Knocking When Turning At Low Speeds (Parking)

[petayV8]

Hi ppl. My MOT is coming up in August so i want to iron out any potential problems. This is 1 of 2 that may come up.

When im turning quite sharply at low speed to back up into a parking space or driving slowly in say a car park, i get a knocking sound coming from the front brakes area when applying the brakes. Is this just the caliper moving a bit of something more serious. Any ideas?

Ill try and do a video if i get around to it

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Sounds like ball joints to me mate....

[petayV8]

Ok. Is there any other way to confirm its ball joints. Forgot to add this problem is intermittent

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Still sounds like ball joints....

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Did u see what I wrote on the ball joints thread?

jack your car up so the wheel is off the floor. Now hold the wheel at 12 and 6 o clock. Now push and pull at your wheel. It should be pretty solid. Also try it at 9 and 3 o clock. If there is a lot of play in the wheel then ball joint and excess play is an MOT failure

[petayV8]

Did u see what I wrote on the ball joints thread?

Jack your car up so the wheel is off the floor. Now hold the wheel at 12 and 6 o clock. Now push and pull at your wheel. It should be pretty solid. Also try it at 9 and 3 o clock. If there is a lot of play in the wheel then ball joint and excess play is an MOT failure

Checked all this just before winter hit, so 4 - 5 months ago. all checked out fine. Ill check again, it'll be up on the ramp again soon anyway before my road trip to France in July will be giving it a check over

[LexIS200Sport]

If your ball joints appear to be intact, another known culprit is worn brake caliper slide pins.

Have a look here (credits to TigerFish):

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/tutorials/article/158-gs300-caliper-slide-pin-overhaul-plus-all-models-i-think/

Also, what is the state of your front lower arm bushes?

[Rory]

Mine also knocks in the same circumstances, I reckon mine is just the pads moving in the caliper, as it sailed thru the mot no problems

[petayV8]

Well ill report back when i do a pre MOT check in a few weeks. Funny you should say that Rory its the same sound if i grab the caliper and try move it

[Guest]

my knocking was also brake pads moving.