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Clunk/Knock sound coming from front right when braking

Azazl187

Azazl187

Messages
1,067
Hi All,

When i apply my brakes and just before i come to a stop i get a clunk like metal hitting metal coming from the front right wheel, like it it is coming from the brake area. It doesn't happen at high speeds and doesnt always happen when i come to a stop but does most of the time. I can even crawl along at 5 miles an hour and then apply the brakes and it will happen but not when im going 50 for example.

I am assuming brakes here but i cannot be sure. Ive taken a look at the front pads and there does seem to be a bit of a gap at the top of the groves where the pads slide in... Im imagining that the pad gets to a certain friction and then slides up a few millimetres with force thus causing the pad to hit into the to grove with force causing the sound to occur.

Do you think that this is feasible or am i way off? Has anyone ever heard of this happening before? I recently took the 2 front callipers off and cleaned them up to get rid of all the years of brake dust that had built up.

Thanks
 
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Not spoken in ages mate, hows the car? :lol:

I guess it could be the pads moving, don't know how loud a noise that would make though. Grab a set of cheap pads and retainer clips, shouldn't cost more than £25. I guess you'll be taking the wheel off to have a snoop around anyway.

Check everywhere for stones etc. I once spent days looking for a clunk, turned out to be a bouncy ball behind the bumper.
 
It is certainly something mechanical but ill take a look this weekend and see if i can more accurately locate the noise. The problem is, it needs 2 people to inspect, one to drive, one to look and listen and whenever i mention it to the wife (as i obviously have no friends as they were replaced by a child) she just moans about how boring it is and has something much more important to do :).

Anyway, ill report back what i can. How come you got rid of the car Jim? Couldn't find anything else to strip off it ;) haha? What could you possibly find that replaced it?
 
Sounds like the pads moving in the carrier as it's when you dab the brakes. Also check the wheel nuts are tight...


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Tell the missus you're taking her somewhere nice....."Oh, and while we're in the car dear, listen to this...." :smt037

Azazl187 said:
Anyway, ill report back what i can. How come you got rid of the car Jim? Couldn't find anything else to strip off it ;) haha? What could you possibly find that replaced it?
Click to expand...

It was time. I'd gone as far as I wanted to with it, all the next steps were big money. Also, finding that patch of rust on the floor rather ruined the car for me. It wasn't bad, and it was fixed easily enough (actually one of the finest bits of fabrication and welding I've seen. All hail Automek!), but I've been down the classic route before and spent hours fixing and stressing over rust. The amount of salt on the roads up here is unreal, it's probably the worst place in the world for corroding cars.

I was actually being sensible and used the money as a deposit for a brand spanky civic sport diesel. I didn't last long before buying the micra, just so I could f**k around with it :lol: I'm hoping to be able to start on a new car in a few months time. Top of the list right now is a 350z.

Lewisgame said:
Also check the wheel nuts are tight...
Click to expand...

Hah, yeah, I thought of this right after I wrote my last post. I damn near lost a wheel once, drove for miles wondering what the clunky vibration was....
 
ill give em a good tighten before i leave work and see if the knocking happens on the way home if that doesnt solve it then it will be a case of taking it off and checking the calliper bolts and pads. Knowing my luck it will be the drive shaft or something :).

Well Jim the only problem is she would have to be walking along side the car looking and listening for the sound to see if she can zone in on it anymore plus she almost punched me the last time i asked her to try and find out where a squeak was coming from in the dash area.... :/
Id do it myself but trying to drive and locate rattles and squeaks is actually very hard to do haha.

Ill let you know how i get on guys.
 
*UPDATE* So i checked the wheel and all bolts are tight so the wheel isnt moving. At the weekend ill take the calliper out and check the wheel setup and lower suspension.
 
This may be a daft idea, but I had something similar.
It's not a broken suspension spring is it?

Mine kept clonking on my old car and the spring was actually snapped on the drivers side.
 
JMR said:
This may be a daft idea, but I had something similar.
It's not a broken suspension spring is it?

Mine kept clonking on my old car and the spring was actually snapped on the drivers side.
Click to expand...

Hey bud. I will certainly check that when I remove the wheel but I would imagine that would make a noise when going over bumps... This is definitely when braking. Only reason I say is because the missus had a Merc, that had a snapped front spring and it made hell of a racket lol
 
Mine only used to clonk when braking, couldn't hear it when drive along. Worth a check.
Hope its something simple mate
 
*UPDATE* I took the wheel off this morning and took out the pads after removing the caliper. I checked other areas of interest such as broken spring, suspension in general and drive shaft. All seemed well so I re copper greased everything and put it all back together. When removing the caliper bolts I thought they seemed a little easy to undo so this time I ensured they were tight.

I've just got back from driving through the city which involved lots of stopping and starting and all seems well, not a sound so it looks like I may have resolved it. Happy days!!
 
Yeah, I'm bad for that too. I have to force myself to use the torque wrench. Another joy of owning a micra: "about there" is plenty good enough!
 
jimbothemagnificent said:
Yeah, I'm bad for that too. I have to force myself to use the torque wrench. Another joy of owning a micra: "about there" is plenty good enough!
Click to expand...

A new torque wrench has just arrived.... Bring on the weekend when i can get that knock sensor done!! My dash board can look less like a Christmas Tree over Christmas then hopefully...:party:
 
Great to hear mate, if you can't treat yourself at Christmas when can you treat yourself? :D
 
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