QuestionI have a 2003 Ford Focus LX (manual transmission)with almost 19,000 miles. Lately this car has been making "thumping" noises somewhere from the underneath of the car on the front driver's side (you can really notice it from the brake, clutch and gas pedals) when braking to a stop, when it is in second gear,and when it is going around 55 to 60 miles a hour and it makes a strong steering wheel vibration at 75 to 80 miles a hour.
I've took it back to the dealership 4 times now. They gave the car a front-end realignment, rotated the tires (twice), balanced the tires (twice), and lately turned the front rotors, but it still has not allevate the problem yet. I am frustrated that I'm continuing to pay for all these "repairs" and these thumping noises and steering vibrations still exist. I don't know what to do now or who to turn to.
My co-worker told me she had this kind of problem before and she found out after numerous "repairs" that the reason for this was that one of her vehicle's front tire rim was cracked. Could this be the problem?
AnswerJW,
It might be a cracked rim, but I don't think so. Those are pretty rare.
I'm leaning towards irregular wear on the tires. This is caused by insufficient rotation and misalignment. Of course once a tire has irregular wear, you have to wear a different wear pattern into it in order to "fix" the problem.
One way to tell if that is the problem is to have the front tires put on the back - in other words do a rotation. If the problem changes in some way, then that's it. If so, you can either live with the problem until a new pattern is worn into the tires OR buy new tires - no, it's not warrantable.
BTW , a bent wheel will also cause this.
Hope this helps.
