Brake / Suspension Q's

[Kyo]

I have a few new to mr2 guy Question plaese bear with me.

Ok so while driving the AW i have been noticing a pulsating/Squeaking when i lightly brake and just Squeaking when i hard brake.
and i get a clunk kind of sound over rough roads and bumps..
i had les schswab check all my struts and was told they are fine but one has a slight leak..

So my first thought would be
pulsating = Warped rotors
and
Squeaking = bad Pads
and
Clunk = I have no idea

Does that sound about right?

Well i went to jack up my car from the Front Crossmember with my floor jack and i got mabye two-three pumps from the jack when my father told me not to jack up the car from there as it could bend

Would this cause the front crossmember to bend or warp?

so finnaly i get the Drivers side front up in the air Via the Factory Jack and jack point i remove the Rim

And i should be saying,
What Brake pads! (yikes was the first word on my mind)
but how do i tell if i have warped rotors?

it looked and felt smoth on both sides of the rotor
but did look old and warn down..

My father then told me while i have the front drivers side up to try and wigel
side to side
and
up and down
to check things out

I had little to No movement up and down
but
side to side i had a good 1 in. of movement
it moved the other tire still on the ground as well as when i wigeled it side to side

So my other question is what would cause this what do i need to look into??

also when i got every thing back together for the night
i noticed while going to work afterword theat my steering wheel was staight again (it use to sit slightly cock-eyed) and my car Pulled to the passenger side

Please educate me on brakes and suspension


Thanks in advance

Cheers
Kyo

[palos]

Despite what Les Schwab asserted, a leaky strut is not fine. It may have just started leaking, which tells you that you will need to keep an eye on it, but it will need to be replaced sooner rather than later.

There are five jack points in the front of the car, one being in the center (page IN-7 of the BGB), so your father may have been mistaken. (I can't quite tell where you where trying to jack the car up without looking under my car.)

Rotors can be off (warped) by just a few thousandths of an inch to create a pulsating brake feel when applying the brakes. Since you described the sensation, it is safe to presume that you will need to have the rotors turned, if sufficient material still exists, or that your will need to be replaced. The cost difference between new rotors and having them turned can be negligible. However, there are considerable differences in the quality of new rotors.

The clunking sound could be a worn out bushing, perhaps for the front sway bar, or a bad upper strut mount, as well as the lower control arm. Jack up the car once again and look and pry around.

When the car is up, have someone hold the opposite tire when you try move the other wheel back and forth in the 3:00 and 9:00 position. If you still have a lot of play, check the inner and outer tie rod end. The outer tie rod ends are more likely suspect. To check the inner tie rod, turn the wheel to gain access, and then grab the inner tie rod and see if there is play in an "in and out" direction.

[Sh0ty]

+1 for warped rotors. Do you know what's leaking? If it's the heat transfer fluid between the cartridge and the housing, you need a housing, if it's strut fluid, you need a new cartridge. I also agree with the clunking coming from one of the sway bar bushings. Check the front and rears.

[jholder]

+2 warped rotors

pulsating is indicative of warped rotors. In most cases, especially where you can only tell during breaking, its unlikely the naked eye would be able to tell that it was warped. You could get them turned, or pick up new ones. Shouldn't be that expensive.

Don't know about hte mk1, but m y wife's old honda, it was $16 per rotor (new!), or $15 to get them turned. We got new ones.

[328FTW]

+3 on rotors (+3 is a high score you know)

My mkI road car pulsates really bad, I keep meaning to fix it. It normally comes from tyres shops that use an overkill setting on the rattlegun warping the rotors by doing one side up really tight before moving to the next. They quite often strip studs and snap them with rattle guns normally because they have it set to "Kenworth Truck" rather than "small sports car"

Clunk could also be the pillow mounts on the suspension (on top of the sloppy sounding bushings), they just went on my racecar and on rough roads clunk their head off to the point of having to assure the officials the wheel won't fall off its just a pillow mount. They are the rubber packers on the top of the strut, you can normally see if they are bad by looking at the gap that's opened up causing them to clunk.

[Kyo]

Thanks for all the Advice
When i get back from my trip here in a few days I will check over
all your guy's advice and report back..

Cheers

[Kerry Phillips]

I bought new rotors and still had them turned, they were a little off. Was told by my proffesional mechanic this is normal, and his SOP for new rotor replacement.


About new $16 Honda rotors?

The comment about quality of rotors varying is so true. I suspect those cheap rotors were made in China. IMHO avoid China made rotors, very prone to warp.