Rhythmic clicking on a full steering lock is your CV joint talking. The only question is what you do before it finishes the sentence.

What it usually proves to be (in order)

1. 1Worn outer CV joint — clicking tied to steering angle AND throttle load is the signature
2. 2Torn CV boot — the cause behind it; grease flung across the underside of the car is the evidence
3. 3Inner joint wear — clunk or shudder under acceleration, routinely misdiagnosed as a transmission problem
4. 4A worn control-arm or sway-bar link — single clunks over bumps, not rhythmic clicks through corners

What a parts-changer will tell you

“Both front axles.” A sensible-sounding safety play at $600–$1,200 in parts and labor that replaces the healthy side with the bad one — and on a car whose fault is a torn boot, replaces a joint that never needed to die.

Typical guess-and-swap cost: $600–$1,200 (a pair of axles) when the fix was a $60 boot and grease, or one shaft — not two

The test that proves it

Road test that isolates which click happens in which direction at full lock, forward and reverse, on throttle and coasting — then on the hoist: boot inspection, joint play, grease pattern, and a hub-bearing and mount check to rule out the sounds that fake a CV. The side that clicks gets fixed; the side that doesn't gets left alone.