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Car Forum / Ford / Ford Focus / February 2005

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Uneven rear wheel tyre wear

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Mike2 - 07 Feb 2005 20:00 GMT
Do the rear wheels on the Focus estate (1999) have any adjustment on them
for tracking or alignment like front wheels normally do?  I've heard this
might be the case with the Focus rear suspension set up, and one of my
rear tyres is worn more on the outside than the inside.
Mike - 07 Feb 2005 21:12 GMT
Yes they do, I had this problem on my 1999 Focus when I bought it brand new.
The Ford dealer said they were in tolerance when I pointed out the tyres
were wearing. A few months later the tyre was well down and they then
adjusted the tracking. They also adjusted the front even though there was
nothing wrong here before they touched it. Eventually after three goes and a
new set of tyres they finally got it right.

Hope this helps - Mike

> Do the rear wheels on the Focus estate (1999) have any adjustment on them
> for tracking or alignment like front wheels normally do?  I've heard this
> might be the case with the Focus rear suspension set up, and one of my
> rear tyres is worn more on the outside than the inside.
Basic Wedge - 08 Feb 2005 00:37 GMT
The Focus estates/wagons are well known to be difficult to get good rear
alignment on. You have to shop around and locate a facility with state of
the art alignment equipment and plenty of experience with this vehicle type.
In my own experience, I have found this rules out most Ford dealers :(

Rob

---------------------

> Do the rear wheels on the Focus estate (1999) have any adjustment on them
> for tracking or alignment like front wheels normally do?  I've heard this
> might be the case with the Focus rear suspension set up, and one of my
> rear tyres is worn more on the outside than the inside.
dragon - 08 Feb 2005 08:14 GMT
> The Focus estates/wagons are well known to be difficult to get good rear
> alignment on. You have to shop around and locate a facility with state of
> the art alignment equipment and plenty of experience with this vehicle type.
> In my own experience, I have found this rules out most Ford dealers :(

I got this done on my '01 wagon couple of months ago. the service tech said
that it needs to be done regularly. the fact that this had never been done
on my car surprised him a lot since it was not still out of specs after 4
years of driving. they used some fancy computer stuff and it was very cheap!
$12 addition to my service bill.. However, I have to say that I get tire
rotation twice a year when I take my car in for regular service. The car
still has original tires (Michelins) with ~%50 life left on tires.

ahmet

Turkey

'01 wagon 1.6 liter 37K Kms on the clock
David or Robin - 09 Feb 2005 04:43 GMT
> > The Focus estates/wagons are well known to be difficult to get good rear
> > alignment on. You have to shop around and locate a facility with state of
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> '01 wagon 1.6 liter 37K Kms on the clock

Semi-on-topic, ahmet's point: I just took my "new" 2004 (US) in to the
dealer for the 6,000 miles (nothing but the oil and filter change,
really... ) But they wanted to rotate the tires. ...  Seemed silly, in a
way, and I turned them down--this time ... Any point to it, every 6k miles?
Any point in not doing it, every 6k ? (Very trustworthy dealer, but all I
could imagine was some unlikely screw-up on the part of some mechanic -- the
regular human oversight -- who happened to be in a hurry ... My superstition
about such things happening, probably.)

(And, oh yes, I learned my lesson years ago about my not ever, ever, ever
loosening the bolts -- on another car, when I had an unexpected flat. What
fun  :(   So am not against rotating them, at all. ... But does every 6k
help, hurt, or not make much difference at all?

Dave
dragon - 09 Feb 2005 08:29 GMT
> Semi-on-topic, ahmet's point: I just took my "new" 2004 (US) in to the
> dealer for the 6,000 miles (nothing but the oil and filter change,
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Dave

Well Dave,
I think that rotating tires often does help because all 4 tires on my car
are evenly worn. The place where I live is quite hilly and I have to use the
brakes a lot making the front tires worn faster than the rears. By rotating
them, I get pretty even wear on all 4. Also, the Ford dealer I go to does
this for free!! They put the car on lift for oil change and take the tires
off for free brake inpection and dust cleaning.. Since the tires are off,
why not rotate them?
However,  if you use you car for mainly highway driving, you may not need to
rotate them often.
Hope this helps.

Ahmet

Turkey
Wondering - 12 Feb 2005 13:53 GMT
I had the rear tire ware issue on my 2001 Focus Wagon. Left rear tire
started wareing bad and making noise. Three alignment shops aligned it
and said it was fine, even Ford took a shot.

The tire ware got bad, the noise got bad and finally I stopped at Twin
City Tire in Bloomington MN and had a new set of tires put on and an
alignment done by an alignment guy who told me, "don't worry, I can
fix this car". Bottom line - with the new tires and alignment the car
drives and handles like never before. I cannot say enough about the
cars handling now. The alignment guy did know what he was talking
about, the car does NOT jump sideways anylonger either, another issue
that no one could solve. I am very happy, very happy with my new tires
and alignment. The rear tires on the Focus can be aligned if you find
someone who knows what he's doing.

Gene

>> Semi-on-topic, ahmet's point: I just took my "new" 2004 (US) in to the
>> dealer for the 6,000 miles (nothing but the oil and filter change,
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]
>
>Turkey
 
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