Front suspension story

az'03Silverado · October 8, 2006

OK, I have a story. About a month ago I noticed that my brakes were starting to pulsate. Only 3 months earlier I replaced all of the pads and had the rotors turned. Well, the two front rotors were warped. So, I replaced them with some CarQuest OE rotors $40.00 each. The brakes were awsome after that.

Well, yesterday I started to notice a thump/clunk/rattle whenever I went over a bump or used the brakes under 30 mph. I did the wheel shake thing and noticed that there was some play in the steering. So, I took the truck to Chevy this morning and used my extended warranty ($100.00 deductable) thinking it was the tie rods or wheel hub/bearing assy. They replaced the inner tie rod (I don't even know if a rack&pinion has one of those) and lubed the intermediate steering shaft. Still did it. I took it back and they said that the inner brake pad on the driver's side was rattling. I wasn't sure how this could be because I greased everything and torqued everything to spec. So, I took an hour and disassembled the whole left front brake and cleaned/lubed everything and the problem went away.

While I'm glad this fixed the problem, I'm wondering if an ungreased brake pad can really cause a very audible noise like that?

Well, just wanted to share that. If anyone has any thoughts or experiences like this I'm open.

jcchevy · October 8, 2006

OK, I have a story. About a month ago I noticed that my brakes were starting to pulsate. Only 3 months earlier I replaced all of the pads and had the rotors turned. Well, the two front rotors were warped. So, I replaced them with some CarQuest OE rotors $40.00 each. The brakes were awsome after that.
Well, yesterday I started to notice a thump/clunk/rattle whenever I went over a bump or used the brakes under 30 mph. I did the wheel shake thing and noticed that there was some play in the steering. So, I took the truck to Chevy this morning and used my extended warranty ($100.00 deductable) thinking it was the tie rods or wheel hub/bearing assy. They replaced the inner tie rod (I don't even know if a rack&pinion has one of those) and lubed the intermediate steering shaft. Still did it. I took it back and they said that the inner brake pad on the driver's side was rattling. I wasn't sure how this could be because I greased everything and torqued everything to spec. So, I took an hour and disassembled the whole left front brake and cleaned/lubed everything and the problem went away.

While I'm glad this fixed the problem, I'm wondering if an ungreased brake pad can really cause a very audible noise like that?

Well, just wanted to share that. If anyone has any thoughts or experiences like this I'm open.

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How many miles do you have on your Chevy?

az'03Silverado · October 9, 2006

47,000 miles on her. I'm getting ready to do a bunch of 50,000 mile maintenance crap real soon (coolant, plugs, wires, oil, shocks, etc)

az'03Silverado · October 13, 2006

Here's an update. The rattle came back about two days after I cleaned/lubed the brakes. I checked and, sure enough, one of the brake pads sits loose in the bracket. My question now is, how do I tighten it up. I shifts back and forth a little. The clips aren't bent or anything so I'm wondering how it loosened up. I brakes just fine and everything but when I'm driving along that one pad rattles every time I hit a bump or some rough road.