Hi

I've a Ford Ka which is just over a year old with less than 7000 miles on the clock.

Recently (after it had its first service) I've begun noticing a noise.

It is most often heard when turning left, ie into a junction, but can be heard with just a smidgen of left turn on the wheel.

Depending on the road surface, it will vary between an obvious 'clunk' to a creaking, squeaking noise which seems to permeate the whole side of the car.

It seems to be triggered (and sound worse) depending on the road conditions; for instance, there is a road which I drive every day which involves a tight left turn, followed by turning right in to a junction.

If I take the left hander on the smoothest point of the road, there is no noise; if I use the rougher surface, the noise will be heard.

Turning right, it is hard to avoid a manhole cover and a couple of bumps in the road; here (at about 10mph) there will be a knocking noise IF I happen to get the wheels over any of these while turning.

I could drive over any surface in a straight line and there is no noise.

At the same time, the noise does not happen every time I turn left, but will always happen at the same corners, only being avoided if I drive very slowly (although even then there is no guarantee there won't be some 'creak').

Meanwhile I could literally drive all day and if the roads are OK there's no noise whatsoever. I could take, say, a medium left hander (even with slight rough surface) at speed and there will be no noise, while at the same time it could appear from the surface of a road which has the anti skid applied and has the 'ripples'.

On the other hand I can drive over a cobbled street and there is no noise. (apart from what you would expect).

I have looked as best I can without having the car on a ramp, and all the suspension components seem tight, there are no appareant leaks from any bushes I can see.

From what I have observed, the noise is 'clunkier' where there are obvious 'edges' in particular the cable trenches in roads (or manhole covers) where there is a distinct 'up/down' and the wheel obviously takes a clatter (although we are not talking massive height - perhaps half and inch would be enough) - the sound here, is akin to a banging drop link or the suspension topping out and what have you.

Where the road surface is 'rough' the noise sort of reacts to that and is more 'creaking' and will only 'clunk' depending on the depth of any defect in the road surface,

Thirdly, at times where the road isn't particularly rough, the noise appears as a creak (almost as if the entire car is creaking), especially if the road is not level, and the left hand side of the car is lower than the right; while turning. It seems to be worse if the road conditions induce a 'roll' in the car or that the individual wheels are at differing heights in the turn due to the road.

In general I can predict where and when the noise will occur; it is almost certainly caused by road surface conditions, yet it does not manifest all the time: and the best example I can perhaps give is this: the street adjacent to where I live is not potholed but it like driving over boulders as the cable pits are sunk (10-15mph is the maximum you can do in my Ka at any rate without doing damage, and I avoid the road) - but, I can travel that road with no unusual noises. My own street has a junction at both ends. I can turn left, at either end, leaving the street and there is no noise; I can turn left into the street at one end, and there is no noise, but, turning left into the street at the other end, the noise is there. If turn in on the next street down, no noise.

Obviously with the car having done so few miles, it's a bit concerning, and initially I though 'don't tell me a drop link is away' but I honestly don't think it's that - any advice on what to look for would be appreciated!

Edited by Jimborr99 on 28/10/2014 at 12:07