LH Front wheel (?) clicking in hard RH turns

Recently I noticed “clicks” coming from left front during hard right turns. Clicks sound as if they happen once per wheel rotation, and I can make the same turn without clicks if I take it easy. My first thought was front wheel bearings, and there was play in both front wheels… So I replaced bearings and races, and packed everything well with grease. Guess what: Same clicking is still there! Ideas?

Of course, I’m not sure, but my friends had similar, as you say," clicks " only on the KIA Sportage, and it turned out to be the steering column.

If you are on steel wheels I would suggest you check for cracking around a stud hole.

Chicken wire wrapped around something?

I’ve heard that a worn sway bar can sometimes cause a clicking when turning. I had a worn sway bar on my 92 that I replaced a few months ago, indicating these can wear out. I did not notice any clicking with mine, however

Zigmund …

Always helps if you add the year of your car. Why not click on your icon on the top right and add your location and model of your car.

If you make a hard right turn without braking do you still get the clicking ?

A hard right turn at 5 mph involves a lot more steering input then a hard right turn at 50 mph. do you get the clicking at both speeds ? Possibly a clearance issue with the rotor/caliper/dust shield.

If you work at it you should be able to isolate the clicking to speed, braking or steering.

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I fully endorse this suggestion.

Absolutely, you guys are right, mentioning the model and a year is important. I added those to my signature in the past, and neglected to check when the forum changed… I added some info to my profile here, will add a bit more soon.

This car is 1989 XJ6, i.e. base model, VIN 580xxx. I am in the USA, in Stockton, CA. Within an hour drive I have 5 Pick-n-Pull yards where I mostly source used parts.

I drove the car it with the intention of exploring these clicks, and here:

  • Clicks sound “hard”, or “dull”, like something skipping over maybe a worn spot under heavy load, not ringing or light clicking as if something is touching the dust shield. I may be wrong, though
  • Clicks are faster at faster speeds. I want to say they correlate with wheel rotation, one click per wheel turn
  • Clicks sound as if they are coming from the front left wheel. However, I am hearing that while driving, i.e. from the inside of the car, sitting in the driver’s seat…
  • Clicks are there only under relatively hard right turn; at low speed (as when turning into a parking spot), clicks come only if the steering wheel is almost full right; the higher the speed while turning, the less steering wheel turn is needed for the clicks to sound. Clicks never begin until the steering wheel is turned at least half-way to full-right.
  • It seems clicks occur only if there is lateral force, pushing car to the left (centrifugal force in right-hand turns). I can drive very slowly with wheels in full-right without clicks, but if I give a little accelerator input, clicks sound.

@abercanadian: while replacing front wheel bearings, I looked carefully around, and haven’t found any foreign object or wire in there.

@Robin_O_Connor: wheels are stock. I haven’t noticed cracks, but I should probably swap left and right wheel and lug nuts, and check if the clicks are gone from the RH turn, and possibly appear in LH turn?

If the sway bar is worn, where do I look to see the wear?

As far as sway bar wear goes, it’s actually the bushings that could wear and not the bar itself. I apologize for being vague in my previous post. Haynes has some nice pics and descriptions in chapter 10. Note Haynes refers to it as a stabilizer bar.

Visual inspection is how my car’s problem (bad bushing) was discovered, and I don’t know any other method (though someone else might). However, I would expect noise caused by a worn sway (stabilizer) bar bushing to be more pronounced than a “click”, maybe sounding more like a “clunk”, and probably not be so periodic and predictable. I would also expect the “clunk” to likely be heard when going over sharp bumps. Cornering performance could also be affected, but you don’t seem to have that.