i'd think wheel bearing myself if you're sure that the tierods (inner/outer) are not moving

 

If it was the bearing, wouldn't only the wheel and rotor (and maybe the caliper) move? Why would the caliper bracket move as well?

 

Have you actually yet lifted up your car and looked for loose components? sometimes endlinks are not put on well enough and cause rattling. Sometimes a tierod or the hub bolt. There's alot of nuts and bolts on your suspension. Check them out. Because it only moves at 3 and 9, i'd say your bearing is fine.

 

I went to a mechanic, he said the play was very small/acceptable; the main problem I have is a knocking sound, and the mechanic heard it, and looked around and thinks that it's probably one of the control arm bushings (most likely the front one). I guess the play could come from that as well.. (would make sense if the front control arm bushing is bad that I can only feel play when grabbing the wheel at 3 o'clock). So I think I will replace the whole control arm since it's only 80$ at advance online (with a new balljoint). I will update once I do that.

 

I replaced the whole control arm and the knocking sound is gone. I really think that the mechanic was right, and that the control arm bushings were the problem. I would recommend anybody that thinks of changing the control arm bushings and/or ball joint to just get the whole arm from rockauto.com for 80$ or whatever and just swap it in. You don't need to pay extra for a shop to press anything in/out of the control arm, so I think it's a really good value. I will do it for the left side too when I get the chance.
Just one thing though - it was impossible to remove the sway bar link nuts, they were rusted as hell, I had to break one of them with a nut breaker (from advance auto), so I had to get a new sway bar link too (and drove without one for a week lol)

 

I'm sorry for hijacking.. but the knocking sound is back 02.gif 3 months after replacing the entire control arm, the knocking sound came back. It's exactly the same, so it's probably the same control arm bushing.. But why would this happen so fast, less than 2k miles?? My shocks (struts) are probably the originals, could a worn shock cause such a thing? (I will change struts soon, got replacement KYBs). Any help is hugely appreciated, this knocking noise is haunting me..

 

a worn shock or strut bearing can definitely cause a knocking or rattle sound.