[urq] Front Wheel Bearing Shift?

[fdekat]

Ok, Here's a puzzler..

I get a 'clunk' in the front, when pulling out of my driveway onto the
street.
(Car kind of 'twists' on it's suspension).

I get the same 'clunk' when pulling out of my parking space at work (And can
recreate it by pulling out, then backing in again) No twising of the
suspension here though, as it's flat.

Convinced that it was something to do with the spring perch (as the spring
kind of unloads when I pull out of my driveway) , or top strunt mount, I
pulled out the front strut for a look. Surprisingly, no sign of sillieness at
the spring mounts, and the top bearing was good. Hmm..??

Put it all back without finding anything, and noise is still there.

Thinking about it.. I seem to remember a long time ago that someone had a
similar noise (may have been on a 5k, on the old 'quattro' mail list?) , and
had tracked it down to the wheel bearing shifitng sideways within the strut
housing. That does seem to be consistant with the noises I hear, as I only
get it when the front wheel sideways load does a large shift in direction
(like a sharp turn when backing into a parking spot).

(Of course, I hadn't though up this theory when the strut was out, and easy
to test..)

What I don't remember, was how the person that came across this problem
solved it.  Does anyone remember this similar problem, and what the solution
was?

Regards,

+Frank de Kat+