cal3thousand

Thanks! I didn't replace the shocks,the ride is tighter(stiff) I feel like it handles much better. Every car/truck I've owned I have always lowered it. They finished the exhaust I'll post pictures of it tomorrow. I'm havong second thoughts about it now. The pipe bend they had to make is pretty low and looks like it's gonna hit the road,I test drove it and it didn't hit at all but it just looks low,you can tell it's been modified for sure but it sure sounds SWEET!!

Lookin tough!

Did they mandrel bend the pipe? or crush?

My wife and I recently purchased a 2011 Edge SEL AWD (mid-March). The day after we got it, I was entering the highway and accelerating to merge. I was talking to my brother-in-law over SYNC and all of a sudden the whole car shook. It felt like I hit a pothole or something. It was so loud that my brother-in-law asked about it.

 

I immediately pulled over and looked all around and couldn't see anything wrong. (No potholes on that ramp and nothing to the side of the road that I might have hit) It still drove and rode fine. No check engine lights or anything.

 

I scheduled a time with the service department, but we kept driving it. Then a week later, it happened to my wife. She was in the middle of the road trying to go, but the car wouldn't move, despite pressing the gas. She let off the gas once, and pressed it again and it finally moved. I called the service department, steaming, wanting to get it in ASAP. They scheduled me for the following Monday and said they'd have a loaner for me.

 

Here we are, a week and a half later, and it's still in the shop. They are telling me that the entire rear end is being replaced. WTF!?!? We put less than 300 miles on it and the rear end has to be replaced!?!?

 

I've searched and can't find anyone else talking about anything similar, so has anyone else heard of this???

Never heard of anything like that. Seems like most AWD problems are due to the PTU seals and those show up after a little bit of driving.

Maybe there's a reason that AWD production for the 2011 MY has ended.

In any case, I hope they fix it up like new (in this case better than new). One good thing is that they are actually doing something about it and not blowing smoke up your ass.

No need to videos are here.

 

This is who I am buying from.

 

http://stores.ebay.com/Clear-Defender-Protection/Installation-Videos.html

Sweet, Thanks! Doesn't look too difficult either. Going to do this after I get my ding fixed.

Lease vehicle or not, that's a pissoff!!

I know!!!! uggghhhh.

At least that is easily repaired by a paintless dent guy....probably about 80.00 bucs or so...

I'm going to pony up the cash even though its a lease because I can't stand it.

Welcome to the board. I will warn you that it is a bit lacking in activity currently. But DIY types as yourself might help build a following.

This is my first Ford as well. I'll be honest, and say that I was an Anti Ford guy previously due to my ownership of a Pre-Ford Volvo. But I'm also very open minded (especially as of late) and have been quite impressed with what Alan Mulally has been able to accomplish.

This new Edge, to me, symbolizes Ford's new direction and commitment to bring us great products.

BTW, let's see pics of the SS and the Edge!

Forged, really, good to know, that's why they are so expensive. There should be a huge weight savings then, anyone know:shades: how much???

Actually, the size makes for a weight spending (opposite of savings? :lol). Or should I say weight increase, in this case. Apples to Apples, if you have a cast rim this size, it would no doubt be heavier due to the extra material needed for the same strength. The location of the weight in a Forged rim CAN BE more beneficial as well, as the weight can be kept towards the center of rotation, which reduces rotational inertia. Who really knows if Ford took advantage of that during wheel design.

The serviceability and the durability of the forged rims is really the most attractive part IMHO.

But its true that unsprung weight on the Sport's rims is much higher than other trims and the specialized suspension bits are a testament to that. That's the main reason the Limited has a better 0-60 than the Sport although losing on power and gear ratio.

I agree, we need some good write-ups and DIY stickies on here.

Unfortunately, I'm beginning to realize that most Edge owners don't service their own vehicles. (not that they don't exist) It makes sense as these things a fairly new compared to some other models. And being a model specific site doesn't help either.

I hit the "view new content" and "active content" buttons to keep the discussions live.

As I posted, that area is not sealed or protected from the elements,ie driving in the rain or washing etc... You'll see when I can get some pics up

Looking forward to the pics of your improvements. Thread subscribed.

You can turn it on all the way and just manually turn it off when you are over, but I don't think the setting can be adjusted.

I end up doing this on slow lane changes or congested changes. I think the 3 blink thing is only good enough when the lane is already cleared and you are doing it for formalities.

Thanks to akirby and bbf2530 for your responses. Thanks for confirming what I suspected regarding the Special Service Maintenance Schedule, for the most part I ignored the Dealers and have been following the "normal" guidelines. Why do Dealers think they have to "double deal" their customers? I guess it'll be another 30 years before I buy a new car again. heavy sigh

They need to do it in order to stay in business. Everyone is looking to save a buck nowadays, so their scale does not add up enough.

I'm a DIY guy. The dealership gave me a "free oil change coupon" and I might not even take them up on that. When I reach 60,000 miles (if I buyout my lease), I will flush the transmission be myself. (Will make sure to have the correct hose pulled by checking the ATF flow direction at the radiator first using documentation)

There's no special machine required. What they use is simply a fluid exchanger designed to keep the fluid contained and constructed for commercial use standards. For my purposes, a funnel, a bucket, and a helping hand is all I need. Now that I think about it, I don't need an extra set of hands either with the remote starter.

Anybody use a CAI for a 2011 3.5 Edge?

I'm not sure if anyone makes an aftermarket system. But the stock system is a Cold Air type. It maybe all conjecture here, but I think that improvements to the system will be in the area of flow increases instead of charge air temp reductions.

Personally, I'm going to run a good cotton oiled air filter (K&N most likely) and possibly changing the accordion piping to a polished AL pipe, but that's about it on the intake.

EDIT: took too long to post and just saw yours above this reply

That's the recommendation. But I suspect you can go 10k with no problems because today's oils and filters are so much better.

I agree that one COULD go 10k+ miles given optimal conditions including mild weather, and a low dust, traffic-free environment. You had better be changing your air filter that often too, if that's the case.

Today's oils and, more importantly, engine tolerances allow longer change intervals. But recommended is just that. A blanket recommendation that will cover a vast majority of users and conditions. YMMV.

If you want piece of mind but don't want to be 'wasteful', do it every 5000 miles. If you want to stretch it out and think you can, make sure its a quality oil and filter and make sure you inspect it often. Just because your 'change interval' has not come around, does not mean that the oil will not have degraded at all in the last 1000 miles (oil can degrade quickly if abused).

Pretty damn close!! one layer of masking tape, outline lettering with fingernail, cut out lettering with a model knife,

primer, 7-8 coats of flat black spray paint, dry and peel.

Fingernail... good idea, never thought of that.

The ride quality is a bit firmer but not bone jarring. I've felt that the original ride quality was a bit floaty for my taste. The springs definitely improved the handling of the vehicle. The Edge feels more confident in turns. All in all, a worthwhile mod. You won't be disappointed with results. Now if someone would make a set of sway bars.... :hyper:

Cool... looks good.

Did you stick with the stock dampers? Professionally installed? or DIY?

Found them on ebay for $104, plan on installing it myself.

I'll pay you $4 if you take good pics and do a write-up

Let me start by saying I have loved every second with my Edge...

Onto the pain:

I leased my '11 Edge Limited (Platinum White, baby!) on Thursday 3/31/2011 and not 3 days into my lease, I had an accident.

Driving to Disneyland with my wife, our 2 YO daughter, wife's friend and her 2 YO daughter as well. Everything was going great, 70-75mph in the fast lane when a Highlander runs over a black metal bracket (~18" long - similar to a turbo heat shield or something) and sends it hurling at my wife in the passenger seat. With a car to my right and a wall to the left, my only option was to slow as much as I could in that instance and take the hit. The ladies were obviously freaked out by the loud smack and I went through about 24 emotions in 5 seconds (ranging from rage to thankfulness).

At first, I only thought it hit the windshield and was fairly relieved and impressed by the windshield strength. BUT.....After getting to Disney, I went out and inspected it to find that it hit the hood first

The ding is not too bad, and I feel that it can be fixed since its in an area that is fairly accessible from the backside. Luckily, the paint proved to be strong and resisted chipping or cracking. Overall, I impressed at the strength of the materials used to resist such an impact. Edgieguy jokes that White is the fastest color, but I'm going to say its the strongest too Here's the carnage (the black lines will buff out since its material from the metal object):

Thank you, You'd think a parts store would sell the right one, especially since I specifically said, its the 3.7L not the 3.5!

Apparently those guys don't know 6 Cylinders from 8 because the 3.7 and 3.5 use the same filter.... heck, even the Mustang uses it (both 3.7 and 5.0).

(PS I know some V8's use this filter too, but its made generally for V6 applications.)

I'm going to run a filter with a higher bypass setting as I live in So Cal and the cold starts are few and far between. I will stomp on the gas at a light more often than I will have cold starts, so the increased filtration pressure before bypass will make sure I'm still filtering oil at WOT.

I don't like the idea of throwing unfiltered oil at the engine at WOT. Unfiltered oil during the 10 cold (real cold) starts a year, I will put up with.

I think the Ford engineers made the bypass rating at 8 psi to make sure to cover the vast people in cold climates, which doesn't pertain as well to my desert climate and driving style.

125 for inserts is a pretty good price... $75 to paint them is about right... choice choices.

I WAS going to put white CF Di Noc Vinyl on there... but now I'm torn.

Canuck has a lot of great advice, but I wanted to add some clarity to how long you have to wait to wax or seal you paint. If it's factory paint(which I assume it is), go ahead and put any wax or sealant you want on it when you pick it up from the dealer. The OEM's paint process is completely different from that of a body shop(bake cycles are at a higher temp and more complete). By the time the dealer gets the car, the paint is fully cured.

 

If you had paint work done at body shop, ask them how many days they recommend before waxing or sealing. It will differ by paint manufacture but most will tell you 30+ days and that should suffice, unless temperatures are very cold. If it's very hot, say over 85 degrees and sunny, most paints will be cured within a week. Also, all OEM and aftermarket clear coats are solvent based, as are the primers and sealers. In the collision repair market, ONLY the base coat(or color coat, if you prefer) is "water-based", and only in parts of California and some states in the Northeast. That "water-based" base coat has a few coats of solvent base primer and or sealer underneath it and 2-3 coats of solvent based clear coat on top. The vast majority of cars painted in U.S. body shops are painted with all solvent based paints.

 

Also, I'll throw in my 2 cents on waxes/sealants. Go with a trusted name that actually has some R&D behind their products, not just marketing. I prefer 3M. They also own Meguiar's lock, stock, and barrel; although 3M dominates the professional(body shop) market and Meguiar's is more for the mass-market, do it yourselfer. 3M spent $1.4 billion on R&D as a company last year, which is probably more than the combined sales of all the other companies mentioned on these discussion boards. There is a reason for that, they simply make great products, whether it's masking tape, the reflective material on all the road signs, or the latest filling material that your dentist put in. IMO, 3M makes the best compounds, polishes, paint sealants, and fine grade abrasives for wet sanding. There 3000 grit Trizact DA sand paper is amazing, as is their Ultrafine polish and Performance Finish paint sealant.

Thanks for the insight. (to all the pro detailers)

I will buy any 3M product if they make a version and won't touch the competition. Hands down, the best adhesives. Good to know that they own Meguiar's too!

Definitely DO NOT use a magic eraser on your leather! The magic eraser can/will also remove the dye from the leather. There are many tips out there for removing denim from leather, however be very careful as you don't want to ruin your leather. I've removed denim safely in the past buy spraying a small amount of hair spray on the spot. I then proceeded to use my normal leather cleaner. Follow up with a leather conditioner as well.

I will concur.

DO NOT USE A MAGIC SPONGE!!!

If you understand that a magic sponge works on abrasion to remove surface dirt, you will see that it is a poor choice for leather. Unless you feel like prematurely wearing out your leather, I would advise to stay away. A magic sponge is nothing more that a sanding block with an amazingly high grit count that is soft to the touch.

Having said that, I always start with a terry cloth towel and some distilled water and move up from there. Steam as Richy suggested or even baby wipes, but Magic Sponge Nevar!

Thanks for the advice Richy! btw, I'm going to check out that cQuartz stuff you mentioned elsewhere.

I'd like to add that an ounce of prevention is definitely worth a pound of cure. One of the first things that I always do after purchasing a car with leather interior is to tint the windows. I will tint the front of the Edge's to match the rears this next weekend. (I have an estimate for $45 for the pair.) I've seen way too many seat tops that are absolutely thrashed by the sun while the back surfaces are still perfect.

Another thing I also have is a good fitted windshield shade. This will protect your dash from drying out and eventually cracking. It will also keep the interior temps much lower when sitting in the sun. Of course, if you need privacy in a parking lot, it works wonders and makes your tint work even better by not letting light in :shades:

Got a pic of what you are talking about? Can you look from the inside and see any clips?

How did you do the Ford emblems? Right now mine a carbon fiber wrapped but I like that look you out together.

Looks like a mask and paint job.

Cover the whole thing in blue painter's tape (one or two layers) , pencil in the emblem, cut it out with a razor, spray paint, let dry, carefully peel.

Another dealer that I spoke to said that it won't effect Edge as much as other models especially F-150

Just started hearing an intermittent squeaking noise when I turn right in full motion (and it's not my tires). Anybody got any idea about this one?

I haven't heard of any common issues regarding this. Any way you can get a video?