I hear a 'clonking' noise which seems to come from the front wheel(s) but only at low speed when braking with some steering lock on (e.g. manoeuvring in a car park). Have been meaning to check this out but assumed (perhaps foolishly) that it was nothing to worry about, and of course it is difficult to check because it only happens with the car moving! Have heard some talk before of brakes clonking due to springs/sliders ('brake hardware') being missing, but I believe all the bits that should be there are there. If I remember correctly, per wheel, there are: 2 springs, 2 sliders per pad (i.e. 4 per wheel) and 1 squealer per pad (i.e. 2).

Has anybody else experienced anything similar?

I did also wonder if it could be a stone lodged in the suspension spring area which is causing the spring to clonk when compressed - difficult to describe but you will know what I mean if you have ever had this. (7/00)
Uh, I lit up my rear brakes (idiotic mistake), on the IOM. Ever since then, the rears have been clonking a bit. I guess it all needs regreasing, but I hope the discs haven't warped or something. (7/00)
For what it's worth I have a clonking noise at the rear too, initially occured at low speed turning tight corners. Now occurs more frequently and at varying speeds but always when turning corners (not even tight ones now). Initially sounded morelike a popping noise, but I have been assured by others that its a clonking and it's due to a dodgy differential. I plan to replace the oil at the weekend to see if that helps. If not, a replacement is required, and they don't come cheap. Might be worth investigating? (7/00)
Used diff is about £350, plus about £50 in parts/labour. Most '5s I have seen in Breakers have already had the diffs taken. (7/00)
Definitely seems to be coming from the front. Sounds like the driver's side but that may just be due to me being sat on that side of the car so hearing it more from that side. (7/00)
Could be a snapped spring. Had two go at separate times on a Mk1 2l Cavalier (top car) they made clonking noises simliar to your description. (7/00)

I stripped down the front brakes (which is where I think the noise is coming from) a few months ago, cleaned everything and reassembled with copper grease. As far as I remember the clonking has only started since then! I know I put all the various 'hardware' back in place.

The reason I stripped them down was I had some squealing from the front. Before the strip-down I had squealing but no clonking. Now I have clonking but no squealing! The clonking didn't start straight away though. Only happens very occasionally, but maybe because that's because I'm a textbook driver who only ever usually brakes in a straight line. ;-)

Oh and it's now no better nor no worse after two sessions at Jurby and plenty of generally 'spirited' driving on the IOM. (7/00)

I had a similar clonking noise on my five when parking, especially when rolling off the drive applying some lock then braking. Took the car to 5peed, who told me it was worn shocks. I then took it to Tunbridge Wells Mazda who thought it was brake pads. They thought that because the pads weren't OEM ones they where moving when applied. I questioned this and made sure that should the clonking noise still happen with new expensive Mazda pads fitted then they would remove them from the car FOC.

When the car was finally seen by them they didn't replace the pads, they simply tightened up some suspension bolts and 4 wheel aligned the car and fixed the problem. (7/00)
To be precise, I typically notice it when coming *off* the brakes whilst making a fairly sharp low-ish speed turn, e.g. making a 90 degree right hand turn into a narrow-ish opening such as a car park, etc. I haven't noticed any noises when applying the brakes. (7/00)