Hi Steve,
I'm at 13 months post-op. At various times during the recovery process, I did feel clunking. I noticed that the clunking seemed to occur each time I found a new range of motion. But, the clunking was temporary. Otherwise, no, you can't feel your metal hip at all. For me, this surgery has been a huge success. Yesterday, I went on a long mountain bike ride with technical downhill sections. On Saturday, I played 18 holes of golf. At 7 months post-op, I snowboarded in 3 feet of fresh powder. I recently bought a new car with a manual transmission because I can once again drive one. These are all things that I either had to give up at some point over the last 12 years, or continued to do, but with reduced performance and lots of painkillers.
Right now, my resurfaced hip feels and performs better than my natural left hip did since my early twenties.
In comparison to my good hip, my operated side does feel weaker. That weakness began long before surgery due to my limited range of motion and many compromises for my hip. Now that I'm past one year, I'm really focusing on working it harder to build more strength and agility in the hip, especially in preparation for snowboarding season. It's been a slow process. But, I'm confident that at some point, I'm thinking 18 months to 2 years, it really will be equally as strong and as flexible as my right hip.
Good Luck with your decision!
Jeanie