Best £140 ever spent on the car <inserts jesus.jpg>

GinG

GinG

GinG

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Joined
22 Jul 2006
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Well car (ST24) went in for its MOT yesterday, glad to say it passed.

All it needed was a new wheel stud as one had snapped.

Also when the mechanic was checking over he noticed that the bushed were knackered on the left side. Told me easiest and cheapest was was to just fit a new lower arm.

When fitting he found that the ball joint (i think?!) was knackered also so was a good job he changed the arm.

I have owned the car for 2 years now, and have always complained that it didnt feel that great to drive, never felt solid on the road, and would shake at speed.

Questions have to be asked to why the car has passed 2 MOT's, and why 2 different garages have not picked this up!!

I am really happy as it really does just feel like a totally different car to drive :)

Also thought £140 was a good price for the work & MOT to be done!
 
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Not really, had both lower arms replaced on my Mk2 for £80 :)
But yes, even in my slow boring 1.8, the difference is really noticeable
 
For lower arms, I paid about £30 to get them myself and then £25 a side for a back street garage to blowtorch the old nuts and fit the new arms.
 
Crikey. My lower arms are quite a bit more expensive than that. Blasted Germans. I was quoted something ridiculous like £275 for each arm. That's why I decided to go for Poly bushes instead.
 
I had 2 anti-roll bar brushes replaced on the pork a few months ago - made a huge improvement. 10 quid a pop :D

Nice when that happens, isn't it!
 
Its amazing how much difference they can make. Im curious though, the car only needed a new stud to pass the MOT yet the lower ball joint and bushes were shot yet passed the MOT? As for passing 2 previous MOT's the parts could have been good at the time, a year is along time for somthing to wear/fail.
 
Both the V6 Mk2 I had used to go through them at around 20k, no they weren't MOT failures but I could feel the change as it came on. You probably want to get the drop links and front sway bars changed also, these aren't expensive but if you had crap handling these could also be part of the problem.

I would try to go with Ford Parts next time though as the lower arms were significantly beefed up during there lifetime, and Motor factor parts tend to follow the original designs. Ford also updated the front sway bars to aluminium ones and significantly beefed up the rear torque restrictor as well during the Models lifetime.
 
^good advice^

Some places aren't so meticulous when checking the lower ball joint and sometimes when jacked up the play isn't evident.
Pettern parts are cheap, but don't last as long, as above go with O.E. when you can.
I wouldn't be changing the sway bars themselves though unless they are worn at the "D" bushes, just renew the links for Ford ones as aftermarket links can just last weeks on the mondeo.
If you are changing the engine torque restrictor, use the ST200 one, it's modified over the St24/V6 one.
 
GinG said:
Well car (ST24) went in for its MOT yesterday, glad to say it passed.

All it needed was a new wheel stud as one had snapped.

Also when the mechanic was checking over he noticed that the bushed were knackered on the left side. Told me easiest and cheapest was was to just fit a new lower arm.

When fitting he found that the ball joint (i think?!) was knackered also
Click to expand...

So he didn't fail it for having knackered bottom arm bushes and balljoint then?.
:confused:
 
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