Steering Wheel "Clunk"

Common causes?

I have a guess, but don't want to bias the answers. May be a really basic question.

It's a 96 Ford Contour with just over 100k. Over certain bumps, I get a "clunk" through the steering wheel. This started only recently. What would this seem to indicate?

Thanks

I will guess it is the control arm bushings. Have someone get in the car on a flat level driveway and drive it slowly while you are looking at it from the driver side, have them hit the brakes abruptly and see if the front wheel is deflecting backward. Repeat for the other side.

If this were a 96 Miata, I'd suggest checking the two bolts that mount the steering column to the dash crossmember. Because of the Ford / Mazda connection, I'll suggest it anyway. Two of my 96 Miatas suffered from this

Miatas have two bolts that hold the steering column to the crossmember (two bolts, 12mm (?) heads, that go straight up above your knees). If you grab the steering wheel when you enter the car, the column will loosen up and slide sideways when you apply pressure. It will also rattle over bumps. Between the bolt and the bracket is a wedge shaped spacer. Loosen, but don't remove the bolts, push the wedges in and retighten the bolts. I overtightened and stripped one of my bolts, then tried to remove it and snapped it off. Trust me, you don't want to do that.