A lot of times when I push on my brake pedal it makes a clunk noise a little after I start to push it in, as if something was caught on something else and suddenly broke free. It seems to do this randomly, and seemingly never when I'm stopped. So, what does the noise mean? I haven't taken a good look under the hood to see if something behind the pedal is hitting anything. Would that be easy enough to spot?

This is unrelated and minor, but annoying: My clutch pedal tends to squeek at random times. It'll squeek several times in a row then not squeek several times in a row. - the problem comes and goes. I tried WD-40 to no avail.

 

motor mounts

 

So they need replacing or can I ignore it? And for how long, etc.?

 

Well I would double check by looking at your motor while it idles, it should shake around some, rev it a little and watch how it moves around. Trust me, you'll know if it moves around too much lol. I drove on my bad motor mounts for over 6000 miles, guess it depends on how bad they really are. I don't see it being a very urgent repair.

 

stock motor mounts a good choice, or is it worth paying more for solid?

 

I never really looked into it, I have solid mounts and I'll probably be looking into stock ones later on, I don't mind the vibration but the rattling gets annoying as ****. My defrost vents are cracked and they rattle, along with my guage cluster surround, if the ashtray is closed it'll rattle, anything in the ashtray and the bottom compartment in the door panels will rattle sometimes. I got cheap aluminum ones though

 

The issue is your brake retention clips. They are clip-springs which hold the brake pad off of the rotor when not in use. A brake hardware kit shoudl include them, or if you are in the states, you can probably find them for really cheap at an online parts store. The problem you have is aesthetic, and should not cause any actual wear/break issues. I have the same issue on my front brakes and I've driven my car many kms so far. If you get the haynes manual, it gives detailed installation instructions for the part. Good luck.

 

Haha I noticed my clip was missing when I was changing the rear brake pads. I ordered a brake hardware kit for "next time", then changed my pads. I said, "oh well", then canceled the brake hardware kit. I have a Haynes manual, but I think I know where the clip goes already. I found the kit online for $12 plus $5.50 shipping. I plan on adding the clips next time I rotate my tires.

That also explains why the noise only happens about as often as the squeeling that happened before I changed my rear brake pads.

Thanks Ivan. To everyone else: foo on you for almost making me spend a wad of cash on motor mounts! J/k, I gotta check my motor mounts anyway simply because I haven't done it yet. Thanks for the procedure.