I posted this in the 997 forum, but nobody seems to have an obvious answer, yet. I'm wondering if this is something that might have occured to a 996 owner, since many of the parts are the same. Here goes...

Lask week after a spirited drive, I pulled into an uphill spot and turned my steering wheel almost all the way over and I heard this mechanical rattling sound. It sounded like a bucket of BB's and a clicking windup toy then abruptly stopped. It seemed to come from the front left of the car, but I couldn't tell if it was inside the cabin or not. I pulled out, drove around again and the sound seemed to have temporarily disappeared.

The other day, I heard it again after a short drive to the store. My wheel was turned almost all the way to the left again in a parking spot. The sound wasn't quite as horrendous, but it was definitely there. I also think I heard it when I was driving a relatively small curve while decelerating down from 80 to 10mph.....so I'm not sure if it is the steering column, vector steering box, power steering, or possibly even suspension.

Any ideas? Can someone offer a diagnosis based on the described symptoms?