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Hello,


I've been troubleshooting a braking sound now for some time, and have been researching it for many hours. This forum has come up a few times in my searching, and I have therefore decided to give it a try. It sounds exactly like this.

It is only on the right side on 2003 Civic DX with 190k KM. I can only be heard on light braking at low speeds. Hard braking does not produce the sound, nor does braking at higher speeds (50+ km). It is not more pronounced when turning. It happens in gear and out of gear.

We have replaced the following:

Ball joint (front right)
Lower control arm (front right)
Stabalizer bar links (front right)
Calipers (front both sides)
Rotors (front both sides)
Brake pads (front both sides)
Brake pads again under warranty trying to get rid of the sound (front both sides)
Wheel bearings (front right)
4 new rims

I have had about 8 mechanics look at the car, and none of them can figure it out. ALL of them say the brakes look good and have all cleaned them. Every time we do anything on that front end, from lower control arm replacement to brake pad replacement, the sound goes away for 3 or so days, but then comes back.

I might add that most of this was replaced after hitting a curb two and a half years ago. Since that initial repair, we have replaced the ball joint, lower control arm and brake pads again.

Also, another pertinent piece of information: It only happens in warmer weather. We don't hear the noise from November to March. It comes back in April on some warmer days, and pretty much back full time by the end of May (now). It is driving me nuts.

The only thing I can think of is the CV joint and drive shaft. I do hear the occasional (very occasional) knocking from that side of the car at low speeds, and so I'm thinking I will be replacing that anyway, but I can't see how this would explain the noise when braking.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be very appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve

 
Rep Power: 233

Sounds like a bad spring or bad strut mount (top mount). Probably time to replace the struts anyways. Might want to replace the springs as well. Do you have spring sag?

 
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Thanks for the response. That's one thing I forgot to mention - the front right strut was replaced after hitting the curb as well. I had a mechanic look at them and he said that were like new.

They also loosened afterwards, lubricated and re-tightened.

One more piece of information - the knocking sound that occasionally occurs, seems to only occur when it is raining, and only for the first 15 minutes of driving while it is raining...

 
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I won't discount this as a possibility though... how do I check for a spring sag?

 
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I had a similar noise in my rear passenger side when it rained or snow melted, turns out my rear strut had blown out and leaked all the oil out. All of the oil, or enough that water got up inside and would make a clunking noise when it was out and when it was frozen it didn't make noise. Hope this helps! (look for oil residue along the body of the strut)