Official Ford Focus ST Discussion Thread

[Flyn]

The video at the very end of this review is worth checking out. I laughed. I think my son will get a kick out of this car if he buys it. I will have to borrow it. LOL!

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

The video at the very end of this review is worth checking out. I laughed. I think my son will get a kick out of this car if he buys it. I will have to borrow it. LOL!

I remember watching that. Parts of it I agree with. The gas pedal is placed too low, it does make it hard to smoothly heel/toe. Garage Line actually came out with a spacer that puts the gas pedal more even with the brake pedal, making heel/toe alot easier.

The handling, yes the ST does turn in fast. And if you aren't expecting it, or aren't familiar with the car it will bite you. Especially if you lift throttle mid corner. Ass end comes out.

But, those feelings disappeared after about 1 month in the car. Now? The car is supremely planted. no issues just chucking it into a corner. I know how far and fast to turn the wheel.

Also, posted the dyno results after the tune. No real gain on the dyno. But I think Boomba's Dyno was reading way low. Either that or the weather was just that bad.

http://www.thechicagogarage.com/for...00-put-st-dyno-today-not-bad.html#post2816827

 

[IDAFC21]

I watched that vid too when I was still trying to consider what to go for

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

If you have a ST, and the gas pedal positon bothers you, this might be worth your money.

Garage Line 2013+ Ford Focus ST Accelerator Pedal Mount - Welcome to GarageLine - Sport Compact Performance Parts

I'm still trying to decide if its worth the money. On one had, it is a PAIN to heel/toe this car due to the way the gas pedal is so much further down.

On the other, I do think $115 is alot for what is essentially 2 blocks of aluminum that have been counter sunk.

 

[willseph]

I just put the summer shoes back on and after two weeks out of town, had about 200 miles of driving this weekend. This thing is glued to the pavement, I still can't believe how well it handles. I'm already getting the "moar powahh" bug but I'm going to try and hold off another year or so in case I need any warranty work done.

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

I just put the summer shoes back on and after two weeks out of town, had about 200 miles of driving this weekend. This thing is glued to the pavement, I still can't believe how well it handles. I'm already getting the "moar powahh" bug but I'm going to try and hold off another year or so in case I need any warranty work done.

Yeah, the dealer never mentioned that the car was Summer Tire only when I bought it. I discovered it before the weather turned, but didn't have the cash to buy a winter set out right at the time.

Had I known, I probably would have had a set of rims rolled into the loan, and purchased tires for them on my own.

The 205/60/16's I have work great in the snow, but lack traction and the last two weeks before I took them I noticed they were wearing quickly. The trade off temp seemed to be about 30°F for when the summers offered more traction and better wear.

Tires are still good though, plenty of life left in them.

 

[IDAFC21]

Im glad they come w/ summer only tires. saves me the trouble of buying some since i have no need for crappy all season tires.

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

Im glad they come w/ summer only tires. saves me the trouble of buying some since i have no need for crappy all season tires.

I'm probably going to replace mine next year. Since I've got dedicated snows, might as go with a really sticky summer tire.

 

[IDAFC21]

Just got my first statement today. First payment is due on 5/11 And so it begins.

 

[Smokinhot]

I just paid mine... funny part is I already modded it before the first one

 

[IDAFC21]

Just got my license plate today.

 

[willseph]

Anyone else really annoyed this car didn't come with auto-dimming mirrors but the Titanium trim comes with them standard? I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to retrofit one of the mirrors on the ST or just tint the windows.

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

Not really, I've never had an auto-dimming mirror though.

I'm more annoyed that the PCM has to be powered on to close/open the moon roof. You park your car, then shut it off. You raise all of the windows, but when you go to close the moonroof its dead. You have to press the Power button to turn the PCM on, THEN you can close the moonroof.

Once if these days I'm going to change the power wire over to whatever circuit the windows are on.

 

[willseph]

I don't have a sunroof, but I can understand your frustration. The wacky idling and the revs hanging in between shifts also annoy me, but I'm thinking a COBB tune will fix those problems.

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

I don't have a sunroof, but I can understand your frustration. The wacky idling and the revs hanging in between shifts also annoy me, but I'm thinking a COBB tune will fix those problems.

Two common causes for the unstable idle.

1. The MAP sensor junction in the harness (there are 3) is a crap crimp job. There is a TSB for it.
2. The Sound Symposer, which Ford has implemented a Do Not Fix action currently

.

They fixed my Symposer, but the problem has occasionally come back. I'm ready to just kill the symposer and get a block off plate.

Just about all the aftermarket tunes kill the Rev-hang feature. Its very nice to finally have control over engine speed during shifts. The Rev hang feature forced me to shift slowly because I had to wait for the revs to fall. Now without it the revs fall fast enough that I can finally shift it like a normal manual car again.

 

[IDAFC21]

Whats this rev hanging thing? Have I just not been paying attention to my tach, or am I just not driving the car hard enough. haha

 

[torquelover]

Rev-hang sucks. Walked away from a Civic Si and into an Impreza due to this. Glad to hear a tune kills it on the ST.

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

When you psih the clutch in it holds the RPM about 200 rpm higher than the next upshift.

Sounds like a good feature but doesn't work so well.

 

[IDAFC21]

hmm. ok i think i have noticed that, just never realized what it was. haha

 

[IDAFC21]

[MENTION=2502]Boomba Racing[/MENTION] , do you guys sell the black powdercoated version of the injen intake, or just the silver one? I'm not seeing any color selection option on your website

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

Well, hit the track yesterday. The best I could muster was a 14.7 @ 98.something. Quite simply, a combination of crappy track prep, and the increased tordque down low made launching the car damn near impossible. My 60'fts were in the 2.5-2.6 range. I would have to baby it off the line, cause as soon as the boost hit it was 100% wheel hop through 1st, wheelhop in 2nd, and spinning part of 3rd.

The TSB ford mounts were crap at controlling engine movement as well. I REALLY smashed the firewall good on one shift.

So AKA, needs WAY better driver, way better track prep, and way stiffer mounts. 1st and 2nd gear were a total waste at the strip.

Might need to invest in the Cobb ATR software to limit boost in 1st and 2nd gear.

Far cry from the solid 14.3's and 14.4's I was turning last october.

 

[Smokinhot]

Yea, mounts are a must! Along with a sticky tire, all the f1's do is spin

 

[Flyn]

Why can't manufacturers put decent tires on their vehicles? They spend as much on not as good tires as they would if they mass bought good ones.

 

[Smokinhot]

The mount is the shittiest part actually. The Eagle F1's are ok in stock form, but with the programmer it gives you and increase of 50-90ft-lbs from 2500-4500rpm. You pretty much just blow the tires off, lol.

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

Why can't manufacturers put decent tires on their vehicles? They spend as much on not as good tires as they would if they mass bought good ones.

Depending on the dyno used you'll see anywhere from 300 to 350lbft at the wheels with just a tune.

My car will spin the fronts from 15 to 50mph with a 2nd gear roll on. destroys the tires as soon as it hits.

For that kind of torque it needs more tire and stiffer mounts.