lyonkster

My '01 430 has developed a clunk over the past few weeks that I cannot find for the life of me. Nor can the mechanic.

It only happens when I make a fairly sharp right turn while braking. No clunking if I am not braking.

I hear a "thump" or sometimes "thump thump" coming from the left front wheel, which is the one being loaded during the turn.

I checked every single bolt/nut I could see (control arms, sway bar, crossmember, balljoints, steering, brake caliper), all are tight.

So I gave up and went to a suspension place; good place, they build race Porsches there. They looked at it, said everything in suspension is fine, but had some concerns about the brake pads being a bit loose. They adjusted that somehow, but nothing changed.

What do I do next? I don't like clunking from my suspension, I have a vision of something falling off at 80 mph... Thoughts?

RI-Lex

iTrader: (4)

Brake pad fit kit aka shims

shvc1991

Maybe a lower ball joint.

GS430V8

i have the same problem!, but my rear brakes are so sqeeky!

gapxguy

I have the same problem too. I swear something is loose.

MJImport

iTrader: (1)

I am working on fixing this problem myself. As I have mentioned in other threads I was hit a few months ago so Ive been working with the repair shop to find the cause of the noise. They have replaced the lower ball joint, sway bar, and still have not identified the noise. The shop even took it to a Lexus shop to see if they could trouble shoot it, but the Lexus shop was lazy and blamed it on my drilled rotors, haha. they probably didn't even take the wheel off. I had my brakes long before the accident anyway.

It has gotten a little worse in the last few days so they are putting an electronic ear in different areas to see where its coming from (again). I will definitely post the results if and when they find out what it is.

UncleRay

iTrader: (2)

I have the same problem with my rear driver side tire/wheel. Every time I make a sharp turn, it seems to either squeak, wiggle, or just be plain ol' annoying.

I took it to my uncle at his garage, he tore everything apart. Down to the nuts and bolts. He found that the rotor holes were filed down from something grinding against it. Changed the rotor, hardly any sound. But now it's back. He's guessing that I have to change the ENTIRE thing for it to fix.

IDK, that might help.

lyonkster

Well, at least I am not alone chasing this gremlin...

Mine sounds a lot like a "pop" or "pop pop", a sharp and short noise rather than a squeak or growl/groan. Like a lot of energy is being released in a very short time.

I ordered a set of new pads, and when I put them in I'll re-check everything in the pad/caliper; hopefully something will come up.

But if not, I am just not sure how to proceed. I would hate taking it somewhere where they'll just start replacing parts blindly, that can get real expensive real fast. And besides, the suspension place I consider pretty good already looked at it and found nothing. But obviously something is there, since it is clunking.. Ugh...

Johnny Rad

Me, too. Front passenger side.

Maybe a front strut?

AYEmike

me too, i have this problem sounds like grinding metal

Rexdr

If it's not the ball joints, I think it's the rotor. If i recall correctly, when I changed the pads, I was surprised that the rotor just kind of "sat" on the bolts, and it seemed like the only thing really holding it in was the caliper. So, what I think a lot of people are hearing is the play in the rotor. I could be wrong though. I have the GS400, a LX470 and pops owns a LS, and I've changed the brake pads on all of them, so it's hard to remember which was like that, if not all of them. If you're looking around and nothing seems loose, take a look at the rotor. Problem is, I don't know if there is a fix for this.

link13

My first gen has a click when I back out of a parking space and then hit the brakes and another when I first apply the brakes after going forward. It's the front brake pads. I've had it checked out, too. Do you think this could be the same issue you have (to the OP)?

lyonkster

I'm beginning to think more and more that it is the brakes, either the pads or the rotor. I noticed that after the suspension place had the car and worked on the brakes, the clunk got worse!. I now get it not just on the right turns, but also when using the brakes after backing out of a parking spot. Perhaps they did not tighten the lug nuts to the spec value, so the rotor slips around a bit more (?). Anyway, new brakes should be here any day, so I will look at everything brake related very carefully and see what I see.

UncleRay

iTrader: (2)

I checked out my suspension on the rear driver side, and surprisingly, there was some gunky build up BEHIND the calipers. Just turn the wheel, shine a flash light, and you should ( hopefully ) be able to find some gunk lined in circles going around the face of the rotor.

Don't know if this is the complete problem, or even close to it. Just giving some suggestions into this.

MJImport

iTrader: (1)

Quick update: My car was at the shop all day with the "ear" on it and the manager told me they determined that the "popping" sound was the upper ball joint on the driver's side control arm. I'll post up again whether it fixed the problem or not.