Front brake noise

Anyone know why the hell my front brakes make a smack noise when I engage them? It sounds like the calipers or pads are smacking against the rotors, and it bugs the shit outta me. It's not repetitive, it just does it once when engaged. BTW, it's not affecting the performance just the noise is driving me nuts.

 

Take it to the dealership and get it checked out. Could be the pads backing away from the rotor. Worst case would be a stuck piston.

I know when motorcycles get into a bad tankslapper (i.e. front wheel starts to slam side to side) that it can cause the brake pads to press the pistons back into the caliper. Which is not good. What your experiencing could be similar to this. Either way it's not good for your brakes to make a smacking sound when you engage them. Could be indicative of a bigger problem with the ABS or EBD systems. Just my .02.

 

Dealer told me it's normal noise. They said it's because the pads are getting thinner as they wear & move around in the caliper. Mine you can hear when braking in forward or reverse. For $125, they said they told me they can put some substance on the back of the pads to make them stick to piston better & stop noise. I bought the stuff myself & plan to do it this week.

 

Mine did something similar. I took it to the dealer and they called it pad slap and said it was normal. Its really a poor fitment issue in my opinion. I took the tire off and grabbed the studs and turned the wheel. What it was, was the pad shifting left and right and hiting the side of the pad off the caliper. Its really annoying but they wouldnt do anything for me under warrenty. I just learned to live with it for now and I will fix the issue when its time for brakes. There is probably a shim I could put in there to fix it but Im not too worried about it.

 

Mine make the same noise .

 

Disassemble, clean all areas where the pads contact metal, coat those spots with 3-M caliper lube(light coat, NOT on friction surfaces), and reassemble. Engaugement noise on this style of caliper is normal. A clean and lube will minimize this. It also gets rid of light braking squeal, and stops early pad failure from pad sticking.

 

Cool. Learned something new today. I'll keep that in mind when I change my brakes.

 

what he said.

 

does anyone know how the brakes adjust? are they self adjusting or is it manual? im guessing its self adjusting because if it is, im under the impression that when the brakes get to a certain thickness that it will self adjust and that could make a noise similar to the one that you all and myself are hearing. However mine makes the same noise every time i start to reverse and press the brakes for the first time, and then the same thing when i put it from reverse to drive and press the brakes for the first time. after that its silent.

 

Has anyone cleaned theirs or had anything done to see if it stops? Mine does it and I have about 51,000 miles on my truck.

 

Mine make this same sound too. I think it has to do with the calipers being stationary rather than floating. With floating calipers, the brake pads have a spring on the backing plate that fits into the hollow piston, which helps to hold the brake pad in place throughout the caliper's movement. With the stationary calipers, the brake pads are held in place by bolts, which is a stronger design but allows for a very small amount of shifting of the pads.

I may be wrong, but I think that this is pretty normal for the design.

 

Fronts are self adjusting through piston movement. Rears are adjusted by a star wheel on the bottom. As the shoes wear, a lever turns the star wheel which extends a screw. The screw forces the bottom of the shoes apart.

 

X2

 

Mine do it too !

 

Normal noise. Lube doesn't last as long as the pads. Do as I suggest, and it won't be as noticable.

 

Once again, I'm glad I found this thread on the board. My 2010 Tacoma with 22K just started making the noise as described, and yes it is very annoying to hear a new truck rattling and clunking around. Needless to say, I've never owned a vehicle that has had so many "issues" this early on into its life. I plan on making the dealer aware of the noise during my next visit, but I'll be darned if they want to charge me over $100 to clean up and lube the slides and pins.

 

I have a 2018 Taco with just 15k miles, it started to do very annoying clunk at start when first rolled. Took it to the dealership and they told me the same thing. It's the break pads shifting, according to them the pads seats at a lower position when standing still and when you move it re-adjusts. the weird thing is that it only does it on the right passenger side(front wheel). Service rep told me that this is normal. I may need to grease this pads lol, but I am glad it's normal. I just hate to hear that cluck sound, it feels like I am hitting a piece of metal.

 

I have a 2014 Tacoma and the same noise started after the front brakes discs, calipers and pads were replaced.
The dealer had me take the truck many times there and came up with a different answer each time. At the end they told me it is how the pads are designed. Replacement pads are not the same as the original.
I am very annoyed by the issue and the answers I got.
Called Toyota directly but they are not help either.
So frustrating.

 

You got all the advice you need from what I read, but i just drove a 1700 round trip on vacation and noticed a slap as well in my front end when I was at the Grand Canyon… my damn caliper bolts were loose on the driver side, barely finger tight! Tightened up and it was good as gold.
I’ve noticed half the time it’s shit that’s loosened up on you when you start hearing or feeing noises.

 

I avoid aftermarket pads. I used Toyota pads on mine and have had no issues like this and no dust to speak of. We did have the brake rattle issue on a Jetta with advance auto pads. They rattled and clunked so bad it sounded as if the front end was falling out. The fit to the caliper was very loose. I got new pads from VW and the fit was very tight, problem gone. I changed pads on my Tacoma at about 50k and I would say that there was about half the pad material left. They really didn't need to be changed. On our '17 outback, pads totally worn at 40k on the rear no less, fronts no better. It wouldn't pass NYS inspection. I never suspected the rears to be worn out at that milage.