I'm noticing a clicking sound from around the front wheel when making slow tight turns with a lot of steering input. Think of looping around a parking lot with the wheel cranked, for instance. I don't hear the sound if the wheel is only turned a little bit. The frequency of the clicking varies with the speed of the car.

I thought something might be contacting the wheel in turns, but I can't see anything when I inspect visually. I did notice that the steering rack boot was torn on the driver's side. Could this be the steering rack or tie rods?

 

It's gotta be something rotating while you turn. I'd look at brake rotors , wheels and tires and anything they could contact for any marks indicating rubbing. Inspect the rotors closely for any rust spots, etc. Anything like that could catch the pads and make them click as they fall back into place. Sharp turns place a side load on the hub assembly that could exacerbate that.

 

Is it definitely coming from the wheel well and not from the pump or similar? Did you check your PS fluid, while you were at it?

 

Short of a practical joking friend putting a hidden zip tie in place to drive you nuts with it hitting wheel spokes on lock, there's a post or two in the wheel/suspension area about hubs producing these types of sounds when turning and when they're on the way out....aftermarket hubs seem to be a very bad replacement idea too!

 

Now that you mention it, I have heard a clicking sound when the ball separator is destroyed and the ***** are falling into contact with the other ***** - sort of like the Microsoft wait-a-minute graphic.

 

Just a thought, because its super simply to check: One of my steering rack boots, the retaining wire was a bit loose so when you put a lot of wheel into it, it would expand out like an accordion and then POP, slipping on the rack. Super annoying and hard to trace. Discovered it by accident during an oil change. Re-wired, problem gone!

Lazy troubleshooting, always start with the easiest stuff first