Hey Austin,
I stumbled across your website and I thought maybe you could help with something with my car. Any advice would be helpful.
I have a 2004 Ford Taurus SES, automatic transmission. I’ve had it for about 3 1/2 years. For the most part its been a great car, I’ve given it regular oil changes and maintenance, the last time the tires were rotated were about a year ago. I’ve had no major issues until lately.
In July, I was rear ended pretty hard. Surprisingly not too much damage, just some dents to the rear bumper (yay Ford). A month and a half later (late August) I had a rear braking issue (soft brakes, not responding well). I had it inspected and fixed. I was recommended to a good mechanic. He inspected my braking system, machined the drums, flushed the brake lines and patched the rear tire. The soft brakes were due to the rear wheel cylinders, one was seized and the other had a slow leak. So he replaced both of those as well.
So my most recent issue–the past week or so I’ve been hearing a thudding or thumping sound while braking. It’s not very loud, but definitely loud enough to be noticed. It only happens when I brake most of the way and creep forward for a very slow stop (which I tend to do a lot during stop and go traffic). It sounds as if it’s coming from the rear tires.
I still haven’t fixed the bumper from the accident in July (just recently got the money for repairs, but will have to wait)
In your opinion, what could it be? Do you think the previous braking problem and the current problem could be from the accident?
Thanks so much, have a great weekend!
Heather
Howdy Heather,
I would tend to lean towards a brake rotors in the front or brake drums in the rear are out of round and need to be replaced or resurfaced again.
It can be tricky to isolate the problem from a front or rear of the vehicle stand point so don’t over rule the possibility the noise is coming from the front bakes. I would first start by re-examining the rear brakes and drums and resurface the rear drums and re-adjust the rear brakes and see what happens.
Blessings,
Austin Davis