98 Cavalier knocking in driver front wheel

Recently my wife's cavalier developed this knocking noise in the driver front wheel when I step on the brakes. It started out as just a little knock when I slightly get on the pedal. It ended up getting worse, and finally started shaking the whole front end at about 40 mph. I got it home and found that the seal around the caliper piston was messed up a little bit, which would explain why the piston was tough to push back in, and would possibly explain the knocking noise as the rotor is a tad bit warped.

I replaced the caliper with a remanufactured one (the caliper was under warranty) and all seemed to be well. No noise for a couple weeks. Now it started to appear again. Could it just be the rotor? The rotor seems smooth enough, and the pads seem ok. The passenger side works fine. I replaced the pads, rotors, and calipers about 30,000 miles ago, and I didn't expect to hear a peep from them for awhile yet.

check the lugnuts, thats what happened to me like a month ago... one got loose on a 250 mile trip haha... that was great fun. actually it wasn't loose, it was stripped completely and the other lugs were getting loose.

Get new pads and rotors. Should clear the problem right up for ya. Don't get cheap brakes, because you get what ya pay for.... ;)

CV axle

front hub assembly maybe?

Actually, it ended up being a combination of a warped rotor and a seizing caliper. The seal around the caliper piston wasn't sitting right in the bore, and was causing the piston not to release when I would take my foot off the pedal. The rotors were a little warped, but just enough to make the noise upon passing the pads. A new caliper (to replace the one year old caliper :uhoh: ), and pads/rotors cleared it right up.