our 52 reg Focus is making a strange creaking/grinding noise when we:

turn left at an angle of 90 degress or more, at a speed lower than about 15mph

so , for example, manouevering into a parking space.

it doesn't seem to make the same noise when turning right.

any ideas as to what it might be ?

CV joint?, any signs that the grease has leaked out?

sorry, I know very little about cars, so dont know what a CV joint is. Also, it's been doing it for a while so the time for noticing grease is probably long gone.

Now it's also happening on right turns, and over some bumps, so could it be similar to the console bush problems known on the Fabia ?

Constant-velocity joint - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Constant Velocity Joints (aka homokinetic or CV joints) allow a rotating shaft to transmit power through a variable angle, at constant rotational speed, without an appreciable increase in friction or play.

Worn wheel bearings?

Agreed - probably a CV joint. Which is an MoT failure.

ah right, so the CV joint is the bit that makes the turning of the steering wheel into the changing of the wheel angle.

we'll get the garage to take a look at that, as well as the suspension/bushes, as sometimes the noise sounds like it's coming form the back of the car.

Maybe both things have problems at the same time !!

thing is, we also tried "dry-steering" whilst sitting on the drive, and it didn;t make the same noise. would that make a difference in diagnosis ?

No; the noise is caused by the bearings turning at unequal speeds across the width of the joint so dry steering won't get a noise from the CV joints, but can knacker your tyres, track rod ends and sometimes steering rack.