Looking for advice again... I have a very weird rattle coming from somewhere around the passenger front wheel... it:

1) only happens when I drive on a road with little bumps or "waves" in the pavement. Does not happen on larger potholes
2) used to be rather quiet and almost sound like a squeak... now sounds like a dull rattle
3) goes away(!) if I press the brake pedal, even very slightly. If I drive over bumps with brake pedal pressed in, then there's no rattle

Seems like it is obviously related to the braking system. I first thought perhaps the pads were loose... but I checked and they seem to sit in tight. All pads and rotors are relatively new, put on about 3 months ago - they are not at all worn out, and the brakes overall work fine. Besides, this used to happen with my old rotors and pads as well.

I've had my mechanic look at this but he couldn't tell what was going on. We lifted the car up, he checked the ball joints - no luck...

Any ideas?..

 

id bring it in to be checked, it could be a few things. most fo them arent cheap and regardless this gonna get $$ if you dont take care of it.

 

don't know if it has anything to do with the brakes, but it could be a bad ball joint. does it sound like metal on metal, making a "kink" sound every time you go over a bump...how many miles on your car, what year?

LampyB.

 

I did bring it to get checked, as I wrote above. My mechanic couldn't tell what it was. And he's usually pretty good (he's not an oil-and-brake change kind of mechanic)... so I'm getting puzzled. I'll probably have to take it somewhere else but meanwhile I am soliciting ideas...


I don't think it's a ball joint because:

1) it just doesn't sound like a bad ball joint - I've had that before on other cars. I guess a ball joint would hit once on every bump and be worst on bigger bumps. In my case it only rattles on small bumps and it sounds more like "tr-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta" (really fast) and not like "clunk! clunk!" (lol, what an explanation)
2) we checked for it with my mechanic specifically - lifted the car up, put a bar under the joint, tried to move it (like they always check it) - no movement, looks fine
3) this just make no sense - why would a ball joint rattle go away when the brake pedal is pressed?

The car is '02, 96K

Should I video tape it and post the movie with the noise on Youtube or smth?

 

It's probably just the brake pad rattling within the carrier. Put some anti-squeel paste on the backs of the pads. Should help reduce the noise.