Help diagnosing near side front 'clonk'

[bigsid]

Hi, I've noticed a bit of "clonkiness" from the front near side when going over bumps and pot holes etc. This is on a 2009 Mk3 197 Cup. I assumed this would be the lower ball joint which seems so keen on regularly shatting itself from what i've read. I got the car up on axle stands, jacked up the offending wishbone a bit to put some load on it and then went to town with a breaker bar trying to find any movement. I couldn't find anything. The only thing I did notice was a tiny bit of play when rocking the wheel with my hands at 3 and 9 which feels like it's in the steering. This play was the same on both sides and there doesn't sound like any knocking coming from the off side. Last MOT from Sept 19 has an advisory for "Play in steering rack inner joints" which I guess is what this is...

I don't get any clonking when steering lock to lock or anything that I've noticed. I checked the top mounts and couldn't see anything obviously wrong on the near side one, although the rubber bush thing in the middle seems to be rotated 90 degrees compared to the other side, not sure if that's a problem?

Does anyone have any tips for diagnosing what it is that's making this noise?

I've included some pics which may or may not be useful.

Off Side Top Mount

Near Side Top Mount (aka clonky side)

 

[RSRowe]

Impossible to diagnose without looking at it really.
To feel if the swivel joints are gone I like to put the wheel on full lock and push and pull and 3 and 9 similar to how you've seen the play in the steering.

 

[bigsid]

Impossible to diagnose without looking at it really.
To feel if the swivel joints are gone I like to put the wheel on full lock and push and pull and 3 and 9 similar to how you've seen the play in the steering.

Ah thanks, I never thought about trying it with the steering on full lock. I'll give that a go. Cheers!

 

[turkie172]

There is a comprehensive thread about all possibility's of the near side knock and no point looking at the top mounts unless the weight of the car is on it's wheels it pulls the mount tight together so near impossible to see if the rubber is split the weight of the car pulls it apart and the metal internal parts can knock but normally a clonk pulling forward in slow traffic. Fixing other problems along the way mine came back to lower arm rear bushes distort and allow the casting to knock the slot it mounts into on the subframe although the ball joint on the arm had been changed as well.
https://clio197.net/threads/the-infamous-nearside-knock.58876/#post-716255

 

[bigsid]

Thanks turkie, I will have a look at that.

 

[bigsid]

Right, well I think I figured out what it is. As turkie172 suggested, I put the car back on the ground and when the full weight was on the suspension, bingo, top mounts split. Drivers side one can be freely rotated by hand, so it's pretty buggered. Passenger side one definitely has a big split in it. I think my first job is to replace the top mounts and I'll probably do the shocks while I'm at it as they're not very expensive and I don't know how many miles the current ones have done.