Ford Mondeo Problems

It's not my experience that the brakes on European cars, or Fords, grab as you say yours does. Take it to an independent and reputable brake service outlet and have then assess it for you, and if they agree with you, take it back to the dealer and request it be fixed.

You can take it anywhere to have it serviced without affecting the warranty providing the servicing is done by a qualified mechanic according to Ford’s service schedule. If you do go outside the Ford service network, however, you could miss out on any updates, reworks etc that Ford might make on the run. Carmakers regularly make minor changes to fix things that crop up on their cars over time, things that don’t require a full recall, but need fixing and these are often done when the car is serviced.

Idling for 30 minutes is a very tough test for any car’s cooling system and I wouldn’t recommend doing it. I can’t imagine what would cause you to idle for that length of time, and I would suggest you turn the engine off in those situations instead of leaving it idling. Driving along the highway is much less stressful, there is air being forced through the radiator to cool the engine and the fan often doesn’t do a lot in those situations. But you should check the operation of the thermo fan and make sure it is actually working. It should come on when the temperature rises and go off again when it drops. If it’s not, then check the relay. Also check the radiator core to make sure it’s not blocked or partly blocked with leaves etc.

I’m sure it could be fixed; the problem a mechanic would face is finding what causes it. As for it being a warranty issue it depends largely on what the fault is found to be. If it’s a manufacturing fault it could be covered by the warranty, but if it’s something that’s simply come loose it might not be. The only way to find out is to establish the cause of the problem.

It's most unusual to wear out the rear brakes before the fronts as it's the fronts that do most of the work, but having to replace pads and discs at low kays is not so unusual with European cars.

Your experience is not unusual; it's quite common on European cars. Brake wear isn't normally covered by the warranty; it is lumped in with other things under the banner of 'wear and tear', which is why your claim has been rejected. However, if you apply a 'fair wear and tear' test it can hardly been said to be fair and I believe brake wear should be reconsidered and a 'fair and reasonable' wear rate should be applied to cars today.

Your experience with the tyres wearing down to the wires should be a lesson to you and others to conduct regular checks of tyres on their cars. It's not good enough to let it go until the tyres are so worn, and in a dangerous state, before you do anything about it.

Tyres wear at different rates on different cars, and the front tyres on a front-drive car like the Mondeo wear much faster than the rear tyres, and the wear pattern is completely different to what you have experienced on your rear-wheel drive Falcon. Take the advice given you by the Goodyear dealer and regularly rotate the tyres front to back. That way you will get better mileage out of them.

I doubt it's the tyres. I suspect it's the wheel alignment. It might not be out of specification. I reckon it could be the settings from the factory.