front brakes "pop"

From time to time, when I apply the brakes, the front brakes will pop. I can hear and feel this symtom. Is this normal and acceptable? I've had the brakes inspected and nothing appears to be defective.
When I hit pot holes, the front clangs. Maybe loose calipers in need of lubericant and or loose rotors? Very weird. I can't find anything wrong.

Check and see if those anti-rattle clips are installed on the calipers. I recently bought a 00 XJ I noticed an audible metalic click that could be felt from the brake pedal as well as heard from the left side. Sometimes it would even do it with each tire rotation when the vehicle had been driven for a while.

A mechanic told me it was the ball joints (only 78K miles? what the?). However, I have a friend who owned his own shop and noticed that those anti-rattle clips were missing on the side that was making the noise. He'd slap the caliper assembly and it would make that exact same noise. BTW, he said my ball joints were fine...the mechanic wanted $680 to replace all of mine. Needless to say I took my friend and his girlfriend out to dinner after that.

Not sure if that's the same noise you have though....good luck.

I forgot to mention that the friend said many mechanics just toss those rattle clips aside when they replace pads. He said those clips are there for a reason, to keep owners like us from freaking out.

Check your front hubs/bearings for wear. If the bearing is worn enough to let the wheel "sag" then there could be a pop sound which is the brake pulling the wheel upright when applied. I have had this one happen to me.

Those anti rattle clips are definately there for a reason. They keep the pads from rattling back and forth and wearing away the surface on the outer knuckle that the pads ride against. A few years ago I had my pads replaced at a Midas place during the winter (NH winters are too cold for brake jobs in the apt parking lot). They didn't replace them and I didn't know they needed to be there when I did later brake jobs. After a few years the pads wore nasty grooves in the knuckle and caused all kinds of noise. Finally one of the pads got out of alignment and chewed up the rotor. I had to take the knuckles off and have the surface welded back up.

Thanks for all the great info! I'll go back in this weekend to inspect the assembly. My 1st inspection did not find anything "loose". Albeit, the rotors are loose on the hub with the wheel off.