Hope anyone can help me. I just spent quite a bit on replacing the front suspension components recently only to my annoyance to have a clunk appearing a week later from the left front side on turning both left and right. I sent it to a workshop as I didn't have the tools to press the bushes.

This is what was replaced

left strut mount and bearing
both control arm bushings - the conical ones and the one connecting to the frame
both swaybar link rod
both radius rod bushings

My shocks, ball joints, sway bar bushes, right strut mount and tie rod are relatively new - bout 2 to 3 years old so I didn't replaced those.

Could it be something the shop didn't do properly? I've called them and described the clunk. They said most probably my ball joint needs replacing. Do ball joints fail that quickly though? I plan to jack up the front end and have a proper look at the suspension this weekend. Any pointers or hints greatly welcomed.

Thanks in advance.

chances are it probly the ball joint's, everything down there is sitting just alittle differently now that all the other work had been done, its possible that the joint is now sitting in a bad spot then before and need to be replaced, i believe you can replace this without compressing the spring, though i havent done this as i always tend to replace the struts if i have to do the ball joint's.

With the car off the ground the nut at the top of the cartridge insert keeps the spring on the strut.

The ball joints are easy to replace without compressing the spring. One nut where the joint goes into the control arm and two where it goes into the spindle. All are accessed from the bottom.

You have to use a hammer to rap on the control arm to free the tapered joint, much like tie rod ends. Don't hit the end of the ball joint as it's easy to damage it that way. Doesn't really matter if you're replacing it though.

Before you pin the blame on the ball joints, make sure all the bushing retention bolts are tighten to the correct torques and the bushings are fully seated.
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D '90 745T 216k, '88 744GLE 128k, '96 328i, '73 911T 100k+

I jacked the front end. I could further tighten the link rod bolt and the control arm to frame bolt about half turn or so. Rest of the nuts/bolts were tight. Test drived - so far no clunk. Hope it was those nuts. Crossing my fingers I don't need new balljoints.

Thanks for the all the advice given