Lately I’ve been hearing this “clunk” when braking, only notice from around 25 mph and below, not when braking from 70 or anything, I drive a 2017 Honda Accord
i’ve taken my car to two mechanics and multiple friends all of which have said it looks great, no issues with the brake system, no bad wheel bearings, etc… The noise comes from the front passenger side, heres a video:
Mechanics haven’t been able to find out what it is and have just said it drives perfect for them and inspections went great, usually I’d think their lazy, but considering they get paid off commission you’d think they would want to find any issue they could to charge you.
If you have any idea please help me, thank you
Thank you
The 2 rear wheel bearings have been replaced in attempt to fix it (Wish it would’ve worked) and I’ve gotten an alignment, other than that, no work has been done.
When driving, not necessarily only when braking but you can feel a slight vibration in the pedals and in the steering wheel
The weather here has fluctuated so much that I’ve been able to establish rather 90 degrees, or 40, it still makes the noise
I thought it was tire noise as well, when I got an alignment they rotated them side to side, nothing changed, from what I can tell it only makes the noise when braking, not when coasting. But I’m gonna go ahead and double check after I finish my shift
At first I thought it was due to the tire, the front passenger (where the noise coming from) was different from the rest because it was replaced so tread was worn a lot less then the others, different brand but same size, but with the rotation that kind of knocked out the idea of that being the issue considering the sound didn’t follow the tire
It sounds a lot like brake pad to rotor noise to me.
This would kind of confirm it to me.
This could be the result of a rotor with fairly significant runout. It’s lightly bumping the pads while moving but when you brake, you can hear the periodic contact.
I’d be very surprised to hear a “mechanic” couldn’t verify this or whatever the cause. Chassis ears can help as well as a runout gauge to verify the rotor is in plane and not “warped”. If the rotor checks out, my next thing to look at are the pads and caliper. If the caliper is frozen (either sliding or one side of a dual piston) it can push on the rotor versus squeezing it. Check that the pad retainers and clips are in place etc.
Another idea, when you step on the brakes the resulting inertial forces cause the front of the car to move down, and the rear to move upward. Any play in the suspension components could result in a clunk noise when braking. The area of the top strut mount is a common cause. Your shop should be able to test for that possibility by prying here and there, and varying the steering direction, with the car on their lift.
When a customer or service writer requests a “brake inspection”, my first action is to road test the vehicle to try to understand the reason for the brake inspection. Some customers will accuse the technician of joy riding their vehicle, because they only asked for a brake inspection.
Most technicians just inspect the brakes and move on to the next car. If the customer approves brake replacement, the technician only gets paid for the brake job, not the time spent inspecting the brakes.
Hard to believe a technician was asked to identify that noise and only stated the brakes “look good”. That is an incomplete diagnosis.
If you feel a vibration while braking and without braking, there may be a bent hub. That can cause excessive brake rotor runout and the cyclic noise while braking.
A dial indicator is used to measure hub runout. You generally won’t get a thorough diagnosis during a routine brake inspection.
I would definitely check the run out of the rotor(s) as mentioned, also the caliper slide pins for sticky/binding and smooth movement as mentioned and then compress the calipers single piston in to make sure it is not starting to seize up… Check the pad wear to make sure the pad surface is not wearing at an angle, thinner on the top than the bottom or visa a versa…
All of which requires more then just looking at the brakes and saying ohh they look good…
Another thing to check, you can easily do this with a helper, find an open and safe area (parking lot, technically you can do it in a small garage but…) have someone from a standstill move the car forward some and then hit the brakes hard, then take off again, watch the front wheel to see if it is moving forward and or rearward, like getting closer to the fender opening front or rear while doing this and then moving back or the other direction, if so you could have some lower control arm bushings…
