IMPORTANT: ALL MK3 Focus Owners, I could use your input.

[suss6052]

Especially after people said it kept coming back the first thing I actually thought of was the strut tower deforming or having deformed in some way (not necessarily visible to the untrained eye but enough to cause issues). If so what is stopping all of the cars that don't currently clunk, or their owners feel they don't have the issue from suddenly having the issue after one too many bumps?

[Kaaru]

Survey filled.

Many thanks to you

[pakeane]

Originally Posted by suss6052

Especially after people said it kept coming back the first thing I actually thought of was the strut tower deforming or having deformed in some way (not necessarily visible to the untrained eye but enough to cause issues). If so what is stopping all of the cars that don't currently clunk, or their owners feel they don't have the issue from suddenly having the issue after one too many bumps?

Tough question, many factors in play: The force(s) distributed to the shock tower are highly variable - There are what, 4/5 combinations of model trim with different wheel/tire combinations and effective damping rates (not to mention jacking forces, road conditions etc, etc).

With Zillon collating the data, one would expect to see definitive patterns that greatly narrow down the probability of each model/equipment group experiencing the issue.

[PratoN]

Done. I reported "Yes" to clunking, but it's very subtle and infrequent - possibly not even strut related. It's usually when I have a full car or cold mornings. But I do, in fact, have the strut tower plates (thank God...) May 2011 build here.

[Zillon]

Originally Posted by pakeane

Tough question, many factors in play: The force(s) distributed to the shock tower are highly variable - There are what, 4/5 combinations of model trim with different wheel/tire combinations and effective damping rates (not to mention jacking forces, road conditions etc, etc).

With Zillon collating the data, one would expect to see definitive patterns that greatly narrow down the probability of each model/equipment group experiencing the issue.

Here's a preliminary breakdown using the 29 entries (so far) from today.

29 total entries
16 said yes to clunking symptoms
13 said no

Of the 16 that said yes, 15 have no extra reinforcement plates on their strut tower brace. Only 1 has the extra plates, and that person is PratoN (see post above).

Of these 16, here's the breakdown by trim:
- 1 SE
- 6 SE w/Sport
- 1 SEL
- 3 SEL w/Premium
- 3 Titanium
- 2 Titanium w/Handling

Of the 16 that said yes, breakdown by year:
- 15 are 2012 Foci
- 1 is an 8/12 build 2013 Focus that doesn't have the plates (build on 8/8/12, to be precise)

Of the 13 that said no
- 7 have the extra plates, and 6 don't.
- 6 are 2013s, 7 are 2012s

It's a little muddier there. But nearly all that have the clunk, save for one person, are missing the extra reinforcement on their strut tower.

[Bogey]

uh... where do i see the production date?

[Zillon]

Originally Posted by Bogey

uh... where do i see the production date?

If you look inside the door jamb on the driver's side, right next to the dash, you'll see a production sticker. Your build month and year will be listed on that tag.

[Bogey]

Originally Posted by Zillon

If you look inside the door jamb on the driver's side, right next to the dash, you'll see a production sticker. Your build month and year will be listed on that tag.

ok 06/12 then

[Lipshurt]

submitted
hey check this out...
my clunk is from the drivers side and on that side there is obvious air space between the brace and the tower. there is only contact where the bolt is. When its 45 degrees out mine rattle an INSANE amount. Im gonna stick a shim like a credit card or broken knife blade in that space and see if it stop the rattle.
There is very little air space on the passenger side.
Thanks zillon:)

[Bogey]

i just started to notice it when the snow started to fall and the parking lots are bumpy as hell and its coming from the drivers side