Clicking or Popping in the Brakes?

[Rba007]

On the long drive home today at intersections I began to notice a popping, or clicking noise when I used the brakes. Got it into my garage, and as I depress the brake pedal, there is a definite click somewhere in the front of the car. Any ideas?

[2003GAGT]

Kinda hard to tell without actually being in the car and hearing it...

If you are familiar with brakes why don't you just raise the front end of the car, take the wheels of, and check everything out visually?

[Gimli]

I'd say your calipers might need to be greased...

[koolZ71]

i had the same problem, started out as a poping, then after a couple months it was grinding intermidatly, and still poping, then about 3 weeks ago, mine started grinding non stop..took it to the firestone place.....my passenger side calaper was locked up tight open, the pisten had frozen up, causing my driver side to do all the braking work...when they changed my rotors, calapers, and pads, the drivers side was pad to the metal, rotor had deep grooves, and passenger side looked almost new, rotor smooth and pad with plenty of life left in it..i had put them on in december so it hadnt been a year since i changed the pads...u might wanna get a free brake inspection and ask em to check ur calipers...a lifetime set from firestone cost me 460 dollars

[Rba007]

****, right when I dont have any money. What do i "grease" on the calipers? Ive changed the pads/rotors twice since ive owned the car. This is the first day ive noticed anything. I cant check it now because i just got out of two exams, and have another one to leave for in about 2 hours (cramming is a bitch!).

[Rba007]

Am i safe to drive the 1.5 hours round trip to/from school tonight???????

[koolZ71]

u should be fine...just dont use em hard, and have em looked at asap....just be careful

[Rba007]

I had my girlfriend walk around the car while i applied the brakes in my garage, she believes that the sound is from my drivers rear drum brake. So, I guess its not a disc. Anyone have experience changing drum brakes? Ive never done it (never felt a reason to, theyve worked fine) and the car is going on 91000 miles.

[Rba007]

So, i know im a moron, but just what gets greased in there? Itll be done tomorrow although I beleive the problem lies in the rear drums... Preventative medicine anyway.

[Hot_Stud18]

Originally posted by Rba007
I had my girlfriend walk around the car while i applied the brakes in my garage, she believes that the sound is from my drivers rear drum brake. So, I guess its not a disc. Anyone have experience changing drum brakes? Ive never done it (never felt a reason to, theyve worked fine) and the car is going on 91000 miles.


Wow do the SE's really have rear drum brakes? If they do I never knew that and also my car has been making the noise for over a month now and I just keep running it so I would say you should be fine.

[Gimli]

You grease the caliper slides and bolts. On the rear drums, the springs and other moving parts.

[pfofit]

Never done drums eh!

Well the first problem will be to get the drums off. If a ridge has formed on the outer edge of the drum(like on a rotor) then you will have to back off the self adjuster< or your shoes will be destroyed.

Problem is these self adjuster are normally crap and seized up after a couple of years. , which may very well be your problem.

If the self adjusters are seized then as your shoes wear down, the gap between the shoes and drum increase and causes excess movement which tries to make the adjustment, but rather just clicks and bouces off the adjuster wheel.

If the drums do not just come off with some mild coaxing then before you start fighting with these drums, i suggest that you find a haynes manuel or something to check out the mechanics of drum brakes.

Pretty straight forward if you have the picture in your head. Somes auto places have a big poster on the wall with a generic setup for reference.

When/if you do get in there then i would pay very close attention to the position of the springs and all. there are normally sereral holes in the shoe bracket and they all are not used. (cause the bracket is same for both). remove pieces slowing and study them for placement and symentry. Springs can be pretty tight and special tools are available, however, there are other common tools that get the job done but require some finesse. You will curse the springs.


If something flies apart, you have the other side fo reference, provided the drum comes off. :thumbs:

[Rocketblt]

I just replaced my brakes myself with peformance pads and i am also noticing a poping sound from the front calipers sincei have only done the front pads so far . Since I am a dumb ass.. lol i put the pads backwards with the metal brake fade squeaker or whatever you would like to call it on the outer portion of the caliper and disc rather then on the caliper piston side .. so ill be pulling those off shortly again .. lol . put from what i think even though i gapped the pads nice and bled the system good .. i think the popping noise is just probably the piston slapping on the pad?. would anyone like to add ?. By the way ?. use plenty of anti- squeak gell . :)