So I bought an 08 Ford Focus coupe with the 205-50-16 Pirelli P4 tires on it. The car has a little over 25K miles and had been wrecked and repaired several years ago. When I bought it, it had a bad LR wheel bearing and a bad RF axle jackshaft bearing. After replacement of those bearings, I had a tire balance and alignment done on it because the steering wheel was not straight, the car pulled to the right, the tires were terribly noisy, and there was a really bad shimmy to the steering wheel. After the work was completed, the car does drive much better, but I still get a slight flutter in the steering wheel at around 60mph, the tires make incredible amounts of road noise, and it seems to want to pull and hop over bumps and it wants to wander at highway speeds. Could this be the tires doing this? On smooth, flat, straight road, the car tracks very nicely, but if there is any slants, curves or anything like that, it wants to pull and loses its stability. Could these tires be worn with a bias that makes them ride like this?
08 Focus. Possible tire issue?
- Thread starter ethangsmith
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A friend of mine also has a 2008 focus with P4s, and they make an insane amount of road noise as well. like to the point where you think something is wrong.
The alignment went fine and everything went into spec with no issues, so the unibody is fine. Body panel fitment is perfect too.
Yea, these Pirellis are terrible. They are definitely the worst tires I've ever had on a car. They all but ROAR going down the road.
Yea, these Pirellis are terrible. They are definitely the worst tires I've ever had on a car. They all but ROAR going down the road.
You need to define "in spec" and maybe discuss with the technician what you are feeling. The tire noise issue is one thing, that could be worse due to weird wear not really noticeable to eye. Try changing left to right first and observe, if not try also front to rear. I had a Nokian that had a radial tire pull with alignment set perfect. Car would pull left, swapped L-R and it went a way. check www.gsp9700.com for more info on how that happens.
For the "in spec" clarification, the Sequoia has such a wide range that you can be in factory spec range AND have a really unstable vehicle with poor tire wear. One member on Tundrasolutions that used to work for Hunter covered it for Tundra and Sequoia (other vehicles vary). For those it was set toe and camber directly at factory spec (no +/-) and caster at max end of range. Everybody that did that had zero complaints, stable tracking and great tire wear.
On my old Corolla after one alignment (new to shop tech) it was horrible. if you turned the wheel half way like to pull into a parking space it actually pulled the wheel out of your hand and continued by itself to full lock. Not sure which part was out but I described it to the shop manager, he confirmed it in parking lot and redid the alignment using the spec sheet results I kept from previous time and set exact to that. Again, stable and great tire wear were results.
For the "in spec" clarification, the Sequoia has such a wide range that you can be in factory spec range AND have a really unstable vehicle with poor tire wear. One member on Tundrasolutions that used to work for Hunter covered it for Tundra and Sequoia (other vehicles vary). For those it was set toe and camber directly at factory spec (no +/-) and caster at max end of range. Everybody that did that had zero complaints, stable tracking and great tire wear.
On my old Corolla after one alignment (new to shop tech) it was horrible. if you turned the wheel half way like to pull into a parking space it actually pulled the wheel out of your hand and continued by itself to full lock. Not sure which part was out but I described it to the shop manager, he confirmed it in parking lot and redid the alignment using the spec sheet results I kept from previous time and set exact to that. Again, stable and great tire wear were results.
I had the dealer do a full inspection of the suspension since I knew it was wrecked at one time. During that inspection was when the issues were all discovered. All other suspension components were noted as in good condition with no wear or issues. I didn't get the exact specifications on the alignment, but I am friends with the guys at the dealer and they will tell me if something is wrong or not quite right. They said the car was in very good condition and the only observation they made was that the tires were kind of worn. The front tires have about 8/32", while the rears have about 4/32". The left front tire seems to have light cupping on the outer edge and the tread looks sort of scrubbed. The right front tire is definitely newer and shows no signs of cupping or scrubbing. Both rear tires are more worn in the center than on the edges and feel very lightly cupped and the tread is very lightly scrubbed as well. I suspect the scrubbing is from the terrible misalignment the car had until I had it fixed.
I am going to assume from your assessment of the tires, that they are the cause of your problems, assuming all else checks out.
Sometimes its unobvious that tires can cause such issues, but they do.
Sometimes its unobvious that tires can cause such issues, but they do.
I have a 2005 Focus and at one time the tire and alignment situation was a disaster. Handling on wet roads was unsafe. Now everything is ok so don't worry too much. Get new tires and get the alignment checked again. Then rotate the tires every 6000 miles. In my case I had to do one more step. I replaced rear upper control arms with adjustable aftermarket parts because the shop was unable to set rear toe. In your case if the car is stable on wet roads I think the alignment is good.
I have been running cheap no name tires for 2 years now. They are speed rated "H". I wouldn't buy an 80,000 mile tire for a Focus because these cars are not well insulated from road noise.
I have been running cheap no name tires for 2 years now. They are speed rated "H". I wouldn't buy an 80,000 mile tire for a Focus because these cars are not well insulated from road noise.
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If your tires are a lot more worn in the center than your tire pressure is also too high (normally).
I had a Honda Civic that one shop did an alignment on. I went back 4 times as the car was horrible handling afterward especially wet. I got my money back and went somewhere else. I got lucky back then and my dad had many friends/contacts in the repair industry. One shop about 25miles away had a new laser alignment machine. My rear tires were so far off from each and relative to front it was disgusting. 20 minutes later all was set correctly and car was rock solid in all conditions.
I had a Honda Civic that one shop did an alignment on. I went back 4 times as the car was horrible handling afterward especially wet. I got my money back and went somewhere else. I got lucky back then and my dad had many friends/contacts in the repair industry. One shop about 25miles away had a new laser alignment machine. My rear tires were so far off from each and relative to front it was disgusting. 20 minutes later all was set correctly and car was rock solid in all conditions.
A couple of thoughts:
The camber on Ford Focuses (FOCI?) is too high for good tire wear. I am of the opinion that any camber over a degree is potentially a tire wear problem.
The front and rear tires are not worn the same, which means they weren't rotated regularly. That's a sign that it is likely that there is irregular wear - and that causes noise and/or vibrations.
The fact that the car was in an accident and needed to be realigned is not encouraging.
So while the tires may not be the best, the alignment is more of a concern. It's good you've got that fixed, but be aware that it is possible you may not get good tire wear, because the alignment specs are set up for that.
The camber on Ford Focuses (FOCI?) is too high for good tire wear. I am of the opinion that any camber over a degree is potentially a tire wear problem.
The front and rear tires are not worn the same, which means they weren't rotated regularly. That's a sign that it is likely that there is irregular wear - and that causes noise and/or vibrations.
The fact that the car was in an accident and needed to be realigned is not encouraging.
So while the tires may not be the best, the alignment is more of a concern. It's good you've got that fixed, but be aware that it is possible you may not get good tire wear, because the alignment specs are set up for that.
The dealer I took my car to told me about the upper control arms and told me that if mine were out of spec. he would let me know. He never said anything about it, so I assume they were fine. However, the back end of the car does still seem to kick around on some bumps.
Originally Posted By: jorton
I have a 2005 Focus and at one time the tire and alignment situation was a disaster. Handling on wet roads was unsafe. Now everything is ok so don't worry too much. Get new tires and get the alignment checked again. Then rotate the tires every 6000 miles. In my case I had to do one more step. I replaced rear upper control arms with adjustable aftermarket parts because the shop was unable to set rear toe. In your case if the car is stable on wet roads I think the alignment is good.
I have been running cheap no name tires for 2 years now. They are speed rated "H". I wouldn't buy an 80,000 mile tire for a Focus because these cars are not well insulated from road noise.
Originally Posted By: jorton
I have a 2005 Focus and at one time the tire and alignment situation was a disaster. Handling on wet roads was unsafe. Now everything is ok so don't worry too much. Get new tires and get the alignment checked again. Then rotate the tires every 6000 miles. In my case I had to do one more step. I replaced rear upper control arms with adjustable aftermarket parts because the shop was unable to set rear toe. In your case if the car is stable on wet roads I think the alignment is good.
I have been running cheap no name tires for 2 years now. They are speed rated "H". I wouldn't buy an 80,000 mile tire for a Focus because these cars are not well insulated from road noise.
I dug out the alignment specifications sheet they gave me. There were several measurements that were severely off beforehand (Total toe in the front was excessively off, as was left and right toe, Right rear toe was also off) but were well within spec after the alignment. Side to side measurements are no more than .2 degrees different than each other in any of the measurements.
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