Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting I give up...since I bought my 95 C-SE, it shakes at 65-80 mph

I have owned my '95 Contour SE ATX (58k) since new. I have posted the trouble I have had with the car since new several times. When the car is driven on the highway at 65-80 mph, a shake or shimmy is felt in the steering wheel. The amount of shimmy varies and sometimes is not present at all!!! Please note, this is not under braking...just cruising. I have tried new tires, new rims (SVT) & tires, new brakes all around, balancing & re-balancing, alignments, etc. with no remedy.
I took the car to a local small shop mechanic who specializes in suspension this past weekend to have the suspension checked over and alignment done again. I was also to have the mechanic replace the right front bearing because I thought I felt some play in it. The mechanic checked over the suspension and could not find anything wrong. He did check the wheels for play in the bearings. He did comment that he felt minimal play in the right front bearing but said that it wasn't enough to cause a problem. He also test drove the car and did not hear any bad bearing noises. He tightened up the hub nut and that actually made a difference in the play felt in the right front wheel bearing. I had him balance all 4 wheels and rotate. All wheels were found to be off by 3/4 ounce! He then performed the alignemt and found that the front toe was out on both sides. He made the adjustments to correct the toe. At this point I was thinking to myself that maybe...just maybe...I would see a difference with the hub nut tightened, the wheels balanced, and the toe corrected. Well, after driving it on the highway I did find it to be "slightly" better...but not to the point where I am happy with it. The vibrations are still there. I just don't know what to do anymore...I threw the towel in a long time ago...but it just gets annoying when driving this car for an extended period of time on the highway...I would just like to find out what is wrong with the car and fix it...this problem is the only thing I hate about this car...thanks for reading such a long and run-on post...any feedback would be appreciated.

What all did the dealer do when you took it to them while the car was under warranty? You did give them a shot at this problem I presume although I would imagine that they would say "keep it under 65". :rolleyes: Just asking to see if you exhausted any or all avenues with the dealer before going to the private shop.

Karl

The dealer tried balancing wheels and alignment with no luck. I gave up on dealers a long time ago as I learned the hard way never to trust them. I have had MANY nightmares with FORD dealers...and not just with my Contour but also with my '93 Cobra which I no longer have. I probably could have pursued it further with Ford dealers but didn't because I knew it was going to be a no win situation...especially after reading that my symptoms were being experienced but other Contour/Mystique owners with no help from FORD. I believe there have been TSB's put out for this problem, but none of them describe a "fix" for the problem...just suggestions on what to try...like balancing the wheels on car. The TSB's also state that no real fix is available.

I don't understand why this is or was such a big mystery to FORD...obviously they no longer care about this as the Contour/Mystique is no longer on the market.

One thing I know for sure...the only FORD I would ever buy again is a used Fox body Mustang...forget about FORD getting any new car business from me...or anyone I know for that matter.

Okay, well it looks like you've exhausted the obvious paths for steering wheel shakes so it's time to explore those paths that are less obvious. The biggest deterent to finding the problem is that it's intermitant. That's okay though because you can't have a wheel in balance/out of balance/in balance or a wheel bearing that's loose, tight, loose, etc. So what's left? Something electronically controlled where the controller is malfunctioning intermitantly? Try this experiment: Don't let the atx shift into overdrive at the speeds you mention and see if the problem goes away. I know, sounds dumb but you've got to start removing every possiblity. Since the tranny is electronically controlled, it's suspect in my book. Terry Haines has much more experience on trannies though and maybe he can shed better light on my "theory" or totally debunk it. I'm just and old "squeaks and rattles" fixer. However, the atx is indirectly connected to the steering wheel so...

Karl

I've also had this problem and I've sorta stopped pursing it. The problem was there when the car was new, I had the 195/65/14 tires on the car. As it was a left over '95 that I got in '96, I thought that it might have been the tires that developed flat spots from sitting on the lot so long. The dealer also swapped the tires and put on a set of 185/70/14 tires from another Contour and the vibrations went away. So he threw new tires on it. Still did it, even new rims. Each time the vibrations went down a little but was still there. Now that I think about it a bit more, I think it was probably the hubcaps, but haven't gotten around to driving with them off to see if it's really the case as a new set of tires has really cut it to a minimum. Now I don't really notice it too much unless I go looking for it.

I've got a 99...mine seems to have a slight shimmy in it around 70-80 mph. I don't understand it because I just had new tires put on and new brakes and rotors. Then, a rotor went south again and had that replaced again and still it had a slight shimmy...I also had it aligned after the new tires were put on...two weeks ago...next oil change, I'll have the dealership look at it...

Tom, out of curiosity, what shop did you use here in NJ to try to fix the problem? I'm looking for a good alignment shop as well - someone who will put a little more time and effort into getting things done right.

Sorry to hear this is still a problem for you. I've experienced it as well on my '95 SE as well as the E1 SVT. Frustrating to say the least.

Good luck,

Jim Harris

I had a vibration just like that on my Ford Probe I owned several years ago. It seemed to come from either side, just kinda from the whole front end. And found it to be coming from the CV axles. I wasn't sure if it was an inner or an outer, so I just replaced entire axle assemblies on both sides and problem cured. These Contours especially, see a lot of torque abuse on those CV joints because there is a V-6 ahead of them, and especially when torquing on them around corners, they can get a little loose in time. That's where I'd say to go (providing all those other operations you had mentioned were done correctly. Good luck finding it

I just wanted to add in that my Ford Probe didn't do it (the vibration) all the time either. If you'd haul butt and to like 85 or so miles and hour for a while, the bad vibration and heat from that would expand the joints, and they would tighten up! And it would be fine (no vibration) for a while until you exited the freeway to get gasoline or something, and then when you got back on, they would vibrate all over again. Hope this helps.

I have a '96 that I just got last summer, and when I first got it and took it on the freeway, it would shake terribly at 50+mph. Well, I decided that was just too bad, and I continued to drive at the normal speed for us Texans (fast), and eventually it went away. However, now when I am driving fast and have to break, my car shakes really badly, and it's annoying. So I guess I fixed a problem as well as made one