Noise coming from front left corner under brake application

My car has been making a noise on initial brake application that I find worrisome. It started out as a single metallic "click," and was an intermittent thing for most of my time owning it. I had most of the braking system replaced a couple of weeks ago, and I noticed the sound became more consistent, basically happening every time I used the brakes after traveling more than a few yards.

Yesterday I gave the car a good bath, and went for a drive around the block before putting it away for the night, and the sound became louder, more of a "clunk." After a few miles it went back to a "click." If I'm going straight, I only hear it, but applying the brakes during a left turn I actually felt it too. Very subtle, and I can't really tell whether I felt it through the brake pedal or the steering wheel, but definitely felt something.

Are any of you familiar with this? I wonder whether it's coming from the brakes or the suspension. I plan on having the lower ball joints and outer tie rod ends replaced soon, along with several other suspension components, but I'd like to have an idea of what's going on in there. Any input will be appreciated.

Loose alignment bolt?

The alignment seems pretty consistent, but I'll take a look at the bolts. That's not something I would have thought of, so thanks.

Clunking could mean front sway bar bushings need lubed.

That seems to go with the whole washing the car = worse noise thing.

Who did they brakes? Did they put a new hardware kit on it? Could be the pads rocking if the kit isn't all on the caliper.

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/gomiata_2154_131720585

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Originally Posted by POS Racing

Who did they brakes?

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Maybe some douche-canoe put the pads on backwards? I've seen it done! :punchout:

Rogue did the brakes, and he specifically mentioned having to put new hardware on them. I'm confident in his work, but maybe there's a problem with the parts themselves. I'm using Carbotech 1521 pads on Brembo OE-replacement rotors.

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Originally Posted by Dudley Dawson

Rogue did the brakes, and he specifically mentioned having to put new hardware on them. I'm confident in his work, but maybe there's a problem with the parts themselves. I'm using Carbotech 1521 pads on Brembo OE-replacement rotors.

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No body better in the Metroplex than Rogue.

So I blame you! ;-)

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Originally Posted by POS Racing

Who did the brakes? Did they put a new hardware kit on it? Could be the pads rocking if the kit isn't all on the caliper.

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That was my first guess too. But apparently that is out.

Could be a pebble caught in the brake sheild.

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Originally Posted by POS Racing

No body better in the Metroplex than Rogue.

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Nobody better period.

I haven't had it back long enough to futz it up myself. Heck, I haven't even burned through a full tank of gas yet. :P

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone. I'm going to check these things out when I get home from work this evening. My gut says the swaybar endlinks are a good place to start. It doesn't sound like heavy parts clanking together, and the way I can feel it while turning suggests a suspension component to me.

Well, I took a look under there and couldn't find anything stuck, loose, or obviously broken. Drove the car again last night and the noise has gone back to being very quiet and intermittent. Whatever it is, it's probably getting replaced soon anyway.

I had a noise like that...I changed both outter tie rods...lower ball joints and put new boots and greased the upper ball joints and it went away...not sure what it was but they all needed changed anyway with 178k

FWIW(probably not much) but I've had the same clunk you describe since i've had the car, around 6 years. Mine is on the pass side. It would initially clunk when the front compressed, then clunk again when the suspension unloaded.
I've checked a few things, but nothing major. Always thought it was the subframe bushing or ball joints or something big. At one point I found greasing the slider pins in the calipers seemed to make it go away temporarily (the one on that side was rusty), but it may have been a coincidence since it keeps coming back, but very rarely recently.

I grease the slider pins everytime i'm down there last few years and I cant seem to remember hearing it at all recently. But i'm not entirely convinced they were making the noise. Again not much help, but this was my experience.

Hey Dudley,

Did you try checking the wheel bearing for play? Jack the car up and with the wheel off the ground, grab the top and bottom of the tire and wiggle it. If there is any movement or clicking at all then you need a new one.

I did try rocking the wheel to check for play, but didn't notice any. However, I've read that Miata wheel bearings don't always have noticeable play when they're bad, so that could still be a possibility.

Whatever it is, it doesn't sound like heavy parts clanking together. It sounds, well, kind of delicate. My initial fear was that it was a bad ball joint. It would be very bad news if one of them were to fail.

Just for grins, have you looked at the flexible brake lines? Possible restrictions in the lines could be translating into brake pad vibrations due to un-equal line pressure. It's a long shot, but if nothing else is giving you results, it might be worth a look.

The flexible lines were replaced with the rest of the brake components, but it wouldn't hurt to check on them. Rogue also noticed and replaced a sticking rear caliper, so I'd be surprised if the noise were coming from an unlubricated caliper, but again it's the kind of thing that doesn't hurt to check on. Going to have to take a more thorough look at the front end this weekend.

I was really surprised to see that the swaybar endlink bushings didn't look worn away to nothing. The car will be 22 years old in a few weeks, and I expected all of the bushings to be crumbling to dust by now.

Something else I've been considering is that it may be something under the hood. My motor mounts are probably pretty tired, so maybe that's causing enough play for something to tap the frame every once in a while. Oh, the joys of aging cars.

Does the noise occur only on the initial application of the brakes, or is it contineous as long as there is pressure on the pads? Does it sound as if it occurs once per wheel revolution? I presume you've looked at the caliper(s) to verify there is no scoring anywhere, as if there were some interference between the rotor and the caliper?

No, just a single click on initial application. Sometimes it doesn't even do it.

Wonder if it could be something relatively innocuous, such as the linkage/pushrod between the brake pedal and the master cylinder? Sure is a mystery.