Guy Hollywood

So my 8 seems to be making a snapping noise which is in direct proportion to the revolution of the tires. The faster I am going, the more frequently the noise is heard. It hear it more when turning hard left, but I also think it may be doing it when turning right as well.

After seeing this TSB - I went and took a look and my passenger side front end link had become separated at the bottom. I tried reconnecting it, and I got it back on there, but I am pretty sure it is still broken and may come off again. Even though the end link is reconnected, the noise is still there. So is this not the cause? Or do I actually have to replace both front end links to get it to go away? I also checked the nuts on the links and they are either damn tight or rusted to **** because they are not budging.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Guy Hollywood

Anyone?

Spin9k

^Sounds like a couple different problems. Snapping noise sounds more like the need to clean rust of fnt wheel hubs and retorque lugs to 108 ft-lbs.

Your broken endlinks is something else, and I doubt, as you say, you fixed anything when you ahhh.. "tried reconnecting it, and I got it back on there", whatever that means. Broken is broken, get it replaced, it came apart for a reason, and needs looking at. All that would do is disconnect your front anti-sway bar, decreasing understeer... I doubt it would make any noise as described.

at 5:43am isn't likely to get a lot of responses ... is it now lol.

Guy Hollywood

Thanks for the response, Spin. I had already cleaned the rust off the wheels sometime last year, but I guess I can always do it again.

And what I meant when I was talking about reconnecting the end link was that it was no longer separated as shown in the pictures on the TSB. I was able to get figure 2 back on the 4 prongs of figure 1.

Spin9k

tsb?? fig 1 and 2 ?not seeing that... confused...

..with the wheelsthe higher retorque was the key thing i think since all hubs have some rust anyway...make sure to check that.

Guy Hollywood

Yes, the TSB that I linked in my first post. Here is the link.

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...5-08-1948a.pdf

And I made sure to torque my lugs correctly as well with a torque wrench when putting them back on.

Spin9k

^ ok but as it says "The plastic insert connecting the stabilizer control link ball joint to the control link may crack (1) and become separated (2)." did yours crack? if so I would replace even if it snaps back as it will likely happen again. If that wasn't the noise (as you put it back) and it wasn't the rust... you have a noise conundrum on your hands!

Guy Hollywood

Yeah, well when I cleaned the wheel rust last year it was for a similar snapping noise, but it was when I was braking. It didn't fix that noise and I was told by Mazda that it is due to non factory brake pads. These are the same pads that were on the car when I bought it in May of 2008 so I am not sure if they are OEM or not (the car is a 2004). That's a whole different can of worms.

As far as the turning noise, I guess it's always possible for more rust to occur and this is causing this new noise as it started a few months ago. So maybe I will try cleaning them again to see if it fixes it?

Spin9k

Based on that, only other suggestion is to grease your brake pad slider clips w/a tiny bit of hi-temp grease. perhaps your pads aren't releasing and moving off the rotors as they should and are so making noise.

Guy Hollywood

I have greased both sides of the shims in the past as well. As you can see, I have tried a lot of different things with no luck. I thought the greasing worked, but 2 minutes later it started again. I've come to the decision I may just buy new pads to try and solve that issue. The shims were pretty rusted up when I took them off.

I don't think the noises are related because the turning noise occurs even when I'm not braking. The turning noise sometimes sounds like a knocking when at slow speeds or if I am at high speeds on the highway, it's more of a chirping due to how fast the wheels are spinning. Very odd.

Appreciate all your troubleshooting tips.

Spin9k

^ you misunderstand. Shims go on the back of pads. Caliper slider clips clip onto the caliper and the pad ends slide in them. there are two per pad, 4 per caliper total; 2 inside and 2 outside per caliper. You lightly grease the clips where the pads rub them. Nothing to do with shims.

Guy Hollywood

Oh ok, yeah I know what clips you are talking about now. Some of those were in pretty rough shape too. I can't remember if I greased those or not, but I don't think so. Maybe I will try that. So I take it I don't want the pad to be held in tight by those clips? Like I mentioned, some were in pretty rough shape and I don't remember how loose the pads were sitting in the clips.

Spin9k

It is held firmly, but still slides in those clips. The pad needs to move away from the rotor and if those don't allow that the pad can bind or get stuck. I replace those when they get messed up and have deposits. You can try cleaning them, it's not so easy, but they should be greased sparingly when you put them back only on the surfaces that contact the pad.

Guy Hollywood

Alright, so I cleaned the rust off the front wheels and also greased the caliper clips. One thing I did notice is that one of the pad shims on the passenger side had slid down and part of it was overhanging the edge of the pad. So its possible this may have been scraping somehow? Not sure if that makes any sense but I centered the shim and torqued all the wheels to 108 ft lbs. Another thing is that I was missing one of the caliper clips on the top of the passenger side. It was in there pretty snug when I tried to remove it. I didn't have an extra clip but I did grease that too.

Took a test drive and there doesn't seem to be anymore noise when turning. Not sure what it was that fixed it, or if it will come back, but I have my fingers crossed that it wont.

The brake noise I think I may still faintly hear from the rear wheels but I didn't seem as noticeable as before. I didn't grease the rear caliper clips as I didn't have enough daylight, but I may do those this weekend which I'm hoping will fully get rid of my noises.

I'll post when I do that and let you know how it went.

Thanks again Spin for the help and patience.

Spin9k

You're welcome....hope you are home free...but I'd get a set of front clips and fix that missing one. !!!! $35 from dealer (big rip off) or google and get em cheap 3rd party.

Guy Hollywood

You know what those damn things are called or a part number? hah

Spin9k

Try "rx-8 front hardare kit"

Guy Hollywood

Alright, I'll try looking for that.

Also, when driving to work this morning, the noises are still there. There's chirping noise when at high speeds. It seems to stop when I apply the brake, but then that causes the snapping noise that I hear at low speeds. Both seem like they are brake related, so maybe it is due to the missing pad clip on the passenger side front, and I possibly need to grease the rear pad clips too. Quite frustrating.

Guy Hollywood

Just as an update, the noise did come back after greasing the caliper clips. So I bought a front brake kit from Mazda (which I got for free for being in a rewards program) and replaced all the caliper clips on the front wheels. It also seemed like the caliper pistons were not retracing all the way so the pads may have been closer to the rotors than normal and I think one of the rotors is slightly warped in one spot causing the pad to hit it during the wheel revolution. I hope that makes sense.

Anyways, I took the caliper pistons out and they both seemed pretty clean and I didn't need to replace them. I put them back into the caliper, which was a pain with the damn rubber boot. And I also made sure I filled it up with brake fluid. So its possible that my brake fluid was a little low which was causing a poor vaccuum and not retracting the piston all the way? Regardless, I've been driving the car for 2 days now and I don't think there is anymore noise (knock on wood). So I'm guessing it was either the missing caliper clip or low brake fluid which caused the caliper pistons to not retract all the way. Or maybe a combination of both.

Thanks.

Spin9k

Brake fluid does not 'retract' the pistons. It's a pressure system, not a vacuum system. When you release the pedal, the pressure is released, allowing the pistons to 'relax' off the rotors and not be pushing on them, then the wheel turns & perhaps moves the pad and piston a little further back.