Brake or suspension noise? - BMW Forum

fastshivy · 07-08-2006, 10:39 PM

I am still fighting a noise from my 540i. I changed the pads and rotors with Brembo rotors and Akebono ceramic pads. I now have a clicking slight thumping noise coming from the left front wheel.This occurs every time I apply the brakes med to hard. Put a dial indicator on the rotors and they are perfectly straight. The car did not have any noises before I worked on it! The car brakes fine. I changed the pads and rotors back to the original and the noise is still there. I have pulled the control arms and the bushing looks good. All suspension bolts are tight, ball joints tie rods are good. I disconnected the ABS system to no avail. Checked the dust shield retorqued all bolts anti rattle clips are in place. Heeeelp I am out of options!!! What has this crazy old man missed??? Any help would be much appreciated.

Trevize · 07-09-2006, 08:30 AM

you sure it is the left front? Noises like that can travel and echo really well through a car. I'd double check all 4 wheels.

fastshivy · 07-09-2006, 09:23 PM

Thanks for the response, I did double check all wheels and everything seems ok. I am thinking the pads are moving vertically in the caliper. I am going to try oem pads and see. I have done over 300 brake jobs and this one has me stumped.

paco1076 · 07-10-2006, 12:28 PM

What I have found when you have a "clicking" sound after a brake job is that you have the pads in backwards or have the anti-rattle clips on the wrong side. What you are hearing is the pad rattling around in the caliper. Verify that you have the pads in the corret way. You might be on to something with the OEM pads...

Good luck,
Paco

fastshivy · 07-12-2006, 10:11 PM

Thanks for the response. I took the car to a BMW specialist shop and 3 mechanics looked at it. They all concluded it was a bad rotor so I have reordered all new parts and will start over. One mechanic said he saw this a couple of years ago with Brembo rotors...when they stamped the numbers on the edge the press hit it too hard and mushroomed the edge of the rotor.We will see! This does not explain putting the old rotor back on unless the parts got mixed up.again Thanks

fastshivy · 07-13-2006, 03:43 PM

Yes!!! Finally this saga is over. I put new Balo rotors on it and it is perfect!
The edge of the Brembo rotor was mushroomed .003 just exactly where they stamped it. The Balo rotors were cheaper and appear to be better quality.
1) They don't use the clip weights for balancings instead the edge is machined.
2) Balo has it's own foundry in Germany and it appears better quality control
3) They stamp their numbers on the hub (where the wheel lugs are)
I am guessing the pads and rotors got mixed up when I put the orginal back on and caused the same noise. Hind site this was an idea gone awry. I sincerely hope this thread helps someone.

paco1076 · 07-13-2006, 03:46 PM

Excellent! Congrats on finding the problem and thanks for sharing it with us. Good luck in the future and enjoy the ride!

Paco