Bumpy Ride in '92 Town Car

[Ron R.]

My '92 TC does not ride as smooth as it should. I can feel almost every bump on the road and I know this is not normal for a TC. I have driven a 94 and a 95 and both were as smooth as can be. I bought the car used 3 years ago with 72k miles and noticed the bumpy ride right away. The dealer where I bought the car couldn't find anything physically wrong. The car needed tires anyway (it had Goodyear Aquatreads)so I purchased Firestone Affinity's. Still bumpy. I then changed all 4 shocks to Monroe's Sensa-Traks. Still bumpy. Now I have Perelli P-400's. Still no better. The air bags seem to be fine and their doesn't appear to be anything loose. Also it definately does not appear to be related to the drive chain. I know Lincoln uses Michelin tires on this car. Could it be that by not using original replacement equipment (shocks and tires) I have compromised the ride of this car. Also is there anyway I can have the car analyzed to determine why the ride is not as smooth as it should be.
Thanks

[BLUECOLLAR]

Shocks come to mind right off the bat. Also make sure the tire pressure is a maximum of 35 in the front and 30 in the rear. If your car has alot of miles on it, the front coil springs may be worn out and sagging. If its sagging real bad, it may not have the suspension travel it was designed to have.

[Ron R.]

I neglected to mention that I am careful with the tire pressure. However, the recommended front tire pressure is 30psi and 34psi for the rears. I'm not sure why they recommend more for the rear but that's what's on the door plate. As far as the front springs go, the car appears very level and it takes large bumps very well so I don't think that's a problem.

Thanks for the reply.
Ron

[TW/92LSC/SE]

Here's a scenerio. If suspension bushing work has been done and the bolts were torqued with the car jacked up(suspension bolts should be torqued with full car weight on them); when the car is let down the bushings will twist too far induceing a harder ride and premature bushing wear.

[BLUECOLLAR]

ha-ha. Would you go by factory recommended tire pressure on an explorer?...probably not. Like I said before, 35 in front and 30 in the rear. Ford has a long time habit of trying to mask the cars ride by lowering tire pressure which is hard on tires. Tires are the customers responsibility. I say this from experience. I have spent alot of time fighting with Ford reps. on the subject of tire pressure.

If you were to run 30 in front and 35 in the rear, the inside and outsides of the front tires WILL wear faster and the center tread on the rears WILL also. GUARANTEED.

[Richard J. Parker]

Two ideas:

1) Be sure your air compressor vent solenoid is working. Otherwise your rear bags are pumped up to the maximum load (like a full tank and full load of passengers or whatever). This will cause a rougher ride than needed. It SHOULD vent audibly from the driver's side fender well EVERY time you park the car, get out and close the doors. Many compressors fail on the vent function first.

2) For my money, NOTHING beats a good Michelin for ride quality, especially the XH or similar 15 inch tires that came on the car. Plus the Michelin are forgiving on lower air pressure (e.g. don't fall apart) and seem to hold there balance nicely.