[Fritters]

Hi everyone,

I have a 2007 Sorento LX with ~90,000 miles and just recently replaced the front brake pads and rotors (with aftermarket parts) without much difficulty. Over the past few weeks (about a month since the new brakes) I've developed a rattle that appears to come from the front passenger wheel when I hit a bump (bigger the bump, the louder the rattle). It has a very metal on metal sound to it and I can't seem to figure out where it's coming from. Any suggestions? My random searches for similar problems led me to believe that an anti rattle clip for the brakes might be the culprit - but there wasn't one installed previously and I haven't had any luck finding the part if it exists.

Thanks,
Fritters

 

[Tuscani922]

Well, considering it's a month after, it's more then likely not a brake related issue. The only possible things you touched are the caliper, rotor, etc. I would double check the fasteners for these items, however I suspect the issue is something suspension related. The anti-rattle clip is not anything that would cause this. I would suggest checking the strut bolt at the top of the strut tower,if not this, then jack up the passenger side of the vehicle and trying to mimic the impact of a bump to isolate where it's coming from. Good luck!

 

[Fritters]

Thanks - I'll poke around a bit and report back if/when I find a solution. One other thing that made me think it was brake related is that I never hear it when I pull into my driveway (pretty sizeable bump) but hear it on much smaller bumps when I'm driving on a road. I played around with this a little and I think I don't get the noise if my foot is on the brake (any amount, it seems) when I hit a bump.

 

[Fritters]

So it turns out the caliper bolt sheared off (leaving its remainder lodged in the caliper pin), so the caliper was actually bouncing up and down on the rotor when I went over bumps. Because of which bolt it was, I think when I used the brakes it would end up rotating the caliper back to its intended position and I was lucky enough to never hit a bump large enough to rotate the caliper completely off of the rotor. A new bolt and caliper pin seems to be all that's needed as far as I can tell (didn't notice any damage to the rotor cased by the bouncing).

I consider myself very lucky that I noticed this before needing to slam on my brakes at 70 mph and losing the brakes on the front right of the car - could have been a mess... Can't imagine how the bolt got shear off - perhaps I over-tightened it when I did the brake job?