Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Rough Front-end on highway?

Hi there,

I began to notice something developing with the front end of my 97 tour Sport v6 5spd that's making the highway handling rough. I feel the steering wanders at vehicle sppeds of say 70mph or faster, and steering response becomes vague and dull and is much worse in precision than it is at local road speeds. I also get vibration on the steering wheel when I brake at highway speeds (but not at local road speeds, and there is no vibration on the brake pedal at all speeds, so may I rule out the brakes?). A slight and fuzzy vibration that doesn't seem to be in pace of anything can be felt on the steering wheel, but gone when speed is lower than 60mph. When I back out from a driveway to roadway and as one of the front wheels hit the groove(or bump) where road way and driveway join, I hear a rattle noise coming from the lower front of the car, indicating some looseness of parts.

Can some one tell what is causing the above? Is there any connection between that rattle sound and the rough highway handling? My dealer changed the "tie-rod-ends" 15,000 miles ago for some reason I still don't realize so far, could it be them this time again?

By the way, how do you know you need new shocks? My tour has 60k miles on it and I'm wondering if a set of new shocks will remedy the above problems.

Thanks for any inputs.

your tires are probabaly just out of balance. have your aligment checked too. i dunno if air pressure would have anything to do with it, but the pressure specs are listed on the inside of the drivers door jam.

edit: i didn't read that part about the loose part, i can't tell what that would be, so many possiblities. just wait for one of the gurus, they can "sense" exactly what the problem is.

oh, and the vibration you feel when braking from high speeds is going to be warped or grooved rotors (i'm getting that fixed on my car tomorow morning). Its only $5 a disc at orielly's if you take them off yourself, or $50 a pair if you want Midas to do it for you. Very common especially if your lug nuts arn't tight at 65 ft/lbs (check that too), or if you ride the brake more than you should, and then go get a car wash or some how rapidly cool them from a hot state.....

As far as the rattle sound that you sai sounds like loose parts.....You might check the sway bar links. Fords like to wear them out pretty often! Ford will want approx. $250.00 but you can get the parts at a local parts store and put them on yourself. I'll be doing mine soon.