This is just a cautionary tale of how you ought to get knocks, bumps and judders seen to.

I had a problem with my car juddering as I was going "at speed" (on private roads of course!). If I took it anywhere near 80-90mph and above I got a shaking/shivering sensation through the steering wheel which was really unnerving.

I took my car to Elite Tyres in Rainham, Essex ( Elite Design ) and they did the balancing and tracking for me. It turned out my rear near side tyre had no weights in it whatsoever and both front ones were a "little bit out" but the rear tyre was the cause of my judder.

I then had the tracking done when I noticed I could get more of the tip of my finger down the tread on the inside edge of my tyres than the outside edge. It turned out my tracking was "quite a bit out but I've seen worse". I've attached a couple of pics to illustrate how bad it was. It seems the black arrows are supposed to line up with the circled black marks in the very centre of the green & red bars (I hope you can all make the pics out and please excuse the wonky scanning!)

Before:


After:


I'll be attempting a refund. I didnt get it done at my local dealership because I just dont trust them. I also get the "doesnt know what she's on about woman driver" treatment. If I can get a refund on my mk5 nearly a year after I voided my warranty, I'll darn well try getting one on the ST!

yay I knew that Elite would sort her out for you!!!

thats interesting, im sure my tracking is out, bloody thing is always pulling to the left

Mine was too so I would advise you get it looked at.

u go pink, mind u tho m8 i have had nothing liek that with my ST yet

I always get my tracking done at least once a year, regardless of whether I've had new tyres or anything fitted, as its amazing what little effort it can take to knock it out as Pink has found. I don't think its the way it was setup when it left the Ford factory though, more just the abuse the suspension takes from the rutted, pot-holed roads we have in this country.

For anyone in the Hampshire area, I can thoroughly recommend Supertracker in Southampton. They actually make the laser alignment rigs so you'd struggle to find anyone who knows more about tracking and suspension geometry than them, plus it only costs about £40 for all 4 wheels. They can also do bloody cheap (i.e. trade price) tyres but thats another story...