worn CV joint?

[WmWatt]

For over 20 years I've backed my '89 Festiva out of the same driveway, turned the wheel all the way to the right, put it in first gear, and pulled away turning the wheel back to the left. The last two times there has been bump-clunks from the front left wheel well. Here's what I've checked so far...
- put the car up on jack stands
- pulled and tugged on the wheels - they feel tight
- took the rims off and made sure all the nuts and bolts on the stabilizer bar and control arms were tight
- pulled on the tie rods and axles which feel tight
- drove the car up the street to the school yard and drove forward in tight circles which went smoothly with no unusual symptoms

I'm wondering if the CV joints might be worn in such a way that they skip only in reverse on tight corners, if there is a definitive way to check this, and if I should stop driving the car immediately until I can replace the axles. I use the car for local driving under 60 kph (40 mph?). Thanks for any suggestions.

PS I replaced both control arms last summer after one of the ball joints popped apart.

[Oma83]

Yea it sounds like a worn cv joint(S). I just replaced both of mine because it was making that clunking sound. You can easily check by looking to see of the boots are ripped or if there is a small hole which is causing grease to leak out and dirt to get into the cv joint.

[FestYboy]

CVs will start making noise on tight turns, and progressivly get worse. what you have is bearing play in the joint and you're hearing the bearing slap the race as torsion is applied to the driveshaft.

simply: replace the shafts.