Brake “clicking noise”

[Don Krenz]

Hello all, first time poster, long time fan.

I just installed new front brakes on my 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I put new pads and new rotors on both sides and everything went well and the sliders where not froze. After the install when I brake the driver side front has a “clicking” noise as I am stopping. I then went out and bought a new caliper for that side and installed that and bled the brakes. So I have new rotor, pads, and caliper on the driver side and the “clicking” is still there. I looked over the pads and they look like they are in the proper position and cant figure out what this noise is. The noise was not there until this new stuff was installed and it only does it when braking. The Jeep stops great just cant figure out what this is.

Any suggestions on what to look at?

Topic

[none]

First thing to check is that all your bolts are tight. This includes your lug nuts. Once you know you didn’t make that mistake, pull the wheels back off and check the caliper and caliper bracket bolts. Any loose parts will shift abruptly and make noises once brakes are applied. Look at your slides and make sure they’re seated correctly on the caliper bracket if they’re so equipped. (I know Chrysler/Jeep is kinda hit and miss on such hardware. I’m not sure what they’ve specifically done with your Jeep.) Granted, they would be much more prone to squealing noises, but it never hurts to look.

I have to question the new rotors. Are they brand new out of a box or did you have the old rotors resurfaced? If the rotors were resurfaced on bench lathe, some people will stop resurfacing a rotor at the rough cut. The rough cut should be followed up with a fine cut and then some sanding. If you stop at the rough cut, the grooves in the rotor can be deep enough that they’ll try to push the pads out and when they reach their limit, the pads snap back down causing a click.

I’ve recently had a wierd experience where the pads I installed were faulty in that the steel backing of the pad was just a little too short for the bracket and would cause a single click when you hit the brakes. You wouldn’t hear it again until you shifted from a forward gear to reverse. So then, of course, the pads would shift up and smack the other end of the caliper bracket causing another single click. It’s something else you can consider, but keep it low on the probability list. This was an odd and rare happening.

[Ingvar]

Your pads are a skoash too small for bracket and move inside of it as they start locking on rotor. Or, you supposed to have spring loaded shims where pads set into bracket, and you either miss them, or they compressed, resulting in ever slight play=click.

[Lorrin Barth]

[quote=”no_common_sense” post=114200]I’ve recently had a wierd experience where the pads I installed were faulty in that the steel backing of the pad was just a little too short for the bracket and would cause a single click when you hit the brakes. You wouldn’t hear it again until you shifted from a forward gear to reverse. So then, of course, the pads would shift up and smack the other end of the caliper bracket causing another single click. It’s something else you can consider, but keep it low on the probability list. This was an odd and rare happening.[/quote]

Unfortunately, not that rare. The pads on the rear of my car are too short and do the same thing.

[Don Krenz]

Thanks for the replies.

The bolts on the calipers are tight as I checked them a couple times.

The lug nuts are tight.

The slides seem to be in the proper position I will check them again today. They are new and came already inside the new caliper. This noise was the same with the new caliper and slides and with the old caliper and slides.

The rotors are brand new out of the box from Auto-zone. I bought the middle of the road ones (carbon)

If one of the pads is a bit small like stated how do I know and what is suggested? Do I leave them like this or purchase another set of pads swap them out and see if it goes away? Can I return the other set if this solves the problem?

Right now I have maybe 10 miles on the pads test driving them and will have about 50 total after today’s trip to work.

Thanks Again

Don

[Don Krenz]

Also one other thing.

The clicking noise when I apply the brakes doesn’t just happen when I first apply them. When I apply the brakes and you start to slow it clicks as the wheel goes around. “Click…click…..click.”.. as its coming to a stop. Just thought I would mention that to. When you let up on the pedal the noise goes away. If you coast to a stop no noise only when applying the pedal and only on the driver side front. The passenger side front makes no noise has new pads and rotor.

Thanks

[Lorrin Barth]

If the pads are too small you only hear one click when applying brakes.

[Kenneth]

I’ve heard that shims can make that type of noise. Can’t say its been my experience, which seems strange, since I’ve had just about every other type of noise LOL.

[none]

[quote=”Don K” post=114251]This noise was the same with the new caliper and slides and with the old caliper and slides.[/quote]

This statement kinda rules out the brake job as the culprit. I’m ready to move on and start looking at the u-joint for rust dust and play, hub & bearing for play or noises, maybe even the brake dust shield even if it does seem absurd to consider it. If you’ve got ABS, see if you can look at the sensor and make sure it’s not grinding on the tone wheel from a worn hub & bearing.

Edit: Rereading your original post, you say the noise wasn’t there until the brake job. The statement I quoted reads as the noise was there before and after the brake job. Can you clear this up for me?

[Don Krenz]

Sure can,

The noise was not there before the brake job.

I put new rotor and pads on and it showed up.

I then put new caliper on along with the new pad and rotor and its still there.

I noticed when I brake hard the click is louder than if I just brake normal.

No noise unless brakes are applied.

I did not put new caliper bolts in that is the only thing not new. They are tight though along with the lugs.

[none]

I’m back to the dust shield again even though I can’t see a good reason to look at it. It’s always easy to bend dust sheilds up and cause squeals and scraping noises. You could visually inpsect the shield with the rotor on and look for contact and decently even clearance between the two. You could also pull the rotor back off and look for paint or rust getting wiped off the shield. You’d see new shiny spots or scrape marks that weren’t there before. Sometimes new rotors fit just a little worse than the ones you’re taking off.

Another thought; Did you wash off your rotors before you installed them? Most rotors are coated with cosmoline to prevent rust. This needs to be cleaned off with brake cleaner before installation. I could see that stuff left on the rotors causing unusual braking action. I’ve also seen bad brake pads cause a material transfer onto the rotors. In my experience, that usually leads to a feeling like the rotors are warped or you get a brake pull. Are you feeling anything unusual with the noise? Any vibrations in the steering wheel while braking at higher speeds?

[Don Krenz]

I cleaned the new rotors off with brake cleaner before they where installed.

I am going to take everything apart again tomorrow after work and see if anything is rubbing anywhere and look at the shield. It really sounds like the pads moving around but I don’t see how the way they are in there. Going to take a good look again and see if I missed anything.

Going to test it again also but I feel no pull in the wheel or vibrations.

[twiggy]

I just went through an episode after changing drum brakes and shoes in the rear of my Civic. Shortly after, I started to hear the clicking sound as I was braking and at near stop, it sounded like a once per revolution sound. Also I had vibration.

Thinking I screwed up my brake job or a spring let go, I removed the drums and found nothing wrong. Just for kicks, I reinstalled the old drums back on keeping everything else the same. And that fixed everything.

I still don’t know exactly how the clocking noise happened though. But I do know they were cheap drums from Amazon so I’m keeping the Honda drums on there for now.

[EricTheCarGuy]

The things that come to mind with this are the caliper slides, missing shims from the calipers (sometimes new calipers don’t come with new shims and you have to swap them over), the brake pads being used, or perhaps on a remote chance the front U joints. I’ve seen the front U joints on those vehicles have issues from time to time and cause noise. If you see orange dust around the bearing cups then this might be the case. Outside of that you might find some useful information here. BTW I don’t think it would be the splash shield given that it’s a clicking noise not a scraping noise.

http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-brake-problems

Keep us posted.

[Richard Hall]

Have you had any luck resolving this issue? I’m running into the same problem. It’s coming from my front left tire area and I’ve had no luck fixing the issue. It gets louder the harder i brake and goes away when i let off the brakes. It’s embarrassing to say the least. Any help here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Don Krenz]

Yes,

I installed new brake caliper pins (slides) and all the noise went away. I was using the old ones with the new pads and had the clicking. After I changed out the pins the noise went away.

[Author]

Replies