Six problems related to front suspension have been reported for the 1997 Mercury Mountaineer. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
While driving 45-50 mph a rattle / shaking would start coming from front of vehicle. Dealer / manufacturer were notified. Feel free to provide any further information.
While driving at any speed there is a loud thumping noise that comes from the front end of vehicle.
I was one of the fortunate former owners of firestone wilderness at tires. On January 28,2000 I visited a local tire kingdom inc tire dealership in clearwater florida for a possible front end alignment and tire balancing because I was complaining about a vibration in my front end of my 97 Mercury Mountaineer. I do mostly highway driving @ 60-70mph at the time I had 34k miles on the odometer. When the mechanic started working on my car he began removing the tires from my SUV to rotate and balance my tires. He noticed that two of my tires had signs of belt separation and the tires were no longer usable. I actually witness the condition of these tires . It was recommended that the tires be replaced. Which I immediately approved them to do. I actually replaced all four tires. At a cost of approx. $400. 00. As we all know firestone began the recall of wilderness at tires produced at the decatur plant experienced an increased rate of tread separation claims. (dot number: w2 tiresize: p235x15).
Vehicle drifts to right, repair attempted several times, install camber caster and toe were off specs, replace front power steering purge.
Vehicle pulls to the right and has been serviced six separate times since may, 1997.
Front end misaligned, causing veicle to pul to the right.