I bought a brand new F350 the end of December that has been back to the purchasing dealer Cochran Ford of Youngstown 5 times for excessive vibrations at highway speeds. The first time at 200miles and within my first few days of ownership. They tried their best at balancing the original tires twice with no luck and then replaced them with another set of Bridgestones that they couldn’t get to balance. Then put the original tires back on and ordered some Michelins. Again, excessive vibrations. Each time it was weeks to get in, then wait for Fords approval, then wait again for the tires to come in. One time they told me there were only 3 of the tires I needed in the entire country and they had to source the fourth. Each time I sat for hours in the waiting room while they tried to figure out how to run the tire machine.
After the fifth time at Cochran I called Ford Customer care to ask for help. The woman read the prompts from her computer screen and scheduled me an appointment at Phil Fitts Ford in new Castle, Pa. At New Castle, the tech and I test drove my truck with and we jiggled down the highway together. The Tech, who looked like he rode his skate board or BMX bike to work said it felt normal. We then test drove a new 2025 F350 that was on the lot and it shook worse than mine. See, it’s normal, he said. The service advisor told me that I need to load 1,000 lbs in the bed for the pinion angles to align. I did not let them touch my truck.
I then called Bill McCandless Ford in Mercer and explained my situation and asked them to Roadforce balance my tires . They attempted the RF and all 4 tires had RFV over 50 with the highest over 60. They didn’t know what they could do for me and returned my truck. After some phone tag back and fourth the service advisor at McCandless was trying to help me when her manager screamed at her in the background that my issues are Cochrans problem and not theirs. That ended her willingness to help. She gave me a couple names at another dealership to call.
I called Ford Customer Care back to find out my case has been closed because it was opened for a passenger vehicle and not a truck- even though I provided my vin and told them it was a truck. They then opened a new case just to tell me that tires are sold as is and have no warranty. They can not help me! This entire experience has been a nightmare and I’m done dealing with Ford service departments. I tried to trade my truck in for a different brand, and after looking at the carfax, they werent interested and told me to lean on ford to fix the vibrations and come back.
Friday I took my truck to Horst Tire Service to roadforce balance my tires. They were able to match mount 2 of them and get acceptable RFV in the 20’s, but the other two were still in the high 40’s after match mounting. It only took them an hour to provide that service. They asked me to take the truck and if it still vibrated they would order 2 new tires. I drove it over the weekend and it still had a vibration in the seat but the steering wheel cleared up. They order 2 new tires on Monday and I had them installed Tuesday- no searching the countryside for them. The RFV on the new tires are 2 and 23. So after spending over $700 on my brand new truck, now all 4 tires are in acceptable RFV range and balanced to zero…. I haven’t made it on the highway yet to see if the vibrations have cleaned up. It’s a shame after spending $60,000 on a truck that this is the level of service you get. This has turned out to be a complete nightmare and I regret every minute of it
Seems to be a growing trend among many automakers to extend the lives of their vehicle platforms. The longer you make a certain platform (e.g. Panther) the more money you make.
I get what you’re saying and while Bronco’s specified CAFE target mpg may not be an issue right now,
the numbers increase each year and could /will become problematic to the combined fleet tally for Ford.
Not saying this is so and I don’t have any insider knowledge to support this but one way around the CAFE
problem would be to name the first two CE1 BEVs Ranger and Bronco.
Thanks for video. News on Mercedes GLC just prior to Colorado segment, and Afeela just after are quite interesting also. Wonder what’s behind the Colorado delay?
From Auto Forecast Solutions. Go to the 7:39 mark.
https://www.autoline.tv/daily/ad-4054-u-s-house-ready-to-gut-ev-incentives-xiaomi-su7-gets-lowest-quality-rating-gm-hires-sterling-anderson-as-product-czar/
We'll see if all of these convert, especially considering the low price of entry at $50 for reserving....
Slate Already Has an Insane Amount of Reservations for its Truck
Slate, the startup electric carmaker with backing from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, revealed on Monday it has secured over 100,000 reservations for its affordable pickup truck. The refundable reservations cost $50 each, meaning Slate has raised over $5 million in reservation fees alone.
I think I posted this a few years ago, but what did we determine regarding Truck 417? I know Mack used the C-series cab for one of their cabovers using 4 headlights. The front sheet metal looks like a Ford, but look at the grille and the side sheet metal. Very strange! I guess up in Canada they don't abide by silly rules like saying a truck has outlived its usefulness after 20 years! Although I think New York keeps its trucks a longer time. And even if you consider the electrical (including wiring itself) and hydraulic (ladder) systems, diamond plate, steel, aluminum, paint etc., a fire truck shouldn't cost $1 million! But it's like selling apples for $1 million a piece. All you have to do is sell one! And since they don't sell that many fire trucks, they're going to ask top dollar for the ones they DO sell! So in 2014, this truck was 55 years old!
(571) Beauharnois Fire Dept. - Old Trucks Still in Service! (feat. 1959 Ford C-Series - Full HD) - YouTube