Rotate my tires???

[muslhed]

That's what I was told when I called the service mgr @ my local LM dealer and asked him why the insides of my front tires are completely bald on my 19K mile '03 300-A MM! When I repeated that this was a MER-CU-RY MA-RA-DER, and that it came from his own dealership with different sized tires on the front than the rear, he said, "well, you still gotta rotate dem tiiiiires, or dale git baaaald like dat!"!!! WTF???
I'm scheduled to take it in to that same dealership tomorrow, to get the tranny looked at, because it shifts worse than my 270K mile S-10 4x4 truck. Feels like torque converter issues in a big way. It is also hard to start, idles rough, and "surges" non stop when I crank it up in the morning, for about 10 minutes. It's just a barrel of headaches right now. Any suggestions or comments would be great!

[yorks]

That's what I was told when I called the service mgr @ my local LM dealer and asked him why the insides of my front tires are completely bald on my 19K mile '03 300-A MM! When I repeated that this was a MER-CU-RY MA-RA-DER, and that it came from his own dealership with different sized tires on the front than the rear, he said, "well, you still gotta rotate dem tiiiiires, or dale git baaaald like dat!"!!! WTF???
I'm scheduled to take it in to that same dealership tomorrow, to get the tranny looked at, because it shifts worse than my 270K mile S-10 4x4 truck. Feels like torque converter issues in a big way. It is also hard to start, idles rough, and "surges" non stop when I crank it up in the morning, for about 10 minutes. It's just a barrel of headaches right now. Any suggestions or comments would be great!
You still have to rotate. It's in the owner's book. Side to side only. If you need alignment, make sure they have the adaptor for our wheels else you'll end up with gouges like some of our members did. If no adaptor, have them pull the wheels off a Grand Marquis to do it. That's what my dealership does, and I've never had an issue.

[Petrograde]

Yup,.. what Yorks said... I had the same inner tire wear at around the same mileage. The dealership put Grand Marquis wheels on it and it worked just fine. :up:

BTW- 20K miles for these tires is pretty good.

[RF Overlord]

If both front tires have inner wear, then simply switching them side-to-side won't do squat...you need an alignment.

For the transmission issue, they probably can't help that; the factory shift scheduling sucks...the only real cure is a chip or an SCT 9100 tuner...or, if you're really ambitious, do the J-mod.

The rough idle and surging when cold most likely CAN be fixed...there is a PCM update (depending on your software version) that addresses this.

[muslhed]

"If both front tires have inner wear, then simply switching them side-to-side won't do squat...you need an alignment."

That's kinda what I was thinkin! I even tried to explain this to the guy, and he said, "Since you didn't rotate them regularly, they wore like that"! This makes no sense whatsoever! With normal driving, I have a hard time seeing 20K miles as being good mileage for a set of good radial tires! Heck, I've got waaay more than 25K on the Super Swampers on my 4x4 truck! Surely these 18" radials can do better than that.

As for the PCM update, I had them do this once already, and all it did was get rid of the Check Engine light that had mysteriously come on, and reduce my power dramaticly! I went from running a best of 14.6 in the 1320 with only 1500 miles on the ticker, to running a best of 15.9 with about 16K miles.....after they did this update. Every time I move from a stop, it feels like I am pulling a 6000LB boat, until I hit about 3500 RPM's, and then it runs normal.

This barrel of headaches is getting real old right now.

.

[RF Overlord]

I even tried to explain this to the guy, and he said, "Since you didn't rotate them regularly, they wore like that"! You not only need an alignment, you need a new service department... :rolleyes:

With normal driving, I have a hard time seeing 20K miles as being good mileage for a set of good radial tires! As far as the tires only lasting 20k, that's not out of line...the sticky BFGs Ford chose for this car are not high-mileage...I've got a little over 30k on mine and they're dangerous in the rain...time for new ones...


As for the PCM update, all it did was get rid of the Check Engine light that had mysteriously come on, and reduce my power dramaticly! I went from running a best of 14.6 in the 1320 with only 1500 miles on the ticker, to running a best of 15.9 with about 16K miles... Get yourself to a good dyno shop that has SCT software and knows how to use a wideband A/F ASAP...that's the first mod I ever did and it was the best...

[muslhed]

The wear on my front tires is minimal across the tread patch. In fact, if it weren't for the completely bald inners, I'm sure I could get another 20K out of them, but I may ne dead wrong on that. All I do know is that there's alot of tread left on these tires.

I dropped my car off today at the dealership, and was given a complimentary Chevy Trailblazer rent-a-car. Those things are SLOW for a 270 hp I-6! Anyway, they told me that they would take care of all my cars ailments, and make it right. We'll see what happens.

.

[muslhed]

Got my car back today. The axle bearings were bad. Power is now restored, and it doesn't shift as bad. Now if I could just sell this thing....

[jspradii]

The Marauder is NOTORIOUS for going out of alignment. Every time you have service or an oil change done, you need to have your alignment checked. Mine has been outside tolerances every time. I can see it. Most folks can't or don't. Even my aligner can't "see" the obvious toe or cambe difference, but for some reason I can! The Panther bodies have always had their issues with alignment, the MM is no different. DO check it with someone who knows what they're doing.

[jspradii]

Got my car back today. The axle bearings were bad. Power is now restored, and it doesn't shift as bad. Now if I could just sell this thing....
Contact me at jspradii@aol.com and I'll put you in touch with someone who can fix this problem (hint: it's not your dealer), but someone who has worked on mine since it was new (I NEVER took my car to dealer). Don't give up the car. Get some PROFESSIONAL help.

Jim:banana2:

[jspradii]

Got my car back today. The axle bearings were bad. Power is now restored, and it doesn't shift as bad. Now if I could just sell this thing....
By the way, depending on the VIN of your car, those axle bearings may very well be covered by warranty. Give me a call. 318-573-1198.

[David Morton]

That's what I was told when I called the service mgr @ my local LM dealer and asked him why the insides of my front tires are completely bald on my 19K mile '03 300-A MM! When I repeated that this was a MER-CU-RY MA-RA-DER, and that it came from his own dealership with different sized tires on the front than the rear, he said, "well, you still gotta rotate dem tiiiiires, or dale git baaaald like dat!"!!! WTF???
I'm scheduled to take it in to that same dealership tomorrow, to get the tranny looked at, because it shifts worse than my 270K mile S-10 4x4 truck. Feels like torque converter issues in a big way. It is also hard to start, idles rough, and "surges" non stop when I crank it up in the morning, for about 10 minutes. It's just a barrel of headaches right now. Any suggestions or comments would be great!Long list. Here's what I'd do. First, replace your front tires and get your front end set. Ask them to set the camber to a more positive value. I don't doubt factory specs would wear the insides out at 19K miles. Take her to an SVT Ford dealership. Second, have them look at that harness that stretches across the valve cover on the drivers side and see if it is chafed through to the wires (insist on a new harness if it is, since some of the wires involve emissions devices and are covered under warranty by law for 100,000 miles). Third, have them check that ground wire that goes from the back of the block to the body. Oh, and tell them (the SVT service writer) that you're fed up with the bull your LM dealer has given you, and that you want to start giving them all of your business.

Now, about this rotation issue. Has anybody noticed that our BFG GForce tires have molded into the sidewalls, "mount this side in"? Now, unless the service writers are being deliberately obtuse by recommending we dismount the tires and mount them wrong side out, or are ignorant of the hazards of changing the rolling direction of the tire, something the manufacturer of the tire says will void any warranty, then this whole issue of rotation is moot.

It is implicit by vehicle, tire design and warranty requirements that...

...they can never be rotated! :mad:

The only way to fix the wear problem is to find a camber value that best suits your driving style.