Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting tie rods

A month back I was parked on a dark street and while backing out I hit a STOP sign on the passenger side wheel well. To keep the story short, my family mechanic replaced the tie rod end on the front right wheel because it was bent out of shape. It was replaced with a very high quality tie rod while the left front was left with the original "cheaper" tie rod. When I drove it, it drifted to the left noticeably and I had him correct it. It went straight for a while and now drifts to the left on and off.

Do I need both tie rod ends changed or it's OK that they're mismatched (brand, quality)? Could it be something else?

If you hit something hard enough to bend a tie rod end, you may well have bent another component as well. This could appear in the suspension angles, such as caster out of spec on the right-front corner (caster isn't "normally" adjustable on the Contour).

Have your alignment checked, or pull out the computer printout you got from your last alignment (assuming your family mechanic did one since the accident).

I can't see a problem with mis-matched tie rod ends as long as they are geometrically close to the same.