front wheel movement, Thought it was the bearings, but they are new... Options

[rjames]

After getting the newly rebuilt front suspension buttoned up, I thought I was done, but I can't seem to remove a bit of play in both of the front wheels. Feels exactly like loose wheel bearings, except that it's not. I installed new wheel bearings in the rotors even though the old ones looked fine since I was in there anyway. Spindles looked fine, too.
I verified no movement in the strut, and I can't feel any movement anywhere else on the strut assembly (ball joint, tie rods, control arm etc.). Over tightening the bearings only helped a tiny bit, (I didn't drive on the overtightened bearing, just did it to see if it removed the play).

I've done my front bearings before and didn't run into this issue. I guess I'm left with removing the rotors, but don't even know what to look for.

[Superhawk996]

Way back when you were having the issues with the top mount washers I mentioned I’ve never used Koni’s (prefer Bilstein but have used Boge once) .

Hearing about the Koni glad nut, and having seen their new upper bushing setup, I think you’ve convinced me to never touch Koni’s.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

If it were me, I’d probably just remove the strut from the car. Now that you have all new components and things aren’t corroded, they will come out pretty easily. Maybe just pull one to really deep dive it?

[rjames]

Way back when you were having the issues with the top mount washers I mentioned I’ve never used Koni’s (always Bilstein).

Hearing about the Koni glad nut, and having seen their new upper bushing setup, I think you’ve convinced me to never touch Koni’s.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

If it were me, I’d probably just remove the strut from the car. Now that you have all new components and things are corroded, they will come out pretty easily.

No doubt! I wouldn't recommend Koni to anyone after my experience!

I thought about taking everything off, but I don't want to touch the wedge pins again (you may remember the fun I had with those) and I don't have the correct torque wrench for the ball joint to put that back on (I had to borrow a wrench and won't have a chance to get it again before the weekend is over).
Removing everything is still an option, but I'd have to remove the top nut anyway to pull the struts down to remove the dust cover so I can get to the gland nut, so I might as well try doing it in the car first. I can always pull the whole thing out later.

[Superhawk996]

I can always pull the whole thing out later.

Good point - won’t hurt to try in car 1st.

I wish I had better advice for you to pinpoint this. So hard to do without being able to directly feel it and hear it for myself.