Any ideas on this? I came to a complete stop at a red light today and heard a clunk from the passenger side front wheel. It happened again a few minutes later. I was about an hour from home and didn't hear it again, though I was reluctant to hoon it in case something was wrong. My first thought was the control arms as I live in northern NH and all the roads are torn to hell given the recent weather. I'd appreciate any thoughts on how to figure out what's going on.

 

MY first guess would be a bit of ice or snow in the wheel. You didn't say if you felt anything when it clunked and since itseemed to disappear I would just watch to see if it returns before doing anything drastic like crawling under the car in the cold weather.

 

was it just a single clunk or a series of clunks while braking? if it was a series of clunks and you can feel it in the steering wheel, i'd say tie rod end.

 

It was a single clunk. I am hopeful that it was a chunk of snow. The only thing going against that theory is that I had already driven the car over 100 miles at highway speeds before this occurred. I would assume that any chunks would have fallen off already. For what its worth, it is a 99 avant quattro (i forgot to mention that earlier).

thanks for the feedback on this!

 

update - unfortunately the clunk returned when we took it out today. Again, it's a singular clunk that occurs when coming to a stop, especially when turning the wheel, which again leads me to believe that the issue stems from the control arms

 

Check CV joints!!

 

And don't be afraid to take the wheel off and look. I had this issue on another car of mine and it turned out to be a bolt backed out and missing on the caliper. Easy fix if you look but possibly deadly if you don't. Hey, it can't hurt to look in this case, as long as you tighten the lugs when you're done.

 

took it to Northern European Auto today and the they took two test drives in which no clunks were heard. They examined the control arms and appeared to be ok. They also tightened up anything they could in the general vicinity. I was bracing myself for hearing more clunks on my 40 minute drive home but fortunately did not. We'll see if the noise returns. I appreciate everyone's input on this!