One of my daughters and her husband bought a 2000 Ford Focus SE 4-cylinder Automatic, that came from Colorado. The kids did their best at checking the vehicle over when they bought it.

They noticed it pulled one way and notice an intermittent squeaking, rubbing sound. The PO told them that it just needed an alignment and new tires; and, probably new brake pads. They started off by having a friend replace the brake pads.

Because of available funds, their first big expense was buying new tires from Les Schwab.

Weeks went by, they took it to Midas to get an alignment. Technician told the kids that it needed struts.

More time went by, and they went back to Les Schwab to get new struts and alignment, at the same visit. Technician told them struts were still good. Tech wouldn't do an alignment because the driver's side axle is bent and rubs against the sway bar; and, the caster on the left is lower than the caster on the right causing it to pull to the left. That the vehicle must have been in a accident.

When they came by, Son-In-Law showed me what the Les Schwab Technician showed him what was wrong. Showed me the 6 month old front tires were worn on the outsides. Showed me the wheel clearance in the wheel wells. Took the car for a ride so SIL could demonstrate when the squeaking noise occurs. I lifted the car up and could see the shiny spot where the axle would rub against the sway bar.

With the steering wheel in the level position, the passenger's side wheels look inline; but, the driver's side wheel are not:




The passenger's side wheel has about 2 1/2" clearance from wheel well:





The driver's side wheel has about 1 1/8" clearance from wheel well:





There is no signs of body damage, so, the only thing I could think of is, that the car slid in the snow or ice and the wheel hit a sidewalk curb, parking bumper, etc. IDK.

We moved the worn front tires to the rear.

I told the kids to take it to a mechanic shop, get an detailed estimate of what parts are bad and needs to be replaced; and then I would help them repair, if I can. I'm not a mechanic, but, I like wrenching.


Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to give a little background.


Any thoughts on what I'd be in for; and, what I would need to do to fix it myself?

Thanks in advance,

 

I don't have a Focus, but have had FWD cars and worked on them, including doing steering and suspension work and doing my own alignments.

Due to the damage, the car is exhibiting excessive Toe-In, which is wearing the outer edges of the front tires. It appears on BOTH tires, because to go down the road straight, the steering wheel is turned to make the front wheels "split the difference" of the excessive Toe-In. So each wheel is pointed inward. A LITTLE BIT of Toe-In is good, it provides directional stability. You got waaayyyy too much in that pic!
Toe-In is adjusted (within reason) via adjusting the effective length of the tie rods from the steering rack to each wheel's steering knuckle.

So I'm assuming that you think the driver's side front wheel has been shoved rearward, correct? If there is any doubt about which one is wrong, check the wheelbase on each side:
With a front wheel pointed straight ahead (look at the tire, NOT the steering wheel), measure from center of front wheel hub to the center of the rear wheels hub on that same side, and record measurement.
Do the same on other side, once again, ITS wheel needs to be pointed straight forward, then measure to center of that sides rear wheel hub. Record measurement.
Then can look up on internet to find the Wheelbase of that car model for that year. Knowing that, one of your measurements will be way off... the damaged one.

I did not understand your "axle would rub against the sway bar" comment. Did you mean the CV half-shaft rubs the sway bar?

I'll throw out a few possibilities, you can look up the parts on RockAuto to see what they look like:
- Steering knuckle is bent.
- Lower Control Arm is bent
- the worst one... the body structure is bent/deformed where the Lower Control Arm attaches to

The one area that you probably can not fix yourself is a bent body structure. Bent replaceable parts, yes.

A front wheel pushed rearwards would "straighten up" (move more towards vertical) the inclination of the steering axis (Caster).

The steering axis on a typical FWD car is an imaginary line drawn through the center of the front wheel's hub, up through the center of where it turns at the top, which is the center of the strut's upper mount. This axis inclines rearward, that is, the top is further rearwards than the bottom is. The weight of the car returns the steering to center... completely different than "caster" on the front wheels of a shopping cart.

The strut's body, its spring, the knuckle, wheel assembly, etc. all turn at the top in the bearing ring of the strut mount. The strut mount is bolted to the body structure's sheet metal strut tower under the hood.

 

Yes, your assumption is right. Since there is less driver's side tire-to-wheel well clearance than the passenger's side, I was thinking that the driver's side has been shoved rearward. I will check the wheelbase on each side per your advise.

I googled images of the CV half-shaft; and yes, that is the part that is rubbing against the sway bar. I should have taken a pic while I had the car lifted. When the kids get a chance to come by again, I'll take a pic and post it.

I'll look at the Steering Knuckles and Lower Control Arms real close.




Thank you, very much, for this info you've shared. Helps me learn a little bit about the steering and suspension on the car. I will definitely reference your post while working on the car.

 

I have fixed a few of those. The lower control arms are weak, and bend in a curb hit. They are not expensive or hard to replace. Don't adjust the toe, just get a new control arm and then take it to be aligned.

 

Daughter came by yesterday and I took wheel base measurements. Researched and found the wheel base is suppose to be 103". I measured driver side at 101 1/4" and passenger side at 102 3/4". I had daughter hold tape measure in center of rear wheel hub and measured to center of front wheel hub(ensuring the front wheels turned straight forward during each measurement).


Here's a couple of pics of the driver side. There's only 1/4" between the CV half-shaft and front stabilizer bar. Rubbing happens when hitting bumps, potholes, etc.





What I did notice this time is that the driver side lower control arm is dented/bent (shown with the yellow arrow); and, with the top of it deformed and not smooth(hard to see, but, shown between the tips of the blue arrows).




Where the lower control arm attaches to the body, the structure looks good and not bent.



Wondering about the passenger side being 1/4" short of 103" wheel base measurement, as lower control arm and steering knuckle appear to look good with 7/8" clearance between CV half-shaft and front stabilizer bar. Should I be concerned about this side, as well, or could 1/4" be adjusted when alignment is done?








Thank you for this info.

I'll change out the lower control arm, then have the kids try to get the alignment done.

Appreciate the advice,

 

You got yourself a project! Shouldn't be too bad.

I wouldn't worry about the 1/4" difference on the passenger side. Could be the 103" is a rounded off number, not exact; could be a measuring error over the 8'+ with two people holding a tape up under tension.

A couple tips from front end work:

- If you will be working on changing the LCA with that corner up, and the passenger-side tire on the floor, the stabilizer bar will fight you, that's it's job. Can undo one stab. end-link first while both front wheels are on floor, or undo the two stab. bar to body clamps while its on the floor and let the bar seek it's own level while working on it.

- Any LCA mounting bolts that go through a bushing end-wise, a bolt that looks like it would act as hinge-pin, should be tightened only when the front end is at regular ride height, or else the rubber bushing will be badly twisted when restored to ride height, reducing the life of the bushing. They have an internal steel sleeve that the bushing is bonded to, tightening the through-bolt locks the steel sleeve in place on both ends. Can tighten with both wheels down on floor again if you can get to it OK that way.
Or measure distance from front hub up to fender lip overhead of it when still on the floor, and later when wheel is off, use a jack under brake disc if you have a cup-saddle type of jack to lift up to get that ride height again and tighten.

 

Yes, family, kids, and friends are always asking me to help them with their vehicles. I don't mind helping if I can. I learn, also.

Okay, I won't worry about the 1/4" difference. My measurement could have been off by error from tension or something. Just nice to know the 1/4" isn't a problem.

Man...these are great tips! And I'll be using them during the process.

Now, just waiting for the kids to get some time so we can fix their car.

I'll make sure to update the thread.

Thanks for the tips!

 

Kids finally had time for me to work on their car, so, they came by about 1pm yesterday and I got to working on the Lower Control Arm.

Lifted the car on both sides, removed the tire, and soaked the bolts with PB Blaster. Gave the PB Blaster time to soak into the bolts and ran to the store for a couple of tools that I didn't have for the job, like a T-50 torx bit and 15mm impact socket.

When I got home, I got to removing bolts, but, my 450 ft/lbs Air Gun wasn't enough to break the bolts loose on the rear bushing mount, so, back up to Napa and got a Breaker Bar and a 800 ft/lbs Air Gun.

One of the rear bushing mount nuts seized up half-way up the bolt threads, so, I worked Air Gun back-and-forth until I was able to unthread the nut from the bolt. It was a section on the threads of the bolt missing, that was causing the issue. Broke all the other bolts loose and removed. The time of day, is after Ford Dealership hours on Saturday, so, another run up to Napa to see if they had a replacement bolt and lock-nut. They had comparable replacements(phew...I don't have to wait until Monday, July 4, to finish).









The rest of the work was pretty uneventful, so I got the job done.

Before beginning job, with the car on the ground, I took a measurement between the wheel stud(set at 12 o'clock) and the fender lip. I got a measurement of 13". When the job was complete(with the car still on jackstands) I used a floor jack underneath the ball joint location, lifted hub up and re-measured between wheel stud and fender lip. Got a measurement of 13 1/2". Maybe, because use of floor jack, or, new lower control arm changed angle for measurement. IDK



It was about 10pm and the kids needed to get the grandkids home, so, I didn't get any measurements, pictures, etc.

Son-In-Law and I took the car for a test ride. His evaluation of the difference is, the car does not pull to right anymore; there is no more squeeking when hitting potholes and bumps; and, when making a left hand U-turn, there is no more rubbing or grinding.

Since my first post when we moved the new, worn front tires to the rear, 2 months have gone by and now the other tires are now worn down to bald on the outsides, so, the kids are going to get an alignment done and get more new tires.

I would like to thank you Jared(Ford_Six) for your input advice, and thank you Torky2 for your in-depth advice as I used a lot of your input during the repair.