inner tie rods and bushings for stabilizer inner mounting (these look fine.) Everything is torqued to spec by me personally. Still the clicking sound is there...

The clicking sound appears from the driver side when driving at low/crawl speed over pot holes and such. My gut feeling has been the actual shock absorber, which is inserted into the hub and fastened by a big nut. I remember tightening it when changing the shock absorbers a couple of years ago. I used a special tool to do this, and I believe it is torqued at 200 nm...so it is beyond belief that it should cause a clicking sound..

 

Can it be motor mounts???

 

I have that clicking sound myself and people that also own the audi 100/a6 have said its the bearing on top of the strut (engine side) that's about to go. Should be a disc-like fit and shouldn't be that hard to change.

Have somebody turn the wheel when the car is standing still and listen to the strutmounts on the engine side is my tip!

 

Thanks for your input!

But as mentioned in original post I did change strut mounts and bearings.



If I remember correctly the driver sider strut mount was shot,..actually. But alas there is still a small noise from time to time.