GT_IE

Based on my understanding of the instructions from Ford, Yes, No, No.

i really like it. For less than $10 you can pick up black caliper paint and do the calipers yourself. I've done the front on my MKT and it was a piece of cake, just haven't gotten around to the back yet. the only special tool you need is a torque wrench for when you put everything back on. Yes, I torque everything including the lug nuts to spec.

My point remains, SYNC is the focal point of the customer experience in the vehicles where it is loaded. An auto company should be more careful if they are going to try to become a technology company, which they are doing if they are making SYNC the focal point of the vehicle and an advertising campaign. This sub forum is a place to tell Ford what we wish for. I wish they would clean up Sync. Is your position that you wish they wouldn't? I don't give a crap about how it got to where it is now, I just want it cleaned up. I've worked in corporate IT for 19 years. Plenty long to know that customers don't really care what's behind the curtain, they just want it to all work. If Sync is going to stay in the center of the dash, instead of just an AM/FM radio, then they better get it bulletproof. Personally, I'd like to see consumers drive this point home to Ford by returning vehicles with Sync bugs under the Lemon Law and forcing Ford to fix it or refund the money. If Ford had gone to a new Transmission provider and my tranny acted up the way Sync does, do you think it would really fly to just shrug it off and say "shit happens". MSRP on my car is almost $60k. If I'm going to pay to have integrated Navigation, it better have the Hyatt Regency in a major city included in the POI, otherwise I'll consider it a POS. And expecting me to pay $150 every time I want the latest map update when it is such a POS, you gotta be kidding me. I've resorted to sticking my old Garmin Nuvi to the windshield and not using the nav system that comes as part of a $4,000 option. If they want repeat customers, they need to fix that.

I like the Apple products that I have, but I'm typing this in Mozilla Firefox on a Windows XP PC. My point remains, SYNC is the focal point of the customer experience in the vehicles where it is loaded. Most drivers are going to be MUCH more acutely aware of the fact that there navigation system interface STINKS (not to mention the missing addresses and points of interest) than how stiff their suspension is. "Sync" couldn't find the Hyatt Regency in downtown Atlanta (it's probably been there 25 years). Sync started off playing every song on my ipod. Then it got to where a few songs, it would come upon and just sit quiet for 2 secs and go to the next one. That went on and on until over half the songs wouldn't play, and when I unplugged my ipod, it had to be wiped clean and reloaded. Never happened in the 5 YEARS i used the same ipod with the aftermarket Alpine in my last car. Sync won't let me enter an adress when the car is moving. Seriously??? I'm supposed to pull off the highway to search POIs for a reststop or restaurant?!?!? I just held up Apple as an example of a product with a consistently better customer experience. Garmin would be 1000x better for the navigation. The point is, the SYNC experience is poisoning the Ford/Lincoln experience. I love my MKT, I don't love my SYNC. Finally, yes I DO know what a moderator is for. To MODERATE and insure an open discussion without abusive language and to make sure the rules of a forum are followed, NOT to be a Ford fanboy and and attack constructive criticism. Mods are supposed to be neutral.

Seriously? You're a moderator??? First, you didn't even know that you could download you own updates and had to run the car while they load. Second, I wouldn't make a special trip to the dealer JUST for a sync update. Third, even if I DID make a special trip, it uses less gas for me than idling 40 minutes since it is about 4 miles. Fourth, because of MicroSoft's terrible architecture and way of doing business with a customer-experience last attitude, the dealer would almost certainly have to let the car idle while updating also. Finally, the point has less to do with using gas and more to do with the quality of a user experience. In order to update a bug-ridden software interface (that has NOTHING to do with "new technology") I have to spend 40 minutes idling in my car HOPING that it works the first time. The MS operating system that is the heart of sync is just as bug-ridden and end-user unfriendly as so many other MS products. Why do you think Windows Mobile has such small penetration? Because there's serious competition from Apple and Android. There are "generations" of Sync also. Support and development on the 1st generation is already drying up. Ford better have a better plan than stranding people who keep there cars for 10 years with a computer that no longer gets upgrades. How happy would you be with a 2001 computer right now? A single core, Pentium 4 running 500 MHz and Windows 2000??? Sync is OK at best, but without the ability to easily upgrade, it will get dated fast. I don't care how much discussion there has been about Apple's closed architecture. Their products are far superior when it comes to customer experience and as a customer I would prefer an Apple on my dash over Microsoft ANY DAY.

I think Ford really needs to get their act together on Sync. What i wouldn't give for it to be based on an apple platform instead of microsoft. First off, how can you seriously expext us to leave the car idling in park for 40 minutes to update software. On top of the huge inconvenence factor, if ford has a million cars doing this, thats about 50 tons of CO being dumped into the atmosphere. Next, it looks like you are just going to abandon generations of users. I keep a car for 8 to 10 years. If my generation of sync just gets abandoned after a couple of years, you can bet i will remember that when i shop for my next car. 5 or 6 years from now when i am getting getting my fourth phone, it better work. And of course there are all the bugs. When my music won't play or it MANGLES my audio command, it reflects on my perception of the whole car. I dont get pissed at the radio, i get pissed at the car.

About a month ago I bought my brand new, 2010 Lincoln MKT. Yes, you can still find a few in dealer inventory and with the 2012s soon to arrive, they are eager to give some really good deals. Forget paying below MSRP, you'll be paying well below invoice. I paid $54 for an airtran ticket and drove it home 280 miles, but saved $$$. I've made a couple of Mods so far that I thought I'd share. I'd appreciate seeing anything else folks have had success with. I'm particularly interested in the wood dashboard trim kits. It looks like B&I and Sherwood are the 2 leading contenders, but I have 2 problems. First, should I do this at all or in 5 years will it have peeled, cracked and otherwise look like a big mistake. If I do go ahead, which kit? B&I or Sherwood?? First Mod I made was free and easy, de-badge the back end. I love the clean look. The lettering on the rear is just attached with 3M double sided table. You can "saw" it off with Dental Floss or Fishing Line. Then a little Goo-Gone (or WD40) to get off the residue. Finally a really fine polish and wax (I used Meguiars swirl remover, then polish, then wax) and you can't tell it was ever there. Next, it was VHT Nite shades on the tail lights. First, a light scuffing wet-sand with 2000 grit and soapy water. Then I taped off all around it, over the camera, and over the chrome strips. On the reflectors down on the bumper, tape over the round plastic pieces, they are sensors for the reverse & blindspot detection. I taped over the clear reverse lights too. Then, a light coat of nite shades. Remove the tape over the reverse lights, and 2 more light coats of nite shades, so 3 coats on the red and 2 on the clear (too dark on the clear and you can't see when you back up). Finally, it was about 4 coats of clear coat. I polished that out 24 hours later, but wasn't entirely happy with the finish, so I taped it all off again and did 4 or 5 coats of Rustoleum Automotive ENAMEL clear. Since it is an enamel paint, this needs a good week to cure before polishing it out, so I'm still waiting. Then, it was Plasti-dip spray over the chrome strip and emblem in the middle. Plasti-dip is awesome, completely reversible. Great for experimenting, but hardy enough to hold up for quite a while. (google "plasti dip wheels" for good examples) I think I like the chrome on the emblem, but not the horizontal strips so probably going to take the black off the emblem. Then, smoked the exhaust tips with DupliColor Shadow. Finally, on to the front where I hit the grills with plasti-dip. All in all, this is still less that $40 worth of materials.