[dhoff024]

I have an 09 Focus SES coupe 5spd manual. Just recently I noticed I was getting some front end suspension noise usually when going slow and going over bumps you hear it more than when you are at high speeds or even traveling normal speeds. I checked everything end links, tie rod ends, ball joints, cv boots, etc. Everything seems ok to me I did see the sticky about the tsb on the end links and other things causing front end noise. The car has almost 65K on it and if that stuff wouldn't be fixed for free I will just change it myself. I am leaning towards just changing the end links since I know that they are problematic on our cars. The one question that I have is while I was checking everything I also inspected the front sway bar bushings and figured it might not hurt to change them as well but the problem is I cant find them anywhere only the rear ones. I figure those two things should stop my noises at low speeds. The other issue I have been having recently is that I switch between winter and summer wheels and tires and I have the winter wheels and tires on now and the winter tires are noisier than the summer tires but recently only at high speeds when I turn to the right I get a loud humming/vibration noise. I checked the wheel bearing and everything seems nice and tight with no play. So basically I am just looking for a few suggestions on these few things to see what my next move should be.

 

[sailor]

Often need to unhook at least one end of a sway bar link to take the tension off in order to check both for looseness.

Have to keep an eye on the bearing situation as it sounds like one is starting to go, which one is always the question.

 

[dhoff024]

Thanks for the reply I appreciate it. My first thought with the humming noise was a wheel bearing so with you saying the same thing I'm pretty sure one is on it's way out seems kind of pre mature to me but I guess I could be wrong about that. Sounded like it was the passenger side to me and I checked it this morning but I had no play in the passenger side wheel. I did not check the drivers side which I should and will probably do tomorrow. I know the bearing has to be pressed in. Are there any hub bearing assemblies already ready to go I can just unbolt the old and on the New? I don't have a press and would rather do it myself than pay someone else to do it.

As far as the end links go I will remove the tension and see what I find out they are relatively inexpensive and not hard to change so I may change them anyways as a precaution. Anybody know where to get front sway bar bushings I'm almost positive the low speed noise is coming from end links/sway bar I have had these types of issues on other cars and those 2 things were the fix and weren't to expensive so I'd rather change those out now just as a precaution. The car has been trouble free up to this point and I really like my car I hope the historically troublesome suspension in the focus line start causing me problems.

 

[sailor]

You can never be sure on the bearing guess without checking things out for a bit.

I thought I had a bad one when the car was fairly new to me, turned out to be one of the cheap new tires the dealer put on before I got it. 'd had them rebalance it soon after the purchase (and it took a lot of weight) but the noise didn't show up 'till later. Moved to the back & the noise disappeared. Checked for bearing noise a few weeks in a row by wiggling/turning by hand etc. before trying the tire move.

Front bearings press into the knuckles, so no assemblies practical there (no separate carrier bolted on). Rears CAN come with drums (hubs for the disc brake models) but they are usually cheaper ones. Name brand bearings like the stock SKF aren't much more $ and have a better rep..

 

[dhoff024]

Thanks for the replies about the bearings I will check things out maybe I will swap tires around this weekend and see what happens my winter treads are some cheap brand I got a heck of a deal on the whole winter set and couldn't pass them up so it very well could be the tires. I will check things out and update with what I find.

As far a the suspension I'm going to check the end links and maybe replace them if anyone has any info on the bushings let me know. Thanks again

 

[dhoff024]

Just wanted to update that I replaced both end links up front and my suspension noises are gone so that is a good thing. I still have the humming and vibration when turning the wheel right at high speeds. I haven't had a chance to swap my wheels around to see if it is a tire noise or not. I was going to do that tonight when I did the end links but it was pretty cold and rainy and although I have a garage it is not heated so I just changed the end links and called it a night. I will swap wheels another day and see what happens.

 

[sailor]

Tx for the update.

One problem down & one still under investigation...

 

[dhoff024]

I still have the humming noise up front sounds like the passenger side but I'm not real sure there doesn't seem to be much play in either front wheel but I am guessing one of the bearings is on the way out. The end links fixed my original noise in the front end but today it seems like I have another clunking noise up front. Sounds like passenger side again. I haven't had a chance to take anything apart today its super cold here so I will probably wait till Saturday when I can heat up the garage and pull it in to take a look at it. This noise is only while going very slow you don't hear in any other time at normal speeds or highway speeds only at about 10 or under. Could it be the wheel bearing? or is it the strut bearing or control arm now? Maybe a strut? any way to narrow down the cause? This noise is way louder than the noise I had before the one before I was almost positive it was end links because it felt like the sway bar was moving under my feet when I heard the noise I could feel it in the floor plus I have had end links go bad on other cars and the symptoms were pretty similar. This one sounds like something is loose up front and things are just clunking and banging around. Any ideas how I check for the noise?

 

[dhoff024]

So I replaced the drivers side wheel bearing and wanted to put a couple of pointers out there for anyone who runs into this. When I was taking the knuckle out I had no problems getting everything separated from the knuckle. Where I ran into trouble was getting the axle separated from the knuckle, hub, and wheel bearing. No matter what I did I could not get the axle separated. In the process I got frustrated and ended up damaging the end of the axle and the threads making the axle useless. What I did to get it out was borrowed my brothers slide hammer and used the portion that attaches to the hub and has a threaded hole in the center that you screw a rod through and it pushed the axle out took 10 mins. Now after that I had to get the axle separated from the transmission which was another task. There is no room to pry on anything and there also isn't any room to get the axle removal slide hammer attachment in there. I have heard of people taking the passenger side out and hitting the drivers side out. I didn't even want to attempt this so I did some thinking and found a better way I attached the 2 hook attachment to the slide hammer and there is a lip where the inner cv joint meets the metal bearing on the axle. Use the 2 hooks to grab that lip and put some pressure on them then just a few hits with the hammer and the axle comes out. When I put it all back together I greased up the retaining clip and splines on both ends of the axle with valvoline Ford spec grease and everything went back together smooth and there are no noises now everything is back to normal.