2006 Mondeo Front Wheel 'popping' Noise On Full Lock Reverse?

[Daverip2003]

I've had to resort to the wisdom of other mondeo owners to help me with this issue.

For a while now, I've been experiencing a concerning noise from my front passenger side wheel when reversing on full lock. It doesn't happen every time but it is often and I can only describe it as a 'pop' as if something is not moving as it should then suddenly catches up with a jump.

First I checked the pressure and wheel nut tightness, all fine. Last night I jacked the whole front end up and removed both wheels. Everything seemed to move as it should, nothing seemed looser than it should be and bar a slight bit of play when spinning the hubs, nothing rattled etc. I couldn't see or hear anything sinister going on at all. I'm not a mechanic but I am an engineer so I expected to find maybe a knackered bearing or ball joint.

If anyone could help with some ideas or even if they have come across this before, I'll be a very happy bunny. Don't want to put my car in for diagnostics to find it was an easy fix :)

Thanks in advance

Dave

[jeebowhite]

All I can think is possibly bushings, I had a recent similar noise on my car, was the bushings dried out - replaced and all fine now... worth checking the condition of them...

[mintalkin]

i would say its a problem with a cv joint.

[Daverip2003]

Thanks I have Friday afternoon off so I'll check both these out. Been reading up on CV joint problems and it does sound quite likely. Is there an easy way to diagnose this without dismantling the brakes etc? I didn't see any signs of grease around the boot when I last looked. I've heard a cv on a front wheel drive is a pain to change?

[jeebowhite]

Best thing to do is take the wheel off and get the car jacked up, you should be able to see the CV joint, and any damage to the housing, excess grease etc on the outside, or a great amount of dirt around it also.

[BigD]

I'd vote for the CV joint, too. Although, before you do that, you might want to take a look at the ARB droplinks - each has two balljoints (one either end), and they're prone to drying out and can cause a popping or clicking sound when steering. See, the joints are meant to move freely, but when the grease dries up, they don't. This causes the ARB to flex slightly until it reaches a point where the force is great enough to move the balljoint, and the ARB snaps back in line.

(They're also easier and cheaper to replace than a CV joint).