Yesterday my front drivers side suspension started making a knocking noise with vertical travel. Here's a video of my pushing on the bonnet to make the offending noise: https://youtu.be/jaU6-jnRD1Y

I've checked the ball joint bolts and torque rod and they weren't loose. The top mount retaining bolt will not go any tighter. As you can see from the picture I fitted it with Dai's top mounts about 3k miles ago with adjustable dampers, -25mm springs and welded reinforced spring top cups. I didn't change the bearing because I forgot but there wasn't an issue with it. With the new top mounts the steering was transformed and the car sat well at higher speeds without feeling jittery. However I did notice a vibration at 75mph+ in front wheels which I put down to needing wheels balanced after re-painting them and/or alignment slightly out from the suspension change - had both done not long before fitting the new suspension parts because it was unbearable. I can feel the knocking when I put my hand on the big washer at the top of the suspension assembly but hard to tell where this is coming from. Also no issue at all with the passenger side. It's a bit of a bum job pulling it all apart and this is my daily driver needed for work so I'm reluctant to do it without some ideas what might have gone wrong.

I've been to a few local garages in the past and they've looked at me like I rode in on a triceratops so haven't gone back to any with this yet. The slightly modified parts may cause more confusion. Any ideas very welcome. Thanks.

There some play in something there,

have you checked the nut tha holds the damper into teh strut?

No I haven't. That's a good shout as it feels like the strut is wobbling about a bit. Are they known to come lose?

It can happen if they have not been tightened up enough

I'll have to take it all apart to fit the new bearings I got in the post today super fast thanks Dai. I don't know if it's a mind trick but now you've said it that's exactly what it feels like. Went to drive it away from work today and had to leave it and get the pool car because I'm not sure it'll make it back home. Time to get some more frequent flyer miles on my breakdown membership

Back on the road - it was exactly what Dai said.

Had so much hassle getting the top nut off and on the shock strut. In the end I went for a leather belt wrapped around the shiny chrome shaft with a super tight pair of mole grips and it did the job nicely... I mean I did discover this after breaking the adjustment rod but thankfully broke it set in my preferred setting Also figure I could've tightened the strut retaining nut without removing the shock at all but I got to change the bearing while I was at it so not a complete waste of 7 hours

So the lesson I've learnt is don't attempt car repairs when hangry and wired on caffeine.