Popping coming from the front driver side while braking!!!!!

**corvixcanto** · 08-07-2012, 04:48 PM

Popping on the front end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my first post, and though I have gotten plenty of help from the forums before I have not seen this problem here before.

The Car- 1998 Pontiac Trans Am (not a WS6 nor a Firebird dressed as a Trans Am)

The Problem- Truth be told the car is my mother in law and will be mine one day, so I care greatly about keeping it up, as she's promised when she gets her new car she going to title it over to me. Over the last couple of weeks I've been fixing several problems from replacing the top dash piece to fuel filter and brakes all around. I replaced the brakes nearly 2 monthes ago, and now when you drive the car when you come to a stop during normal driving you hear a "popping noise" from the front drivers side, but do not hear the noise during a hard stop, fast stop, or an emergency stop (when you activate the anti-lock system). I must also note that you do not feel the popping in pedal. The lugnuts are tight. It stops and drives fine. And trying to find this problem has been racking my brain, mostly because I am not a professional, and have started doing maintenence on the car purely because, my mother in law kept getting ripped off, like paying 250$ to have the check engine light off. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**cammed goat** · 08-07-2012, 05:33 PM

Could be a worn lower ball joint. Does the steering wheel pull to the left when you hit the brakes?

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It also could be pad chatter.

**nathanWS6** · 08-08-2012, 12:50 PM

could be swaybar endlink or bushing.. i had that problem and once i changed out to polys problem gone

**Spaz** · 08-09-2012, 05:45 AM

have you checked your tie rods???

**Knight** · 08-09-2012, 09:03 AM

All good suggestions. Lift the front of the car and do a good inspection of everything. Ensure everything is tight, and no excessive movement. Is it one single "pop", or continuous while braking?

**Smittro** · 08-09-2012, 01:28 PM

Over heated brake pad clips.. Common issue.

***SMWS6TA*** · 08-09-2012, 01:33 PM

Also look at the caliber bolts one more time. Make sure they are correctly tighten. If one backs out it could cause some chatter too.

One more thing to add - the dash pad will always crack on you. Doesn't matter where you live North or South, they always crack.

If you look you can find a nice dash "carpet" that seems to help. Others hate em' and will probably flame me, at first I refused to use one but then I saw one another member and like how it looked. You can also try to re-enforce the underside with epoxy or another fix is to match the color of the dash in vinyl.