Loud clunk after starting car and trying to reverse

[Illinibird]

Thanks. Yes, somebody posted on the other forum that their rear brakes did the thumping and they replaced all the pads. I just hope they have the parts in stock as this has been a problem recently.

Out of luck on the parts! Car needs rear brake pads and rotors and they're on national back order. The mechanic must have done something to that wheel in that it is quiet again. They told me it won't hurt to drive it this way.

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[Shayne]

Out of luck on the parts! Car needs rear brake pads and rotors and they're on national back order. The mechanic must have done something to that wheel in that it is quiet again. They told me it won't hurt to drive it this way.

And it gets fixed when the parts come in? Good thing it is just pads and not a shaft. Hoping it holds out for you until the parts come in ?.

 

[Illinibird]

And it gets fixed when the parts come in? Good thing it is just pads and not a shaft. Hoping it holds out for you until the parts come in ?.

Yeah, it rained heavily again today and the car is acting up again. This isn't a good sign if you can't drive it in rain water.

 

[Mirak]

This has happened to me a few times, and it is definitely moisture-related. I’m super concerned about this, but overall I’d say the brakes could use some fine-tuning on this car.

 

[ChasingCoral]

I get that clunk the day after I've washed the car, this is a pretty common occurrence on most cars. A fine film of rust or some such causes the pads to stick slightly to the rotor.

Yes. I learned this when I washed Marlin really well, including a very thorough job on the wheels and brake calipers in preparation to drive him in a parade (leading the BEV cars). Big clunk when I pulled out of the driveway and rust dust all over the wheels by the time I reached the parade site.

10 minutes of detailing the wheels later and I now know to drive the car to dry the brakes right after washing thoroughly!

I don't understand the "this is common for EVs" or "it's just rust" posts. Then, why would Ford issue a TSB and spend the money to replace brake pads and resurface rotors, if needed, for cars affected?

After around 5,500 miles on my car, Ford replaced the front brake pads for free because they are defective. Ford is doing the right thing.

The clunk and rust dust are common to EVs, the TSB is for a real issue. Two different things.

 

[Shayne]

This has happened to me a few times, and it is definitely moisture-related. I’m super concerned about this, but overall I’d say the brakes could use some fine-tuning on this car.

I have entered EV mellow driving mode so I can not comment too much if the brakes need fine tuning as I barely touch them anymore. If it is just pads I would not be too super concerned as that old tech is fairly reliable. Open the caliper, slap some new pads in, fit the caliper and bleed. Your service department has got this.

Availably of pads I hope gets better. Guess we are not picking them up at our local auto-parts store and slapping them in ourselves right now either. Hoping the parts don't vary too much for a few years. Roll off a million of them we should see parts. Right now everything is tough.

I now know to drive the car to dry the brakes right after washing thoroughly!

Short trips in the winter/summer with no good runs can be tough on brakes as you never warm them up to dry them out just pick up further moisture. I get light dusting of surface rust on mine every time I park it (parks for awhile sometimes) but it never goes less than 60 miles when it goes. I have only heard the clunk a few times when the calipers (thinking rears) release the first time in reverse. @Illinibird could take it out for a good fun run and see if anything changes.

 

[cloud9]

I have had a clunk in the rear since the day I picked it up. It happens initially under hard acceleration or braking with a single clunk. (i.e. if you accelerate hard from a stop it clunks, but then after rolling if you hit the go pedal hard again it's not there.) I'm fairly certain it's not a loose suspension component as there is no consistent rattle or handling issues. I'm wondering if the pads aren't moving inside the caliper and knocking back and forth. I haven't worried too much about it yet since it's not affecting the handling or braking. I'm dropping it off to swap snow tires on it in a couple weeks and will have them figure it out then. Based on this thread, I'm betting rear brake pads. That would be better than something slipping back and forth on a suspension mount. I don't think they'll have trouble hearing it when they test drive because my 4 year old grandson was riding back there last night and said "Papa do you need to take your car to the mechanic?" ?

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

I don't think they'll have trouble hearing it when they test drive because my 4 year old grandson was riding back there last night and said "Papa do you need to take your car to the mechanic?" ?

"explain it like I'm a 4-year old"

 

[Illinibird]

I returned to my dealer today because the front brakes started acting the same way as the rear one did (it was raining heavily again yesterday) and I want those replaced as well as the rear wheels. Besides, there's a TSB out on the front brake pads/rotors. They ordered the front pads and rotors so when they come all the wheels will be outfitted with the new brake pads.

 

[Illinibird]

I returned to my dealer today because the front brakes started acting the same way as the rear one did (it was raining heavily again yesterday) and I want those replaced as well as the rear wheels. Besides, there's a TSB out on the front brake pads/rotors. They ordered the front pads and rotors so when they come all the wheels will be outfitted with the new brake pads.

CORRECTION: I thought they ordered the front brake pads/rotors but the Service writer refused to replace them under the TSB because they didn't make any noise when the mechanic test drove the car with dry brakes. I told him it happens when they're wet but no joy. I have a call into the Service Manager asking him to intervene in the situation.

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