Silent but noticeable clunking noise

[kelrg32]

I have a 2002 Cavalier and lately I have been noticing a quiet clunk in my front driver's side wheel when I take a sharp left or pull into parking spaces. I can feel the clunk in my brake pedal and the other night I tried pulling in and out of parking spaces to listen and feel what the car is doing. I noticed a little jerk in the steering wheel also. Any ideas what it could be? Would it cause any long term damage to my car if it goes unchecked much longer? Thanks!

[LoudCavi]

how can something be silent but yet noticeable???

[123Nancy]

My 1996 does the same thing. I can feel it under the brake most when I am in reverse and turning the wheel left.... it is very annoying. I just received a safty recall notice on something with the drive train and I was hopeing that would fix it.

[richtazz]

I had an older 91 cavalier with the same problem, and it was a hub bearing. I had myself and every mechanic I know scratching their heads on this one. They have used the same hub bearing from 89-2003, so it's a good chance that it could be your problem too.

[123Nancy]

Thanks for the heads up. I have an appointment tomorrow morning with my mechanic. How much did it cost to have it fixed?

[cav-fast]

had the same prob, the safty recall is for the sterring and that is what mine was, totally free and they rebuilt the whole front end of my car. however they were going to fix that on the latter modles so I don't know about your 2002, let us know how the appointment went.

[richtazz]

Her 93 is the old body style, so the recall doesn't affect her car. A hub bearing is a relatively easy part to replace, and shouldn't cost more than $125-$150 parts and labor.

[kelrg32]

Took my car into the mechanic this morning and my results were better than expected. I knew if I didn't actually get in my car with the mechanic, he wouldn't know the problem. It was one of those things that were unnoticeable unless you have been driving the car for a while. They thought it was my brakes and charged me $50 for it, but that didn't solve the problem, however it did solve another problem I wasn't aware of until I noticed it was gone -- hard braking. I don't have to push the brake so hard anymore, so that was a nice improvement. I did eventually get in the car with the mechanic though and showed him the problem which he diagnosed right away as a malfunction in the drive shaft and I needed a part replaced. Since I already paid the $50 for the brakes, they only charged me for the part since it would only take him a few minutes to pull out the drive shaft, replace tha part, and put it back. So that was an additional $20. The overall repairs were well worth the $70 dollars because the car seems like brand new again.

[JMike1017]

I actually just had my new '01 cavalier in for the same problem. (well, its a used car, but its new to me, heh) the clunking occured right around the center point of the steering wheel and could also be felt in the brake. it was most noticeable when at slow speeds while braking, and with extreme wheel motion while braking (i.e. parallel parking). they told me that the problem was a loose strut plate. i believed the mechanic at first, but as soon as i started to drive home i noticed that the problem was still there. i took it back and they told me that it was a bad rack and pinion. (there are many technical service bulletins from chevrolet that i found through internet searches by the way). they tried to tell me that it wasn't a safety issue so it wouldn't be covered under warranty, but i fought it, because i didnt want it to become a safety issue the day after my warranty expired. needless to say, i had the steering rack replaced and it works like a charm - no more clunking!! the wheel also seems much smoother than before. hope i provided some insight.