Front suspension 'clunks' when turning

Struggling a little with this. I replaced all my suspension with new from classic vw. Also swapped control arms etc etc as it was all nakered. All is great and i had the alignment set up perfect with VW on the shiny hawkeye machine i think.
Only issue is that my drivers side spring was 'clunking' when slowly turning. Turns out id missed the washer on the top of the strut under the spring cap and so the spring was twisting a tad. Fixed that but now it still does it. I torqued everything up to the vw spec. Ive swapped new tops mounts aswell to be sure but still no luck. Any ideas gents? Surely the spring pressure and the weight of the car would prevent the spring from twisting, especially with the groove on the top and bottom spring caps. Strange its only one side.

Also whats the telltale sign for either wheel bearing being shot or the cv joints going? Got a slight rumble at 30-40mph

When you say you missed a washer do you mean the spacer - small tube that sits inside the top mount? I missed this out on one side when replacing mine and had exactly what you describe. The strut needs to be able to turn inside the top mount when you steer, if this bit is missing you get the clunk as the spring has to turn in the cup.

Part 16 here


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Thanks for the reply mike. No the washer im describing is the one that site on top of the damper item 4 in your pic. Its a washer that sits on the ledge on the threaded part at the top. Its gives item 11 a ledge to sit on. All parts are fitted as ypur picture.
The top mount does have the spacer but if the spacer is not protruding ever so slightly in the top mount does that mean it could not be turning effectively enough. I did notice on one of the top mounts that the spacer seemed to sit fractionally higher than the other side and it doesnt give me the same problem

My top spring cap is gripping the top mount on the inside of the cup instead of the bottom the bearing part. Its left a ring mark on the top cap and scraped the paint off. Theres no signs of a washer being there on any diagrams but this must surely be the friction causing the strut not to rotate freely???

Pattern part top spring cap? A washer or 2 to open up the gap should fix it

Thats exactly what ive ended up doing. I used a washer and its worked perfect. The friction was gripping the cap and stopping all the movement being solely on the bearing.

That little pesky bushing (number 16 in your pic) over the years I have seen it be too tall or too short when I have gotten new mounts.
I have had to file them as in too much play and had to use my old ones when the new were too short.

Same here Briano1234, I just keep using my old one and it's been fine for the last 3 sets of strut tops I've fitted.

So what is the exact size that the top mount bearing bush (16 in the pic) should be?

There is a washer at the top of the dust boot, that the spacer sandwiches between it and the top washer that the bushing rides in.

The Bushing number is 133412365

I know that when I have it all assembled and lowered prior to setting the nut.  It is less than .10 of an inch above the strutmount plate. I usually apply Grease to the bush inside and out…