Mechanical Issues: Input/thoughts/theories requested

"CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever" (carsoffortlangley) 05/21/2018 at 00:32 • Filed to: None

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So the Fiesta ST has been handling badly recently. I replaced the bent rim, but the steering is still loose when turning right and the car tracks all over the road. I know that the ST’s have a desire to wander, but this is pretty bad.

No handling/suspension mods whatsoever.

Some theories from the forums are:

1) out of alignment from the bent rim
2) electric centre is off in the steering
3) Torque sensor issue
4) loose bolts on the steering rack
5) brake rotor issues
6) subframe out of alignment

Anyone else have any ideas? Any ST owners with similar experiences? I have 90,000kms on the car (56,000 miles). I really want to just get it fixed.

LOREM IPSUM > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 05/21/2018 at 00:37

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My first thought would be the impact that bent the rim also sent the alignment out of whack. If you haven’t had it realigned yet, I would do so, and ask the tech to keep an eye open for anything they think might be suspect. They’re often pretty good at spotting issues, when they’re actually paying attention/trying.

Urambo Tauro > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 05/21/2018 at 00:40

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Some shops offer free alignment checks. I’d start there and see what they say.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > LOREM IPSUM 05/21/2018 at 00:40

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That’s my main hope

sony1492 > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 05/21/2018 at 00:45

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Move your damaged rim to the rear and get an alignment, depending on how hard the hit was the inner tie rod may have bent slightly.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > sony1492 05/21/2018 at 00:52

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The bent rim has been replaced luckily!

Decay buys too many beaters > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 05/21/2018 at 00:57

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I’d jack it up and take a look, see if any arms are a little bendy. I had an arm bend on my Scion in a crash where the force wasn’t even enough to damage the rim.

Nick Has an Exocet > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 05/21/2018 at 00:58

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Start with alignment. You should also give the tire a really good look over if you didn’t replace it. Either way, consider swapping wheels back and front to see if it goes away. Some new tires and alignment issues can cause fairly severe tracking.

Next up would be a bent steering arm (or tie rod). That would also cause some wacky tire wear pretty quickly.

It could be the electric power steering calibration but I don’t know if that would cause tracking. Same goes for loose bolts. Is there play in the steering at slow/crawling speeds?

My final concern would be that the impact did something to the ABS sensor. In theory, that would throw a code but not sure how long that would take. I believe these cars have torque vectoring by braking. If that system were not detecting wheel speed properly and trying to make corrections, that could do it.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 05/21/2018 at 01:34

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Belle Tire offered me a free alignment check. Idk if they are there in Canada.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 05/21/2018 at 01:50

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If you haven’t had the suspension aligned yet, do so ASAP. I had an unlimited alignment package I bought for about 120$ USD and every swap of the rims for the season was matched with a fresh alignment. Doing rallycross and autocross and track days seemed to make it wander out of alignment easily. I imagine a strong hit that damages a wheel would do the same.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 05/21/2018 at 02:44

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Have you been noticing any uneven or excessive tire wear? Usually the first sign of an alignment issue if you’re not alert to how the car’s behaving... which you obviously are. Having a little toe problem can lead to wandering around, as the car will tend to follow one tire at a time.

One other thing that you could be noticing is that worn paved roads l, especially ones with heavy truck traffic, tend to develop ruts in much the same way that other surfaces do, and narrow cars will bounce around between the ruts, dropping one side in and then the other.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 05/21/2018 at 04:18

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Uneven tire wear is just kind of a trait of the FiST.

boxrocket > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 05/21/2018 at 06:45

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Echoing what others have said, definitely get a 4-wheel alignment, and do it at a place that knows what they’re doing, takes the time to do it right, and has good equipment. I trust a shop with a Hunter Eagle Eye more than I do with the ones that you drive over some sensor pads and it gets measurements that way. That way might work great, but I haven’t used it myself to know of its accuracy.

Also ensure that the steering wheel is true (12 o’clock is actually 12 o’clock), and if you have a steering angle sensor that it’s calibrated during the alignment.

jimz > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 05/21/2018 at 06:46

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Are you driving on grooved pavement? Your car could be tramlining; it’s especially bad on older asphalt roads where traffic creates two ruts going down the length of the road. Performance cars with wider tires suffer on these surfaces as the shoulders of the front tires are riding along the edges of those ruts. I was driving an ‘05 Viper along a section of I-94 which was so bad it tried to rip the steering wheel out of my hands a few times.

Levitas > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 05/21/2018 at 08:32

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Definitely get an alignment, I hit some stuff this past winter (in a FiST) including a zillion Michigan (tm) pot holes. Took it for an alignment last week, it solved almost all of the wandering/darty feeling, especially at low speeds. Unfortunately they didn’t give me a before/after, but the toe had to be quite a bit off.

daveIT > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 05/21/2018 at 08:59

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If you hit something hard enough to bend a rim then you may have bent something else. Definitely take a look and see if you notice anything and you can always take it for an alignment check.