Just putting a question out ther for feedback. this is not our 1st front wheel drive car...none of the others did this.

We, my wifes car, have a 06 Milan. Very pleased with it so far. Yes it has the I4 engine and is peppy enough for her.

It just has this nasty quirk, highly intermittant suspention wiggle. seems like we have to hit a bumb just right and is most noticable at highway speeds, >45 mph. Seems to be on the passanger side only.

It becomes most unsettling with winter limited traction road conditions, then a bumb isn''t needed, or not much of one. It just starts to wiggle/sway and when your driving in multiple lanes and it does this, its a real white knuckle event. It has always corrected itself,never had to move the steeering wheel but we have to off the gas. But I have came close to start to counter steer to get out of it. Otherwise it seems to drive OK. No we do not use the cruise control in those driving conditions.

The best way to discribe it on partialy snow covered roads it feels like it wants to hydroplane or black ice & the rear want to go ahead of the front, for the most part to the passanger side. Or the suspension becomes untentioned from the front to the back, or back from the front, take your pick. And like there is elastic joining the rear wheels. This lasts only for a few seconds

In dry road conditions it will wiggle its butt at folks behind us and isn''t nearly as concerning, just irratating.

Now this does have the larger lowprofile tires, not sure whether that has anything to do with it or not??

Tires are very new front have just a few miles on them and the rear have <15k. The fronts were on the rear and were getting worn down pretty well...so we replaced them and put the new on the front. that wasn''t it.

Had this in twice to the dealership where we purchased it and checked the alignment both times and check suspension over and came out with no adjustment each time.

The servise manager told me that there was 3 other Milan owners with simular issues. Apprently we''re not the only ones. I have noticed fusions doing the same thing as we followed them

Like said it is intermittant making it hard to pin down. Just wondering if there were others out there that has experieced the same with their Milan and or Fusion''s and what was done to correct it???

thanks in Advance

I wonder if the brake rotors are out of balance. or it the wheel hubs are not tightened down properly. neither one will be noticeable at low speed. there may also be a problem with the shock absorbers. If they are letting the wheels bounce, you will have traction issues.

If it was in the wheel hub or rotors...wouldn''''t it do this on a more consistant level??


but I''''ll recheck the tourqe of the rim/lugnuts.


I asked the Service manager, if the larger 17" wheel package required a heavier wheel bearing???, He said, "No, that it wouldn''t matter all wheel bearings are the same". he also mentioned that when this has come up in the past, not neccesarliy with just Milan''s ...but in general they usually tweek or dial in the alignment better and problem solved.


what about the heavier rear sway bar like another thread was looking at?? or a non lubercated or under lubercated suspention bushing?





Edited by: enriched

heavier sway bars (if you can find them) will help stabilize roll, not alignment... usually. the bushings not being properly lubricated may cause some intermittent noise, but shouldn''t affect the driveability. I do know that with wider tires you will tend to hydroplane a little quicker than with the same type of skinny tires. and with wider tires, if the alignment is not pretty dead on, you will get pull and drift issues, which on water and other slick surfaces like snow, may end up with fishtailing motions. also, if the e-brake is dragging on one wheel, it may cause the tail wagging because one wheel is "sorta braking" while you''re not.

I''m not real sure what you should chase after, but if it''s all under warranty, let the dealer chase it until it''s fixed.

agreed that the dealership will chase it...just trying to give them something to chase. They are very content to let proper protocal be handed down from above.


On another form it was suggested that to put the older tires on the front and keep the newer tires be on the rear. (I will try this just tot see) I can kinda maybe see this if there was asignificant tread depth diffential between the front to the back. Inthis case , both sets are just about new. and yes, in wet and of wintery road conditions could explain the butt getting squrrily....it does not explain the summer wiggle with absolute prime driving conditions.


another suggestion was the trailing arm bushing is getting sloppy.

Ok rotated the older tires back to the front...so far nothing ....but it was intermittant before so time will tell.


now it like to pull towards the left, going straight down the road and release the wheel,also during braking.


how in the world does that happen, just from rotating the tires???[img]smileys/smiley5.gif[/img]

sounds like the older tires are suffering from radial drift. the steel radial belts in the tires can, over time, drift to one side of the tire causing a outer or inner pull due to the redistribution of weight in the tire. if simply rotating the tires did that, then one (or more) of the tires is out of balance.

hey thanks


I''ll have them checked

we took back to the dealer earlier this week...they''''ve swapped out the tires from a identical unit on the lot....like I mentioned at the begining...it highly intermittant...shows up most clearly with snow packed roads. and yes it did this prior to any tire changes and wintery driving conditions. It is abit early to tell if this is just a tire issue. Time will tell.


from a another site/form on individual suggested the it might be good..to help slow down in less than perffect road conditions.


No, I do not asscribe to the notion that this will help us, (primarily my wife), slow down in poor driving conditions...complete & utter hogwash, we have no trouble driving safely when road conditions are demanding it.


This is plain, flat out, dangerious. I need to feel confident that this car is going to act secure no matter what the roads are like. This design flaw...whether it is the tires or a deeper suspension issue...it should not be passifly accepted...but corrected. Nor should anyone else just accept it.


It certainly feels like it is visable to other drivers around us....what if.... another vehical over reacts upon seeing this...spins out ...or heaven forbid, set of a chain reaction in heavy traffic. If that happen everybody would be demanding it get fixedEdited by: enriched

the tail wagging has me stumped. Though that may be the source of all the issues. I really can''t fathom what could be going on with the car if they say the 4-wheel alignment is straight and true and the tires are good. If none of the brakes are dragging and traction controls are not malfunctioning, I can''t seem to figure out where the wiggle is coming from.