Rotational Creaking Sound

Hey guys

I'm an Aussie owner of an 88' Civic -- 4 Door Sedan (DX), and i've got a problem which I cant put my finger on. I'm a bit of a newbie to all this but I'm doing my best to learn so bear with me :)


Before I went on a long trip a few thousand k's ago I got my mechanic to do a brake service, including changing the pads, machining the rotors, and lubing all the pistons etc. in the brake calipers. Braking was *much* smoother and quicker and generally felt great. However, it has since (a few thousand k's after this service) developed a rotational noise. I say this because it decreases in speed with the speed of the wheels.


I would describe the noise as a "creaking"/rubbing/rusty type noise, sounds like someone on a rocking chair on a creaky floorboard -- rocking faster and faster :p

Symptoms:
If I drive the car around slowly it doesn't seem to occur, however if I speed up and then do a big brake, often this will kick-start the noise, and it will then keep reoccuring more easily for the remainder of the journey.

It only occurs when braking, as soon as brake is off, noise goes away.
It *mostly* comes from the front right hand wheel area of the car, but also sometimes comes from the passenger side wheel area.

The noise is quite loud and can be heard audibly from inside the cabin with the windows up.

Tonight I found I can reproduce the "creak" part of the noise by closing either the drivers side and passenger doors with some force. This makes me think it must at least have something to do with suspension (??).


This is really starting to bug me -- it sounds HORRIBLE, please help!!

Weird. Do a search on here for "wheel bearing" and "ball joint" and then do the tests recommended... ie. jack up car and hold wheel at 9 and 3 and shake or 12 and 6 and shake... I keep forgetting which is bad if any play or knocking when testing. Anyway, if that's okay, you may have to spring for new rotors (not machined) and pads again. In my case, I've been driving around with warped rotors with decent pads because the rotors are cross-drilled and I needed a quick fix. But now I have a weird howling sound coming from my passenger wheel sometimes but the wheel spins straight and doesn't knock or anything. I can tell that my rotors are seriously warped even though my brakes still work... so I just got some Brembo OE replacement rotors. Nothing beats new... GL

Can anyone tell me where the cheapest place to buy new rotors in Sydney is? I'm pretty broke (replaced all 3 engine mounts yesterday.. $300 on parts :( )

i had this similar thing happen to me before. one day it just randomly started creaking kinda like you describe. it turned out i got something stuck (like little pebble?) in between one of my brake pads and the rotor on the right side of my car. it sucked but after driving a little bit this thing must've gotten launched out and everything was fine. i had the same thing happen again a few months ago. it turned out i got a piece of salt lodged in there. gayy.

turtlecrxsi - i think that if you have play when you shake 3 to 9 it's play in your tie rod and if you have play when you shake 6 to 12 then you have play in your ball joint.

Make sure the shim between the pad and caliper hasn't broken and is moving around to where is rubs against something. I had that happen one time and it took me forever to figure out what the hell the noise was cause it would move around and didn't rub all the time, but just a thought.

Thanks, I'll take the wheel off (again) soon and take out the brake pad and have a look.

I'm not convinced this is a brake pad noise, when I was going down my driveway (very steep) tonight, I found that if I hop on and off the brake, (making the car lurch heavily downwards onto the front end) the car would make a loud creak noise.

??

i had this similar thing happen to me before. one day it just randomly started creaking kinda like you describe. it turned out i got something stuck (like little pebble?) in between one of my brake pads and the rotor on the right side of my car. it sucked but after driving a little bit this thing must've gotten launched out and everything was fine. i had the same thing happen again a few months ago. it turned out i got a piece of salt lodged in there. gayy.

turtlecrxsi - i think that if you have play when you shake 3 to 9 it's play in your tie rod and if you have play when you shake 6 to 12 then you have play in your ball joint.

Good to know... I have no play... still have a bit of airy sounding howl but only sometimes now... probably similar to your pebble thing. I still have to get those Brembos Blanks on. My nephew works at Advance Auto and I called him and left a message to call me so I can get his discount for some Metal Master Pads (never in stock) but I think he's taking final exams. Maybe I'll just get them from AutoZone like I did last time... think they were like 30 bux? Weird thing is, even though my rotors are super warped, I still have some good braking action (pads aren't very old though)...