Ford products have WAY more steering and suspension part failures that lead to loss of control and crashes than all other car brands combined, and noises must never be ignored, even for a few days. You didn't include any details to work with but there is nothing to grease on your car. The engineers at Ford figured out in the mid '70s they could save 20 cents per car by leaving off four grease fittings, then they could make a lot more money by selling replacement parts that wore out in as little as 15,000 miles.
When you hear a squeak or a creaking sound, that is most commonly caused by rust in a worn-out lower ball joint that is a few hundred miles away from separating. Besides not knowing if you're going to head into a ditch or oncoming traffic, the tire will fold into the fender causing body damage too.
Clunking noises can be caused by badly-worn struts which is not serious, safety-wise, but it can also be due to an outer tie rod end that's ready to separate. Those were so common on the '80s Escorts and all the Tempos that we called them "killer cars".
There are plenty of other noises that have causes that are not serious, but many of them will affect wheel alignment. You already know you don't get real good tire wear. Worn parts that affect the alignment makes that worse. The people at any tire and alignment shop can inspect the steering and suspension systems. They will tell you if the cause of the noise is something safety-related, and they will inspect the other parts that often don't cause a noise until they break.
You didn't ask a question related to the air filter.
SPONSORED LINKS
Friday, January 17th, 2014 AT 11:19 PM
