93 Mark feels old

A

Almostdaangel

Registered
This is my first posting, so I apologize if I make any errors.

I have a 93 Mark with 143,000 miles and going strong. I purchased it when I was 18, and now being 20 I've had my adventures and had my share leaving some cars in the dust and had my share of being dusted.

Age is starting to show suspension wise on my car. I've replaced the back shocks including the shock mounts.

In the front, I've replaced the tie rods (inner and outer), upper control arms, and the strut rod bushings.

Still though, when the car travels over the road imperfections(i.e. potholes, road work) , the car still likes to travel on its own (aligment was done, steering wheel is crooked and I get a vibration from the steering wheel due the road (it jolts and you feel all the imperfections). Also you hear when you hit em and it causes the CD player to skip at times.. I hate to be blunt, but it sucks esp. when you have somebody in the car... Then the Lincoln dosn't feel like a Lincoln should.

I would appreciate any help that I can get. I plan on keeping this car, it was kept by Ford as a promo and I really love it. It is the first car I purchased and I'll have it paid off by the end of this year. Sometimes I feel like the mechanics see "sucker" on my forehead because they think I don't know anything.

Just in case this helps, the tires have been balanced and rotated, and I had a bent rim and replaced it. They are Toyo V rated P245/50/R16..

Thanks,
Brandon
 
RE: 93 Mark feels old

Welcome to the group.

You didn't mention if you've changed the front struts. Even though the air spring may still be holding the car up - the shock that it's built around sometimes goes bad. The easiest check I know of - is the old bounce test. Push down on the front of the car (don't dent the top of the fender!) and if the car bounces to a stop - more than just once or so - you likely have bad shocks.

We have a number of lower priced parts suppliers around the board here that can sell you new or rebuilt struts - and you could likely put them on yourself with a little instruction.
 
RE: 93 Mark feels old



The shocks on the front are original.

When I did the shock test, It was hard for me to even push the front end down! When I did, it just popped right back with no bouncing.


I was planning to replace them with my income tax return (that and the HIDs) and maybe some more if I get the same return as I did this year, but I wanted to make sure what else could cause the ride to be "sucky".

Many thanks,
Brandon
 
RE: 93 Mark feels old

If you read some old archived articles you might see people saying that the 93's had a strut design that will bind when it gets old. The best fix according to most is to retrofit the 97-98 struts which were redesigned and work the best. My car is about the same as yours, 93 with 152k. My mom has complained that it doesn't ride as good as her town car. (I know the Mark is obviously supposed to be more sporty) but I wonder too, because it seems to bounce a lot on wavy roads. I don't have anything to compare against. I have not replaced any of the front end stuff. I did put 98 shocks on the back with new mounts. Yours sounds like it is riding a little worse than mine. And since you have replaced most everything, I would lean toward shocks. But I have the steering wheel vibes when I go over railroad tracks or sharp bumps. I don't know if shocks would fix this. I wonder if new steering rack is necessary. A new rack off of rockauto.com is about $150 and I think includes inner and outer tie rod ends. Eddie at American Air Suspensions sells the 98 struts for reasonable price and I think he has free shipping now. If you did those you would pretty much have a new front end. By the way I am running with 245/50/16 Yokohamas.

Craig
 
RE: 93 Mark feels old

Just in case this helps, the tires have been balanced and rotated, and I had a bent rim and replaced it. They are Toyo V rated P245/50/R16..
Click to expand...

Tires, tires, tires...

IMHO Michelin is hard to beat for ride quality. I recently aquired a set of rims complete with tires and removed my Michelins and mounted the new rims with Brand X tires. Seldom does one experience the ride getting worse with changing tires... it was extremely worse. I can only attribute the harshness to a stiffer sidewall or just plain harder tires. But I intend to run the tires until the remaining tread is gone.
 
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