Hey guys, just as the topic states, i have this knocking sound when i slightly turn the steering wheel from side to side. Is that my steering column giving up? Anyway to fix that without replacing the column? Thanks a lot in advance.

Dmitry.

 

Does it sound like a kind of creaking coming from the wheels?
When youre stopped or moving?

If its creaking and pretty much only when youre stopped or going really slowly, id say its your strut bearing.

I went to an alignment shop and they told me the sound was the steering column, but i was pretty sure it was a strut bearing ($15 or so iirc). Changed my strut bearing and the sound went away.

 

Given the cost/time to work on the steering rack, and how frequently the strut bearings go bad, I'd change the strut bearings first.

 

Bizzare, I've just logged on to see if someone has a similar problem and wham its right here up front! I've got the same problem and thought it might have been the power steering. I jacked up the front of the car and had my wife turn the wheels from side to side. Turns out my noise comes from the strut bearings. I learned something too, I should have known, but didn't realize, that the whole strut/spring assembly turns when the wheel turns. Seems kind of obvious once I looked at it. The squeaking noise came at the same time that the assembly rotated, its kind of like it was sticking a little bit. I've got 125K, but replaced those strut bearings at about 90K, but they musn't have been very good. I"ve been looking to lower the car a little and now I've got a good excuse to go in there and take care of everything at the same time. Rich

 

I was having a creaking/grinding/popping noise that came and went depending on if I was drivin straight or while I was turning. it was really inconsistent, but it turned out to be the wheel bearings... yucky repair, but it fixed the problem. random semi-related information.