In the last few months I noticed some noise when turning the steering wheel towards the left. It doesn't matter what the initial position of the steering wheel is, turning it towards the left makes noise.

Initially I thought it's some bushings or the strut mounts, but upon checking, the noise is coming from the steering rack. It can be felt in the cabin floor, and if the left wheel is loaded (sitting lower on an uneven surface), sometimes there are one or two loud bangs when straightening the wheels.

I can feel some vibration when putting my hand on the inner tie rods, and slightly turning the tie rods with a wrench makes the noise worse.

Any ideas before replacing the very expensive steering rack?