Brake popping noise!!

[Qking95]

Everytime I hit my brakes I hear a lil chirp sound and then a popping sound. I have had my ball joints and control arms replaced 2000 miles ago and my pads still have a good amount of life on them so its not those two. only thing I can think of is my allignment cause when my wheels are straight my steering wheel is at a 90 degree turn to the right. Any thoughts guys?

 

[wkmitsu]

Thats the worst alignment problem I think I've ever heard of. You should get that fixed today.

 

[Qking95]

Ok maybe 90 degrees is a lil over exagerating but i would go with 40 to 50 degrees for sure.

 

[army94e]

is it a constant popping or does it just do it once?

 

[Qking95]

It pops once when I start driving then like 8 miles later it is louder and pops 2 or 3 times. I have to hit the brakes moderatly hard for it to pop.

Does it once. When i first start driving it won't do it but the farther i go the louder it gets. i have to push moderately hard for it to pop.

You guys think its my alignment or Calipers possibly? im pretty sure its only on my driver side too.

 

[army94e]

i would def get the alignment fixed for sure! i could even be a tie rod end if the alignment is off that bad. Yea a caliper that is freezing would have that effect but it would pull really hard one way or the other

 

[Qking95]

Im gettin the allignment done today so i hope that possibly fixes it. All my tie rods are new too. so if the allignment does'nt fix it it must be the caliper correct? What about the shock possibly? Cause if I ease on the brakes it's fine but when I push them kinda moderatly hard it pops.

 

[army94e]

That is a possibility too. you could check the shock tower to make sure everything is buttoned up to specs, i loke to trouble shoot problems tho. ill check the prob and everything connected to it or that functions with it. Let me know what happens after alignment is done. it should have been aligned after the ball joints and especially tie rods, its kinda part of the job

 

[Qking95]

I got it alligned and so far no popping. Thank god .

 

[army94e]

Im glad the prob is resolved, it was prob a loose tie rod. Did the shop say they saw anything unusual?

 

[Qking95]

Na they just aligned it and they didn't say anything was wrong. Thanks for the help man.

 

[army94e]

No prob

 

[Qking95]

So my problem is back and I just realized when I don't drive my car a long distance my brakes just make a chirpping noise when I press them but when I drive a good distance like 20-30 miles the chirpping just stops and this horrible clicking popping noise happens when I press them. I looked at the suspension everything is fine. I even cleaned my brakes. It's only on the driver side.. I'm just lost on this one.

 

[95weclipse]

Are the scrapers bent and really close to the rotors? If so then maybe when you push on them they touch the rotors and make the noise your describing. Also check your UPPER control arm mounting holes on the inside of the wheel well. I found out last night one of mine is broken completely out of the hole it self. Check the caliper bolts also. Or check the lower control arm bushings at the chassis.

 

[Qking95]

I'm not to familiar with suspension stuff and brakes. What are scrappers and where are they? Where are these bushing located aswell? Where are the upper control arm mounting holes? sorry I always just paid more attention to the engine stuff and didn't really think about suspension stuff.

 

[95weclipse]

Its ok, as for the upper control arm I am talking about if you look under your hood by the strut towers there are on either side on the front and back sides of the strut tower there are two 17mm nuts and if you look in the wheel well youll see where they go and that is where they bolt to the chassis check those mounting holes out. And as for the brake scrapers if you take your caliper off and take out the pads and look and them ONE of them will have a tiny piece of metal hanging off them which is your low wear indicator and if that is bent OR if your brakes are low enough then that scraper will hit the rotor and will make a squealing noise or in some cases a popping noise.

 

[Qking95]

I donna if this helps but when it does the chirpping noise I was talkin about I can barely tap my brakes and it'll make that chirp sound. Like litterally a small tap on the brakes.

 

[95weclipse]

Jack it up. Take the tire off and take the caliper off i think its either a 15mm or 17mm but check them both and make sure they are not low.

 

[megaskillz]

I had that same problem a year ago. I had replaced everything I could think of. I'm about 95% sure its your rotors. Even if you have good pad wear if the rotors have not been resurfaced before last pad change or exceeded maximum run out limit, it would cause them to make this sound if badly worn. I know the exact noise you are referring to. It sounds like a clicking noise similar to a worn cv axle. Just replace both front rotors with new pads and you should be good to go.

 

[Qking95]

Do rotors still look normal when their worn down like your refering too or is their a way to tell? I'll def. look into it though for sure.

 

[megaskillz]

The minimum thickness is cast into the inside of the rotor near the lug holes. You would have to measure the thickness with a micrometer measuring halfway from the rotor's edge. If not too familiar with this you could remove your rotors and take them to oreillys and have them check it. I'm not sure about it in your area, but they used to resurface rotors and check them to see if they are in spec.

A haynes or chilton manual would be helpful for a brake job and any other future repairs.

 

[95weclipse]

Its useless to get rotors turned. I say this because like megaskillz said there is a MINIMUM thickness that the rotors can be. When they get turned usually 9 times out of 10 as soon as they get hot enough they warp. My dad used to manage a muffler and brake place and every time he would tell people to replace the rotors they would tell him "oh there still good just turn them" and he would say " well they are just going to get warped" they would tell him to do it any way and every one he did came back with warped rotors like 2 weeks later so i do not suggest getting them turned, they are cheap just buy new ones.

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

If you're not comfortable working on your brakes or don't know what you're looking at you should have someone who does know what they're doing look at them. You or someone else's life could be at risk from your negligence.