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2012 Titanium Front Strut Low Speed Noise (Clunk/Rattle)

645K views 3K replies 293 participants last post by  alex_5161 
#1 ·
My 2012 Titanium has an annoying low speed strut rattle. When it was new it wasn't there. It took a few weeks to materialize. It's only heard at low speeds. While turning or braking it is super noticeable. The service department freely acknowledged the sound was there. I must give them credit for not denying it.
We took the car to the dealer ship, and found nothing "technically" wrong. They greased the front strut bushings and the sounds went away for about two weeks. Yes. It really wasn't there anymore. I was thrilled.
However, it returned at the same exact rate and loudness as when I first bought it.
Now that it's been a couple months the sound is back full and loud.
The sound IS strut related. I know enough about automotive mechanics not to to be fooled by other sounds and noises. Since the grease made the sound go away for a short time the issue is clearly a strut issue.

Does anyone else have this problem?
The solution so far is only very temporary. I'd like to know if others are getting this noise.
Will Ford or the strut manufacturer make right on this? That remains to be seen.
 
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#1,521 ·
So we're back to the sway bar, but at the frame mounts-not the endlinks...interesting indeed.

It would kind of explain why the noise disappears for a bit after unloading the suspension, though I'm curious as to how they would be covering them with dust boots.

I guess I will go back up on the jacks tomorrow...
 
#1,522 ·
Well, the creaking I have, I believe is linked to the sway bar bushings. Easy fix, generally speaking.

The clunking, though, could just be the subframe bolts/isolators, which was a thought of mine a long time ago.

Certainly not a cheap issue to take care of, though; the isolators are 20-30 bucks each. And there are 4 of them. Bolts are at least cheap, though.

However, for those who claim the strut bearing/strut mount/spring/strut replacement did nothing, I've seen nothing said about checking the subframe connections to the chassis.
 
#1,524 ·
Hey everyone,

I'm happy to step in here and help each of you out. Please send me a PM with your VIN, dealer, mileage, daytime phone number, and full name; I'll start researching some options.

Thank you!
Crystal [:)]
 
#1,528 ·
I've been following zillions trials and find it very interesting.
since my sound is becoming more obvious and predictable (mine is gets worse when the temp is below 66 degrees and its getting colder lately in southern Ca) i have been able to take some more accurate notes:

1) its most definitely heat related, and its very obvious. If its 65 degrees, it takes about 10 minutes of driving to go away. If its 59 degrees it takes about 15 minutes to go away. If its 70 degrees, it takes about 5 minutes to go away.

2) when its doing it (cold), it will do it every time when I'm accelerating and and i depress the clutch before letting up on the gas. In other words it does it on rapid deceleration.

3) when its doing it (cold) it does it over every bump, but ALSO does it sometimes when there is zero stress to the suspension. No bumps, no turning , no nothing.

4) when its cold it is a full on rattle. As it warms up it turns into just the very first part of the rattle sound, which is a clunk basically. That clunk only shows up over bumps or uneven pavement.

5) when it warm and not doing it (10 minutes or so driving), it seems totally tight and great. every aspect of the suspension is fantastic. Zero sounds UNLESS you hit some really wicked pavement and then you can hear that the sound/clunk/rattle is still there but it just needs a lot of excitement to make the sound.

6) after and hour of driving, no matter what pavement you hit it makes no sound. You could write a magazine article about how great the suspension is and how rattle free the whole car is.

7) when you first get in and start driving you really need to turn up the radio if there are any other people in the car. The sound is loud, cheap, and overly embarrassing. It does not even sound particularly safe to me. The parts are THAT loose. I suppose it could be a heat shield or something, but i have exhaustively insulated at least 20 or thirty sound producing parts under the hood. Including the hood itself of course. I have insulated all the under carriage pieces and under the fender pieces too.

8) the rattle on deceleration might point to a motor mount. But why would that be so heat sensitive?

9) when i did the TSB it did help, and the sound went away for a while, but it was 95 degrees every day in august the week i did the TSB. It returned as soon as the temp got down to 75. What it did actually fix however was the lumpy cheap broken feeling when turning the steering wheel. That was lame and the new bearings did fix that. If you read the TSB, that is exactly what the TSB is meant to fix. They don't even drive the car over bumps when they check the effectiveness of the TSB

10) Ford is 100% not responsive to me any more since the TSB only fixed part of the problem. My dealer, Heller ford in escondido CA. has never returned my calls nor emails about it. "brian" the "regional service rep" talked to me one time after the TSB and i gave him an earful. Perhaps too much of an earful:) but i never cussed, etc. They should be able to take their incompetence being pointed out.

If this gets figured out, it will NOT be ford that figures it out. if they had anyone working on it at all, even one person working for a couple days with access to chassis ears, and some sort of actual motivation, it would have been fix a year ago. They are NOT working on it.
 
#1,529 ·
If I had a some chassis ears at my disposal, I probably could've solved this myself a long time ago. I'll have to check again and see if we have them in the shop here at work, maybe I could work something out and borrow them for some troubleshooting.

I'm due for an oil change in the next thousand miles, so at some point in the next month I'll have it up on a lift. I'll at least check the subframe bolts, endlinks, and sway bar bushings for play/looseness. The struts, strut bearings, and strut mounts are brand new OEM parts, installed to spec, and then to my own spec. Sure, it's slightly improved, but the fact that it hasn't disappeared means that I haven't solved the issue.

It really just sucks, because I love the rest of the car. The color, the seats, the handling, the style. But suspension noises drive me up a wall, especially when the car is brand new.

I'm at a loss, and I'm tired of sounding like a broken record on here. I'm sure I seem like a troll to others, but I've poured a lot of my own money, time, and resources into trying to find a solution to a problem that not only plagues my car, but others as well. It would be nice to get thrown a bone from Ford for once, and not just get boned.
 
#1,530 ·
... I'm at a loss, and I'm tired of sounding like a broken record on here. I'm sure I seem like a troll to others, but I've poured a lot of my own money, time, and resources into trying to find a solution to a problem that not only plagues my car, but others as well. It would be nice to get thrown a bone from Ford for once, and not just get boned.
... If this gets figured out, it will NOT be ford that figures it out. if they had anyone working on it at all, even one person working for a couple days with access to chassis ears, and some sort of actual motivation, it would have been fix a year ago. They are NOT working on it.
I think we need a solution movement to get Ford's true attention... (fear of the media)
maybe a big meet (maybe few locations) and we shoot a video for youtube...
title: "Call me clunky" sound and all... I'm sure it'll sound great to Ford exec's ears.. hey we might also get air time on ABC..
[drummer] Call me clunky... [woot]
 
#1,533 ·
Hey
I have a 2013 Titanium with no clunks 2400mi
I peeked under my hood yesterday cleaning out random dirt and leaves and saw that my spacer looks thinner than pics of those posted here and thought you guys might want to know
 
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#1,534 ·
You know what that is...

Son of a bitch. See that plate underneath the thinner metal of the strut tower brace? Ford put a plate on the strut tower to strengthen the strut tower. This pisses me off. This means that Ford actually recognized that there WAS a problem. That's why your bolt spacers are thinner.

Mini Coopers have the same issue - many owners install strut tower plates to prevent mushrooming of the strut tower.

Thanks for that photo, Phokus. I've got some parts to order and some phone calls to make.
 
#1,535 ·
I see it too.

Maybe a call to Steve to see if it is an available part for purchase...

Phokus, is there any chance that you can pm me your VIN for possible parts procurement?
 
#1,538 · (Edited)
#1,542 ·
#1,543 ·
Damn... WTF FORD... Fix our Shit NOW..... of course our strut towers are probably already out of spec, so would need lots of work to fix.... [mad][mad][mad][mad][mad]
 
#1,544 ·
My VIN is 1FAD P3J 24DL 128718
My build date is 8/29/12

Hope this helps!
I've been reading this thread since the beginning and was worried my car was going to clunk. I'm pleasantly surprised afterwards but still followed it just in case.
But after I discovered the difference I had to show you guys to see if it may be it
 
#1,547 ·
What about those people that just posted that they have a '13 but no plate?
Oh by the way, I should add I have all the options for a titanium except for the two tone leather, the graphics, and the exterior protection package
 
#1,549 ·
I'm pushing for a response from Ford as hard as I can...

I sent a lengthy PM to Crystal (FordCustomerService) with links to all of the information I've compiled thus far (Google spreadsheet, 2 threads on ST forums, photos, etc). She got back to me this morning with this:

Hi Zachary,

Thank you so much for sharing all of your hard work on this issue. I've forwarded along your research to my management team for their review and action; if I need any additional information I'll reach out to you here.

I'll definitely keep you in the loop as things move forward.

Thanks again,
Crystal
I've also gotten in touch with Steve at Tousley to try and locate the part number of this reinforcement plate. Surprisingly, he's not having much luck; Phokus, would you mind poking around and see if there's a visible engineering number on that reinforcement plate anywhere? Don't go disassembling your car, of course, but if you can see anything, write it down and pass it on. The engineering number can be used to do a reverse-lookup.

Additionally, I did something I thought I'd never do, and signed up for a Twitter account so I could tweet to @FordService, @FordFocus, and @Ford with a link to my thread with all the photos on FordSTNation.com.
 
#1,552 ·
So even if we're not experiencing this issue does this mean we would still need to change the brace and the bolts in order to attempt to prevent the towers from deforming? And if the towers did deform already leading to the clunking what can be done to repair this short of massive surgery to the unibody to replace the towers?
 
#1,555 ·
It's possible that the towers have been deformed, it's also possible that it's merely unwanted NVH due to variations in weld/stamping. I know my towers aren't visibly deformed, so I wouldn't worry too much just yet.

I'll know more when the brace arrives.

It is a new part number, though: #DV6Z-16A200A for the new one vs CV6Z-16A200A for the 2012 Foci.
 
#1,559 ·
Just looked up part on Fords site, funny how the old part lists for $132 and the new part lists for $117. Funny name too, Bracket fender mounting.
Put one in my cart just in case no noise from my front end yet. Unless the added strut tower brace I made is causing the difference.
 
#1,560 ·
I have Steve ordering one in just to verify that the plates are attached, and if he's right, he'll let me know so I can purchase it and get it shipped to me.

So, that being said, give me a few days so I can hear back from Steve for verification purposes; he has to order the part in, which will take ~3 days. Otherwise, everyone will be throwing money at something that may not exist.

Also, if anyone used Grade 10.9 hardware and torqued them to 35 ft-lbs, I would not recommend re-using the bolts. The torque limit on them is only 27 ft-lbs, so you've compromised the integrity of the bolts, and reusing them will likely have you shearing the bolts on installation. Buy new ones; they're cheap enough.
 
#1,563 ·
My 2012 SE Sport clunks more than my 100K mile VW. Ford needs to get their act together and issue a proper TSB that fixes this once and for all. I've been hesitant to get the bearing TSB done because of reports that the noise returns after a few months. This discovery about the brace actually makes sense.
 
#1,564 ·
Okay, I was lowering my wife's MZ3 Skyactiv today and her clunk is more of a scrunch and I now know why. Mazda did not put any rubber isolator in the spring seat! Her stock springs are very stiff and are the same coil thickness as the MS3 springs on my Focus, just taller. The strut mounts are exactly the same as the Focus. Her strut towers have the strengthening plates...

 
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