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Lesson Learned

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Dvendet

Everyone's entitled to my opinion. ;)
I finally received my 13 LS yesterday. I took delivery of my beast in Florida 2 weeks ago and had the vehicle shipped up here in Virginia. While I had the car in Florida, I had asked the dealership to install the brake cooling kit (rubber coated duct work) and the transmission cooling scoop. Ford racing actually reimburses the dealer for the install labor so I wanted to take advantage of this. Well, in the state of Virginia annual vehicle inspections are mandatory. I took my LS into my local VA dealer to have this inspection done. While I drove over to the dealership, I noticed a "rubbing" type sound and immediately knew I had a issue with the tire rubbing the duct work. I pulled over to confirm my belief and sure enough there is not enough clearance to fully turn the wheel all the way to the right. I did not notice any problem turning back to the left. I also noticed that there is no additional real estate in back of the wheel to reposition the brake duct work. Anyway I continued to the dealership for my state inspection. The mechanic wound up flagging my vehicle inspection indicating VA does not allow this tire interference. It was apparent to him too the tire was rubbing up against the duct work. He gave me two choices. First, he could officially reject the inspection which would have given me 30 days to correct the problem and then go through another inspection The second choice was that he could remove the duct work and then issue me an approved state inspection. He indicated that this work would "not" be covered by the warranty and would cost an additional 50 dollars. I thought for a minute and decided I was better off just having him remove the duct work and getting my inspection tag. Imagine that though! I must be the only LS owner with a brand new car that couldn't pass my state's vehicle inspection! What would Ford say I wonder.

I questioned him about the duct work as he had a lot of experience working on Bosses and other hi-performance vehicles. He indicated that this duct work was designed to be installed and removed at the track. I am not sure about this. He did raise doubt in my mind when he showed me on the lift there was no room for the duct work to move when the wheel was turned hard. He stated the obvious when he said that race cars do not need to turn from lock to lock position on a race track. I swore that I heard the rubbing taking place when the wheel was turned about at the halfway position.

Anyway, I think my lesson was to not have installed the duct work when I did. I am still not convinced though that I can't find a solution so I can keep the ductwork installed continuosly (minus the rubbing). Maybe I can find a smaller diameter duct that I can adapt to the brake backing plate. Hmmm..... I got to think about this some more.

Cheers All,

MMD

BTW - absolutely love the car. Only first impression negatives that really stood out where the hideous "new car smell" stuff, whatever the hell they use, and the speakers. I think the sound of these speakers in this car redefine the word drone. Definitely will get this modded soon otherwise I might go completely mad. In the mean time, turning off the radio in this car is not a bad idea. First impression positive, I didn't think the shifter in this car shifts as bad as a lot of people have made it out. I actually thought it shifted well. But then again, I was not pushing the car very hard (only 100 miles now). I think shifting above 6600 RPM has been the issue with this car from what I'm reading.
 

ArizonaBOSS

Because racecar.
Moderator
8,730
2,734
Arizona, USA
The ducts need to be secured along the front subframe and tie rod as closely as possible to avoid rubbing. If installed properly there will not be any clearance issues.
 
Do I understand this correctly --- The Fla. dealership installed the ducts incorrectly (the tire rubs the ducts) --- then the Va. dealership charged you $50 to remove the ducts?
That is just wrong, wrong, wrong. Dealer installation is included to you in the price of the car. It should be done correctly. The ducts are NOT designed to be installed and removed each track day.

Ford Customer Service (Deysha) monitors “themustangsource.com” and sometimes can be a big help in situations like this. Don’t know if she monitors the BMO forums. If not, I suggest you post the story at TMS and/or send her a PM.

The ducts can be routed such that they do not rub (as indicated in the posts above); but Ford should do this for you.

Good Luck.
-- Jim
 

Dvendet

Everyone's entitled to my opinion. ;)
YellowJacketBoss302 said:
Do I understand this correctly --- The Fla. dealership installed the ducts incorrectly (the tire rubs the ducts) --- then the Va. dealership charged you $50 to remove the ducts?
That is just wrong, wrong, wrong. Dealer installation is included to you in the price of the car. It should be done correctly. The ducts are NOT designed to be installed and removed each track day.

....

The ducts can be routed such that they do not rub (as indicated in the posts above); but Ford should do this for you.

Good Luck.
-- Jim
Hi Jim,

You got it right...you just stated it more eloquently then I did. I'm going to look through cloud9's link. Drew gave me some words of encouragement also. I don't think I am the first LS owner to bump up against this issue. I am getting a sense that some trim work may be required. I'll also look through Ford's Racing instructions on the installation of the duct work and see if I can find out what the dealer left out. I'll get some resolution. With some talented people on this forum I have confidence there is a fix at hand. Thanks for your reply.

Regards,

MMD
 
Sad to say,but it seems the Florida dealership just slapped them on knowing they wouldn't see you again. I hope I'm wrong. In any event, you shouldn't have to pay anything for something that wasn't done right in the first place.
 
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Wow, you guys have to get a brand new car inspected? Here in NJ you don't need to get a new car inspected for 5 years.
 

Dvendet

Everyone's entitled to my opinion. ;)
Rich_S said:
Wow, you guys have to get a brand new car inspected? Here in NJ you don't need to get a new car inspected for 5 years.
Yep - right from day one and every year. I guess Virginia thinks brand new cars are not very safe.
 

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