Clunk from Front Nearside

[Guy]

My car is a 2015 Polo GTI 6C. It's only done 7,500 miles from new.

When I reverse out of my garage I have to put the steering on to full right lock at the earliest opportunity. I'd become aware of an occasional very slight, almost insignificant, clunk as the steering reached its limit and it didn't concern me.

However more recently another issue has occurred which is more serious. Having reversed out of the garage, I go down a short driveway and then at the road have to turn left or right. Turning left is never a problem, but when I turn right I get a loud sort of "double clunk" from the nearside front end. I'm not on full lock at this point. It's almost certainly something to do with steering, suspension, drive shafts etc. But what?

The strange thing is that it never recurs on the subsequent journey. I can stop at a T junction then pull away to the right as hard as I can but am unable to provoke the clunk again! And the car drives absolutely normally with no unusual noises or vibration.

Next time I use the car the whole sequence repeats.

I am going to book the car into the local VW dealer for investigation but it would be very helpful if someone with expert knowledge could suggest the likely cause or causes. It might help to avoid me getting bamboozled by the dealer!

[3george]

I'm far from an expert on these things and others may well have more informed ideas............ but given the noise is only occuring on full lock I'd suggest it could be more driveshaft related on the right side only as this joint is being flexed to the extreme when turning full lock on a slow right turn. Failing this it could be the right side suspension strut which swivels on a top mount bearing.

Are you able to jack up the front of the car at the centre such that you can steer to full lock both left and right with engine running to see if you can replicate the noise ?

Sorry but hope this helps - do report back and let us know the outcome ?

3g.

[Polo_Openair]

I recently had one at work that a similar sound to what you described, it turned out to be the front shock on the driver side, the shock had a little play.
The play could only be felt with the car on lift and really pulling on the shock / spring. The shock would also cause the transmission to be "pushed".
Hope this maybe helps but remember to also check the rest of the suspension and steering components

[Polo_Openair]

I recently had one at work that a similar sound to what you described, it turned out to be the front shock on the driver side, the shock had a little play.
The play could only be felt with the car on lift and really pulling on the shock / spring. The shock would also cause the transmission to be "pushed".
Hope this maybe helps but remember to also check the rest of the suspension and steering components

[Guy]

Many thanks for those replies!

I'm afraid that the days of my getting under cars are long gone.

I think the front nearside shock being the problem sounds very likely. There is a feeling that the transmission is very briefly affected. I had wondered if the anti-lock might be operating but I have to keep my eyes firmly on the road for oncoming traffic and daren't look at the dash lights.

This sort of thing is best nipped in the bud as it can only get worse so I'll make an appointment with the VW dealer. I shall feel more confident about that now.

Thanks again

[Guy]

Not very long after my previous post, the noise just disappeared completely and never returned. Could it have been connected with the warmer spring weather I wonder? I decided there was little point in booking the car in when I could not demonstrate any trace of the issue.

Today I took my car to the local VW dealer for its annual service and MOT. They sent me a video of them checking completely under the car - all suspension items such as springs, shock absorbers etc. Also exhaust and its mountings. All perfectly OK.

So I think I am finally going to put this to bed.

Thanks to all who replied.