YACT: Weird sound when I brake

[Ns1]

So me and my friend were doing a brake replacement today...

We did..

Brembo Blanks in front, BPI rears, Hawk HPS all around
Valvoline Brake fluid/bled the brakes


They brake fine, however when I apply braking pressure, I get this funky sound. It's a cross between pop/clank(clankclankclankclank). I can slightly feel it through my brake pedal.

We took apart everything and retorqued everything back to spec. After liberally using antiseize the sound died down a little bit but it's still there. My friend thinks it's because of shibby retainer clips so those are being special ordered.

Any ideas?

 

[Horus]

You're getting uneven braking.

 

[Ns1]

^

 

[Vortex22]

Warped rotors?

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: Vortex22
Warped rotors?

Well they're brand new rotors so unless they came warped (which I suppose is a possibility...)

in addition, i don't feel it in the steering wheel at all

 

[iamwiz82]

Can I ask why you need such high performance braking? With those kinds of parts comes more noise, brake dust, etc.

 

[TechnoKid]

To me it does sound like the retaining clips are worn and not holding the pad full contact against the rotor.

What car is this? Maybe I can help ya more if you let me know.

The hawk HPS pads are a pretty good pad, porterfield pads are good too.

oh and what method did you use to bleed the brakes? gravity? two man? pressure? vacumm?

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: TechnoKid
To me it does sound like the retaining clips are worn and not holding the pad full contact against the rotor.

What car is this? Maybe I can help ya more if you let me know.

The hawk HPS pads are a pretty good pad, porterfield pads are good too.

that's what my friend guestimates so we're going to replace those

it's a 97 prelude

Can I ask why you need such high performance braking? With those kinds of parts comes more noise, brake dust, etc

there's no noise (except for the one stated above), but the dusting is freaking RIDICULOUS omg

who needs gunmetal rims when you have aftermarket brake pads! iono, i feel safer with better brakes and i drive my car around spiritedly sometimes so they're nice to have

oh and what method did you use to bleed the brakes? gravity? two man? pressure? vacumm?

2 man

 

[Spikesoldier]

do yourself a favor and get a vacumm pump. around 20-30 bucks and you will never need a friend to help you bleed the brakes, and its so easy.

 

[TechnoKid]

Hmm.. the two man method. You may have inadvertaintly messed up your master cylinder by pressing the pedal too far down (when you do this next time, put a piece of 2x4 or something so the pedal does NOT go all the way to the floor. If the pedal goes too far, you can mess up the seal on the piston of the master cylinder)), or have gotten air into the ABS modulator, which can result in the sound you hear and slight vibration in the pedal. I would try rebleeding the brakes, using gravity. Just crack open a bleeder screw and let 'er drip. Use clear tubing so you can tell when if any air bubbles have left teh caliper and system.

Does the steering wheel shake at all when braking and hearing this noise and feeling it through the brake pedal?

 

[Kipper]

Originally posted by: TechnoKid
Hmm.. the two man method. You may have inadvertaintly messed up your master cylinder by pressing the pedal too far down (when you do this next time, put a piece of 2x4 or something so the pedal does NOT go all the way to the floor. If the pedal goes too far, you can mess up the seal on the piston of the master cylinder)), or have gotten air into the ABS modulator, which can result in the sound you hear and slight vibration in the pedal. I would try rebleeding the brakes, using gravity. Just crack open a bleeder screw and let 'er drip. Use clear tubing so you can tell when if any air bubbles have left teh caliper and system.

Does the steering wheel shake at all when braking and hearing this noise and feeling it through the brake pedal?

Well...wish I'd known that before I bled my brakes last month....

 

[Ns1]

Does the steering wheel shake at all when braking and hearing this noise and feeling it through the brake pedal?

steering wheel doesn't shake at all. that bit about the 2man method sounds kinda iffy though. damn.

 

[TechnoKid]

hmm...reasonn i asked if the sterring shaked at all becuase this would indicate a problem in the way the rotor is seated on the hub or the way the pads are ahitting the rotor surface.

since you said no shake, i think you may just have some air in the lines. even if the anti-rattle clips and retaining clips were worn, the pads would just make a clack noise when you press on the pedal, and only when you first hit the pedal (the pads would be shifting around in the carrier but once the pads are conatacting the rotor, the clack noise wouldn't be there since the pads ahs already "shifted"), after that, the soudn shouldn't continue. (you should still be able to bend then back into shape with tension, unless they are corroded or rusted)...

this brings up another question, when you put the pads in, did they fit tightly, or loose in the caliper carrier bracket? you may have defective pads.

 

[Ns1]

this brings up another question, when you put the pads in, did they fit tightly, or loose in the caliper carrier bracket? you may have defective pads.

they fit tightly but not as tightly as the oem pads

i can shift the pads up and down with your fingers and it'll move a few thousands of an inch, but not like crazy clearance like .5mm or anything

 

[Maximus96]

Originally posted by: Spikesoldier
do yourself a favor and get a vacumm pump. around 20-30 bucks and you will never need a friend to help you bleed the brakes, and its so easy.

how does the vacuum work and where can i buy one? i suppose autuzone/kragen/napa/pepboys should have one. i've never used one before, the last time i bleed my brakes it was with a friend's help. thanks

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: NeuroSynapsis

this brings up another question, when you put the pads in, did they fit tightly, or loose in the caliper carrier bracket? you may have defective pads.

they fit tightly but not as tightly as the oem pads

i can shift the pads up and down with your fingers and it'll move a few thousands of an inch, but not like crazy clearance like .5mm or anything

i believe this may be part of your problem, however, i don't think that it should cause vibration in the pedal. if the pads do not fit in tightly, then there will be noise from say, when the pads get shifted from the rotation of the rotor, like going from reverse to drive. I know this because it happens on my toyota previa; they are OEM pads, but there are inherent manufacturing tolerances which can cause some pads to be "looser" than others. One thing you don't want it pads that are too tight, they can bind and cause uneven braking, and excess noise because the pad is too tight.

I believe the HPS pads for the prelude do have the indicator metal tab. porterfields do not (i put R4S on my bros civic and they don't have indicators). If the indicator tab is not oriented correctly, then that could possibly cause your problem. I think most honda require the indicator to be on the inborad pad, facing up (or down depending on the way the clerences are on the caliper).

something that is sometimes overlooked is the caliper pin slides. for caliper pin slides, i take them completely out (you can take the rubber boot off too, but its kinda a paint to get back on), clean them, lightly sand them, clean em again with brake cleaner, then put a thin layer of [green] Permatex Synthetic brake caliper grease. For all pad contact points, like on the caliper carrier, i use sta-lube (crc) synthetic brake caliper grease, you can use the permatex, but i find that it is kinda thin compared to the sta-lube; i like the sta-lube because it is very similar to molykote which is oem specified, and it thicker so it stays put.

make sure the dust shield is not contacting the rotor. i mentioned it before, but it is possible that the pads are defective.

i wonder, did you have trouble changing the front rotors? i think the front spindle is the same as the accord, and if so, the rotors are a pain to change because the rotors are mounted from behind on the hub. you have to take off the front spindle to access the hub and then unbolt the rotor from behind. and to do this, you have to take out the axle. i don't remember how the front spindle looks like on a prelude, so i may be wrong about this.

 

[Quixfire]

Then stop braking.

Ba Dum Bump

 

Technokid

You may have inadvertaintly messed up your master cylinder by pressing the pedal too far down (when you do this next time, put a piece of 2x4 or something so the pedal does NOT go all the way to the floor. If the pedal goes too far, you can mess up the seal on the piston of the master cylinder)),

Incorrect sir, master cylinders have retaining pins/bolts that prevent this.

Your pads are moving within the caliper thus causing the clunking, this can be caused by missing or defective retaining/anti squeal clips or the pads may have been manufactured with too small of a backing plate.