When driving..... brakes are *ticking*

[Tominizer]

I have a 2002 3.0i auto............. with this weird problem.

I'm assuming it's the brake system as when I'm driving, I hear this *tick - tick - tick - tick* sound. When I hit the brake pedal, it completely stops. It's been like this for some time and it's driving me mad. And it doesn't happen all the time either.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter ???

[Mister2]

Bad axles maybe. Check your CV boots and see if any are torn.

[FSETH]

Sometimes you can get a pebble trapped between the rotor and the backing plate and it makes a noise. Otherwise, you may have an axle issue or something.

[vinuneuro]

Sounds like bad axles.

[kevnmurphy]

I have this exact same problem. It sucked for me because it was not present before I had my cv boot done. Did research thought it was the axle, had that done, it wasn't. The clicking is till there. See if you noise goes away when putting it from drive to neutral while going 25 or so. My noise went away. I think it might have something to to with the wheel bearings or worse, the tranny or drive shaft. Please let me know if you get more insight or a result.
Thanks and good luck.

[Tominizer]

Like I said, my noise goes away when I put on the brakes.............. but with that being said, braking does put loads on other systems. So who knows what it could be. I'll try shifting to neutral at 25 like you said and see what happens.

Why are you guys saying bad axles ??? What's the thinking behind this ?

I thought it may be the ABS failing or something...........

[vinuneuro]

Bad axles usually click when loaded.

[kevnmurphy]

Tom,

I thought it might be the ABS system, but my mech said otherwise. Although I am still not ruling that out, because I had one axle replaced, but I just don't know enough about the ABS system and what its symptoms are if failing. I hope we can work through this and figure this (click-clack Under Armour) sound out.

[Tominizer]

Ok, I did the shift into neutral thingy while driving and the ticking goes away.

So, I don't get any ticking sound:

• during acceleration
• during braking
• when coasting in neutral

I get ticking noises:

• while coasting when she's shifted into "drive"

So with that being said, I think that the braking system can more or less be ruled out ...........possibly?!?!?!? I know there's a front/rear bias to the drive system. I wonder if it's that bias system ........ some sort of clutch or similar thingy that's pooched ??? Some big tick item..... just in time for Xmas

[kevnmurphy]

Any new info on this. Tominizer, did you find the answer you were looking for?