Ok, this has been haunting my car for the past 2 year already and it's about time I fixed this problem. In the last 2 years, the car's only been driven 2000 miles. Now, whenever I brake lightly, I hear an audible POP from the front of the car. When braking from high speed, I notice nothing and hear nothing, but when I'm in traffic in stop and go traffic, I'll release the brake, go to about 10MPH, then brake, then I hear the pop. I tried lubricating all the bushings in the front, but it does nothing. any idea what it is? I'm planning on rebuilding the front end this summer anyway, but I'd like to get this problem out of the way. Thanks.

 

Do you hear a popping sound if you're sitting still and turn the wheel side to side?
If so, then you have the infamous frame crack at the steering box.

Get it welded up, put on a "wonder bar" or steering brace (available from TDS, Spohn, among others) and forget about it!

If not, then probably your brake pads weren't cinched down properly on installation, or your ball-joints.

Take it to a good front-end repair shop and have them do the free system check, but make sure you can see what they're doing, or they will come up with all KINDS of stuff they need to do, that you need done (safety issues, of course!)

hth

 

If you still have the original upper strut mounts, you might want to replace those. They have bearings in them and wear out, and can make a popping noise when dead.

 

It could be your brakes. Clean and lube the caliper bolts/pins and make sure they are able to slide freely. This solved my popping sound

 

It could also be your brake calipers, when you apply the brakes, they move ever so slightly forward, and CLACK against the mounting bracket. Mine did the exact same thing. In my HAYNES manual (which is mostly worthless), they call for high-temp bearing grease to be applied at the two points on each caliper where it makes contact with the bracket. I took my wheels off, removed calipers and rotors, repacked bearings, added appropriate grease at contact points, re-installed everything, and my annoying clicking every time I hit the brake pedal was now gone. Hope this helps.