Ford - Focus :: 2010 - New Tires Feels Like Sliding And Swaying?
Sep 1, 2012
I own a 2010 Ford Focus (compact sedan) and had to purchase a set of new tires. I went to a retail chain store that I've never been to before. The salesman suggests a set of 195/60R15 Trazanos. I drive home on a side street about 5 minutes away. Seems fine. The next morning I enter the expressway and there is a slight curve to right when entering, the car begins to feel like it's sliding almost like on ice (yet it's 75 degrees out). I begin to accelerate, my car begins to sway and slide. It felt like I was fishtailing all over the place. It scared me enough to pull of the expressway.
I immediately go to the place that I purchased them. They look at them and tell me that I should have had "H" rated tires put on it. He says my previous tires had a thicker side wall. So, they put a different set of "higher end" tires (195/60R15 Toyo Extensas) for the same price. I make the guy go out on the expressway with me to test it and it seems ok, but I didn't get to try it on a curve at that point. On my way home, I still feel a slight slide on curves, but not like before. It's windy today, so I will take it back out on the expressway tomorrow. I know nothing about tires, so they could be feeding me a line of b.s. Can it really take up to 500 miles for the tires to be "broken in"? My car drove perfectly fine before I had these tires put on.
View 18 Replies
Advertisement
I live in an area where we don't really get any snow, very rare. But when it does, everything shuts down because our city doesn't have the proper equipment (salt, plow trucks, etc.)no one here owns snow tires, and we're all inexperienced. It snowed today around the same time as the drive back home and it took forever because it was rush hour at 5:00 pm (Fairly populated city, around 440,000 people).
Needless to say almost everyone was going super slow, 20-25 mph. Couple of people in SUVs were going fairly fast, but generally everyone was being safe. I saw a couple of accidents but nothing too crazy. I had never driven in the snow before in my LS460L. WOW. that was a stressful and long drive back. What normally takes me 30 minutes to get home took me close to 2 hours. While everyone was going very slow, I went EVEN SLOWER because of how nervous I was.
I felt like I never accelerated too fast or aggressively, and I did slow controlled braking (did not slam my brakes abruptly or anything). Yet every other time where I had to come to a complete stop, the rear part of my car would lose control and slide/slip to one side or another. Again, I felt like I was driving cautiously slow (between 10-20 mph) and did nice and slow controlled brakes. But I seemed to be the only one on the road slipping and sliding when at a stop.
The conditions were pretty snowy, but by no means was it crazy (maybe an inch or two of snow). Something that would be laughable to those who are used to real snow . That was a really scary and long drive. I am glad to be home. and I don't plan on driving my car out in the snow anytime soon.
View 14 Replies
I had a 03 trailblazer ltz; last week while driving low speed ( 30 hm-50 km ) ,the rear tires had locked,and sliding,but the engine didn't stop and steering wheel didn't lock.I restarted the engine but the transmission at D , it didn't work. When the transmission changed at R ,and after that at D i can drive it. Nowadays i'm hearing noise from left rear tires like turning shaft. Before that i jumped from the ramp while fast, because of that the sound began.
After that,this issues have began. Yesterday while I'm driving at low speed it happened again. When I pass the 30 kmh the sound are too loudly come from rear tires. I Checked that but nobody can find the issue. I check the hand brake parts,because i didn't work. but yesterday it made it again.
Is it possible to being after jump from speed bump ?? Because i passed it fast and jumped. After that, the sounds began.( i think it's like a rolling sth. ). I used the car about 2 weeks after that and never used about two weeks. Now i can drive it ,but sounds always there.last time i drived it on flat road,no brake and sounds came like squeezing sth. And the transmission no longer to be useful,but the car can still in idle ,it never stopped the engine and never give me an alert.
While slow down, I changed transmission to park,and changed to reverse.so ,i can drive it,but sound always there.there are no oil under the car.after first time the dealer said '' your problem is parking brake shoe ''. Because parking brake shoe come away from it's location. He corrected,but sounds still there. After 2 days, it made it second time. So it is on park now ....
View 5 Replies
I have recently replaced a set of new tires (Michelin X-Radial DT) on my Ford Focus 2003. Immediately, I could feel a slight sound like a rub that causes a dull squeak as if I am carrying a load in the car when I am turning and at different times when the road surface is undulating. At other times the car runs very smoothly.
I am okay with it if this is not going to hurt the car in the long run. Another inconvenience I am having is a squeaking sound that comes from the right rear wheel when I brake (sometimes). I was told that it's the brake dusts since the brakes are o.k. How can I get rid of that squeak when braking?
View 19 Replies
Could my brake issue be related to my transmission problem? Neither are constant. Brake problem= sometimes the brake pedal feels hard, like there's no power brakes (I drove a car once. ..looong time ago. .. that had no power brakes or steering) but it will kick in after a short distance. Transmission prob= seemingly unrelated, is a problem shifting from 1st to 2nd gear. This has happened maybe a 1/2 dozen times, the first time and mostly when in heavy commute traffic and when going between 1st and 2nd gear because of the slow commute speed, but also at other times when not in lengthy slow commutes. When it doesn't shift, the odometer doesn't work (shows only dashes) and an engine light comes on (the sprocket/gear looking one). Usually the transmission will eventually shift and the light goes off.
I read that the brake problem might be a vacuum hose problem? Something about a booster? Is this dangerous? or is it like having a car w/ no power brakes? Going to have my transmission looked at this week. Read on another site about dropping valve seats on this year car. If there's a major transmission problem, I'm wondering if it's worth fixing? I changed, timing belt, water pump, front and rears brakes, tires. 143,000 miles.
View 1 Replies
How to diagnose bad suspension components on my own. Basically, what's going on right now is sometimes when taking a left turn, i feel a vibration and sometimes feels like one of the tires are slipping underneath me. at speeds above 30 mph, there is a reverberation noise, and above 60, my car starts shaking and I begin to lose it's handling properties. Occasionally when going over bumps, I hear a slight knock coming from the right front. Also, I'm having elevated cabin noise. The tires (at the moment) still are wearing evenly. I believe this is a wheel bearing, as I test drove a focus once where the seller said it had a bad wheel bearing and it's having similar issues. Would I most likely be right, or could there be another issue?
View 5 Replies
I just recently purchase my first 2012 Prius Three and so far it's been great on gas. However, today I had my wipers on full speed because of the rain here in Northern Cali and noticed that my car was swaying at the stop light. At first I thought it might be the wind but when I turn off the wipers the swaying went away. Turned them on full blast and the swaying came back. Is this normal?
View 7 Replies
We have a "new" 2010 F150 with factory sunroof & power sliding rear window. Well like the post title says, it'll open but not close.
I took apart the switch & cleaned the contacts - it all looks and fits together as it should. I went ahead and removed the cables controlling the window slider frame to close it. I'm guessing the motor is somewhere behind the back seats?
View 14 Replies
The sliding armrest/storage bin cover in my 2013 RX sticks. When I'm driving and try to move it forward it won't budge unless I hit the back of it (which is hard to do when keeping one hand on the steering wheel!). When I've dropped by the dealer (3 hours from my home), of course, it doesn't stick. But when I'm back on the highway, it sticks.
View 11 Replies
I just gonna buy a new car. How this two car compared? I have test two cars, and like ford's handling, while Prius drives like a toy. Also ford seems safer than Toyota.
View 19 Replies
I have a '10 Focus SE I got used about three months ago. I updated the Sync software to the then-current version. I connect my iPhone for both phone and music via Bluetooth.
Every now and then, with no pattern I can determine, when I get into the car and turn it on, the music system immediately plays the FM radio instead of connecting to my phone and playing the music where it left off when I last got out of the car.
I am turning Bluetooth on on the iPhone before I get in the car, and I'm turning it off after I turn off the car and exit it, so it's not a matter of BT from the phone not being available.
View 2 Replies
I have a 02 F250 V10. When I am pulling a trailer and began to travel over 50 MPH the truck feels like its moving left to right almost like its sliding on ice. Its worse the more weight I am pulling. When I am not pulling anything there is no issues. The trailers I am pulling are gooseneck trailers. What would cause this.
View 11 Replies
Car is approaching 100,000 miles. While driving today I noticed a rhythmic hiss coming from the dash when the AC ran. No temperature difference between AC and vent after a little while. Is there anything I can look for before I take it into the shop? I will take it in and have them put die in to find potential leak before we start with the more expensive repairs, but would like to save where I can.
View 4 Replies
My f250 felt like it had a flat as in it was "swaying" while I was driving today. as I'm pulling into my neighborhood it felt as if i had a flat. There is fluid leaking from what looks like a control arm or possibly a canister that's part of a vacuum system. I'm a carpenter obviously by my terminology used in this post. Its dark so ill take another look in the morning but what I'm talking about..
View 14 Replies
Since a couple of weeks my GEN III feels 'slow' ...
Let's explain... when I'm driving in normal mode (without the use of any 3 buttons) it feels like the car is driving in eco-mode. Been to the dealer but they can't find it and they say it's just fine...
So now I'm driving constant in power mode, it's killing my consumption but without power mode it's just not the same as before in normal mode.
View 7 Replies
The transmission feels like it's "slipping" on our 2010 Journey. It doesn't seem to follow any particular driving situations, or conditions (like when it's cold or hot or up-hill or straight running); it just happens occasionally. Of course, we've barely busted the 100K mile warranty, so i figure it's time for something to break.
View 9 Replies
I have elantra 2012 with approx mileage of 47,000 kms. I started to fell that the front suspension becoming noisy while driving slowely on the bumps and rough roads. This noise feels even on steering wheel that this has some connection to steering rod in somewhere.
I had took the car to local dealership here in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where the kept the car for about a weak and return it say that the car is fixed, but the noise was there or came back in days only.
Second time, the same thing happened, approached the dealership they took and hand over the car, removing some air from all 4 tires a (which i have noticed). but the problem remains the same.
I have noticed as well that the car is not so stable on the roads while driving at different speeds.
View 19 Replies
I just got my new 2014 RX350 a few weeks ago. After these weeks drive, I feel the Brake is kind of soft and unsensitive.
When I braking, the first part of the brake pad feels soft and the braking is not very efficient, until I push a lot of the brake pad, the braking becomes confident and efficient.
I used to drive my 2006 Nissan altima , and feels the brake pad is very sensitive. My new lexus makes me a little bit unconfident when following a car in a short distance.
View 2 Replies
I have a 2010 fx 4 cew cab that has a 2" lift on it. I am new to the truck scene, but my wife has always wanted a big truck. I have pro comp tires that are 35 X 12.50X20 LT. They are the Pro Comp Xtreme A/T. The truck is driven evry once in a while and it is never off road. The issue I am having is that the tire wear is really bad and uneven in the front. It has been aligned 3 times in one year and the balance has been checked. I had the lift kit done at the dealership and they are saying this is normal and that the wear is due to not rotating the tires every 3000 miles. If the truck was driven every day I would understand but it only has 10,000 miles on it. Is this normal? The wear looks like a shock could be bad but they have already replaced the shocks about 3 moths after i purchased the truck.
View 14 Replies
2006 Hyundai Accent
About two weeks ago I was told my tires were worn and I was experiencing what felt like a slight slipping sensation when turning corners on the highway. Mechanic chalked this up to my tires being worn. They checked them out and my passenger rear tire was significantly worn on the inside tread...
I replaced all four tires...I have checked the pressure and it is at 30psi as indicated on the inside of the driver side door.
Now when I'm driving on the highway I experience what can be described as a rocking sensation (as if you were on a boat) sometimes when driving straight and almost always when making left turns....once the rocking starts if I slightly turn the wheel to the right it goes away.
I'm thinking something with the rear passenger side is causing this as the compensation would appear on the drivers front (correct?!) and the worn tire gives it away...just wondering what component I should start looking at first and what cost I might be looking at.
View 3 Replies
I have a 2002 Accent that has recently started to sway side to side when I'm turning left. It almost feels like the back end is swaying but it's hard to tell. I've recently had the CV Boots replaced as they were torn but I don't think that's related at all.
I'm wondering if it could be the suspension. I've looked at all the wheel housing and checked the steering rod for any play but everything seems fine. If it could be the suspension how would I go about checking it.
View 2 Replies