[fastxl]

2016 X3 N20, 52k miles.

I decided to replace front brake pads as they were starting to give me the "grinding" sound that I have read about. There was still plenty of pad, but when you came to a hard stop it sounded like they were "grinding".

Replaced with Zimmerman Rotors and Akebono EUR ceramic brake pads. Did a full "bed" in and everything seemed great.

All the sudden after 2 days of driving I hear a "Clunk, clunk, clunk" when coming to a slow stop (from like 20-30mph at a basic neighborhood stop sign). The "Clunk, clunk, clunk" is similar to if you let a car sit for a long time and rotors rust and only one spot is not rusty where the brake pads are, if that make sense. So initially I thought I put something together wrong, check everything out and all good. I have done brake on several BMW’s before. Then I thought maybe they didn’t get “bedded in” properly, but the rotors were clean, and no signs of brake pad deposited on the rotor. So I went to drive it some more, made several stops like bed in procedure and no noise. Now after 1500 miles, the noise is back. Jack the car up looking at ball joints, sway bar end links, and nothing seems a miss. The noise is intermittent, but seems to be happening more and more. I think its suspension noise, but could it be brake pads? Ball joint going bad. I am at a loss.

[bmwPower99]

Moving forward and back at low speed can give a clunk as the pads shift. But multiple clunks in one direction is a bit odd. Did you grease the slider pins and the back of the pads?

[fastxl]

Originally Posted by bmwPower99

Moving forward and back at low speed can give a clunk as the pads shift. But multiple clunks in one direction is a bit odd. Did you grease the slider pins and the back of the pads?

Yes and Yes. Even gave the pins a thorough cleaning before greasing. To me it seems like brake "chatter", but it doesn't happen all the time. Hard stop from 55mph and nothing. Medium stop from 30mph it does it, but not every time. It's odd.

[bmwPower99]

Perhaps when bedding in the brakes, pad material was not laid on the disc evenly enough. This could create different friction levels at different spots causing an audible noise. A third high speed bedding in process might even it out.

[DenverSteve]

Brakes not working properly is nothing to play around with. I would have it trailered to a brake-shop or dealership for immediate attention.

[bmwPower99]

@Denver - I agree but for those that have been tinkering with cars for a while, working on brakes is very straightforward. I personally trust my own judgement better than a dealer because I will double and triple check everything and take 3 times as long as the dealer. Your average DIYer can focus 100% on his car year/model and quickly gather more information than many techs that have to work on everything. Many of us also have Ista, which really helps!

[DaleWA]

This happened to me too with Akebono pads. After about 80-100 miles I started getting the rotational clunk. I then bought a $30 set of Autozone pads - no clunking after several hundred miles. Thinking it was just a bad set of pads, I got another set of Akebono and the clunking started again after less than 100 miles. Back on the Autozone pads for now.

[pungo]

Originally Posted by DaleWA

This happened to me too with Akebono pads. After about 80-100 miles I started getting the rotational clunk. I then bought a $30 set of Autozone pads - no clunking after several hundred miles. Thinking it was just a bad set of pads, I got another set of Akebono and the clunking started again after less than 100 miles. Back on the Autozone pads for now.

I've installed over 2 dozen sets of Akebono pads and never had any clunking issues with them.

[F25_X3 _Tim]

I had a loud clunking/rubbing noise and it was the metal guard behind the rotors, it had rusted through a bit and come loose, bouncing off the rotors. Easy to give it a wiggle and see if it is solid or not. Mechanic put a few washers on to bolt it tight again. Nothing performance impacting, just annoying. Worth checking just in case you dislodges yours in the pad change.

[fastxl]

Just a quick update. The clunk has seemed to disappear as of now. Thinking maybe they needed to be bedded in more . I have seen several post where people have had issues with Akebono pads and noise. Will update when if I have other issues.