Loud rattling or clunking noise from the front of my 2008 chevy cobalt what is it

Wheel bearing? If you turn left and it gets louder. It is the right wheel bearing. And vice versa.

ck struts and ball joins

That sounds like a loose exhaust pipe or a metal cover plate underneath that has come loose.Check it out.

Try leaving the A/C off and then drive a few miles and park the car. Sometimes the Freon in the A/C coil will make noise until the car has time to stabilize the Freon pressure. If you eliminate the A/C for testing, you can move on to considering another possible problem.

Strut mounts

Just replaced doesnt eliminate the intermediate shaft, could have been a defective part or poor installation. Other then that, it can be as simple as a sway bar link and or frame bushings

the rattling is most likley a heat sheild that is loose,I see this mostly every day. get some self tapping screws and secure the sheild back in it's place . Don't remove the heat sheild it's there for a reason.

you need to get the front end checked. it sounds like a suspension problem possibly your struts or sway bar but it could be a more serious problem. hope this helps

Push the button and pull up on it at the same time

This is most likely one or both of these:

The intermediate steering shaft loses lubrication and develops a clunk - this is an engineering deficiency in many GM products dating back to the early 90s.

and/or

The electrically assisted steering column actually has plastic gears in it which wear down quickly, get sloppy and cause clunking through the steering wheel.

If your car is out of warranty, this will be expensive.

GM knows about both of these issues, and continues to engineer these problems into their products.