2008-2011 Ford Focus: Your Suspension Explained
 

so, i made a really complicated explanation on how our mcpherson struts work compared to past struts. now im going to add pictures to perhaps ease your mind and even give you a little step by step if your new to the game.


[:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)]I'D JUST LIKE TO ADD. THE ONLY REASON WHY THIS IS SO COMPLICATED IS BECAUSE I BOUGHT STRUTS AND SHOCKS THAT DIDN'T COME WITH THE EXTRA HARDWARE I NEEDED TO MAKE IT WORK. THESE STRUTS AMONG OTHERS FOR THE 06-11 FOCI WILL SEAT ANY 08-11 SPRING. IF YOU'RE BUYING NEW SPRINGS BUY SPRINGS FOR 08-11. IT IS JUST TAKING THE SEAT OFF YOUR OEM STRUT AND PLACING IT ON THE NEW ONE. IF BUYING A USED SUSPENSION, BE SURE THE CORRECT NECESSARY HARDWARE (SEATS, BEARINGS, BUMP STOPS) COMES WITH WHAT YOUR BUYING IN ORDER TO AVOID THE MISTAKE I DID!![:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)][:)]


First off, the reason i'm messing with my front suspension one more time is because the bearing had broken from being upside down like so

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...35972369_n.jpg

leaving me with this damaged bearing

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0380.jpg

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0379.jpg

that needs to be replaced with this one

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0370.jpg

so your probably wondering,

how the hell did he do that?
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/485/82170209.jpg

well it's simple, the springs were placed upside down

so step 1 is loosening all the lug nuts to the wheel and jacking the car up (i recommend like everyone else to do this on a flat surface as it is very nerve racking doing it at a slight incline)

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0371.jpg

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0372.jpg

step 2 is removing the wheel and revealing your fancy colored strut.

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0403.jpg

step 3 begin loosening the strut the top strut nuts. i usually just loosen them to where they are still screwed on but at the last top thread

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/DSC00051.jpg

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/DSC00065.jpg

step 4 loosen your sway bar endlink and remove it from it's place. idk what the wire is that the metal plate is holding, i've been told it was a wheel speed sensor. but if someone could fill me in that'd be great

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/DSC00061.jpg

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0401.jpg

step 5 remove brake line from its location. if ford didn't make things more complicated i swear it wouldn't take as much time.

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0399.jpg

step 6 unscrew the pinch bolt (sorry no picture)

step 7 curb stomp your brakes in order to remove the bottom of the strut from the knuckle

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/DSC00063.jpg

http://images.cheezburger.com/comple...0273045194.jpg

alright so you finally got your strut out. now what?

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ll...himzo1_500.jpg

well now your gonna go ahead and disassemble your strut

step 1 compress your springs

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0381.jpg

step 2 once your spring is compressed (compress it as much as you can) go ahead and undo the top nut keeping the assembly together. this would be alot easier with the access to an air gun, but since i'm still a college student money is tough. so this is my gf demonstrating how to do it. (i'm teaching her so it's not perfect)

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...h_MVI_0395.jpg

so it's apart. lets take a closer look shall we?

with the 08+ suspension you get one of these

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0385.jpg

^^^this right here is our cars spring seat. small gets the job done

now, IF YOU BUY 06-07 SPRINGS (like i did) YOU'RE GONNA NEED THIS

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0393.jpg

^^^the one on the left is the 06-07 spring seat

clearly in the picture below the spring seat that comes with our gen cars does not work for these springs

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0394.jpg

also with that you will need one of these

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0391.jpg

^^the one on the left is the replacement, and the one on the right is the broken piece from being upside down.

so when it all comes together it's supposed to look like this

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0397.jpg

and not this deformed mess i drove for 600 miles on

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0379.jpg

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...4/IMG_0380.jpg

so once it's all said and done you just do all the steps in reverse (minus the curb stomping) and torque everything down. torque specs and even more pictures can be found here suspension overhaul


so now that everything's fixed i am happy and the weird noise is gone. i hope this can help someone, but seeing as we don't have many suspension options, it shouldn't be that difficult.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/kym-assets/p...jpg?1296494117

i just fixed it

still wanna sell them to me?(= got some christmas money

lol no, i wouldn't have a reason to [:p]. sorry

yo so do strut kits come w/ springs already on or you have to put them on? <--- newbie here

the struts and shocks are from tokico and the springs are from eibach. the guy i ordered from bought them seperately and used the oem parts on his ride to install. when he turned it back to stock he only gave me the struts, shocks and springs. no bearings, no seats, no dust covers. no bump stops. so if you were to buy someones suspension from here, ask them what year the struts and springs are for and what hardware it comes with. if you wanted to buy brand new, buy any strut for the 06-11 and buy springs for 08-11. you'll use the oem seat and not go through the hassle i went through

i have learned from recently doing my eibach sportline kit that spring compressing for the fronts is completely unneeded. i was able to push them down and put the screw on without a whole ton of force, and getting them off is ever easier because you jsut zap the top bolt right off and the spring just slowly decompresses with getting it off. simple. the rears are a pain in the butt if you don't have the right spring compressor, which i didn't, and it was ridiculous.

isn't that because the spring itself is shorter? and the rears were ok, we did this whole pry and place method. it scared me but it worked haha

If your car is equipped with ABS, the wheel speed sensors are used to feed the rotation (or lack of) to the ABS system.

no actually. the eibach springs are the same height, they are just more springy since they are lowering springs. more flexible. the rears were the same way. i had no clue on how to get them off and on, so i brought them to a shop and they pryed them off and on. it was ridiculous. you'd think ford would make an easier way to do this. the spring compressor i had before the shop didn't fit onto the spring haha. and that dumb bolt that is slightly welded on for the rear control arm is bogus aswell

wrong