Gary_R

True - but a bit mift at the fact I've not long had an alignment check... Perhaps its time to find a different garage.

Hey folks, only me again... I had my car aligned and two new tyres put on the rear over 5,000 milesa go. I have measured the tread accurately and noticed that the insides are showing slightly less wear than the outside - the previous set of tyres worn unevenly but were much worse. The outside tread channel is just under 7mm, the inside tread channel is just over 7mm - a small difference at the moment; is it worth trying to rectify the problem or is the difference so minimal its not worth it? This is only on the rears, the fronts are fine. Cheers

Just Halfords own for £3.99! As you can hear in the video the squeak was quite bad, half a can later its perfect

Sorry to drone on, but just to add - the squeaking has completely stopped now :lol: Its amazing what a bit of silicone grease can do, cheers everyone.

Yeah they are, but the noise isn't coming from them...I don't think anyway

Does the bolt through the bushing turn freely? I'm not sure to be honest - should it do? I think I would have picked up on it if it did.

Can't see it being the poly bushes to be honest, as the sound would be replicated on the opposite side of the car. I think its where the lower arms (correct name?) meet at the hub.

Some good news! Just been out in the car to drop a friend off, over some big bumps and bad roads and the squeakness has been greatly reduced. Not perfect, but much better and much more bearable So I'm happy! Will just re-grease them every week or so, thanks for your input everyone

Update When jacking the car up it made an awful squeak. I took the wheel off and checked everything that I could see! All the bolts were on tight with no give. The only thing that I could see to be slightly out of place was the washer on this polybush. Put the wheel back on and lowered the car, it was as quiet as a mouse. However after pushing down on a tail gate it was clear the squeak was still there. Here is a short video, 4mb! http://robster-lobster.co.uk/squeak/video.wmv

Hi folks, took the car into a garage today and they put it up on the ramps. Apparently everything is in order and I was not charged, however I can't help but think the squeaking is now turning into a banging. I will take the wheel off again and have another look, as well as lube everything with some silicone grease. It is starting to annoy me now

Interesting! A passenger of mine did say it sounded like rusty metal, were as I said it said sounded like rubber. I'll WD-40 everything!

Still no luck with this folks, I am none the wiser To add further...the car handles and rides fine, but since going over a few speed bumps it has gotten really bad. Its super loud outside and passers by think my car is about to fall on its arse, quite literally! When driving along it sounds like its coming from both sides and it now feels like a small vibration through the centre of the car, but when I push on the tail gate the squeak comes from the left hand wheel area. When jacking the car up from the rear left the damper made a horrible squealing sound Thoughts please? I have spent so much on this car already I dont want to shell out for 2 new dampers and fitting just to cure a noise :/ P.S. Whats the rubber on the coil? :/ Cheers

Glad you like it, would you say the car looked steady? It certainly felt planted; though remember the camera will move and wobble a bit as the front seat passenger moves around

Woo, cheers

Posted this on a few other sites, thought you guys might like it. http://robster-lobster.co.uk/nurburgring/

Thank you very much. Permission to throw stones granted..... I got very distracted today at the centre and forgot to get the data "sorry". I will get it tomorrow, "honest indian" Thats a shame as I was awaiting your post so I could trundle off to the alignment centre. Not to worry though, as I realise you do this as a favour in your free time so take as long as you like I go away to the Nurburgring tomorrow and should cover over 1,000 miles. I will let you know how I get on, and how the tyres hold up. I have taken measurements across all 4 tyres and will meassure them again when I get home. Sorry mate, i had a real blond day today?...... You take your data, i will research mine and we will meet in the middle. Sorry Tony, what I meant was I was waiting for you to get back to me with the alignment settings for my ST220 so I could print them off and take them to my local alignment centre so they can set the car up properly. Assuming what you said is true and its currently setup for another model..? I have just got back from the ring and have noted some details done... Front Right Tyre Left: 7 Centre: 8+ Right: 5 Front Left Tyre Left: 5 Centre: 8+ Right: 7 After about 1300 miles, including 4 laps of the ring. Front Right Tyre Left: 7- Centre: 8- Right: 5- Front Left Tyre Left: 5- Centre: 8- Right: 7- + means just above - means just below As you can see they seem to be wearing evenly, the rears show the same even wear after 4,000 miles.

Thank you very much. Permission to throw stones granted..... I got very distracted today at the centre and forgot to get the data "sorry". I will get it tomorrow, "honest indian" Thats a shame as I was awaiting your post so I could trundle off to the alignment centre. Not to worry though, as I realise you do this as a favour in your free time so take as long as you like I go away to the Nurburgring tomorrow and should cover over 1,000 miles. I will let you know how I get on, and how the tyres hold up. I have taken measurements across all 4 tyres and will meassure them again when I get home.

Thank you very much.

Sorry, I should have made myself more clear. Why do Ford have several different PSI ratings for the _exact_ same car? My manual contradicts what is on the petrol filler cap, which leaves me slightly confused on which one to use. Tony, any particular reason for 38 / 38? Thanks in advance.

So I jacked the car up eariler, it made the same squeaking noise every time it was lifted. I looked about and felt for loseness in the suspension and this was what I found. The base of the springs appear to be sat in a rubber sleeve, but as the spring coils round the sleeve is just left hanging. I thought "aha" I've found it, however its exactly the same on the other side, which is as quiet as mouse. I tried pushing up on the drop link and I got a squeak or two out of that, but its in one piece and the nuts seem solid as a rock.

I have tried to find the correct tyre pressures for my vehicle but every 'reliable' source conflicts with another 'reliable' source. Please have a read of this... I need to find several suitable tyre pressures for: 3 large adults with light luggage... For cruising at 70mph (36/36) For autobahn cruising with a sustained speed of 100mph, reaching 160mph occassionally (40/38) and then... 2 large adults with no luggage... For Nurburgring driving (34/33) Please give me your opinions and comments, and why can't Ford make up their mind on which PSI is best! I have marked my guess in red.

It's clearly worn unevenly, but the wear also looks asymmetrical and very much more localised to the shoulder than you might expect if the only problem was under-inflation. Under-inflation may well be a contributory factor, but it looks very much like an alignment problem also. With under-inflation alone as the cause of the uneven wear, wouldn't you expect the wear to taper, more or less evenly depending upon the degree of under-inflation, from the centre to outside of the periphery, with about the same level of wear at both outside edges? The car was aligned using the 'Hunter DSP 6000' (Pretty sure thats what its called?). However I noticed that my model of car was not listed. For example there was 2.0 TDCi, 2.0 TDCi Estate, 2.0 TDCi Self Leveling etc but no 3.0 ST V6, instead the settings used were Sedan 3.0L. The problem I see here is that the machine could be referring to the normal 3.0 V6 Mondeo, as opposed to my 3.0 V6 Mondeo ST220 - which happens to have a completely different chassis setup. Its lowered 15mm and various track rod ends etc are differ from the standard Mondeo. That was certainly me, but I couldn't remember my password and the 'forgot password' feature on the site didn't seem to work so I re-registered. I didn't have any wear problems with the 18"'s I fitted to my previous Mondeo, just rubbish handling. Just to add, I fitted new tyres to the rear 3,000 miles ago and have been running 33PSI ever since. So far so good, the rear has a fantastic amount of grip and the wear seems spot on. I have not noticed any tramlining at 34psi, only rarely on certain parts of the motorway which are well worn. Since putting the new tyres to 36psi, there seems to be no noticeable difference in the steering although the car does seem to jolt a bit when going over bumps mid-corner. I am yet to determine what effect running at 36psi will yield.

Hi Tony, thanks for that. I am aware of the pressure differences depending on the load and speed of the vehicle, infact I am soon to make a thread on a similar subject. Would you agree that the tyre in my original post has worn un-evenly? Gary

My Mondeo ST220 has developed a rather annoying squeak which comes and goes as it pleases. At first it was only going over big speed bumps that set it off, it then got louder and louder and started happening over normal road bumps. After playing around it seems like its the nearside rear damper, there is no obvious damage / wear / leaks etc, drop links all in order etc. Going over bumps, the squeak seems quite bad its loud enough for passers by to hear it. However road holding and ride comfort is not affected at all, the car is still stiff, and handles very well. The noise has since calmed down, and after having friends sit in the back, it completely vanished when I drove home on my own. However the next morning, it returned, albeit much quieter and not too bad! This time last year, my previous Mondeo did the exact same thing to me and had done almost indentical mileage (62k). I'm not worried about it needing a repair, I'm confident it doesn't; but I am confused as to what the noise is and where its coming from. Car has just been serviced and they said it was fine,Nurburgring in 4 days, I hope the car doesn't s*** itself

Hi folks, here is a picture of a tyre that I took off my Mondeo. The car had a 4 wheel laser alignment 5k ago, the tyres have done 9k and were run at 34PSI. I believe this rating to be accurate as I have two accurate devices and they both give near the same readout. They are checked weekly. I have now fitted some new tyres, and will run them at 36PSI. Just to add, I previously had a Mondeo TDCi on the same sized wheels & tyres. Ford recommend 37PSI front and 34 PSI rear. My new Mondeo, despite being the same weight, is recommended 31 PSI front and 30PSI rear. What a joke!!! I had no problems when running at 38 PSI, but will see how it goes on 36PSI for the time being. Comments & opinions welcome. Regards, Gary