I recently started getting a ticking noise coming from what I believe to be the front drivers side wheel. It ticks in tandem with the wheel speed and after a while of driving (about 30mins+) it sometimes also turns to a squeak. It goes away when I brake (even lightly), but does not go away if I use the handbrake to slow down (so definitely seems to be front).
I took the wheel off and rotated the hub to see if I could reproduce the noise, and thought I had found my smoking gun when I saw one of the pads moving up and down inside the calliper as it rode on the groves of the disc. As the discs were also a bit warped (judder when braking) I opted to replace everything. I installed:
New discs
New Pads
New sliding pins
New spring wire things
New anti squeal shims on the back of the pads
All with the correct lubricants smeared on each part.
I then put everything back together and took the car for a test drive....the noise was still there.
When I performed the brake job on the passenger side, I noticed that the pads were a lot tighter in the calliper, whereas on the driver side they were still quite loose. So I got some 0.9mm aluminium, cut it to size and used it as a shim to prevent the pads from moving up and down inside the calliper.
However...on testing the noise was STILL there.
I have since also disconnected the angle drive speedo to rule that out, and checked for play in the wheel bearing. It all seems fine.
What am I missing? This is driving me bonkers. The noise doesn't manifest until after about 5 minutes of driving either, so any fixes I attempt can't be immediately verified.