I am posting this because I need some ideas of what my problem could be before I go looking for the problem. Its cold out and I would much rather not spend all day in 35 degree weather and not find anything.

Anyways, to the problem. My front brakes have developed a clicking/snapping noise while driving. It started right after a heavy rainstorm (rained for about 4 days straight). I thought it could just be some extra rust buildup causing it so I took it out and did a few hard stops to really clear off the rotor faces but the noise continued. It sounds like when the spark plug wire isn't fully seated on the plug, just a high speed clicking. Problem being that the noise only happens when driving straight/slight turns. The sound goes away when turning at anything greater than about 30 degrees (either left or right) as well as anytime the brakes are applied.

It could be something else entirely, but because of the fact the noise completely stops while braking leads me to believe the brakes are the cause of the noise.

There seems to be nothing wrong with anything just a horrible noise. The brakes stop the car fine and I have no squeaking/squealing noises. The alignment is fine as I just had it done and the car drives straight.

Car is an 05 and has 25k miles on it. Stock calipers/rotors/pads. I could go to the dealer, but I would much rather try and fix it myself for my own personal knowledge and to save some money too!

Any insight into this is appreciated. I am going to search some more, but I couldn't find anyone with this problem.

EDIT: Just wanted to add that the noise does increase with speed.

 

Sounds like something is rubbing...check your dust shields and see if anything is stuck in the calipers

 

My car is in the dealership for similar sound, I get a clack sound when I back out of something move forward and hit the brakes, I get this loud clack sound coming from the front. Dealership told me its normal wear and tear, nothing to worry about but im waiting on a manager opinion.

 

Try this: http://www.finishlineperformance.com...5-08-1948a.pdf

 

Well I checked out the brakes a little today before work, everything seems ok. On Friday I am going to take them completely apart and clean and inspect everything more thoroughly. I think it might be the 2 clips that hold the pads centered in the caliper, they might be broken or just loose/worn. Hopefully it is something simple and can be fixed easily. My experience with this car is it usually is simple, but who knows at this point.

Worst case scenario new rotors and pads/clips/shims. At this point though, I can only speculate.

Thanks for the suggestions and hopefully this will be fixed soon. I'll update the thread with a solution if one is found within the next few days.

 

check tq on lugnuts.

it should be 108 ft lbs..

and yes temp does matter..

beers

 

yeah sounds like it possibly could b the clips on the caliper's rubbing i see alot of that on many different cars make sure you lube them up with some high temp grease they are meant to slide on there and if they don't then it could push the clip over and cause it to rub against the rotor

 

Well, I took everything apart, cleaned the calipers/pads/clips. Reseated the pads with new anti-squeal grease in between the pads and shims. I brushed off all the rust on the rotor hubs and back of the wheel with a wire brush as well since I was there. Put everything back together and went for a test drive and everything seems fine.

Taking it apart I saw nothing out of the ordinary that was wrong with them, just dirty. The lugs were tight and the bolts holding the calipers were VERY tight. The pads didn't move in the calipers much, a little wiggle side to side maybe a couple of mm at most.

My guess is that it was just a combination of the torque on the lugs, cold weather and the rust on the rotor hubs causing the wheels not to seat as well as it could. I'm just glad its gone now. I guess I can save the new rotors and pads for the spring like I had planned.

Anyways, thanks to everyone for posting.