So here’s a glimmer of hope- I drove a 2020 ST the other day that did not have the noise!
I have driven dozens of 2020-2022 explorers (all trim levels) being that I am a technician at a dealership. I also own a 2020 Platinum that has made this horrid noise since it rolled off the lot with 7 miles. I immediately picked up on it after driving it for a couple of days.
Anyway, I am constantly driving these things at work, always taking notice of the noise and every single platinum or ST regardless of the model year has sounded the same. I constantly check TSB’s hoping Ford will release a fix… still nothing to date. We acquired a 2020 ST with 46k mikes from a local auction for the used car lot that needed a state inspection (which is what I do) and I couldn’t believe my ears when the noise was absent on the road test! I thought holy shit, hopefully I can find where some struts/shocks, or something had recently been replaced. Popped the hood- could easily tell that the upper strut tower bolts and strut tower brace bolts had been wrenched on at some point, pulled the warranty history- and discovered the long block had literally just been replaced 25 miles ago at a neighboring dealer. So from what I’ve gathered, in the process of removing the front subframe and engine/trans- somewhere during reassembly something must have been tweaked just right or tightened down more than it was from the factory to rid this truck of this awful noise! Sorry for the long read- but I’m now hopeful that someone will finally be able to pinpoint where this shit is coming from.