When turning the steering wheel in either direction, a creaking and popping noise can be heard from the front end of the car. I didn't have the problem looked at by a mechanic, but several people told me that the CV joints were probably shot or the tie-rods were worn. I read online that this is a very common problem with Escort/Tracer from '97 and newer. Apparently the suspension starts to sag prematurely and puts extra stress on the front end steering components due to the way the car is designed. When this extra stress is applied, the tie-rods or CV joints fail prematurely. I sold the car before this problem got bad enough to need fixing.