Investigating noises from wheels/suspensions requires a little practice and experience in this matter. My first advice is to try to repair something only if you are confident of what you are doing.

At the front the commonest cause of noise is worn bushes of the antiroll bar (luckily an easy job). Frequently problems are also due to the transverse leaf spring and its rubber joints (here you need another special tool which can be manufactured). Still at the front any play or vibration due to a bad wheel bearing will disappear or be attenuated when pressing the brake pedal (you need an assistant to do that).

Although track rods can wear (producing a lot of play unaffected by wheel braking), by far the commonest problem is in the plastic bushes of the steering idler box (2nd series cars; first series and some 2nd series had metal bushes with grease nipple). As you probably know, there is an adjuster on top of the box (and also one on top of the steering box) which can be used to reduce play.

Finally, worn suspension balljoints can induce play and vibration: they usually fail due to lack of maintenance (i.e. grease).

At the back free play is normally due to a worn wheel bearing. I trust you have all the right tools to remove it otherwise you will smash the rear hubs like the ones I found on my Zagato since someone had cracked both hubs trying to remove them. Of course bearing play will disappear when braking.
There is only one bearing at each wheel hub. Do not forget to remove the large inner circlip.
- Andrea -