If your car's front-end sounds 'clunky'

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 11:39 am

Thought I'd pass this along; it has worked for 2 out of 2 cars in our house in the last couple of years....

After 40,000 miles or so since a purchase or major service, we've had the front ends of the cars sound 'clunky' when going over driveway-entrance humps or other road defects. Turns out the disk brake-pads were in a 'relaxed' state with a bit of extra clearance room to the disks.

By stopping anywhere deliberately, and at rest deliberately putting the brake pedal firmly to the floor, the pad clearances are taken up. The car becomes a lot quieter after that.

garys · Post by **garys** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 7:59 am

What make of cars? Most manufacturers design their disc brakes so they take up that slack each time the pedal is pushed. With the push for increased mileage, designers are making the brakes drag less by allowing them to back off the rotors. That causes problems like this. I find that with the low drag brakes you can stop clunking by making sure the "tabs" on the pads are bent tightly against the caliper to stop excess pad movement. Or, if you drive older cars like I do, don't worry about it because they don't have these problems.

fredsheldon · Post by **fredsheldon** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:29 am

garys wrote:What make of cars? Most manufacturers design their disc brakes so they take up that slack each time the pedal is pushed. With the push for increased mileage, designers are making the brakes drag less by allowing them to back off the rotors. That causes problems like this. I find that with the low drag brakes you can stop clunking by making sure the "tabs" on the pads are bent tightly against the caliper to stop excess pad movement. Or, if you drive older cars like I do, don't worry about it because they don't have these problems.

Well you learn something new everyday. Thanks for that great suggestion.
Fred