Knock from Drivers Side Lower A Arm

[bmeares]

My 190d has somewhere in the neighborhood of 300k miles--I've added about the last 40k. The suspension was always mushy, and bottomed out easily when I went over abrupt bumps or careened into driveways. About 10k miles ago I got new bilstein struts and strut towers at all four corners and that made a huge difference. I also replaced the drag link, ball joints and steering shock at that time.

I've noticed in the last 2-3k miles that I get a strange metalic rattle sometimes from the front driver's side suspension--not when I hit big bumps, but when I hit several small bumps in a row--it rattles something like the ball in an empty spray can. I've also noticed that when I am going down a grade at low speeds and turn the wheel to the left and then back to the right, that I hear a thump and can feel it if my foot is on the clutch--seems like it is coming from right where the rear part of the lower A-arm connects to the subframe.

The rattling seems to be sounding more loose recently, and yesterday morning, going over a bump that had bottomed out my suspension prior to the strut/steering upgrade, that I had since not had problems with, I once again bottomed out the driver's side (the tire rubs the wheel well), making me think something is getting loose. Ultimately I think I need new springs and maybe new A arms while I'm having the work done--but in the meantime I want to be sure there is nothing going seriously wrong......thoughts?