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I first wore out the Firestones -- noisy, but acceptable overall.
Then I went with a set of the Michelin AS sports, and they were great. Quiet, but expensive. Handled well, but made noise on corners -- better than the Firestones.
I'm currently riding on Kumho Ecsta KH11's that I bought a couple of years ago. I'm moderately confident they don't make this exact model anymore, but Kumho is a worthy performance tire maker -- much less expensive than the alternatives.
Right now I'd recommend the Avon Tech M550 A/S. Great survey results and much cheaper than the Michelins.
I absolutely agree with your assessment that you would be happier with a touring tire rather than a high performance tire.
I saw a listing for the MXM4's as a V or W- rating. I'll go with the V. Hopefully I get back the smooth ride I enjoyed before.
For example, I recently replaced the Continental S speed rated tires on my wife's Taurus with Goodyear Comfort Treds because she wanted a smooth quiet ride. She expected the Goodyears to be very comfort oriented. The surprise was that they actually give a bit firmer ride than the Continentals at the same pressure. They are extremely quiet but my wife would not rate them particularly high for ride comfort - in spite of their name and what other owners think. I think the higher speed rating (H) makes them a bit stiffer. I think the ride is great but they didn't meet her expectations.
Looking to put an all season H speed rated tire on her car. Not looking for a "comfort" tire. She has had a couple of Audis in the past and we have had Porsches in the family off and on for the past 30 years. She understands a firm ride and would prefer crisper handling and cornering to a mushy ride.
Any suggestions on what might give her a reasonable level of handling and a quiet ride.
Thanks in advance.
Best value - Avon Tech M550.
The roads here in California are the worst on the country, which is not just my opinion and has been written in national publications so I needed to compensate. To illustrate how bad the roads are here, a friend of mine has a friend in Sales who travels throughout the country. In every other state he rents a BMW when he visits. In California, he rents a Cadillac.
With the LS discontinued, I may want to look at Cadillac or Lexus for my next car.
Again, I have a 2002 LSE. When I went to get my replacement tires at a tire outlet, of course it made sense to check the front end alignment, which I had never had to do for this vehicle. In doing it, they said they couldn't get it completely within manufacturer specifications because when the vehicle settled, it moved far outside the range and cannot be adjusted within range. The affected adjustments (as they provided me with a printout) are the right front caster and the front Cross Caster.
They said this has been common speficially with the LS's and generally with Ford products. In order to get the proper adjustments, I'm told they'd have to install a Front Camber/Caster kit which consists of a number of bolts that would be installed in the lower control arms after drilling of holes.
With the value I hold of my LSE and the fact I just had new tires installed that were $200+ apiece, I felt this was a necessary thing to do.
Likely because I'm originally from New York State I'm still a little skeptical. The kit costs about $99, plus an estimated $90 to install and then a new alignment at about $55 putting the total over $250. So, mainly for piece of mind, I thought I'd post here as to whether anyone had experienced and or/heard of this required modifcation for their LS.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
I noticed something the other day that I had never seen before. I'm suddenly seeing a line of additional information on the radio dispaly.
The top line gives the typical station ID, but the lower line is giving information such as "fresh" (for fresh radio), easy listening, sometimes the name of the artist and/or the song title, etc.
Now, I know my wife doesn't play around with the radio settings, other than changing stations, so has anyone else had this experience?
PS, I do not get this info on my 2003 TBird radio.
Disconnecting the battery will erase or possibly change settings. Any battery service recently?
I've heard good things about the EBC pads, too but I don't have any details.
Mike
Well, then in tha case, I expect to see Ford cancel all their cars made in North America right quick after seeing this in the Detroit News today:
"Ford Motor Co. lost $5,234 on each vehicle it built in North America last year (2006)" So bye bye Navigator, F150, Mustang, Freestyle, Taurus, Edge etc etc etc. Pretty soon it'll be Ford Fusion and whatever they call the little car they're planning to bring in from Brazil.
Oh, and bye bye UAW too. I guess there's a silver lining to everything.
Indeed.
Perhaps there really isn't a free lunch, at least for an extended period of time.
Stuff is worth only what you can sell it for. Imagine.
Muffler rattles - $850 (refuse to fix)
Air conditioner blows hot/cold, was told director broken, $750 to fix - refuse to pay
Driver's heated seat broke - don't even want to know how much to fix
Left rear seat door doesn't lock/unlock with FOB - haven't bothered to be shocked at price to fix.
Rear view mirror broken (auto-dimming doesn't work), $300 to replace, said forget it.
Mine is a 2000 (build date October 1999), 130K miles. So many more problems but I don't feel like typing. But I agree, the car rides great. The only reason I haven't gotten rid of it is because I'm still paying for my wife's Navi, which by the way, is now starting to have problems now that the warranty has expired.
I think it's safe to say Lincoln's suck.
My 2001 LS 5speed has been pretty damm good overall, sorry about your situation., But then, I've only got 84K on her. My wife was just sayin the other day maybe we should sell the LS before it starts costin money? I have mixed feelings, tho the thought has crossed my mind. But thus far, except for a climate control issue that they wont fix because it's SUPPOSED to screw up in the way mine does, - oh and those damn plastic chrome lug nuts - my LS has been 'knock wud' 100% reliable. Tires (twice) and brakes - once at about 70K - is all I've spent on it. Right now I have the bushings for the front end.
There are of course other places to get a lot of the things fixed you're talking about. And they'd probably cost a lot less than the dealer.
So what year is your Nav and what's happening with it? The warranty on my 2004 runs out soon and now you've got me scared!
Do Lincoln's suck? I dunno, I'm on the fence. One thing's for sure, they're getting less appealing, at least IMHO.
there is no problem. Finally, althought they replaced the steering tilt switch, it only functions occasionally and the steering wheel tilts approximately 1/4 inch. I'm just hoping these are small inconveniences, as I love every other aspect of this car. Suggestions/comments welcome!
I didn't start having problems with the LS until around 75K miles. Funny, I was on the highway today thinking how great the car drives - I really do love the car, if you forget all the problems. It rides better than any car I've ever owned.
I've been taking it to my local mechanic for a few years, but there were a couple issues that he couldn't fix, so that's why I took it to the dealer.
My Nav is an '03, 55K miles, warranty expired a few months ago. And guess what - last week the window motor went, had to have it replaced. And the air suspension is sounding pretty bad - much louder than normal. I say a prayer every night.
As for the new Lincolns, forget it. The MKZ is a step down, and the new Nav looks like someone fitted it with oversized braces. I'm going foreign next time around.
I wish you lots of luck with yours!!!
However, as the rock band Poison once sang, "every rose has its thorns". In reality, my wife is the prime driver of this car, and she's not a hard driver. She recently mentioned a different feel in the braking, so I took it out for a ride. I immediately felt the dreaded warped rotor shudder. I took the rotors off, expecting to get them re-machined, but found they were trashed. It seems that the Porterfield pads, while developing terrific braking power, do it at the expense of rotor life. In this case, the rotors were about 35,000 miles old.
Secondly, the pads didn't hold up very well to the New York road salt. The steel backing plate had delaminated from the thinner metal piece that the friction material was bonded to. Basically, the rear pads "fell apart".
I shopped around, and found the best price on "name brand" rotors were EBCs. I added a set of part store "house brand" semi metallic pads at $60 for all 4 wheels, and my wife is back on the road. I did this job last weekend. While I like to have the "trick stuff", I'm getting to a point in life where I just can't continue to throw $$ at the cars, since retirement is just around the corner...I hope. Secondly, the car is 7 years old, and although it has only 53,000 miles on it, it's seen 7 winters of road salt.
Yeah, I hear ya. My LS still good at 85K or so. But I'm starting to get nervous with all the stories I'm hearing. Another one today in the messge folowing yours about Porterfields and warped rotors. I put Porterfields and new rotors on at about 75K.
My Nav still great, but in warrantee for another 7 months. Saw an article this AM that our fearless and brilliant leaders in congress are fixing to cure our love affair with SUVs for good by taxing gas so much that it'll soon be over $6.00 a gallon This alone is reason for me to find someone who hasnt read that story and wants to buy a nice used Navigator. Course with gas at >$6.00/gal, I'd have to replace the Nav with an escape hybrid just to break even on gas. (yuck) Perhaps horses and bicycles are congress' idea for our future. Hard to do a 30 mile commute on a horse or bike though. $6.00 gas = bye bye Ameican Pie and economy. But what the heck, the folks n Wash DC are doing nothing about any of our other ills, why not find an issue to destroy the economy completely.
Oh, yeah, and I'll probably go Japanese this time as well. Only had 2 [non-permissible content removed] cars - a Nissan 200SX and a Honda Prelude. Buth were good reliable cards, though the Nissans' interior fell apart sooner than any car I ever saw. I just am going to eschew all thoughts about doing what's right for America etc when I buy my next vehicles. It'll be doing what's right for me and my family from now on. To paraphrase Ray Davies and the Kinks: "There's no America any more."
My 2000 LS V6 sport auto tranny has been a great car with it now having 97K on the clock. I've babied the car and never drive in the winter here in NW PA. I posted on the Maintenance Page for the LS - 2 posts in regard to replacing the front wheel hub bearings and a very recent no-start condition. (Never stranded though.)
One thing I noticed a few posts back was someone mentioning the steering wheel vibration or chatter. I'm guessing that is the aweful noise that is makes when you pull the key and the steering wheel goes up and in. After a little tinkering and removing a lot of plastic to see inside to find the problem - the treatment is rather simple:
- move the steering wheel out the whole way and keep in the uppermost postion. Push back the black fuzzy trim piece on the left side above the back of the column and shine a flash light on the left side - you should see a threaded metal piece that moves the wheel in and out - this is the culprit. I just spray it with WD-40 with the little straw on it and run it in and out a few times. The sound does come back though.
Hope that helps! There is nothing as embarassing as when you have people with you and that steering wheel makes that aweful sound as it retracts. What a luxurious touch!
Billie
Billie
Billie
Check Better Business Bureau
Google "Auto Mechanic "
Then Google "Auto Mechanic complaints "
P.S. theses parts werent all that cheap