[SVX10]

Well, I jacked up the car by the a-arm and hugged the wheel and shook away to find any free play. It moved a little bit, but I believe that the play was just due to a small amount of play in the steering. I could see the steering rod moving a little bit. Anyway, the play was barely noticeable. I also gave it a free spin or 10 and didn't hear any grinding. Heard the brake pads on the rotors, but no grinding like a bearing would do. So, the good news is that I don't think it's a bearing or a ball joint.

The bad news is that I think it's my struts. That's a little more expensive, but it allows me the option to upgrade my springs. Anyway, to further investigate, I did another test. I drove in a circle with the wheel at full turn. I drove at low speed. No noises while doing the low speed turn. Then, I quickly tapped the throttle to make the car accelerate quickly for about 1/2 sec. No abnormal noises as the car surged forward, still at full turn, but when I let off the gas and the nose dove down there's just a loud " thud thud" coming from the front. It's the same with the wheel turned in either direction, and it's always as the nose dives down. I've noticed it one other time when "showing off" for my boys. I was creepin' and I just threw the wheel to the left and punched it. When I threw the wheel to the left and the weight shifted to the front right, it made a loud thud. A final thought is that occasionally under hard braking, the car will suddenly just dive to one side as though it has found a rut, even if no rut is present. Do those symptoms fit strut/spring issues? As far as I know, I've got 126K on these suspension componets. Thanks for all of your help everybody. Hopefully I can get this fixed.

-Mat