Irritating problem no garage can diagnose.

[dieseluser07]

Under braking from say 50mph, when the car is warmed up, every time the wheel makes a rotation there is a very loud click from the outside of the car, from the wheels/brakes. Its very loud, almost like at a certain point something catches. Slows down as the car slows so definately from the wheel/brakes.

Basically every garage is 'nothings wrong', slider pins have been regreased - that solved the problem for a short while - it came back. Other time the brakes were warped so they got replaced and that solved the issue for a few months.

Problems back, so im thinking the brakes are warped again and the issue is something to do with the caliper sticking/catching or something? Any ideas. Cheers.

Apparently the slider pins were free when the problem was last checked so not 100% on the caliper yet i cant think what else it would be.

[t400ble]

What car?

[MrHappy]

From both sides of the car? Just offside or nearside? Front or rear or all four wheels? Is it from the driven wheels? Maybe try a local rolling road to replicate. A loud click every rotation at 50mph would be an almost continuous sound. Is that how it is?

[GreenV8S]

Does it still make the noise if you left foot brake and maintain constant speed?

If you can get it to happen at walking pace it ought to be possible for somebody outside the car to get a pretty accurate idea if whereabouts on the car it's coming from, and which wheel if it's a wheel.

[RobXjcoupe]

I had a click from applying brakes each time. Nothing dangerous just wondered what it was. My front calipers were 4 pots and it was the spring clip that stops the pads rattling. Just gave that spring clip a little bend to create more spring and the click noise went away and has never been heard since

[dieseluser07]

MrHappy said:

From both sides of the car? Just offside or nearside? Front or rear or all four wheels? Is it from the driven wheels? Maybe try a local rolling road to replicate. A loud click every rotation at 50mph would be an almost continuous sound. Is that how it is?

Just one side, front passenger wheel most likely, fwd so yes driven wheels, well its very fast at 50 yeh then as it slows down the clicks slows down, its with every wheel rotation.

[300bhp/ton]

I had a clicking on one of my cars. It wasn’t always there. Or at least you couldn’t hear it always. After some hard braking it was always worse.

Eventually found it to be the metal shim/clip the pads sat in. Kind of hard to describe, but the end of the pad tapers to a toe. Which sits in a notch in the calliper and the pad would then slide in and out along this notch. In this notch is a piece of spring steel shaped to fit the notch.

Anyhow it had got slightly bent and could just touch the outer edge of the disc when it rotated. I guess as the disc heated up with would expand ever so slightly and make the rubbing/clicking worse.

Would be ever so easy to over look when inspecting it. And when cold, such as when you take the pads out with the wheel off. It didn’t make the noise.

[dieseluser07]

300bhp/ton said:

I had a clicking on one of my cars. It wasn’t always there. Or at least you couldn’t hear it always. After some hard braking it was always worse.

Eventually found it to be the metal shim/clip the pads sat in. Kind of hard to describe, but the end of the pad tapers to a toe. Which sits in a notch in the calliper and the pad would then slide in and out along this notch. In this notch is a piece of spring steel shaped to fit the notch.

Anyhow it had got slightly bent and could just touch the outer edge of the disc when it rotated. I guess as the disc heated up with would expand ever so slightly and make the rubbing/clicking worse.

Would be ever so easy to over look when inspecting it. And when cold, such as when you take the pads out with the wheel off. It didn’t make the noise.

Your the second person to suggest this and this could definately be the issue. Would i be able to inspect this myself by just taking the wheel off or will i need to loosen the caliper off etc?

[Boosted LS1]

Could be the cv joint perhaps?

[anonymous-user]

Check your wheelnuts!!!!

I had this same problem, nobody could diagnose..

I had checked my wheelnuts but unknown to me one of them had a crack in it but would still loosen and tighten up.. The noise got worse then one day the wheel decided to depart from the vehicle at 50mph, even if it's 30 minutes to check them...

[dieseluser07]

CP12 said:

Check your wheelnuts!!!!

I had this same problem, nobody could diagnose..

I had checked my wheelnuts but unknown to me one of them had a crack in it but would still loosen and tighten up.. The noise got worse then one day the wheel decided to depart from the vehicle at 50mph, even if it's 30 minutes to check them...

Its only during braking though, never when not braking.

[300bhp/ton]

dieseluser07 said:

Your the second person to suggest this and this could definately be the issue. Would i be able to inspect this myself by just taking the wheel off or will i need to loosen the caliper off etc?

You might be able to neither just the wheel off. Look down on top of the disc where it goes between the pads and see if anything look close to touching the outer edge. Will depend on the orientation of the Cali per. It was a rear disc in my case and the calliper was at the 2 o’clock position. Failing that it’s a matter of pulling the pads and having a real close look.

Not all pads and callipers locate like this though. So it could be a red herring.

[300bhp/ton]

Sorry but it of a crappy pic.

This is the spring steel. It clips into the calliper and runs the width of it with the disc running in a notch in it. It’s really a slider for the pad to move along so it doesn’t wear the calliper housing.

I think in my case a stone must have got caught and bent it slightly, just enough to gently touch the disc. Then make a noise once you’d used the brakes for a bit. Probably due to expansion. I had previously got stuck in some gravel and this occurred very soon after.

[dieseluser07]

300bhp/ton said:

Sorry but it of a crappy pic.

This is the spring steel. It clips into the calliper and runs the width of it with the disc running in a notch in it. It’s really a slider for the pad to move along so it doesn’t wear the calliper housing.

I think in my case a stone must have got caught and bent it slightly, just enough to gently touch the disc. Then make a noise once you’d used the brakes for a bit. Probably due to expansion. I had previously got stuck in some gravel and this occurred very soon after.

Very helpful thank you!!

[anonymous-user]

dieseluser07 said:

CP12 said:

Check your wheelnuts!!!!

I had this same problem, nobody could diagnose..

I had checked my wheelnuts but unknown to me one of them had a crack in it but would still loosen and tighten up.. The noise got worse then one day the wheel decided to depart from the vehicle at 50mph, even if it's 30 minutes to check them...

Its only during braking though, never when not braking.

The noise would only appear when pulling up to stop from driving (e.g at a junction etc) and no other warning signs....