Edit: *Solved the issue. My upper control arm had come loose. All the spacers fell out and that was causing the clunk. Spent hours under the car when all I needed to do was pop the hood. Those bolts were damn hard to get to though! Pretty sure they'll come loose again considering how little force I could put on the bolt head with a bent screw driver pressing into one of the flats on the hex head to hold it as best as I could. But it's working for now. Sure my alignment is off a bit, but the tires are 20 are years old so not too worried about it right now. Seems to track straight as well*

Spent a ton of time trying to figure this out but I'm at a loss and about to take it to a shop. Figured I'd make a post before doing so but I'm not expecting much, ive read hundreds of threads and spent hundreds of hours trying to find the source.

I am experiencing a clunk from the driver front wheel area when braking and turning the wheel far or quickly, especially to the Left. Weirdly I don't seem hear the clunk when braking and turning at the same time. But usually I brake before turning and then I'll hear it if I brake hard enough. Even if I don't hear the noise when braking I often hear it when I release the brakes. it's like something is loading up slowly and releasing when I release the brakes. If I hear it when braking I almost always hear it when I release the brakes. It's usually really bad if I'm braking over a bump.

This all started after replacing the driver side front caliper but I made the caliper so much tighter than the other side and than it was. I added shims etc and still clunking. The outer pad doesn't move in the caliper at all and the inner pad has some movement but it's identical to how it was and it's the same on the passenger side.

I just replaced a perfectly good very highend wheel bearing because I though that may be the culprit. It was a bit loose but I read that you can't just tighten it and that if it's loose it's because it's bad. I tried toghtening it anyways and it didn't solve the clunk. So I replaced it and still clunking!

All of my front suspension parts (a arms, away bar, ball joints, tie rods, etc) seem tight and have less than 5000 miles on them. I've yanked as hard as I can on every part of the driver side front end and I can't get anything to move. I'm not very strong but I can see things flexing but nothing makes a noise when I apply hand force.

​​​​​​Any ideas? TIA!

 

Jack up wheel one inch placing jack pad under spring on lower control arm.
Now Use a crowbar or something solid under place under tire and jiggle tire up/down
Is clunk present? Upper ball joint tight- place fingers on nut and joint and feel if there is movement of upper joint. Should not be loose.
Wheel bearing torqued to 5 ft/lbs?
Tie rods and center bar joints okay/tight? Greased?