jcopin

i found my front end clunk after replacing the struts and mounts and today the tie rod ends. the drive side caliper itself can be moved by hand whereas the passenger side is fine. all the bolts are tight. any ideas? maybe the caliper has to be replaced.

jcopin

any ideas? i am still getting a clunk sound from the driver side which is the only caliper that can be moved by hand. it only makes the noise if i hit a sharp bump without hitting the brakes. do i need new guide pins or a new caliper altogether?

Dixie_Flatline

I'd put the front on stands, take the caliper off and see what's wrong. Caliper's are pretty simple machines, you'll find out what's wrong pretty quick.

jcopin

that will have to wait until friday afternoon. suppsoed to rain in the northeast until then. the passenger side doesnt move so im assuming the piston is not extended all the way out which is causing the movement. the calipers have almost 70k on them. i dont know how long they should last. its not like i just installed them. i changed the pads about 8k ago.

Dixie_Flatline

Only reason I'd take a look to verify is it may be something cheaper than a whole new caliper. Also how exactly is it moving? Hard to tell from the description if you mean an abnormal movement direction (say in and out from the hub) or if it's moving in it's normal range of motion, merely unimpeded.

I've seen others with frozen pistons on lower mileage cars than yours. Could be the piston froze completely retracted.

jcopin

I was thinking if it was frozen then the rattle would still happen even with the brake pedal being used

Dixie_Flatline

But if it's frozen in the in position and the pads are wobbling back and forth, who knows? Best bet is a visual inspection. Good luck.

jcopin

took the caliper off. bled it, regreased and retightened it..seems to be much tighter now...but the problem remains!..lol

jcopin

the only parts that i did not replace were the sway bar end links and the control arm. im going to remove the sway bar end link on that side and see if the noise continues. i wouldnt think it would be the ball joint as there is not excessive play in the hub.

so far i replaced the struts, mounts, tie rod end links, reworked the caliper. would the sway bar end links do that?

i tightened the sway bar end links but with a ratchet..do i need to bring a bigass torque wrench into this?

CO_VaporGT_09

That was the source of my clunking. I could grab the end link and feel the play in them, and going over any bumps, especially just one front tire, would make it loud and annoying.
I got the Shelby (which are apparently the same as Steeda) street end links, they quickly loosened and did the same. Then got the UMI rod-end ones from Stranoparts.com, no more clunk! Now I can hear the softer and less distinct clunk from the drivers rear side! I already know that's the LCAs needing greasing....

Now the stock end links are very hard to tighten especially if you don't have the new ones:

http://www.cjponyparts.com/product.asp?pn=EL15

The old ones required a 8mm wrench on the end, and a 18mm (I think) box end on the nut. The new ones it's two larger diameter wrenches and easier to tighten.

After I did my front AR bar with the original stock ones, had the passenger then driver side loosen up during two consecutive road course events, was very noisy then. Initially tightening them helped, but then the ball ends loosened up and got that slack I mentioned above. Same basic pattern w/ the Shelby ones, though they were easier to tighten and never loosened except the ball joint intself.

Hope that helps.

jcopin

so you mean every time i turn it with just a socket and rachet its not actually tightening?

thats annoying. i cant move it by hand though i can just swivel it relatively easily at the rubber boot itself

jcopin

thanks for the link i think il just order a new one from them. from looking at their picture i definately have the old one. mine was one of the first 06's. built in august 05. even if it does not get rid of the noise i figure at 98k miles its proably not a bad idea to replace it anyway.

the thing i find odd is that the noise does not seem to occur if i even gently press the brake pedal when going over it even though the caliper is now snug.

CO_VaporGT_09

Yeah not sure if it's the link then if it seems so related to the brakes, though braking at all might shift enough weight to the front to load the link up. I've seen some people talk about using an air wrench on those original ones, when I did it just spun and spun and heated up. Had to get a ratcheting 18mm (I think) on the larger part, and then a dinky 8mm on the snout end to get them tight, and getting that to anything over 50ftlbs that way I don't think was possible. With those new ones, you put a box end on the back side, then torque down properly on the nut in the front, to at least 70ftlbs if I remember right. My 09 had the old ones, too, so it was after mine that the new ones came out, I'm sure the 10s and 11s have them.

Might not be a bad idea to swap them out regardless at this point, though, even if no guarantee they're the source. Cheaper than a new caliper, at least.

http://www.newtakeoff.com/mustang_gt...2005-2009.aspx

jcopin

see i was thinking while i was on i95 this friday that braking would throw the weight to the front..even just a little bit of braking. im going to order 1 new one and if it works il go ahead and replace the other for the hell of it.

AFChief

Interested in outcome.

Shotokan1509

I just fixed a brake clunk on Mother's 03 Taurus, the caliper bracket, the bolts to the spindle had thread lock build up that false tightened the bolts. I took it apart looking at balljoints, sway links etc, was just two stupid bolts.

Fixed the same thing for a friend on his Ranger few years ago, the bolts had worked loose. These should be threadlocked and torqued properly.

jcopin

i got it....finally...almost have cheers of joy lol. i knew it would be something stupid. after repinstalling everything again i noticed the brake pad inner shim on the mounting bracket was missing on 1 side so the pad was able to bounce slightly which was causing the bang. ..so there you go..lol i want to thank everyone for their help anyway

Dixie_Flatline

The sound of silence must be music to your ears now, glad you found it.

jcopin

yes it is..althought the new 2010 focus i just bought makes me realize how loud the normal mustang suspension just is normally