TBP_ST

Good stuff Tony, look forward to coming down tomorrow to hopefully get some answers....

I'm not sure, was described as the connection between wheel and column, i think they said it's an angled shape and the corners of each angle of that were roudned so when the wheel was turned there was free play before any action on the column. It's booked in a WIM at 3pm this Sat now

Pretty sure it will be hard for them to argue a road trauma event as the car is 2 months/1500 miles old, I reported the original issue on the day the car was delivered to me. The original issue was that the steering wheel was not straight when road wheels were straight. After 4 attempts by dealer to correct this they removed the sterring wheel to find it was damaged/prematurely worn - the connection between it and the column was rounded off meaning it had a high degree of free play making straight alignment extremely difficult. After a new steering wheel was fitted it was straight and freeplay reduced but the sloppy handling remained. The previous problem with the steering wheel was somewhat masking the true alignment issue i think. I then saw the alignment print out they'd left in the car that shows the poor alignment. From looking at Ford's specs sheet the front Castor is supposed to be 4.08 with tolerance of 1.00 so the OSF sitting at 2.47 is out of tolerance i think and the NSF sitting at 3.10 is only within tolerance by a fraction?

Thanks guys, I will def get it booked in at WIM so I can then at least present Ford with some expert opinion and analysis.

Hi Tony, Thanks for the reply and info. I have the Ford workshop manual specs now so also know that target caster value for front is 4.08 with 1.00 tolerance so the OSF front is pretty far out. Ford's attitude to all this is unfortunately poor. I think I will give WIM a call to get it booked in to see what can be done if Ford will not do anything.

Hey, I have a new Fiesta ST that has never driven right from delivery. Current alignment values are Fr Left Fr Right Camber -1.11 -0.48 Caster 3.10 2.47 Toe is 0.10 both sides. Steering wheel is straight and car does not drift or pull. RR Left RR Right Camber -0.32 -0.15 Toe 0.01 0.15 Thrust angle -0.07. I believe the correct front camber target is -1.18 so the left front is near enough here but the right seems way out of spec, less than half the value of the left. Not sure what correct caster value should be but both sides are over half a degree different. Rears seem rather different values side to side and are not adjustable, this is a brand new car, are these dfiffering values normal/acceptable? Ford dealer is saying this is all in spec and would not effect handling/how the car drives. From my POV the car does not corner well on right hand turns. It doesn't turn in well and then easily washes out. Left hand turns are a lot better. Would like to hear other opinions on this...... Also,anyone know if front camber/caster is even adjustable on the ST? It's not usually on standard Fiesta's i don't think. Thanks!