Scraping noise from front suspension?!

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John - 09 Apr 2005 20:36 GMT

I was driving along the road today in my 2000 SE Focus (4DR) (sent in
last payment 2 days ago) and naturally, I think I have a serious
problem. When I was leaving the parking lot of a grocery store and was
turning the wheel, it sounded odd. As if something was rubbing against
the bottom of my car. I stopped and looked under it and nothing was
there....nothing hanging down either. So I drove on home. The lane for
my house has a TINY TINY TINY little bump and when I went over it at
25MPH like I have for the past 5 years, it sounded like I bottomed
out. Now before you think I scraped over a speed bump.... this is NOT,
I repeat NOT a speed bump. It's a little bump in the road where two
different types of pavement meet. I know to slow down going over speed
bumps! To continue... there was this loud grinding/rubbing/scraping
noise. I pulled over and again, nothing looked out of place. No
hanging exhaust, no bent/twisted metal. Any ideas? If it matters or
help diagnose the problem.... for the past few weeks/months.... I've
noticed this weird "knocking" type noise coming from the front right
wheel area. As if the shock is coming loose.

Thanks for any/all help!

BTW, worst case scenario.... how much $$$ are we talking to fix it?

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Scott Thomas - 09 Apr 2005 22:23 GMT

> ...there was this loud grinding/rubbing/scraping noise...for the past
> few weeks/months.... I've noticed this weird "knocking" type noise
> coming from the front right wheel area. As if the shock is coming
> loose.

I haven't had this happen with a Focus, but with my last car (1990
Sable), the splashguard inside the front right wheel well had come loose
from a few of its mounting screws and started making a knocking, then
later a nn awful lot of scraping noise while driving (particularly
during bumps or tight turns), as it would hit the wheel, axle, or tire.
Might be worth pulling the tire and taking a look around the wheel
well. In my case, the car was quite old, so rather than try and
re-attach the guard, we took it out.

Signature

Scott Thomas, thomass@cs.rose-hulman.edu
http://www.cs.rose-hulman.edu/~thomass/

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Savy - 11 Apr 2005 01:11 GMT

Front spring broken? Replace under 10 year or 150,000 mile / 240,000km /
20050531 no charge service program 03M02:
http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?scid=37&did=795

>I was driving along the road today in my 2000 SE Focus (4DR) (sent in
> last payment 2 days ago) and naturally, I think I have a serious
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>
> BTW, worst case scenario.... how much $$$ are we talking to fix it?

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