vortexx

Hi Guys,

3 weeks ago I had my brembo blanks resurfaced, and put carbotech panthers on the front and axxis metal masters on the back. Everything was fine, and I bed in the pads, however this past week and a half, the front left brakes have started making a clicking sound when I press the pedal with low to moderate force from about 35mph down to standstill. The clicking slows down as the car slows down, but not by much. I can feel the 'clicks' in the pedal as well as hearing them. They are pretty loud clicks, and anyone in the car can easily hear them. The clicking does not happen all the time either. For example, today, on the way to work it didnt happen at all. Sometimes I will go a couple days without hearing any, and then the next day it will click quite alot. I took the pads out and looked at them, and everything seemed healthy aside from the fact that the red paint sprayed onto the pad backing plate on the Carbotechs was peeling off all over the place. I tried to get rid of as much paint as I could, and threw it back together. It kinda seems like once the brakes warm up they click, but its hard to tell whether there is any real correlation or not. The last couple days I began to wonder if it was suspension related, but it doesnt make a difference whether I am turning or going straight when I brake... it will click either way. Its a strange noise though and it kinda sounds like possibly something is hitting something that is rotating with the wheel, though all looked fine when I took it apart.

I found a post that might have been similar to this, but no one seemed to be able to find a solution for that guy. Do you guys have any suggestions as to what this might be? Its really driving me nuts!

Thanks guys

vortexx

Oh yea, also I have tried compressing the suspension by hand when im outside the car (obviously) and it doenst make the noise, so I figure it may not be that. I was thinking also possibly some sort of bushing problem, but it really feels like a brake thing since it happens in alll sorts of dynamic conditions..

hondaman86

I would look into the antirattle clips on the caliper, maybe the pad isn't held in tight and when braking, its causing it to vibrate.

vortexx

By Anti-rattle clips, do you mean the pad retainers?? This could be a possiblilty.

instructor74

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hondaman86 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would look into the antirattle clips on the caliper, maybe the pad isn't held in tight and when braking, its causing it to vibrate.</TD></TR></TABLE>
+2

-Trinitron-

I had that same sound once, but it turned out to be a loose lug nut. Also had the lower caliper bolt come loose once, it made rattles too.

vortexx

Hi Guys,

I had to dig up my old post to get everyones opinion on whats happened so far. I got new pad retainers and installed them in the front left corner where the clicking was coming from. I greased the heck out of the pad retainer groves, the pad ears, the back of the pad, the caliper/pad contact surfaces, and the end of the piston. I threw it all back together and noise seemed to quieten down a little, but then after about 150 miles of driving is back with a vengence, louder than ever and seems to not only be coming from the front left anymore, but more like the center of the car. Its also like a central click, and not two clicks coming from 2 sides. I also seem to be getting another sort of creak when the car is off the brakes, but the clicking still happens when I am on the brakes. Now its a full fledged click coming from what almost could be a front axle, or something towards the center of the car. I still feel the clicks in the brake pedal, and of course hear them pretty loudly. The interesting thing is when I press the brakes lightly the clicking happens, but under moderate-heavy braking there is no click. I sat in 4 hours of bumper to bumper of traffic yesterday and it got progressively worse, making want to pull my brain out of my nose after 2 hours. The clicking also happens when I apply light brakes while on the gas still, so I stop the car from accelerating with both pedals, and it sits there clicking away.

Anyways, im wondering if it could possibly be something else. Thanks to the terrible roads in Ithaca, NY, where I spent last year, the roads actually backed out the swaybar mounting bolts from the left side where it bolts into the subframe, and so the rear sway was clanging around until I fixed it. I havent looked into it in the front, but Im wondering could the same possibly be happening to the front? Also I have no idea what a wheel bearing going bad sounds like, but frankly since its now coming from the center of the car im thinking less that it could be that.

One thing I did notice when replacing the pad retainers was that on the inside pads there was a grove in the pads at the inside most radius at the bottom of the pad. This is caused by the rotor resurfacing job that was done on the rotors, since they did not go all the way to the inside radius of the disc surface. You can see where the resurface machine stopped... Again im not sure whether this could be a factor. I wanted your guys opinions on this, so if needed, I can go back to Direct Tire and complain about it. Im also going to be calling Carbotech on Monday to get their opinion about it.

I was wondering if you guys have ANY suggestions on what I should do at this point... its driving me crazy. During the clicks there is no decrease in braking force, just a silly noise, which I can also feel through the pedal. Im going to check the front swaybar mounts, and also check to see if my front suspension (kyb agx, prokit) is still bolted on tight at the shock towers.

I really appreciate any help any of you have to offer.

Thanks,
Nayan

CardDealer

Modified by CardDealer at 4:42 AM 11/16/2006

vortexx

I put the brake pad lubricant goo stuff that the honda manual suggests, and I put it in the locations suggested in the Helms manual... I used regular auto zone brand, but I used brake specific goo. I checked the caliper bracket bolts, and they were pretty solid, but I didnt get to take my tq wrench to them and check if they are at 80lb-ft, but they felt like they most likely were. Im going to check it out tomorrow.

Im going to look into getting new rotors too..... im just really tired of dealing with this problem.

clayne

Pop the hood, idle the car, have someone depress the brake pedal multiple times.

It sounds more like a fastener or linkage issue than anything else, i.e. a brake line mount, prop valve mount, master cylinder linkage binding/screwed up, etc.

You won't be able to diagnose this from inside the car.

vortexx

I will have to check that out.

Another thing I forgot to mention... it sounds like a click while the car is moving above like 5mph, but when it get slow, the noise sounds kinda like a creak more than a click.... its really frustrating..... Ok, well anyways thanks again for the suggestions