Today we are going to check out a problem that may prove to be unsafe. If you notice any handling or grip problems on your Ford Escape , it is important that you drive carefully and take care of it fairly quickly. Our team has posted this guideline to help you solve them. First, we’ll fairly quickly check out the main elements that ensure effective road handling, then we’ll check out why your Ford Escape doesn’t hold the road any more, and finally we’ll check out how to solve your grip complications.

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What are the main elements that ensure great road holding and handling on a Ford Escape?

We begin this content page by fairly quickly describing the most important elements that will ensure good road holding for your Ford Escape. It’s important to know that a vehicle’s grip is a science in itself. It will therefore be based upon many factors, we will describe below the most important ones that can be affected:

  • Shock absorbers: The most important elements of your road handling, they permanently ensure the contact between the wheels and the road. They absorb all shocks and holes on the road.
  • Tyres: They are the ones that will ensure the grip of your Ford Escape on the road, the softer they are, the more grip you have, but the faster they get broken, the harder they are, the less grip you have, but the more resistant they are. Temperature affects their wear. Their size will as well play on grip, the wider they are the more contact with the ground will be significant.
  • The center of gravity: The higher your car is going to be, the more it will lean in the corners and consequently lose handling, that’s why low profile sports cars grip better than very high 4×4’s
  • Wheel Alignment: This adjustment allows you to manage the vertical angle of your car’s wheels, it is consequently necessary for the grip of your motor vehicle and the wear of your tires. This adjustment is very particular and must be conducted by specialists.

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There are many other elements to take into account such as wheelbase, ground clearance, chassis rigidity, weight and aerodynamics…

Why is my Ford Escape having complications with my car’s handling or grip?

We will now proceed to the part that concerns you the most, why my Ford Escape has handling complications? As we outlined earlier, there are quite a lot of elements to take into account for your car to have a good grip, however there are few that can evolve with time, most of them are intrinsic to the construction of the car, we will find out right away those that can disturb your handling and road, and, why:

  • As we explained earlier, the rubber of the tyres has a primordial role in the good road holding of your motor vehicle, if your tyres are dead, you may possibly have complications of road holding on wet road at first and when you reach the “cord” even on dry road.
  • Dead shock absorbers: If your shock absorbers are dead, your motor vehicle will no longer be able to absorb the irregularities of the road properly and it will tend to “float”, which will end result in a bad distribution of the masses on the vehicle and shift the centre of gravity of the vehicle. You risk slipping in the bends.
  • The risk with a misalignment is that your ground contact area is reduced due to a too open or too closed wheel angle, you will have grip complications.
  • A steering problem: Last but not least, the last necessary component for good road handling is that all the elements of your steering must be in good state. The most traditional circumstance is that your stabilizer bar or the silent blocks of your steering triangles are dead. The consequence will be a delay in your changes of direction.

How do you solve the handling complications?

We now proceed to the different solutions to resolve your road holding complications on your Ford Escape .

  • Tyres: Nothing could be less complicated, just replace your tyres, make sure to check them carefully and replace them when you get to the visual indicator in the grooves of your tyres. It is generally required to count between 100 and 200 euros for a pair of tires.
  • Shock absorbers: Ditto, dead shock absorbers have to be changed, if you want to know when to change the shock absorbers of a Ford Escape, please have a check out our content page on this topic. The price can vary quite a lot, but you will have to count at least 400€
  • Wheel alignment: You will have to go to your garage to have it solved, it will cost you less than 100€?
  • Steering: If you have complications with the handling on Ford Escape due to your steering, there may be some elements involved, in this case you will have to produce a whole check-up of these elements, the best is to call a professional.

If you wish more tutorials on the Ford Escape, go to our Ford Escape category.