I was driving home after a track day and I noticed a popping/clunking sound from my front wheels (probably the right one) during braking.

Any ideas what this might be?

I have a few aftermarket pillowball bushings on the lower arm and a few in my coilovers, but I wonder if this sound could be coming from the brakes?

 

My guess would be brakes or wheel bearing. Pull the wheel and tug/mess around with it.

Dale

 

Pistons may need to be lubricated. I would rebuild the front right caliper and see if that helps. Mine are noisy as well.

 

What about them?

Don't say that.... I just replaced them. Those bitches are $190 a piece.

 

Do you think that might also effect which brake locks up first?

The right front seems to lock up before the left front, although I figure that's driver weight (RHD car).

OTOH, my rotors are starting to get pretty worn and my $$$$$ race pads still have life left, so I might just get them turned and keep using the pads after a bit of sanding.

 

Maybe it's related or not but my buddy was chasing a similar sound when braking on his 2010 Acura TL.

So he started with the tie rod IIRC than the swaybar link , than the lower control arm , than the wheel bearing . We were running out of things to change and the sound was still there. that's when we decided to change the upper control arm that the sound was gone, haha .
What an adventure it was chasing that clunk.

 

RF should lock later with your weight on the right. Since it locks earlier, I'd suspect something binding (ball joint, etc.) or twisted swaybar (unloading the RF) in the suspension, or a malfunctioning caliper (probably LH side, RH is probably working OK).

 

I had a braking clunk that ended up being upper control arm bushings.

 

IIRC the front left and rear right corners weighted more than the front right and rear left.

It's counter-intuitive, but I don't think driver weight tends to the front corner on the side you're driving on.


Preloaded sway bar is a possibility but I don't have adjustable links.

I'm pretty sure the arms moved freely without the shock or sway bars attached.

I'm getting the calipers rebuilt today, hopefully.

 

One of the eccentric bolts might have come loose?

 

If it was that loose, the car wouldn't drive straight.

 

A while back some guy came to my house and mentioned a clunking on the front.
Turns out the 4 pot caliper's Bracket bolts were loose.
Just mentioning that as a guess...maybe because you said Racing pads..so it leads me to believe that you changed pads at some time or another.
Good luck to ya though..You need a good solid front end..and of course good brakes if you are tracking the car.

 

I take it back; two of them (out of four) weren't totally torqued, but they will still in place (paint pen marks were spot on). It probably wasn't the cause of the clunk, though.

I think it's good practice to go on wrench patrol whenever you have an off-track excursion with an FD... especially if you have pillowball bushings.

 

I had the calipers rebuilt today and the rotors turned (will probably only do this once per pair) and I torqued the caliper bolts to spec, so that won't be a problem if it keeps making noise.

I had much less pad left than I thought... still not past the groove, though.