At certain speeds I get a vibrating/loose/sloppy/smacking on the brake pedal when I brake. Couldn't find anything loose. Caliper bolts are tight, so are the rods. The front left rotor was warped, replaced that, and its a little better, but still there. Its definitely the front left.

There's no play in the control arms, two were replaced a couple months ago.

The wheel bearing also doesnt seem to have any play in it.

When I hit a series of small bumps, it also clacks.

Also when I brake at speeds that it doesnt vibrate, I feel a click in the pedal, and then it clicks back when I let off. It doesnt do this when the car isn't moving.

The car doesnt do this by decelerating, only braking.

My ABS light is on, says its an electrical malfunction. It doesnt feel like ABS though.

ALSO, IT ONLY DOES THIS WITH THE PEDAL LIGHTLY PUSHED, if I push it all the way, the clacking stops.

 

How do you know its def the front left? Sometimes its awfully tough to be sure.

Personally, I always replace both the left and right at the same time so you don't have some odd, different levels of wear etc. Did you replace the pads too? The vibrating says you have something still off in the braking disc or pads etc.

The clicking in the pedal could be part of the ABS light being on. First thing to do there is clean all the ABS sensors (down on the knuckle behind the wheel itself). They pull out and you can spray them down with some brake cleaner. Then see if you can get the ABS light off.

 

When I hit little bumps on the left side it clacks. But all control arms seem to be good, it was just inspected 2 months ago, and he didnt see anything either. Could be two separate problems...

Its intermittent, today it didnt do it at any speed. Its not the back either, I've pulled the ebrake a few times to check.

 

It sounds like you may have a loose control arm bolt. Check all the bolts, especially where replaced or removed for replacement.

 

Didnt find any loose bolts, but I noticed now that when I reverse and brake, I hear a snapping noise. It'll just do it once until I go forward and brake again.

 

I had a noise up front on my car, kind of a thunking when I went over a bump, and it turned out to be a loose connection at the swaybar end link. Take a look at those and make sure yours are tight. As for the vibration, did you verify that your wheel studs are torqued correctly and evenly, at 90 ft-lbs of torque? Loosen them all and torque them to that spec, using a skip-one method, to ensure it's done right. Excessive or uneven stud torque can distort the rotors and induce warpage and vibration.

 

The clack you hear is most likely the brake pads moving back and forth in the caliper. It's normal, within reason of course.

As for the clacking you hear over bumps, it could be loose brake pads. If the clip is bent, worn, or installed incorrectly, the brake pads will rattle in the calipers over bumps, but will disappear when you touch the brake pedal. It also could be the cause of the clack you hear when you reverse.

 

Ok I'll take the wheel off and check both of these things. The lug nuts are a little funny. I think they're corroded a little, they snap hard when I tighten them and come off really hard. They very well could not be evenly tightened at all.

The loose pads make sense, but when I lightly touch the pedal they clack, I just put new rotors on. I dont know why they would clack back and forth unless the rotor was warped? If I brake harder it goes away, then when I let off I feel a snap back.

 

Weird. We need video or audio...

 

I doubt youd be able to hear it over other noise, its more of a feeling.

Here is something I have to add, when I changed out some control arms, I had to compress the spring. After the job was done I took the car out for a test drive. Why is the left side so stiff? And what is that noise?! I left the spring compressor in. I barely drove it but I'm sure it was very bad. No give in the suspension.

Not really something I want to admit, and didnt think it was the cause here, but who knows, I'm about out of options. I really cant remember if it was doing this before the "incident" or not.

Now thinking about it.....I wonder what that did to the upper strut mount........