Expensive repair - can I afford to ignore it?

Ex-RoNiN

Ex-RoNiN

Ex-RoNiN

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Joined
18 Oct 2002
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My front inside tyre walls are badly worn...coupled with creaking noises from the front when I turn somewhere with full lock seems to suggest that my wishbones are knackered (had tracking re-aligned 7 months ago, wheels came off only in Jan, so can't be tracking related)

Question is - can I afford to go on with knackered wishbones? I am thinking of changing the tyres, and leaving the wishbones in that state until Jan, then get rid of the car before the MOT. If I leave everything as is, I risk a blow-out with those tyres, but I am really loathe to replace the wishbones, it's very expensive for a Cougar :/ So yeah, how important are they, can I drive with them damaged?
 
I'm going to come over all high and mighty ere, however if you can't afford to change two tyres which can't cost more than 140 fitted and then i can't see two wishbones being more than that (if you fit them yourself) you need to have a serious think about things.

You must change the tyres, people who drive around with tyres like that or worse should be shot on site.

Wishbones, well it depends how bad they sound and how the car feels on the road, personally i would change them no questions asked.
 
I don't think it would be wise to recommend driving around in a vehicle that wouldn't pass an MOT. You could also face implications of voiding your insurance if it is deemed your car wasn't roadworthy after an accident.

Either replace or park it to be honest. Best thing is to get someone to look at it. Might be something simpler and cheaper to fix.
 
Firestar_3x said:
I'm going to come over all high and mighty ere, however if you can't afford to change two tyres which can't cost more than 140 fitted and then i can't see two wishbones being more than that (if you fit them yourself) you need to have a serious think about things.

You must change the tyres, people who drive around with tyres like that or worse should be shot on site.

Wishbones, well it depends how bad they sound and how the car feels on the road, personally i would change them no questions asked.
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Unfortunately its a Cougar, so there is only one size available (£210 for 2 new tyres), and Wishbones also only come in pairs and are also custom made, that's about £300 each to replace together I think.

Will most likely bite the tyre bullet, but am loathe about the wishbones...thats too much just 3 months after service/mot, which was expensive enough (had to replace all brake discs/pads)
 
its not that bloomin expensive?! Ive had to have wishbones on my mondeo, it's part and parcel of the chassis that these cars eat wishbones, i dont know a single mondeo / cougar owner who has one for a decent length of time on stock wishbones if they actually care about the car remotely.
 
also but what????! are we talking about the same cougar here? as in the ford cougar that is a mondeo chassis with a fancy shell? they wishbones are NOT custom made expensive things at all, i had mine changed when i had an engine swap last year and i remember thinking how cheap they were?
 
Ex-RoNiN said:
Unfortunately its a Cougar, so there is only one size available (£210 for 2 new tyres), and Wishbones also only come in pairs and are also custom made, that's about £300 each to replace together I think.

Will most likely bite the tyre bullet, but am loathe about the wishbones...thats too much just 3 months after service/mot, which was expensive enough (had to replace all brake discs/pads)
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what size are the tyres? i have 17" ST200 alloys and can get tyres of a very good type ie yokos or eagle f1s for well under £100 each. in fact shop around and you can get parada spec 2 in 215/40/17 for £60 inc postage each
 
rG-tom said:
what size are the tyres? i have 17" ST200 alloys and can get tyres of a very good type ie yokos or eagle f1s for well under £100 each. in fact shop around and you can get parada spec 2 in 215/40/17 for £60 inc postage each
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Exactly what i was thinking, use the internet!
 
rG-tom said:
also but what????! are we talking about the same cougar here? as in the ford cougar that is a mondeo chassis with a fancy shell? they wishbones are NOT custom made expensive things at all, i had mine changed when i had an engine swap last year and i remember thinking how cheap they were?
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Cougar wishbones are different from the Mondeo ones. The Cougar is 80% Mondeo...but the wishbones are part of the 20% that are different.
 
Firestar_3x said:
What size are the tyres btw?
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Got stock size I think, so am screwed, unless I wanna change all 4 (which I don't.)

By the way, I am not trying to cop out on changing tyres, Im trying to cop out on changing wishbones and am wondering whether leaving them until Jan might have negative consequences....
 
Well yeah it will.. It will kill the tyres you just put on. which if you are selling the car the buyer should pick up on! If they know the car and know the wishbones are shot then you will be offered silly money for it. You are in a no win situation. Id get them repaired.. No get some cheaper from a car being broken?
 
rG-tom said:
its not that bloomin expensive?! Ive had to have wishbones on my mondeo, it's part and parcel of the chassis that these cars eat wishbones, i dont know a single mondeo / cougar owner who has one for a decent length of time on stock wishbones if they actually care about the car remotely.
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How do you tell if your wishbones are going? And where and how much to get them changed? My mum has an R reg and im looking for one to replace my dead Fiesta too.
 
urm change the bushes? rather than the full wishbone? even stick some polyflex bushes on and use it as a selling point come Jan :) looky polys its a common cougar problem and with this car you wont have it :) :)

tyres 85 quid each fully fitted from Black circles for kumhos, (bearing in mind i'm qouting on the stock size of 215/50/16or if your replacing both front tyres then get a pair of 215/40/16's from 52 quid each fittedask some of the boys on www.ukcougar.com to point you in the direction of much cheapness the prices your talking ie 200 plus are for all 4 wishbones so get it checked first :)
 
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Foxtrot26 said:
urm change the bushes? rather than the full wishbone? even stick some polyflex bushes on and use it as a selling point come Jan :) looky polys its a common cougar problem and with this car you wont have it :) :)
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Not with the Cougar ones u can't, u have to replace the whole arm, for some reason or other u can't get Cougar bushes only :/

Seems to cost £500 for parts+fitting at a Fraud dealer....no way am I spending a grand within 4 months on a car that cost just 2.5k to begin with. :( Will pay Fraud a visit tomorrow so they can do an inspection of them, but I fear the worst...
 
They are £38 each from here, plus postage.

When you say the tyre wall is badly worn, do you mean it's been rubbing on something, or do you just mean the inner edge of the tread is worn?
 
Dogbreath said:
They are £38 each from here, plus postage.

When you say the tyre wall is badly worn, do you mean it's been rubbing on something, or do you just mean the inner edge of the tread is worn?
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I mean the inner edge of the tyre, the one facing the engine.

Thanks for that ebay link btw, it might just save the day :eek:
 
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