Hi All,

Re Focus 1.6 Ghia 2004 40K miles

Purchased this car six months ago and it was fine for first couple of
months.  Then one day after a 130 motorway journey I noticed an
unpleasant noise from the front end

It's not noticable at speed but very obvious when 'coasting' down a
slight hill, i.e. power off.

It  sounds and feels like the front disks have lost their pads and are
rubbing badly - a metal to metal noise. (brakes are OK !)

Took the car back to dealer, who changed a tyre !

Took it back again and they admitted there was a problem but requested
that I continued driving it to make it worse, and hence easier to
find.

Eventually with the warranty about to expire I took it in again.

They suspected the gearbox, but then decided it was a wheel bearing.
When I collected the car they had in fact changed the drive-shaft
support bearing.

This of course wasn't covered by the warranty !

It improved a bit , but didn't solve the problem - the grating sound
and feel is still there.

Any thoughts on what the problem may be, plus possible action now that
the warranty  has expired, are most welcome.

My argument has been that it was a 'sudden' failure - it was fine one
moment, 130 miles later something had died.  Warranty company says
this is 'wear and tear'

TIA

Graham