I have this rattle when hitting bumps and it is coming from the LF wheel. If I am pressing on the brakes while hitting bumps it does not rattle. I took the caliper off and check the pads and anti-rattle clips and everything looks fine. It just started yesterday and my neighborhood has lots of bumps so I would have noticed it before.

History: I just changed the pads about 3-weeks ago. I had Raebestos ceramic pads but Advanced doesn't sell those anymore so they swapped me out with Wagner ceramics that they carry now. I had to replace the right front caliper at this time because the sliders got stuck in the brackets. But this noise is in the left and those sliders are fine. I actually replaced the left sliders while I was there and greased them up good.

I was thinking maybe the strut? I know the left one is newer than the right but it has at least 83,000 miles on it! My right one is leaking a little so I was thinking of doing all four struts anyway but I don't have the cash right now. If I push the car down on each corner I do not get any rattle noises and they spring back OK.

After reading a bit online I was thinking that there is something wrong with these new pads? Any ideas?

- 2001 Civic LX, Coupe ~125,000 miles - stock with cold air intake & HFP 16" wheels

 

I had a similar problem with the civic I just bought. I hit bumps and I would get a rattle from my passenger wheel well. Mine was from an unbalanced wheel and one stripped lug nut. Got it balanced and put new lugs on and the noise was gone.

 

Well I think I figured it out. I went ahead and bought new front struts since they needed to be replaced anyway. But before I took them out I did some experimenting with a rubber mallet to see if I could pinpoint the rattle. Turns out the spring makes a rattle when I tap it with the mallet. It turns out the top two coils are hitting each other. I could see it with my little mirror and you can see where it is rubbing (paint scratched and rusting). I went ahead and looked at the passenger side to see what it looked like and it is rubbing too and rattles also when I hit the spring with a hammer. I am only hearing the rattle while driving on the driver's side, though. Weird....

Now I had read about a TSB these cars had (2001 only) for the springs. It states that the issue is the two LOWER coils rubbing causing a rattle noise and to replace the springs. I was hoping to try and get Honda to fix this for me at no cost (goodwill repair or whatever they call that). Has anyone else had this issue? My only concern is that the TSB states the two LOWER coils and mine are rubbing on the two TOP coils, so they may not fix it. If that is the case I will replace the springs myself and hope that is the problem!

I went ahead and changed the front struts and of course the noise is still there, since I am 95% sure it is the springs that is the problem....I will keep the forum posted for future reference to others!