Help Needed! 96 Ls Crunching/creaking When Breaking

[Lex4Rdny]

Hey guys. I tried my best searching on the forums before asking but to no avail i cant pinpoint the problem.I just bought my 1-owner 96 last year which had been kept in tip-top shape.

Now, every time i press on the breaks i can feel & hear this crunching noise coming from my front. It started a couple months ago & seems to be getting louder. I dont hear anything while driving but a soon as i come to a stop,its present.U can also hear it once I let my foot off the breaks.

Searching the forums i thought it maybe its my lower controls arms but now i dont thinks so because wouldnt i hear something while in motion?

I just want to kno what u guys think before i go spending $$ trying to diagnose & fix this.

[jainla]

Not sure about the LS400 but my LS430 sometimes creaks if the sway bar bushings aren't lubricated regularly. Eventually I figure I'll replace it but when it goes in for it's oil change I ask the mechanic to lubricate them and it usually solves the problem; usually only when braking or making tight turns (pulling into a parking space).

Hope that helps.

Hey guys. I tried my best searching on the forums before asking but to no avail i cant pinpoint the problem.I just bought my 1-owner 96 last year which had been kept in tip-top shape.

Now, every time i press on the breaks i can feel & hear this crunching noise coming from my front. It started a couple months ago & seems to be getting louder. I dont hear anything while driving but a soon as i come to a stop,its present.U can also hear it once I let my foot off the breaks.

Searching the forums i thought it maybe its my lower controls arms but now i dont thinks so because wouldnt i hear something while in motion?

I just want to kno what u guys think before i go spending $$ trying to diagnose & fix this.

[curiousB]

A couple things you could check:

1) Is one pad worn to the metal plate and rubbing against the rotor? Sometimes on a sticky caliper one side will wear much faster than the other.

2) Did the last brake guy not install the anti rattle shims between the pad and the piston, and pad and caliper? The pads are mean to float a bit and if the shims are missing they might get caught on a rough edge and not float properly.

3) I had a problem with the rear drum parking brake that made a noise at slow speeds. A piece of the brake lining fell off of the shoe and was rattling inside the drum. At higher speeds centrifugal force kept it against the drum. As you slowed down it started to bounce around inside the drum. This is why it was only heard just before and just after stopping. Are you sure the noise is coming from the front?

If you ride over a bumpy area, say the warning band on a highway but with no brakes applied do you hear the same sound? Its not clear to me if this is brake mechanism of suspension. You need to think of a test to narrow it down some.

[Lex4Rdny]

I dont really hear it when im driving.Its when i come to a stop i can & when i start to let off the brake.Also when i park.

A couple things you could check:

1) Is one pad worn to the metal plate and rubbing against the rotor? Sometimes on a sticky caliper one side will wear much faster than the other.

2) Did the last brake guy not install the anti rattle shims between the pad and the piston, and pad and caliper? The pads are mean to float a bit and if the shims are missing they might get caught on a rough edge and not float properly.

3) I had a problem with the rear drum parking brake that made a noise at slow speeds. A piece of the brake lining fell off of the shoe and was rattling inside the drum. At higher speeds centrifugal force kept it against the drum. As you slowed down it started to bounce around inside the drum. This is why it was only heard just before and just after stopping. Are you sure the noise is coming from the front?

If you ride over a bumpy area, say the warning band on a highway but with no brakes applied do you hear the same sound? Its not clear to me if this is brake mechanism of suspension. You need to think of a test to narrow it down some.

[AndyLowe]

Your calipers are held on by two bolts that a 14mm socket fits onto. When you remove these two bolts, the caliper pulls off and out of the way.

The holes that these two bolts threaded into, are the area to look at. These are the pins that should have a rubber bellows at their base. These pins SHOULD smoothly pull and push in and out of their holes of the cast iron frame they reside in.

If you can remove these pins, check for a rubber bushing on the deep most end of the pin, checking for a non torn rubber bushing that slides in its cast iron bore/hole.

These pins should have nice rubber bushings that are lubricated with high temperature grease, to allow the Caliper to float. (the Caliper bolts to these two pins).

If the rubber bushings are missing, or the pins are locked up/frozen in place, it can make a clunking sound when brakes are applied or released.

Hope this helps,

Andy