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Update: My trick worked. I simply grabbed some vise grips and a pry bar (AKA large screwdriver) and bent the backing plate away from the rotor about 1/8". My suspicions were correct. The rotors are slightly deeper due to that extra lip on the inside, which caused it to rub. Persuading the...

Old thread, but I'll add something [hopefully worthwhile] to the discussion. This morning I replaced my rear brakes; rotors, shoes, and pads. The calipers were solid and functional, fortunately. Everything works great. I check my brakes while moving in Drive and Reverse, just to be sure...

I have an X with ~172k miles on it, so hopefully I can provide a little bit of insight. Hopefully, most of the maintenance was done and any problems were fixed in good time. Here are a few things to look for, all of which I've personally replaced in the last year or will be replacing in the...

Rondo: Thanks for the write-up! I'll be replacing the MFS very soon (what a purely coincidental acryonym for how I feel about this thing), as it has been acting up lately and was part of the reason my X failed safety inspection this month.

Have you considered resurfacing it and painting with a flat or matte color? Chrome paint may not turn out well (I have no experience with it), but black could look pretty sharp. Plenty of options are out there, in lieu of wrapping, such as plasti-dip, urethane coatings (think Rhino Liner...

Just noticed this thread...I poked around a few of the sections, but I'm nowhere near current on all 74 pages of discussion & pictures. In summary: Nice work! I'm assuming, by the size of a few of the objects you're powder coating, that you have a larger oven than you originally started with...

I have an old '66 GMC pickup on which I've been working as a hobby, as well as my daily driver '04 Explorer. The former has rust for miles, while the X has quite a bit of its own over the rear passenger wheel -- all around the gas fill cap area. I will have to cut out the entire quarter...

Scuff over the old clear coat. You can do a decent job with rattle-can paint, such as Krylon Fusion as karlos2 mentioned, or if you have any form of spray gun you can utilize one of those. Either way, make sure you do a little bit of practice work either on a section which will be covered up...

A strong impact gun with pre-emptive PB blaster soaking will help break up the crud from that lower shock bolt. If it gets 100% seized like mine did, you'll need to cut it up with a cutoff wheel, reciprocating saw, or Ox/Acetylene cutting torch -- or just do like me and replace the LCA and coil...

Nice work. DIY always has a learning curve, but is well worth the extra effort, IMHO.

Well this thread got Lazarus'd after about 5 years of inactivity, so.... :salute:

I found this to be true as well, for both the Upper and Lower Control Arms. Although I did run into complications with heavy corrosion, most ~10 year old X's won't have the levels of rust which mine had. Being parked on the Jersey shore for a decade really tore some things up...

Troubleshooting skills seems to be primarily what separates the good mechanics/technicians from the bad ones. Good job.

RockAuto is pretty good, and they ship very quickly. There should also be some discount codes floating around here...mine expired last week. Anyone have a 5% code they're willing to share?

If you don't have to deal with too much corrosion, like I did, the work isn't too bad to do yourself. My truck had a TON of corrosion underneath, and I actually had to replace the original shock bolts & nuts. If I didn't have air tools, there's no way I'd have gotten it done alone. It really...

I've seen people take the joints out with an air chisel or a press. In a pinch, I've heard that a C-clamp can be an effectively impromptu press, if you do it right. Good luck!

The rubber boot is split; it's bad. That split will allow water and other contaminants to get inside, which will degrade the metal over time. It may last a bit, but you should replace it now. Besides, if you're doing a ball joint by itself they're fairly easy. I personally replaced the...

Does your X have its factory windshield, or has that been replaced at any time? I once had a windshield replaced by a large auto-glass company; my windshield obviously didn't seal properly and had a pinhole leaking right down into my driver's-side A-pillar (where the SRS is located!), which...

I understood his sarcasm. It's just hard to read into nuance with text-only forums, so I didn't convey that understanding in my response :thumbsup: My fault.

I doubt, with such stellar business practices, that Midas is going to pay its employees anywhere near what they charge the customer for an hour of labor.

Nailing down the solution and sharing it for others is an important part of the back-and-forth nature of help forums, such as this one. If possible, the OP or a moderator should edit the title to include something like *SOLVED* or *FIXED*, so that everyone knows there is a viable fix within...

I had the same issue, but I just replaced the entire Coil Spring Assembly and Lower Control Arm at once. Dropped it out in one big, heavy piece. It was 100% seized up, and would have taken a lot of effort (or simply an OxAcetylene cutting torch) to get out. Doing that, however, I had to...

Seems to be the case with 10+ year old vehicles, doesn't it?

Wow...that sounds pretty bad. Is it possible your serpentine is out of alignment -- maybe causing too much tension on the whole system -- with the alternator bolts being a sort of "weakest link", so to speak? Just speculation. When was the last time you had your pulleys and/or tensioner arm...

Hey if I'm that fortunate, it means I'll get another ~90K out of my truck! Just at 167K right now. Hell, even if I get to 200K, I'll call it solid (considering I received my X as a gift). In the couple of short months I've been browsing here, I've learned a lot. This place is pretty great :)