Clunking while braking!!!

[brickbox]

I have a loud clunking noise (that can kinda be felt while braking at about 30-35mph) from the front passenger side wheel area.
Car runs and drives fine and no weird vibrations. Additionally, there are only certain times that the clunking is heard or felt and there are times when it brakes just fine.

Can someone point me to where to look? Could these be loose pads? My front rotors are warped and I have been trying to buy sometime until end of March so that I can fix it myself. Lots of pads life left.

[macgiver]

mac - ONE single clunk upon brake application may be your half shaft - you should fully lift front off ground and compare both R. AND L. shafts' rotational "Slop" w/vigorous CW & CCW twists BUT FIRST you eliminate problem's side for LOOSE Lugnuts (even Drvr's side too ) .Could be lower Ctrl. arm or Tension rod - they connect to frame and will give an initial "clunk" and you would give'em a "Hell-Shake" to see if they're loose/warn. Then again if any Caliper hdw. like brkt bolts or the smaller "Caliper bolts to brkt.".Yes pads and shims can just separate and simply be positioned WEIRD giving ONE knock .Balljoints (tie-rod and of course "Lower" ) be checked. Not limited to these and these many times clunk-upon brake and "declunk" again upon release of brake?
And the above things actually make more noises when turning ,releasing,accelerating ,I'm describing the "initial" clunk that gets your attention.
You know. Then a CONTINOUS Clunking would be a whole nother thing Like the half-shaft might do something like that , cause if damaged and rotating it becomes a "train of noise('s) ".
These guesses are guesses because if you could carefully note like mentioned here , clunk = once,steady & repetitve, what action(s) ie. brake will cause AND diminish / change / curtail the clunk ? -etc. Turning in combinations with accelerating ?? So go & thoroughly test and take notes , then look at things I mentioned
and other more experienced members suggestions - you'll probly find SOMETHING ! If your luck is like mine it'll be a loose hood hinge G 2/21/2018

[brickbox]

mac - ONE single clunk upon brake application may be your half shaft - you should fully lift front off ground and compare both R. AND L. shafts' rotational "Slop" w/vigorous CW & CCW twists BUT FIRST you eliminate problem's side for LOOSE Lugnuts (even Drvr's side too ) .Could be lower Ctrl. arm or Tension rod - they connect to frame and will give an initial "clunk" and you would give'em a "Hell-Shake" to see if they're loose/warn. Then again if any Caliper hdw. like brkt bolts or the smaller "Caliper bolts to brkt.".Yes pads and shims can just separate and simply be positioned WEIRD giving ONE knock .Balljoints (tie-rod and of course "Lower" ) be checked. Not limited to these and these many times clunk-upon brake and "declunk" again upon release of brake?
And the above things actually make more noises when turning ,releasing,accelerating ,I'm describing the "initial" clunk that gets your attention.
You know. Then a CONTINOUS Clunking would be a whole nother thing Like the half-shaft might do something like that , cause if damaged and rotating it becomes a "train of noise('s) ".
These guesses are guesses because if you could carefully note like mentioned here , clunk = once,steady & repetitve, what action(s) ie. brake will cause AND diminish / change / curtail the clunk ? -etc. Turning in combinations with accelerating ?? So go & thoroughly test and take notes , then look at things I mentioned
and other more experienced members suggestions - you'll probly find SOMETHING ! If your luck is like mine it'll be a loose hood hinge G 2/21/2018

Haha I wish! That's the first thing I checked today morning when I got into the car!
I had a chance to crawl under the car real quick. I couldn't jack up the car because I live in a place with a whole bunch of blacktop and dont have a garage. So the jack usually just sinks into the ground

Anyways, I tried pulling on the tie roads and control arm. No movements or clunking (granted having the vehicle on ground is not ideal). Similarly, I couldnt get any movement of the caliper and the 2 mounting bolts are on there solidly. No ripped axle boots - although it moves side to side by about 1/8".

New observations:
1. At full steering wheel lock on the right (passenger side), when I am driving slowly, I can hear a mild scraping sound coming from the front passenger wheel area.
2. The clunking when it occurs is repetitive/cyclic i.e. the noise is more than once as long as I have my foot on the brake pedal.
3. Jamming on the brake or being extremely light does NOT result in the sound. Only under normal braking does the clunking occur. I had no clunking during today morning's commute!
4. Going by recollection, the clunking was heard everytime I felt each of the "warps" in the rotor.
5. Control arm bushing seems to be ok (I will post pictures today evening)

Still a little confused here.....

[brickbox]

Wanted to close this thread out. Turns out it was the wheel bearing. Very atypical. The bearing had come loose. However, it did not manifest itself in form of weird vibrations or the typical growling/roaring that I am used to with wheel bearings. Had the shop take them apart, re-grease and re-install. Problem gone.

[nickelghandi]

My Volvo had this same issue. Eventually it progressed to the growling and grinding constantly sound. It was worse when turning right.

Your vehicle could be pulling slightly one way or the other when braking causing the issue to present itself. It sounds like you caught it pretty early.