Morris Minor Owners Club

Recently I have become aware of a rather disturbing new noise emitted by my moggie. As soon as I drive off after the car has been standing unused for a day or two there's a pretty loud 'clonk' from somewhere around the nearside front wheel but, after that, no further 'clonking'.

A short while ago I changed the nearside shock absorber and, thinking that maybe something had come loose, I took the wheel off and checked the tightness of all nuts, bolts etc in the area but found nothing amiss. Any ideas/suggestions? Is such a thing perhaps a well-known sign of an imminent problem or should I just take a chill pill and relax?

Next time you leave it for a couple of days, jack the front wheel and see if the brakes are stuck on.

Thanks for the tip Paul - it had occurred to me that it might be brakes sticking on but, as I say, it definitely appears to come from front nearside so it seems rather unlikely; also, when I jacked it up to pull the wheel off, I did spin the wheel first and it turned easily.

I suppose that you have checked the tie bar bushes? Could it be the upper swivel bushes or the lower arm bushes?

I only did a rather cursory visual check of the bushes so it could be a possibility I suppose but, if that were the case, wouldn't there be repetitive clonking as I drive along - especially over rough road surfaces?

I'm not sure Mr Man, but I would suspect that something is moving due to play.

What type (disks or drums) of brakes have you got fitted on the car?

Standard Minor drums.