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

[FordCustomerService]

Originally Posted by Zillon

Well, mentioning it to your service department would be the first step, it helps to document the issue just for the sake of gathering data and getting your car in the system.

I put 100 hard miles on the car today, and things are still sounding solid and tight. Hit every kind of road there was; highway, backroad, 2-lane road, smooth pavement, rough pavement, etc. Drove great.

Exactly right, Zillon. Data is the name of the game when it comes to concerns like this. Like everyone else, I thank you for your hard work and I'm thrilled to hear that things are going well.

Have a great day,
Crystal

[Shade-010]

Originally Posted by FordCustomerService

Exactly right, Zillon. Data is the name of the game when it comes to concerns like this. Like everyone else, I thank you for your hard work and I'm thrilled to hear that things are going well.

Have a great day,
Crystal

Soooo once he has more concrete data, how LONG will it take Ford to fix the rest of our cars and reimburse Zillion for his work and parts? Since all of FORD so called "engineers" can't figure this out, I would say Zillion Deserves a Head Engineer Job

[Zillon]

I'm not expecting reimbursement from Ford. If my fix works, my time and the parts used have cost me less than if I were to trade the car in on something else.

More importantly, I'd like the information and experience that I've collected over the last several months to go towards helping everyone else on here that's currently dealing with this issue. Also, provided my fix holds steady and doesn't revert back to clunking, I hope that Ford will take the information in this thread and use it to benefit the rest of you.

Also, I'd like to remind everyone with a 2012+ Focus following this thread to submit a survey response, that is, if you haven't already. The more information that's collected on this issue, the better!

To those of you that have submitted survey responses, thank you!

Here's the link to the current clunk survey: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...B1Zmc6MA#gid=0

Also, I'm going on day 3, clunk free.

[Lipshurt]

so here is another little tidbit of a clue...
I am the guy that pretty much fixed the clunk/rattle by wedging a credit card under the tower brace. Worked great UNTIL i took it to the dealer for an oil change, and BAM, the clunk was back, about 50% as bad as it was before the credit card fix. I imagine it has something to do with being lifted completely off its wheels. I check the card, and it was loose enough to push it in another half inch or so. So lifting the card did something. Moving the card fixed it again plain as day. I also got one of those utility knives that have the breakable blades and wedged a piece of knife blade under the passenger side brace. Its quieter now too.

I have noticed a couple of times in the past that having the tires rotated or other business that lifts the car will change the noise for a while. Usually it was making the noise go away for a couple days. Usually till i would hit an us usually sharp one inch pavement ledge, while turning to the right. That would make the noise instantly come back after a period of quiet after being lifted.
Of course this time its the opposite, where lifting seems to have shifted things to the clunk producing arrangement. Go figure. Sure seems related to me.
Right now I'm good with my greatly/nearly totally fixed clunk, thanks to the shims under the tower brace.
If ford has any brain power at all they will use that info. That is of course if they are motivated AT ALL.

Crystal, I am not buying your bit about ford being hard at work on this. If they are, that means they are completely over their heads. If i can fix it with a shim, it's an easy fix. The pieces fit loosely together. That is a rattle/clunk in the making. To fix rattles and clunks you insert shims, tighten bolts etc at THE VERY FIRST STEP of the process.
It would be better if you simply said the people at ford are waiting for enough complaints to hit some sort of critical mass before they start thinking about it, and we are simply not there yet.

[Twenty]

I have let my friends in service and parts know about the issue and that I will at some point need to look into this for (potentially) warranty. It's a little bit of spreading the word, a start a least.

So this is the final list of what you replaced (compiled from a couple of posts)?

Strut mount bolts (M8x1.25 grade 10.9 flange bolt with OEM hardened steel spacers)
(2) AD-1094 strut bearings @8.56ea
(2) AD-1098 strut mounts @10.80ea
(2) HN1 center strut nuts @7.08ea
(1) DV6Z-16A200-A strut tower brace @77.31

[Zillon]

Originally Posted by Twenty

I have let my friends in service and parts know about the issue and that I will at some point need to look into this for (potentially) warranty. It's a little bit of spreading the word, a start a least.

So this is the final list of what you replaced (compiled from a couple of posts)?

Strut mount bolts (M8x1.25 grade 10.9 flange bolt with OEM hardened steel spacers)
(2) AD-1094 strut bearings @8.56ea
(2) AD-1098 strut mounts @10.80ea
(2) HN1 center strut nuts @7.08ea
(1) DV6Z-16A200-A strut tower brace @77.31

Correct. That's the full list of parts from my last overhaul that is proving successful as of right now. Everything is a Ford/Motorcraft part with the exception of the bolts.

Since the 3 strut mount bolts are one-time-use bolts, every time I've pulled apart the suspension, I've installed new bolts and re-used the spacers. At ~$13 USD a piece, those OEM bolts aren't cheap to replace every time, so I decided to replace the bolts with identical spec/thread units from Lowes. In order to reuse the OEM washer/spacer, my only modification was to drill the OEM bolt washer/spacer out 1mm to fit over the threads of the new bolts, after cutting them off of the discarded OEM bolts.

FYI: The Ford part number for the OEM strut bolt is CV6Z-3C448-A, however, those are for the old-style strut brace. I'm unsure as to the part number attached to the updated bolts with the thinner spacers meant to be used with the updated DV6Z brace.

I also have the ST struts and Eibach springs installed, however, the clunk was the same across the board, regardless of which dampers or springs were installed. I believe it's safe to rule those components out as contributing to the issue.

[TboneZX3]

Originally Posted by Zillon

What did you torque your bolts to, if I may ask?

35 ft-lbs.

Thanks for all the hard work and research on this Zillon.

[Uptcv1]

Bump as we're waiting Ford's response..

[Zillon]

I got a call late in the day from my regional CSM, and this is how things went:

Since I stated that my clunk has disappeared, my current case has been closed. She seemed genuinely surprised at my findings, and she also said that she would pass my case results up the line in an effort to make sure that they catch the attention of the right people. As far as how much truth there was to her statements, I can't be certain, and I'll maintain my skepticism, but I'm also optimistic for the rest of you involved with this issue.

I'm still waiting to hear back from Crystal on what she's heard from body engineering or otherwise, but things have gone as far as they're gonna go with my regional CSM. My CSM did recommend that I visit the following website and submit my findings, though: http://Fordnewideas.com/

Car does still seems to be clunk free, 6 days later. Looks like I'll have some weather in the 60's next week, that'll be the real test.

[BlazeFocus]

Originally Posted by Zillon

I got a call late in the day from my regional CSM, and this is how things went:

Since I stated that my clunk has disappeared, my current case has been closed. She seemed genuinely surprised at my findings, and she also said that she would pass my case results up the line in an effort to make sure that they catch the attention of the right people. As far as how much truth there was to her statements, I can't be certain, and I'll maintain my skepticism, but I'm also optimistic for the rest of you involved with this issue.

I'm still waiting to hear back from Crystal on what she's heard from body engineering or otherwise, but things have gone as far as they're gonna go with my regional CSM. My CSM did recommend that I visit the following website and submit my findings, though: http://Fordnewideas.com/

Car does still seems to be clunk free, 6 days later. Looks like I'll have some weather in the 60's next week, that'll be the real test.

They closed your case, fed you to the "Ideas" bureaucracy and stated a "forwarding to the right people".
Not much to be optimistic about if you ask me...
You have been absorbed... (Borg speak).