I have a 2005 Focus 1.6 petrol LX. It has covered 27000 and shortly after a recent 25000 service, I noticed a grinding noise from the steering when turning at very low speeds such has entering and exiting my drive.
My local Ford dealer has inspected the car and informed that the top shock absorber rubber mountings need changing but the track rod ends are OK (I did mentioned the TSB I've read about on this forum regarding these)
Apparently the warranty does not cover suspension parts after 1 year but Ford will contribute 70% leaving me with a £66 bill.
The parts are £24 the rest is labour. The dealer has spoken to Ford technical and they are adament that this remedy will cure the problem. A couple of questions:
1) I'm told this play/wear will not affect handling etc, but the noise is annoying.
2) The car drives very well, even wear on the front tyres with 3-4 mm of tread left, if the work is done does anyone think the geometry will be affected, the garage say that the tracking will not be disturbed. However previous experiance leaves me less than confident that this will be the case!
Many thanks in anticipation.
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That's strange, because I've just had the very same problem fixed entirely under warranty on my C-Max, and my car's just over a year old, with 11,000 miles on the clock.
In my car the track rod ends needed doing as well. In fact they fixed part of the suspension, then we had to take the car back to get the rest done because there was still a grinding noise when we picked it up.
When mine was done you could tell the difference immediately. The steering felt lighter and smoother, and of course was silent.
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Thanks for your reply Ravenger, I have read your posting and the threads on this matter.
Do you know what part of the suspension they replaced?
Apparently my track rod ends are OK, Ford are sure that new suspension (strut) top mountings will cure the problem.
The noise really gets on my nerves, like yours only noticable at very low speeds.
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I'm not sure exactly what was replaced, as my wife dealt with them and they didn't supply any paperwork when they dropped off the car to us after it was eventually fixed.
But thinking back it was probably both the suspension top mountings and the track rods. In fact I think they fitted new track rods.
Make sure that you check the car immediately when you get it back. You may find it's improved, but not fixed, as my wife did. In that case the track-rods probably need doing as well.
There's definitely a TSB issue with this on the C-Max, and given that the C-Max suspension is derived from the Focus it could well apply to the Focus too.
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The TSB regarding track rod ends is applicable to all Focus's, according to Ford.
Have your C-Max's repairs affected tyre wear in any way? I'm worried about steering alignment.
Thanks again.
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I can't really say if it's affected tyre wear as I only had it done a couple of weeks ago. As far as the steering alignment goes it seems to be dead on what it was before.
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