Help! loud crunching noises coming from front suspension

[whynotthinkwhynot]

You should replace that rotor. It's not hard to do, and I couldn't imagine the parts from a parts store running you more than E$100 for both. Most likely a little over half that. You can just replace one rotor if the other is not beyond it's service life. FWD rotors fall off, and you're apparently familiar with removing brake pads if you polished the ones on the car. I bet the edge of that rotor is being rubbed by the pads- even when the brakes aren't on!! Your fuel economy should go up just a bit too

Put the right rotor on that side, heck change them both if you can afford it, and that should solve your problem. Shame on the shop that worked on that car last!!! Bad mechanics make bad anything, Ford or otherwise.

A long time ago I was talking about doing a brake job on my car to a guy at work, he said "I only trust my brakes to someone who knows what they are doing" I was thinking, that's why I do it myself!

[nilskje]

Hi , could be wishbones (rod from stab bar 2 shock) but those y have removing when replacing shocks, .. You have to remove one side of them 2 tell if they are bad, and they are notorious (i have replaced 3 times in 300k km) Also the inner joint of the driveshaft (since its only when coasting?)...

[whynotthinkwhynot]

I wish I knew more about the suspension in your specific car, but I wouldn't go doing anything until I got the brakes working right. I don't know if you know this or not, but brake pads aren't bolted or really secured into the caliper solidly. They have a little movement when installed correctly, and are pushed off the rotor by the force of the rotor turning when you let off the brake pedal. In the case of your smaller than normal rotor, the pads are barely scraping on 2 sides of the rotor. When you hit bumps, the pads move, grinding against the top of the rotor and making noise.

It's true that this might not be the whole problem, but it is a problem that deserves attention before you can determine if other parts are also at fault. I'd see if the shop that did your brakes will own up to the mistake they made when they put that Ka rotor on the Focus. If you were in the states- the'd be very afraid of a lawsuit!!

[tomsmeets]

I will replace both discs on thursday and keep you guys updated on the result...
Btw, discs are priced at 180euro (+-240USD) a pair when bought at Ford dealer, but of course much less at the local shop where I also get a 40% discount... so it'll only cost me about 70euro (93USD) :-)

[whynotthinkwhynot]

F____ Ford Europe's prices. I thought it was bad enough that a pair of Motorcract rotors was $80ish here.

Of course, if our workers had 5 weeks paid vacation standard and money that was worth as much as the Euro, we'd probaby pay as much here too.

[tomsmeets]

Europe is expensive: A Focus will cost you around 25.000 euro (32.500 USD!!!) and a gallon of gas will cost you close to 7 dollars. But, of course, we have social security, paid leaf of absence, and other benefits (no national parks though :-(...).

Anyway, I'm taking the rest of the day off and will start working on those discs. The noise has gotten ten times worse in the last couple of days; I'm beginning to wonder whether I did something wrong (got plenty of experience with brakes, so I doubt it...). Btw, pads that are on it now are only worn about 50% in 78.000km (+-49000 miles). Hope the new pads are of the same quality (new= Delphi; old= Motorcraft)!

Will let you know tomorrow whether changing the discs and installing new pads helped in reducing/eliminating the noise...

[tomsmeets]

here's a few updaTes:

When I started on the brakes, I saw nothing wrong with them. I changed the discs (right size this time!) and pads, and began to fear that maybe the driveshaft had just blown since the noise had gotten so much worse in the last two or three days. I found a second hand joint (inner & outer) for 150 euro (+-195USD) en put it under there. That eliminated the noise that started a few days ago, but the noises that were there to begin with are still there.

The guy who sold me the driveshaft joints told me maybe it was the engine support, but from listening to the noise I really doubt that.

I'll be taking it to the Ford dealer today for some bodywork repairs (luckily the other guy's insurance pays for them :-)...), and I'll ask them to take a look again... but last time they didn't have a clue! Again, any new ideas on how to fix this are more than welcome!

[tomsmeets]

Dear all,

Finally, the loud noises which have been irritating the hell out of me during the last couple of months have finally been solved. I was so frustrated that I decided to buy a new car, but before I did so I wanted to check one last time with the dealer (remember I took it to a few dealers allready, but none were able to identify the problem).

So this is what happened: the mechanic took a look below the car and within a few minutes he said: "This is your problem right here" and sure enough he was right. It turns out one of the bolts from the subframe was loose (they never before saw this thing coming loose!) so after tightening the noise was gone. He then gave my entire front suspension a thorough check-up, so after about an hour he was finished. Then he said: "I won't charge you anything, glad to have been of help to you."

It turns out I won't be buying a new car after all...
anyway, thanks for all your help and suggestions!

tom