I have a 06 Ford Focus sedan. I took it into the mechanics to get the struts done. Since the very second I got my car back it’s been kind of rattling, shuttering when I turn right. It’s now gotten worse and does it even when driving straight. Have contacted the place twice already about it getting worse and they seem to think it wasn’t from them. But they’re missing the part that IT DIDNT DO IT BEFORE THEY TOUCHED IT.
Any ideas for what it could be? Have a 4 month old daughter, which my car was really reliable for, now I don’t even want to drive it.
Thankyou.
If you live in an area where road salt is used the rubber strut mount between the top of the strut and the underside of the strut tower can become contaminated with rust and make noise and vibration and even make the steering stiff and notchy. The cure is to replace the rubber mount
So it’d be something they’ve done to it then ? Because they’re having a hard time understanding it didn’t do it until they touched it.
Have they seen it, or are you describing the problem over the phone ?
Why didn’t you turn around and go back?
Yep they’ve driven it since and heard the noise and felt it. They reckon they can’t find where it’s coming from. I originally thought, new parts might need a bit of wearing in, but I rang them the following day about it
Sometimes, the stabilizer end links are damaged when replacing the struts. They are usually attached to the lower part of the strut and they need to come out when replacing the struts. In your case,it will be the driver side link that is bad because of the rattle you hear.You can repair this at a cost of $60 part and labour incl.
Yes, the driver side link. I usually change them in pair but if money is tight you can wait until the other one(passenger side) start to rattle. Here is a short video on how to repair this…its for a 05 Focus but the set-up is similar.
Thanks, the mechanic that did it can fix it. Because now I have an unreliable car for my daughter which I need, it came out MUCH worse then how it went in
It is not as simple as “they did it and they have to fix it for free”
If it is the rubber isolator between the strut and tower many mechanics may have never seen this happen, depending on where they live so they don’t replace them because it would add to the cost of the job.
If it is the stabilizer down link, sometimes it just happens and you don’t have to redo any of the strut job to fix it.
The noise may be annoying but it really has no effect on the reliability.
Also, the answers given are the best guesses by people who can’t even examine you car and the problem may be something else entirely