# Brake Noise - Pad Shifting in Caliper



## kjl92701 (Apr 10, 2003)

I have a clunking noise coming from my front brakes, whenever i hit a bump. This has been ruled to be the outside pad moving around in the caliper. Pretty much everything else in the front suspension has been changed, so i'm pretty sure it is the pad. Mechanic had the car yesterday and said everything looks tight as well. 
The car stops fine, and there's plenty of pad wear left so i'm not going to switch out the pads or anything. I was hoping someone could chime in and let me know if there's something that can be done to get rid of the "clunk", or do i just live with it. Anyone else ever have this issue?
FYI, It's a 2000 Golf with Hawk HPS pads.


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

*Re: Brake Noise - Pad Shifting in Caliper (kjl92701)*


_Quote, originally posted by *kjl92701* »_I have a clunking noise coming from my front brakes, whenever i hit a bump. This has been ruled to be the outside pad moving around in the caliper. Pretty much everything else in the front suspension has been changed, so i'm pretty sure it is the pad. Mechanic had the car yesterday and said everything looks tight as well. 
The car stops fine, and there's plenty of pad wear left so i'm not going to switch out the pads or anything. I was hoping someone could chime in and let me know if there's something that can be done to get rid of the "clunk", or do i just live with it. Anyone else ever have this issue?
FYI, It's a 2000 Golf with Hawk HPS pads. 

It does not sound like you have a brake problem to me. 
Especially in a floating caliper design, the pads always shift and move. If you hear a clunk and you think its your pads, do a decent stop in reverse, and than do it forward. This mode will give you the sound you are trying to doublicate from pads.
Sounds to me you got a suspension issue, but never the less check your calipers and make sure everything is tight.


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## kjl92701 (Apr 10, 2003)

*Re: Brake Noise - Pad Shifting in Caliper (GTijoejoe)*

I get the noise from the stop in reverse, and it also goes away when i brake. I know it's not a suspension noise, literally everything in the suspension has been recently replaced. 
I'll get in there and see if there's anything i can do. I'll be getting a TyrolSport caliper stiffening kit soon too.
Someone on here suggested brake pad backing glue...which i haven't heard of until now.


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

*Re: Brake Noise - Pad Shifting in Caliper (kjl92701)*

Can you move the calipers around by hand easily? What type of pads are you using, oem?


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## kjl92701 (Apr 10, 2003)

*Re: Brake Noise - Pad Shifting in Caliper (GTijoejoe)*

i'd have to take the wheel off, i haven't tried moving the caliper around by hand. I was told by my mechanic that the caliper is tight.
Pads are Hawk HPS.


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

*Re: Brake Noise - Pad Shifting in Caliper (kjl92701)*


_Quote, originally posted by *kjl92701* »_i'd have to take the wheel off, i haven't tried moving the caliper around by hand. I was told by my mechanic that the caliper is tight.
Pads are Hawk HPS.

Take a look for yourself.
The pads should be tight in their abutments against their retainers, if there is slop than you could of found your problem.
Also, the caliper maybe tight in reference to it being bolted to the knuckle properly, but be sure that the floating caliper doesn't float in such a way that you can push the caliper clockwise or counterclockwise about wheel center. This will asure that the pin busings are not lose inside of the brkt, these should not flex by hand.
Next grab the entire disk/caliper shack it, make sure there is no play in the suspension assembly.


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## nateturn (Mar 9, 2009)

I know this is a little late to be replying to this post, but I found this post on a search and I have the same problem described by GTijoejoe. I have worn Caliper pin bushings and can move the caliper assembly clockwise and counter clockwise on the brake rotor. The car makes the same sounds described by kjl92701. Clunking when hitting bumps s the caliper shakes around on the pins, but quiets when the brakes are applied. I was told by a mechanic that it was the strut mounts, so I replaced them, then replaced struts while I was at it. That didn't fix it, so I was getting ready to replace a bunch of suspension bushings but held off long enough to notice that the sound stopped when the bakes were applied. Embarrassingly I have driven thousands of miles with this problem and it hasn't caused any problems accept some unwanted noise. The calipers are still attached solidly, but are hanging a little loose on the two mounting bolts (pins). The Brakes work fine, but the mounting bushings are way too loose and may actually cause some serious problem in the future. 

So, my questions are: Replace the both front Calipers? Or is there a way to replace the pin Bushings (bushings around the mounting bolts)? And if replacing the whole caliper, are the calipers offered today as good as the German ones on my 1989 VW Jetta? I replaced the wheel cylinders twice already on this car because the Brazilian replacements only lasted about 5 years and maybe 40k! Any insight?


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## greyhare (Dec 24, 2003)

Depending on how worn things are; you may be able to replace the slide pins. You may need to replace the carrier if things are really worn.


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## kjl92701 (Apr 10, 2003)

Never answered my own thread, but I replaced the caliper bushings with the Tyrolsport brass ones and it immediately fixed the issue. no clunking, and much better brake feel as well. Have since sold the golf, and bought this kit for the A4.


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