Strut hits tire only on Left turns?

[91 shonice]

So while making a hard left, noticed that the steering was tight. Upon inspection of the p/s front tire, the base of the strut mount was about a 1/4 to 3/8 inches off the tire. So you can feel some wear in the inside tire. Any ideas? could it be SFB, or worn control arm, or something else? D/S is okay with more clearence.

 

[AREA 91]

You better check over the front end very throughly. It's a bad day when you blow a front tire. Especially in a FWD car. My guess would be the upper strut mounts are shot.

 

[SHOFF]

Well with my experience, when I get off of the highway at a high rate of speed, my front end will start bouncing up and down. My steering also would tighten up when I'm in a corner and start to accelerate. I only had this car for a week, so I brought it today to get every thing underneath looked at. My mechanic called me back with bad news. I need rotors, pads and two rear calipers. I also can't drive my car no more until I change out the front struts, which are both broken, (this explains the roller coaster feeling.) My mechanic also said the right front spring could pop out and blow the tire. I never heard of both springs breaking before, so get your springs check out.

 

[hawkeye18]

As much as I hate to say it, all of what you said is pretty common in SHOs, and Taurii in general. However, tell your mechanic to check the rear flexible hoses carefully instead of replacing the calipers; the calipers will often appear not to work because the flexible lines swell up and restrict or cut off the flow of brake fluid to the calipers. They rust up at the brackets... and are much cheaper to replace than calipers .

Front struts will wear out and eventually pop seals and cease to function, and Ford's metallurgy on the springs, er, left much to be desired. Springs do break. If you ever see a taurus rolling down the road with its rear end about three inches off the ground, that's why.

As for 91 shonice, I would check the lower control arm ball joint, wheel bearing (wiggle wheel off ground at 12 and 6, if there's movement it's bad), and the top strut mount very carefully.

 

[Racer X]

To the OP, tire to strut contact is almost always a bad wheel bearing. It's the only component that when worn can allow the wheel and hub to articulate up and down in relation to the strut and steering knuckle. Even the most worn ball joint or strut bearing won't allow the wheel to articulate in relation to the strut.

 

[SHOtime2511]

what size tire are you running a what type of wheels do you have?