Ok...so just got the car....no warranty so pretty much sol on this, especially since I was cut down to 32 hours because of the drought..but I still should know what is up so I can begin to save for repairs.

When I hit a bump, I hear a thump from the front left side of the vehicle. It almost sounds like something is hitting something else....couldn't reproduce the sound when I pulled the wheel off..and from looks, it appears that everything is normal...however, I have been noticing a clicking sound..almost like the sound produced when you clipped a playing card or put a zip tie on a bike as a kid, in order to make it sound like a "motorcycle". I haven't noticed it at any speed higher than 15 mph...so at first I wondered if a rock had somehow gotten inside the hubcap..so I pulled the cap off...nothing.

Could both of these problems be the same thing? The car doesn't even have 80K miles on it yet, and is a one owner car...well, was when I bought it...I was thinking the bearing..but I have no clue...any help would be appreciated!

 

Could be two different problems.

A bad bearing typically makes a hum or groan increasing in volume with speed until the sound blends into the road noise.

Thumps or knocking noises when going over bumps can be due to worn stabilizer bushings, worn upper strut mount (both are common), perhaps a worn lower suspension arm bushing. Try going over speed bumps and pots holes to reproduce the sound.

For the card playing noise, make left and right hand 90 and 180 degree turns at low speeds (such as when making a U turn or turn off to a side road). Determine if the noise occurs during the turns and if so which side of car. This noise is linked to a bad axle outboard CV joint. This noise is typically loud. Popping, ticking, etc.