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s-cort shakes @ high speed

4057 Views 53 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  Kenny
3
I was out on a car trip, and after getting brand spankin yokohama tires, and getting the whole balance/alignment job, my s-cort STILL shakes at high speeds.

The last pair of tires had a very strange wear pattern on the rear left wheel:
if you viewed the wheel from the side, instead of seeing a nice, circular tire, mine looked more like a 10-pointed star, only the points of that star weren´t straight points, more like rounded. In other words, the tread of the tire was really low in one place, then you´d travel along the circumference of the wheel another couple inches, and the tread was high again. It was like the tread was periodic wave extending itself along the circumference of the tire, if that makes any sense.

anyway, this problem totally baffled me, but the mechanic who changed my tires said that it was a problem with my not rotating the tires on time. He also said that it was because the back end of the car was so light that the back of the car would "bounce up and down" and cause that kind of tread wear. I don´t know if this is the case, or if he´s full of shit.

After driving several hundred miles, at speeds of 30-110mph
I noticed that this problem is at its worst at about 65mph. The problem seems to go away once you get over 85mph, although I think that´s because it starts shaking so fast that you just feel it as a whirr and it just kinda blends in.

As a result, I felt that the problem was in the suspension. I felt that what was happening was that the suspension had leaked oil and become underdampened, so when I hit a bump, that bump propagated and was perpetuated somehow by the fact that my suspension couldn´t stop it.

My sister was in the car with me, and she thinks the problem is that a light car like the escort will shake because it doesn´t have the weight to keep the tires glued to the road, but she doesn´t know anything about cars.

Please help me, i just want a smooth as buttah pimpin´ wagon...




[ This message was edited by: siragan on 23-12-2002 16:06 ]

[ This message was edited by: siragan on 23-12-2002 16:07 ]
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Honestly siragan...i went to www.nopionline.com and ordered some KYB Gas GR2 struts and eventually I want to get around to those Suspension Technique 1.5" lowering springs. but thats for the GT model. I´m not sure if you can put those on the LX wagons. the struts themselves cost 50 bucks a pop, plus mounts and boots. Shop around, get yourself the best deal you can. if I had an LX I´d probably be in the same boat as you and looking for answers as well. just look around that website and see if you can find anything.
I´d check out all the suspension parts, springs, struts, tie rods, everything that has to do with the car sitting on those tires. struts and springs are there basically for comfort. they´re meant to absorb the bumps and holes in the roads. I´d basically just do a whole checkup on the car. Last november (2001) when I took the car in to have all the fluids flushed the guys at Hires told me I needed new struts....which I did...but since then I haven´t changed them out (got some KYBs on the way though) and I´ve had new tires put on and they don´t seem to be affected by the misalignment. had them since June or July and they´re still very strong and treaded. Maybe I´m just pushing my luck and have been extremely lucky so far...i dunno.
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The Springs should be the large coiled chunks of metal that are around your struts...or is it set up differently on Wagons? I have a GT so thats what I´m basing my knowledge off of. Also I wish I could help you with finding out how to put disc brakes on the rear and lower them but I´m not sure on either one. I´d like to see a customized Wagon though.
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You´re livin my dream Blade, turbo´d car...seein pimped out cars, livin in the HEAT....I´m jealous
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when I got up to 50 mph last night my car started shaking like crazy...it was scaring me. So when I got into my city I stopped at a mc donalds parking lot and started kicking every part of my car near the tires...you wouldn´t believe how much snow came out from under my wheel wells and what not...after that my car didn´t shake at 50 anymore.
Yeah sorry in my next life i´ll be able to afford to have 18 cars, top of the line will be my scorts, and I won´t drive them in the snow.
Kenny: Escort GTs have non intereference Engines, which means when the cams stop spinning the valves aren´t going to be hit by the pistons. I doubt that´s what happened to your car, but don´t rule it out, it *supposedly* happened to me. (dunno if that shop was just tryin to screw me over or what) I´ve spent roughly four grand to keep it running and I don´t think I´m going to get more than 1000 out of it.
at least you got a shop and a friend you can trust. I don´t trust the shop I took it to anymore. I´ve spent about 3000 dollars there...he´s a customer of my dads and he still doesn´t care about giving us a deal on the fleet of trucks we own.
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