 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Car Forum / Ford / Ford Focus / June 2005tire wear Focus 2001
I have 140,000 km on my wagon and find it pretty good but sure goes through tires. I rotate every 20,000 km and still get flat spots after about 40 km. Sears has 130 km warranty on their Voyager tire and claim its alignment, Ford checks alignment and twice now says its okay. So I put up with vibration or buy new tires every 40 000km. I heard there was problem with back end of Focus and there was recall but have never seen detail so could press Ford to do something. Garry I have a similar problem but mine is due to my driving style, when turning left from a stop I'll usually floor it and over time have developed outside baldness on the left-front tire. >I have 140,000 km on my wagon and find it pretty good but sure goes through > tires. I rotate every 20,000 km and still get flat spots after about 40 [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Garry > I have 140,000 km on my wagon and find it pretty good but sure goes through > tires. I rotate every 20,000 km and still get flat spots after about 40 km. I had the same problem with the factory Goodyears on my 2003 ZX3. You need to rotate the tires more often, more like half the distance then what you have done in the past. > Sears has 130 km warranty on their Voyager tire and claim its alignment, > Ford checks alignment and twice now says its okay. Take it to a shop that has a rack designed four wheel alignment. When the shop does the alignment the shop should provide you with a printout of the of the before and after alignment setting. The same printout will also have figures showing the the factory tolerance settings camber, caster, and toein. A correct alignment will be within the factory tolerance settings. > So I put up with vibration or buy new tires every 40 000km. I heard there > was problem with back end of Focus and there was recall but have never > seen detail so could press Ford to do something. By rotating the tires more often you should get at least 3 times the distance out of them. My ZX3 has over 200,000 miles 321,869 km on it, I only got about 40,000 miles 64,373 km out of the factory Goodyears. The second set went over 80,000 miles 128,748 km, the third set still has about 40,000 miles 64,373 km to go before I replace them. Both of the sets of replacement tires were not high priced high mileage top brand tires.  SignatureJohn in the sand box of Marylands eastern shore. > I have 140,000 km on my wagon and find it pretty good but sure goes through > tires. I rotate every 20,000 km and still get flat spots after about 40 km. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Garry Focus has negative camber in rear by design, just like the Jetta. This results in inside rear tire wear. Rotate frequently. One question. Why is it tires don't seem to last as long as they used to? Ron > > I have 140,000 km on my wagon and find it pretty good but sure goes through > > tires. I rotate every 20,000 km and still get flat spots after about 40 km. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > One question. Why is it tires don't seem to last as long as they used to? In my experience "You get what you pay for". However you can get a hell lot more miles out of a set of tires then what the manufacture specifies with frequent rotating and proper inflation pressure. SignatureJohn in the sand box of Marylands eastern shore. In alt.autos.ford.focus John R Cambron <*cambronj@chesapeake.net*>: >> > I have 140,000 km on my wagon and find it pretty good but sure goes through >> > tires. I rotate every 20,000 km and still get flat spots after about 40 km. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >> >> One question. Why is it tires don't seem to last as long as they used to? > In my experience "You get what you pay for". > However you can get a hell lot more miles out of a set of tires > then what the manufacture specifies with frequent rotating and > proper inflation pressure. Agree with the proper air pressure, one of the most overlooked things and heavily influencing fuel usage. "Tire rotation" is an urban legend, the best tires belong to the rear axle. Personally found Pirelli P6000 an utter piece of crap on my Focus, driving wasn't that bad but the noise a pita. SignatureMichael Heiming (X-PGP-Sig > GPG-Key ID: EDD27B94) mail: echo zvpunry@urvzvat.qr | perl -pe 'y/a-z/n-za-m/' #bofh excuse 294: PCMCIA slave driver > Agree with the proper air pressure, one of the most overlooked > things and heavily influencing fuel usage. "Tire rotation" is an > urban legend, the best tires belong to the rear axle. Michael, I'd disagree with you. Especially on a FWD, the best tires belong up front. They handle the steering, the acceleration, and 70% of the braking. In alt.autos.ford.focus Tony Wesley <tonywesley@gmail.com>: >> Agree with the proper air pressure, one of the most overlooked >> things and heavily influencing fuel usage. "Tire rotation" is an >> urban legend, the best tires belong to the rear axle. > Michael, I'd disagree with you. Especially on a FWD, the best tires > belong up front. They handle the steering, the acceleration, and 70% > of the braking. You can disagree as much as you like, still the better tires belong to the rear axle! Perhaps you believe Michelin more then me: http://www.michelin.co.uk/uk/auto/auto_cons_bib_pqr_neuf.jsp If front tires lose street contact not a big problem, but if rear tires lose it, you are almost lost. Good luck SignatureMichael Heiming (X-PGP-Sig > GPG-Key ID: EDD27B94) mail: echo zvpunry@urvzvat.qr | perl -pe 'y/a-z/n-za-m/' #bofh excuse 177: sticktion > In alt.autos.ford.focus Tony Wesley <tonywesley@gmail.com>: > > Michael, I'd disagree with you. Especially on a FWD, the best tires > > belong up front. They handle the steering, the acceleration, and 70% > > of the braking. > You can disagree as much as you like, still the better tires > belong to the rear axle! > > Perhaps you believe Michelin more then me: > > http://www.michelin.co.uk/uk/auto/auto_cons_bib_pqr_neuf.jsp I do believe Michelin more than you. But will you indulge me stating my opinion? > If front tires lose street contact not a big problem, but if rear > tires lose it, you are almost lost. Perhaps it comes from growing up driving RWD in snow country, but I am not "almost lost" if the rear wheel lose contact. Been there, done that, come back for more. And maybe for the average driver, having the better tires in back is the preferred solution. For me, I'll continue to put the best tires in front. In my driving, the situation that is the most demanding for maintaining tire/street contact is the panic stop. In which case, having the best tires up front decreases the stopping distance. In my other car, a big 1991 Olds wagon that weighs 4,400 pounds and is 19 feet long, it's fairly easy to lock up the back tires while making a hard stop. [An aside: my 1975 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe had variable-proportionment braking, with progessively less braking to the rear rotors when stopping harder. When is the Big 2 1/2 going to catch up to this?] I am able to steer and keep the sliding back end of the car behind me while stopping. > Good luck Thanks. The same to you. P.S. I expect folks to pay more attention to Michelin than to me. In alt.autos.ford.focus Tony Wesley <tonywesley@gmail.com>: >> In alt.autos.ford.focus Tony Wesley <tonywesley@gmail.com>: >> > Michael, I'd disagree with you. Especially on a FWD, the best tires >> > belong up front. They handle the steering, the acceleration, and 70% >> > of the braking. >> You can disagree as much as you like, still the better tires >> belong to the rear axle! >> >> Perhaps you believe Michelin more then me: >> >> http://www.michelin.co.uk/uk/auto/auto_cons_bib_pqr_neuf.jsp > I do believe Michelin more than you. But will you indulge me stating > my opinion? >> If front tires lose street contact not a big problem, but if rear >> tires lose it, you are almost lost. > Perhaps it comes from growing up driving RWD in snow country, but I am > not "almost lost" if the rear wheel lose contact. Been there, done > that, come back for more. Ops, sorry I almost forgot that >80% of people in this ng have at least the driving experience and knowledge of Michael Schumacher. [..] > P.S. I expect folks to pay more attention to Michelin than to me. Wouldn't bet on it, see above for reasons.;) SignatureMichael Heiming (X-PGP-Sig > GPG-Key ID: EDD27B94) mail: echo zvpunry@urvzvat.qr | perl -pe 'y/a-z/n-za-m/' #bofh excuse 69: knot in cables caused data stream to become twisted and kinked > Ops, sorry I almost forgot that >80% of people in this ng have at > least the driving experience and knowledge of Michael Schumacher. Heh, that's a good one. However, if you poll people, more than half will tell you they're above average. Including some really BAD drivers. > > P.S. I expect folks to pay more attention to Michelin than to me. > > Wouldn't bet on it, see above for reasons.;) Well, they're not going to listen to me either, because they know better. Cheers. >> Ops, sorry I almost forgot that >80% of people in this ng have at >> least the driving experience and knowledge of Michael Schumacher. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >Well, they're not going to listen to me either, because they know >better. Cheers. It's amazing how a simple question like this can turn into a pissing contest. I had tire wear on my 2001 Focus, 34,000 miles and noise and all the bad stuff. I had new tires put on and the car properly aligned finally after everyone tried to align it a guy at a tire shop here in town said he knew how to fix these Focus rear alignment issues and the car drive and handles way better than new now. The rear does not jump around as it did before. The alignment guy really knows his stuff, he's at Twin City Tire here in Bloomington MN. Ford had aligned it and a good alignment shop had aligned it twice and another shop once. So after 4 or 5 alignments I finally find someone who knows what he's doing and my problems are solved. Bottom line, rotate every 6000 miles and make sure the front and rear wheels are aligned. > It's amazing how a simple question like this can turn into a pissing > contest. I didn't think it was a pissing contest. I hope Michael didn't think so. I disagree with him, but he certainly has an authoritative reference to back his statement. As they say, your mileage may vary. >>It's amazing how a simple question like this can turn into a pissing >>contest. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > As they say, your mileage may vary. Had my '00 ZX3 in a while back they wanted to put IIRC new rods on the back because they usually can't adjust the rear without the new ones but after trying they did get it in alignment without the new rods, so apparantly there is some problems with the rear rods, that may need to be replaced. One of the local TV stations(in Minneapolis) just did a thing on hydroplaning, setup a track with 1 inch of water on it, put good tires on the back an bad ones on the front of a station wagon, then drove into the water at ~50Mph, the front started hydroplaning, but the driver could maintain some control of the car, then swapped the tires, as soon as it hit the water with the bad tires in the back, even though he could still steer, the back end immediatly fishtailed, and even though the front end was still steering every time he went into a complete spin out off the road, and they also determined the best thing is not to hit the brakes, just let off the gas, and don't use the cruise control, (but then *we* probably knew that), but apparantly enough people still use cruise on wet roads. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.