Skittish 2014 Ford Fusion

[WonkyFusion]

Hello all. I just joined this forum so that I could as this question. I hope I'm in the right place.

I have a 2014 Ford Fusion SE with the 1.5 Ecoboost engine, and 18" factory wheels with Michelin Primacy MXM4 tires. The tires are down to about 30% of their tread depth, but they are very evenly worn, with no "cupping" or other wear abnormalities (I've kept them rotated). I bought the car in June of '18 with 58k miles; it now has 73k miles on it. Since the day I bought it, it has been overly sensitive to irregularities in the road; e.g. pot holes, crowns between lanes, water puddles, etc. When the road is nice and smooth, everything feels great, but when I encounter one of those irregularities, there is always a lateral or "pitching" element to the reaction of the car. The crowns and puddles cause it to pull pretty hard, and when I hit a pothole, it feels for all the world like something is yanking one rear corner of the car rearwards. Driving slowly down a poorly maintained road causes the steering wheel to "dance" left and right.

I've had the suspension and alignment checked out twice - once by the selling dealer, and once by a Goodyear store. Both times the car was given a clean bill of health. If that is true, that implies that the car left the factory like this and that this behavior is "normal", but I refuse to believe that the engineers at Ford thought this was good and signed off on it. Other than this weird handling issue, this is a great car.

One other possible important piece of information: after I've backed up in a turn, then begin to move forward with the steering wheel turned the opposite direction, there is a soft "squonk" sound coming from the front end - as though something has shifted back to its regular spot. It only does it once, but it's consistent - every time I make this maneuver. Any ideas? Any suggestions/insights would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,

Scott Kempton
Ann Arbor, MI

 

[BrianPetersen]

Go find one at a dealer and take a test-drive, and compare it to yours. 2013-on are all the same vehicle. That should tell you whether it's some sort of issue specific to yours, or whether "they all do it" because it's something inherent to the design and you're sensitive to it.

I've had a couple of those as rental cars, and found nothing amiss with the handling.

Tires can be a significant factor ... and that's my prime suspicion in your case.

 

[WonkyFusion]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for your input. I drove a few of these Fusions before I bought this one, and didn't notice anything amiss about the handling (though a 5 minute test drive on new tires might not reveal much). I tend to agree with you about the tires in this case. I'm about to replace the Michelins on this car, and my instinct is to replace them with the same kind (most for the prestige factor), but given this issue and that they're expensive, I will probably go with a set of Yokohamas. I've owned three sets of them on other cars, and have always gotten good service out of them.

Cheers,
Scott

 

[cibachrome]

Hey Wonky. I'm up in Brighton. On a 'Nice', 'Sunny', 'Warm' day, Bring it up to my place and I'll help you sort it out.

First things first, though: Drive it straight ahead and stop. Then turn the steering wheel to lock in each direction. Measure the number of degrees turned in both directions. They ought to be nearly the same. If not, Some Ting Wong. (Rack not centered).

We can go from there.

 

[BUGGAR]

Also sounds like a loose rack mount but I think the mechs would catch this.

 

[WonkyFusion]

All..... thanks for the responses. I had the alignment done yesterday, and the mechanic found everything to be in order except for the rear toe, which was out just a tiny bit, which he corrected. Then today I had new tires put on - Yokohama YK740 GTXs. Those two things seem to have cleared up most of the problem, but the car still has that "squonk" sound I mentioned in my initial post, and I can kind of visualize the steering rack shifting from one spot to another as I change from reversing to moving forward - as you suggested Buggar.

Cibachrome - I'd like to take you up on your offer. How can I get in touch with you?

Scott

 

[cibachrome]

zzvyb6@yahoo

 

[cibachrome]

"Ford is recalling over 240,000 SUVs and cars worldwide because a suspension part can fracture and increase the risk of a crash.

The recall covers the Ford Flex, Taurus police car, Taurus SHO and Lincoln MKT from the 2013 through 2018 model years. Most of the recalled vehicles are in North America.
Ford says if the suspension moves a lot on the vehicles, the rear toe links can fracture. Toe links help keep the rear suspension stable and the tires on the pavement."