Rattling Calipers in the Cutty

[tloftus]

Alright guys, I've been searching for an hour now and can't find anyone else that's posted on this so here it goes.

 

While driving my 1989 Cutlass (Coupe, 3.1 VIN T) I can hear my front calipers (more the passanger than the driver) rattling. I disassembled everything last night and put it back together (caliper, bracket, etc.) and still seem to have the same issue. The problem disappears when I depress the brake pedal slightly while driving.

 

If my tire is on and I grab the brake line (hard line) I get some play out of the caliper. The bracket (held in by the torx bolts) is stationary but the caliper itself wobbles in there, I'm assuming, the distance between the pad and the rotor.

 

Like I said both sides do it. I called my brother who drives a Lumina and he doesn't get this play out of the caliper when pulling on the brake line.

 

Any ideas? The bolts that go through the bracket and into the caliper thread fine and are tight but it doesn't appear they thread into the caliper itself and are just acting as "pins".

 

Any suggestions until I can get my hands on another Cutlass to check it out for myself?

 

Tom

[WhiteOut]

Sounds kinda like your caliper sliding bolts are frozen up or damaged. What kind of shape were then in when you took them off? Often times they'll slide in partially giving the impression that they're fully seated but rust inside the caliper will prevent them from fully seating which cause a lot of play in the system.

[z34_nut]

did you put anti-sieze on the bolts?

[tloftus]

I just pulled the tire off again. The slider bolts go in but you may be onto something. They go in and seem to go in all the way but that's definately where the play is at. The bolts thread all the way into the mounting bracket but could they not be going all the way into the caliper? How do I know how far they "should" go in?

 

T

[tloftus]

Okay, I'm backwards. They thread all the way into the caliper but wobble in the mounting bracket. I compressed the pistons in the caliper and the bolts then seat all the way into the bracket like they are supposed to. When I hit the pedal they come out about 1/8 to a 1/4 of an inch and the caliper wobbles again. Could the bushings inside the mounting bracket be bad?

[tloftus]

Well, I got everything tightened back down, there's still a little wobble, but not enough to make the rattling that it's making. Any other parts down there that could rattle but go away when depressing the brakes? Wheel bearing? Any other suspension related parts? I'm at a loss b/c I can't find anything else that's loose.

 

TIA

 

Tom

[GnatGoSplat]

I was going to say, the calipers are the floating type so there will be a little play.

 

I'm not sure what the rattling sounds like, but it could be tierods or balljoints.

Also very possible to be struts and/or strut mounts.

[tloftus]

I've thought of all of those things, but the noise goes away when the brake is applied. Could a wheel bearing do that? When you hit the brakes keep the hub from "bouncing"? I've never had a bearing out before, just a thought.

 

Tom

[GnatGoSplat]

A bad bearing usually makes a growling or humming noise. I've never heard one sound rattley.

[intern8tion9l]

i think i have a similar problem. my front brakes chirp and click. after taking them apart i found that the caliper was rubbing on the braket. don't know why, or how to get it to go away permanently, but i found just putting grease in that little gap makes it go away for a while