What's up guys? I'm having some problems out of my 95 ex sedan. Car has a d16z6, standard transmission.

With winter coming up I decided to switch to some steelies to put winter tires on. They are 14" steelies and I noticed when putting them on that the clearance to the caliper is VERY VERY close. Ever since I've switched to these steelies, I have noticed a very hard audible knock when under hard braking. The sound seems as if its coming right from between the passenger and driver floorboards. I checked both ends of both CV axles, none of the boots are split. I shook down the front end and there was a little play on the passenger side. I attributed that to an untorqued axle nut, torqued both sides down and staked them both and the problem is still occurring. Rotors and pads are 6 months old, and there is no play of any kind anywhere else in the front end suspension. I should also note that the knocking is speed-sensitive, meaning that it slows down when the car slows down.

The only modifications I have done to my suspension are HardRace lower control arm bushings in the front. I'm wondering if it's possible that the joints in the axles could be loose and that could be causing the knocking that I am hearing, or could it possibly be the wheel bearings? I'm skeptical about the bearings because the noise seems to be coming from the inside portion of the axles rather than the wheels. I checked the inside of the rims and the calipers and I don't see any evidence anywhere of contact or rubbing.

Help! Thanks!

*edit* I should also note that before I switched to these steelies, I was running 15" 0 offset wheels. I had run these steelies on my previous EX sedan as well, never had this problem, but it's also worth knowing that the pads were very thin on that car as opposed to brand new ones on this car.

 

you check your actual brake calipers and brackets?

if the play in your wheel is bad its probably your wheel bearing which depending on how much play you have could be the culprit.

 

The brakes and wheels are both bolted to the same solid pieces of metal. You said there was wiggle in your front end...where, exactly, was the wiggle? Take off the wheels. Do you see any scuff marks on the barrel? If the caliper is hitting the wheel, there will be scuff marks.

 

The play that I felt earlier was side-to-side play in the passenger side wheel. I hit the axle nut with a 32mm impact socket on a 3/8 drive gun and got ~1/8 of a turn on the nut. Did the drivers side and it did not budge. I verified both axle nuts were torqued to 180ft/lbs and then staked them down. After that, the play was no longer there.

Two other things that came to mind: I recently changed both outer tie rods, and the car is properly aligned, AND most of the time when backing out of my driveway and cutting the wheel all the way to the left, I get a single loud "pop" which sounds like it comes from the passenger side. Took the car on a drive tonight and while braking as I entered the driveway, the knocking was persistent.

No marks that I can see on the caliper or the barrel of the wheel. By the sound it makes, it should be clear what parts are contacting but I cannot see any evidence anywhere under the car. I'll take a closer look tomorrow on the lift at work.

 

Side to side play means tie rods, tie rod ends, or steering rack. Since you replaced the tie rod ends, it's possible that your rods or rack were starting to fail, and the new ends put more stress on which ever part is causing your problem, causing it to fail. It's time to give your steering assembly a VERY close inspection.

 

It's possible that the problem could be my inner tie rod ends, in reference to the play in my suspension. Since replacing the tie rod ends my steering is MUCH better, tighter, more responsive, and more rigid when compared to before. The "pop" sound was there before and after replacing the outers. I think I will look into new wheel bearings this weekend. Makes me wish I had gone ahead and already ordered the ARP extended studs.

 

If your wheel hub bearings were shot, you would feel play in all directions, not just 6/9.

 

So the noise followed the wheels or was it there before? Have you checked to see if anything rubs on the wheel?

 

Maybe the rotor developed a crack in it. I see that they are fairly new, but check for that to make sure.

 

Story time.
I had a buddy who after getting his brakes and tires done at the same time (well, a day or two apart), he noticed a weird *tink* noise while coming to a stop, only noticeable with the sterio off, it was driving him nuts, we re-assembled his brakes for good measure, re-greased everything, no dice.
Turns out, NTB (I hate this place) lost a lead weight in his tire before re-mounting it to the rims, it was discovered by spinning the tire and stopping it by hand, later removing the tire from the rim yeilded results, a now very small led weight.

TL;DR, get down there and muck with stuff, speculation leading to a diagnosis is often not right and takes a LOT longer to fix.

 

I know for a fact that it is nothing of the sort purgatory, because I mount and balance all my wheels myself, and would never do something so donkey-brained as that.

Haven't had time to make it over to my shop but I will do so and report back with what I find out. A friend and I went for a drive this evening and he seemed to think that the knocking sound TRULY occurred whenever the suspension in the front end would dive due to heavy braking and THAT was when we were hearing the noise. I'll take a closer look tomorrow, but so far I cannot find ANY evidence of where the contact is occurring.'

Let me make clear again that this noise did not develop until I put a pair of steelies on the front of my car with snow tires. I also switched to a DIFFERENT pair of steelies early this week that I have run on my past EX sedan and the issue still occurs- it did not happen with my last car. The clearance between the barrel of the wheel and the caliper is VERY close but I will take a closer look tomorrow.

 

Well honda heads, I have failed you. Upon closer inspection last night after taking my wheels off, I noticed a contact spot on the corner of the passenger side caliper. The cause? The top slide pin bolt was completely missing, and the other bolt was only hand tight. HUGE oversight on my part and I feel utterly stupid for it. Remember all that talk about donkey-brains? Well looks like I get to eat my own words...

 

Well hey, at least you figured it out. We'll resist the urge to laugh, don't worry