[Big Smoke]

I'm facing a suspension issue in my 2018 Ford Aspire Diesel.

About 5 days back, I got the 50000 km servicing done. After the scheduled servicing, I got the wheel balancing & wheel alignment done. Post the wheel balancing & alignment (& tyre rotation also), the front suspension has become like a basket ball!

The tyre pressure is exactly the same (33 PSI Nitrogen). I mean, how is this even possible? Before the wheel balancing & alignment, the suspension wasn't this hard!

My car is driven through bad roads (New Town to Barrackpore (Kolkata)) three days a week. All the 50000 km has been almost exclusively covered on this stretch of road. I know that it's a lot of abuse to drive so much on this pathetic route, but I personally expected the suspension to last longer (if the suspension has actually gone kaput now).

Please provide me with some guidance & suggestions / thoughts / views on what to do now.

[NaXal]

My 2017 Aspire TDCi is approaching 5 years mark. Oddo stands at around 40k kms.

I have been rotating all 4 tyres at 12-15k interval and wear seems to even. Recently I have done the 5th yearly service at Ganges Ford Kolkata and as per them with Ford Service Checklist procedure, tyre thread depth is still at green and good for atleast another 20k kms.

Although the spare wheel is a full size same make and model but since the RIM is steel, so never used it till date.

Recently my front right tyre had a nasty double puncture. One single nail bent itself to do side by side double puncture. Tyre was completely flat. Fortunately, the loss of air happened at my parking.





Used my hydraulic lifting jack to get the wheel out and took it to a nearby road side puncture repair shop since the usual MRF or such larger tyre shops were closed due to local covid lockdown. Big mistake.



Although he was able to get the strips in but made a complete mess of the situation. Further, the puncture holes were too close to each other and we both weren't very comfortable about it.

So got that wheel fitted and traveled out of the local lockdown zone & bought one single piece of same make and model tyre.



Apollo Alnac 175/65-R14 -> Rs. 4200/-

Since my spare wheel was completely unused, so decided to get it out of its steel RIM and fit it to Front Left and install the new in Front Right.

Two new tyres at front



Got the balancing done before installing the wheels.



Now as the technician was prepping the car for alignment check, unfortunately my battery gave up. Lots of relay clicking sound but no cranking. It wasn't a surprise, since Ford Service did warn me of a week battery and insisted on immediate replacement.

So bought a new battery too. Same size / spec as default OEM Ford given battery.

Amaron -> Rs. 4200/- (including the exchange value)



Gave the car a wash & came back home after spending Rs. 8600/- + Rs. 600/- (WA/WB / Puncture / Washing etc)



Till date this is the highest I have ever paid on maintenance of this car.

[corvus corax]

Till date this is the highest I have ever paid on maintenance of this car.

The title of the news to this post gives out the impression that the car is plagued with issues and warrants frequent maintenance, burdening the owner's wallet while in reality two unfortunate punctures in the same tire and changing the 5 year old battery (5 years of life is decent for a diesel car battery) forced him to spend the highest amount he had ever paid on the maintenance of that car.
I don't know if the news titles are automatically generated, but request the mods to alter it accordingly.

[RaviGowda]

Naxal, I would say this is just one unfortunate situation. I had Ford Aspire trend TDCI between 2015 - 2019 and had driven it for 60k kms before trading it of for Renault Duster. I say this Ford car is probably the cheapest to maintain car til date from the Ford portfolio, my service cost never crossed 6~7k. I am comparing based on my previous experience of owning 2 Ford cars.

[Aditya]

Thanks to Prem for sending this information in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP share page!

Dear Team-BHP,

Greetings for the day! I want to share my recent experience with Ford.

Aspire service cost < Activa service cost:

I own a Ford Diesel Aspire Sports Edition. Recently, I got the 5 year / 50,000 service done and I also wrote on a paper the list of problems to be addressed (in my native language, which the service guy could understand) in the car other than servicing. To my surprise, the service estimate given was Rs. 3,610 (via SMS). I asked the service advisor to change all the filters and oil, even if it needed just cleaning. The list included diesel filter, AC filter, oil filter, etc and replacing the mud flap. The final bill I got after all the issues were addressed was Rs. 5,134, which was incredible considering the 1-year interval service.

With the same conditions, my Honda Activa's company service cost comes to Rs. 3,000 almost for 6 months and it doubles for 1 year. Though the service cost is really less for a Rs. 9 lakh car, Ford still remains an "unsung hero" and unknown to this world .

The hunt for 195/55 R15 tyres:

My Aspire also needed its stock Apollo Alnac 4Gs to be replaced, but the tyre profile is rare - 195/55 R15, which I could not find anywhere. All I could find were Yokohoma S Drives with a sports pattern, but they are known for their tyre noise. Other than that, the same Apollo Alnacs were available, but of older dates. I searched all over South India and most dealers knew my name the tyre profile I was looking for. I was badly in need of premium tyres like Michelin (they stopped production) / Continental (the size / profile was not available) / Pirelli (no production).

After hunting with determination for 3 months, at last, I got Ford’s Regional Sales Manager’s number, contacted him and pleaded with him. Then, he spoke to the Continental factory and luckily, or due to my intense search for the particular tyre profile, they agreed to manufacture the tyres and I was promised that I would get the tyres. The invoice was raised and now that the production would have started, I will get the tyres delivered in first week of April.

This shows how committed Ford is to its customers who are knocking at the right door. I am happy now. I want to share with fellow BHPians, that those who are in need of Continental 195/55 R15 tyres for their Aspire / Freestyle / Figo can inquire with a Ford dealer. It will be a win-win situation for everyone.

[The Rationalist]

I do agree that the routine service costs are reasonable for Ford. Hope the things stay like that for the forseeable future. My Aspire automatic came back from 60000 km service, the bill came to ₹15,000 (tax amount itself came to ₹3000!) . Needed battery change, engine mount change, brake pad, liner etc. But the DCT experience compensates for the wallet damage!

All the cars I owned have encountered engine mount damage, is it related to agressive driving? Experts opine please.

[Turrrb0]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Thanks to Prem for sending this information in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP share page!

Would it be possible to know which model of continental tyres these are ?

[The_Outsider!]

Originally Posted by Turrrb0

Would it be possible to know which model of continental tyres these are ?

As per Continental's website, there is only one model for this tyre size, the ContiMaxContact MC5.

[MaheshY1]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Thanks to Prem for sending this information in.

Things are not adding up right it seems. I get that the Ford service cost is reasonable but the Activa doesn't have an AC filter, fuel filter, oil filter and mud flap. It takes 800ml oil twice a year. For 1 air filter, 1.6L engine oil, labour, greasing, and washing, it can't cost Rs. 5000 to maintain an Activa. It should be about Rs. 1,500 for the entire year. There's probably more work done in the Activa for the service cost to go up to Rs. 5000 levels. I'm keen to see the invoice for the 6k/year Activa service. I'm sure there's something besides the usual consumables. Moreover, the car didn't get new air and fuel filters even though the customer asked for them. 2x Alignment and 1x balancing are also part of 1-year routine maintenance for a car, which we're excluding here. Activa doesn't need these.

[yashg]

Originally Posted by Aditya

All the cars I owned have encountered engine mount damage, is it related to agressive driving?

Even my Aspire DCT has had an engine mount change. Mine also broke around 5 years mark.

Ford's service costs are indeed on the lower side. But you have to be careful about what they add to the service. My last service (6th year) cost me around 7K. A 3M internal panel protection of 2K was added without informing me or asking me. I only noticed it after getting the car back. If they had asked me and explained to me what it was, I probably would have consented.

[Rshrey22]

Originally Posted by The_Outsider!

As per Continental's website, there is only one model for this tyre size, the ContiMaxContact MC5.

Attachment 2294356

Some tyres are only on papers, There was a 195 section tyre in their catalogue for 14 inches but the shopkeeper was sure that the tyre was non existent when I went to Continental tyre dealer to change my Dzire's tyres. Had to settle with 185/70/14.

[Thilak29]

My car covered 1 lakh km in about 6 year span, today service got completed and bill amounted to about 5200 rupee , of which some 800 bucks was tax.
Couple of months ago Honda charged close to 3000 for my sparingly used Aviator.

[Aviator_guy]

Originally Posted by Thilak29

My car covered 1 lakh km in about 6 year span, today service got completed and bill amounted to about 5200 rupee , of which some 800 bucks was tax.
Couple of months ago Honda charged close to 3000 for my sparingly used Aviator.

What was the work done? Oil change and regular maintenance charge itself used to be about 2.5 - 3k (for my Maruti and Hyundai cars) so the figure of 5200 sounds to be too good given that it is important 1Lac km service.

[Thilak29]

Originally Posted by Aviator_guy

What was the work done?

Typical service no major part overhaul or replacement warranted. It involved oil change, filter change (air, cabin, oil). I had some observations which were rectified but nothing significant.

[r24x7]

My TDCI aspire recently was flood damaged and it costed me close to 1.5 Lakhs in total for replacement + labour of the following items

• Complete Engine short block assembly replacement
• Engine head servicing + compression test
• Clutch assembly replacement
• Alternator replacement
• Starter motor replacement
• Air filter replacement
• Fuel filter replacement
• Engine oil replacement
• Compressor oil replacement
• Car floor carpet replacement
• Wiring harness under carpet replacement
• Air bag control module replacement.
• Few more consumables

Most of the items carried a cost of 28% GST!
Comparing with other brands , I felt Ford's pricing to be on the lower side.