i found a lot of complains regarding clunk/popping noises after few hours of searching and reading yesterday. but none of them gives me real solution.
i tried many things in order to find out where this noise comes from in the past few months and here are some details about my car and thoughts:

08 MR DD only. 25k now. running strong, SST works fine. checked all fluids frequently, no problem at all.

@15k miles swift sport springs installed. works fine, no noise.

@22k miles front brake pads changed to hawk HPS
few weeks later found this clunk noise at low speed after driving a while.(once it happens, no matter going straight or turning, bumps or no bumps, can still hear it at low speed. i think it also happens at high speed just i cant hear it clearly because the exhaust is louder. but it wont happen again after the car stop and cool down for 30 minutes.)

- it sounds like from front end passenger side, it gets worse in hot weather. almost not happen in low temp outside or the noise is very light.

- seems like the noise is coming if the car stops for few times, and stop hard.

base on above, i know it gotta be something related to thermal expansion and contraction, and most likely the front passenger side brake rotor. so here i took a picture of it and found the scratches/lines:



which not seen in the driver's side rotor:



im almost 95% positive it gotta be something wrong with the brake system on the passenger side but what does not make sense to me is, these scratches/lines should not cause clunk noise. some body please help me out here.

- should i get new rotors to see what happen? and which rotors?
- should i replace the pad which basically brand new? and which pads?
- what else do i need to do to diagnose this problem?

i hope its not the axle or transmission. but i dont care how much i need to spend to get rid of this noise, i just want it gone forever !

thanks!

 

Clunks and pops would useually come from something loose or broken. Maybe the pad change was just coincidental. Posible that the 2 piece rotors have some play on the hat, but I doubt it. There was a post that described a clunk and it turned out to be a loose subframe. Get under the car and do a quick nut and bolt torque check. Also, can you record the noise? Otherwise we all just guess.

 

i will bring my car to the shop and check all the bolts.
the problem is it does not happen all the time, only after a long drive, the car gets hot enough, especially outside temperature is high, you can hear it clearly inside the car in low speed.i will try my best to find out where this comes from and update here.

 

still need some inputs. problem not solved.

1) is it possible some loose bolts under the car?

2) is it possible the brake problem because this only happen when the car is driven for a while.

3) is it possible the strut?

is there any way i can diagnose the problem?

thanks.

 

if it's the suspension you'd probably hear it if you were hitting bumps regardless...

If you had a shop do the brake work, i'd go back and ask them to check their work. Maybe they can warranty the pads and change them out for you.

If you did the brake pads yourself did you resurface the rotors prior to putting in fresh pads?

 

when the car is driven for a long time, this clunk noise comes. when it comes, doesnt matter go straight or bump, the noise still there. a little bit worse in bumps. im gonna check all the bolts underneath the car this week.

the shop did the pads for me and they did not resurfaced the rotor. do you have to do that?

 

Yeah... I'd rule out the suspension... not exactly sure where to start though.

Having the shop check their work would be good. And yes, every time you replace the brakes the rotors should be re-surfaced, or "turned" so that any grooves that developed on the rotors are gone, and the new brake pads have a flat surface to mate to.

Your shop should have done this, as it's a standard practice for most shops.

 

went to the shop today and tighten all bolts on subframe, control arm, struts, endlinks. lets see if noise still there. the tech took my car for a spin and said that the noise comes from something spins...

 

Problem solved?

I have similiar clunk noise on the passenger side when I go reverse and press the brake. Go forward, then go backwards and press the brake it'll clunk again. Also clunks going up driveways at angles.

I did have a hard braking day at the track earlier and it started doing it after that

 

Mine does the same. I changed out my rotors and calipers so I figured it had something to do with that but I just got the car in the air and everything was tight. Not sure what it is.

 

I have seen this problem twice after two different evos changed their pads. Pull the calipers off and check the pistons and dust boot seals. Could potentially damaged the pistons when you put a c clamp on them to get your new pad in. You are suppose to remove the master cylinder lid and compress slowly. Both cars had to replace the pistons. They swapped back to stock pads and took it to the dealer and got it under warranty.

 

Sounds like a blown strut to me. My IX MR made the exact same noise in the same scenarios you are describing. After trying numerous fixes, I finally I puled the struts and had them sent to Bilstien for a rebuild. The noise was gone after resinstalling. Have you checked inside of the strut cup (where the bottom of the spring rests) for any residue or anything? I'm not sure what causes the noise but I can assure you that a blown strut will make a clunk that sounds like it's coming from something other than the strut. I went through the same thing you are going though trying to track it down and it was the strut all along.

 

ever find out a solution to your problem?

 

sorry about to update this post. the problem was found and fixed over a year ago
Sir, you are absolutely correct. the noise came from the front strut. the noise just gone after i installed coilovers. i inspected the front struts, no leaks, then a technician told me it could be air inside the strut so it made noise when the car is moving. surprisingly i found leaks from rear struts but i did not experience anything different when i was driving it.

 

yes problem found please see above.