Oh, and welcome to the forums.

 

Thanks!


I may know a guy I can use his balancer... Been a while since I called him up though!
I did spend a couple summers as a teen as a tire guy for Goodyear. I got the basics down. This is just my first mustang, I've always had "almost mustang"s.. 87 cougar xr7, and 3 different mn12s. They've all been a LOT different mechanically from this s197 platform. LOL.

 

At that many miles I would definitely check the front wheel bearing assembly. I know this is a weak part and racers change them out often. Jack up the front of the car and put you hands at 12 and 6 o'clock on the outside of the tire and push/pull to see if you have any play. I had one go out before 50,000 miles.

 

Bearings, rotors, bent rim on the INSIDE. Bent suspension components. Uneven tires.

 

Check the wheel bearings and ball joints. Ford revised the ball joints mid'08 and beefed them up a bit. The 05-early 08's had the older style which were prone to wearing out fairly quickly. An easy swap is the FRPP Aka GT500 front lower control arms.

I wouldn't bother trying to replace just the ball joint. They are press fit and you don't save much by buying just the joint instead of the entire arm with the joint.

 

I'm headed to a buddy's shop in the morning to balance the tires and check for trueness and runout. I'll ask his opinion of the bearings while I am there if he's not slammed. I've checked everything and it all seems tight. but now that bearings are mentioned I do seem to notice a little bit of bearing noise, but being my first mustang I'm not honestly sure if it is or not. I understand these aren't luxury cars, just can't decide if It's bearings or road noise.

the car really drives tight going down the road It's just long high speed sweeping turns that it all goes bad. it doesn't jiggle, shake, float, or anything weird around town other than the mad strut mount clanking.

if my guy says everything is fine I'm just going to start throwing the gt500 parts at it starting with lca's and strut mounts and go from there.

 

1. Have a RoadForce balance done. It'll pickup what normal spin balancers won't.
2. Are the wheels OE? Aftermarket wheels require the removal of the wheel stud clips installed to help on the assembly line. They prevent the aftermarket wheels from sitting flush against the rotor. Their existence on your car can be hit or miss.
3. 136k miles and you have the OE tires? Damn!
4. Worn out suspension components can cause vibrations.

Good luck!

 

Well, found the cause, almost certainly. 3 of my tires are like freakin oval. Belts must be separating. I couldn't see it looking from the side on the car, but on the balancer it's BAD. The machine was calling for 4+oz inside and out on 3 of them. Only 1 was good, my RF tire.

So I'm trying to decide what decently priced tires to put on it now. Not going back with these perelli's.. But also can't afford to drop $175+ per tire right now either.

 

I've been pretty happy with the GoodYear Eagle GTs I've been running. Set of 4 mounted, etc tends to run about $600. If you know a guy, you might get out a little cheaper. As a plus, they seem to run 'wide' for the size. They certainly look to be wider than the PZeros, despite the same nominal size.

 

I smacked a curb pretty good when the car was fairly new and bent/broke an inner tie rod. Caused the exact problem you're describing. Like was stated previously, lift the front end and push pull on the tires at the 12 oclock and 6 oclock positions, then at the 9 and 3 oclock. If you have play at 12/6 it's likely ball joint or control arm issue/s. Play at 9/3 is tie rod or steering rack issue. The wheels should move as the rack hydraulics extend but should be tight. Any slack or rattle and you have a problem.

EDIT: I see you found the cause. yeah, tire belt separation would be a problem too!