[wash]

So far I've seen the Ford Bspec kit (eibach?), the Mazda 2 Bspec kit (bilstein?), KW coilovers and rumors of AST on a Mazda 2.

Several mentions of crash bolts which I think are a bad idea and not much else.

I know strut based suspensions get goofy if you drop them too far, where is that point on the Fiesta? Are there bump steer kits or relocated control arms to fix things? When does the stability control get too confused by modifications that change the performance envelope?

My first goal is to remove weight, that helps everything, then light weight wheels, sticky tires, brake hoses maybe, shocks/struts, bushings and geometry changes.

So what works, what has a bad cost/benefit ratio and what just doesn't work.

Here is #1, moon roofs and painted wheels won't help you handle.

 

[blackbird]

The car is pretty new and the term "upgrade" can be quite a bit different to different people. To me suspension upgrades increase chassis control without significantly degrading ride quality or improving it over the stock car, which is just a touch stiff and jiggly. Other people only want kits to slam the car to the ground or at least lower it a little for appearance reasons even if it ruins the stock ride quality and doesn't really improve handling. And some just want to throw coil-overs on a car because they thin it will be an improvement when they may or may not, depending on tons of variables like spring rates, damper adjustment and valving, quality of the parts, etc.

It sounds like you're more interested in handling upgrades and reducing weight is a great start. For performance and handling upgrades with the car being so new many offerings are just coming out or still under development and with spring and summer finally here in many areas owners are just getting their cars on the track so it may be a bit before you'll find a lot of opinions from people that have had a chance to play around with the car and experiment with suspension components. Right now I think the great majority of owners are still enjoying what the car can do stock.

 

[rodmoe]

The car is pretty new and the term "upgrade" can be quite a bit different to different people. To me suspension upgrades increase chassis control without significantly degrading ride quality or improving it over the stock car, which is just a touch stiff and jiggly. Other people only want kits to slam the car to the ground or at least lower it a little for appearance reasons even if it ruins the stock ride quality and doesn't really improve handling. And some just want to throw coil-overs on a car because they thin it will be an improvement when they may or may not, depending on tons of variables like spring rates, damper adjustment and valving, quality of the parts, etc.

It sounds like you're more interested in handling upgrades and reducing weight is a great start. For performance and handling upgrades with the car being so new many offerings are just coming out or still under development and with spring and summer finally here in many areas owners are just getting their cars on the track so it may be a bit before you'll find a lot of opinions from people that have had a chance to play around with the car and experiment with suspension components. Right now I think the great majority of owners are still enjoying what the car can do stock.

Maybe in Europe folks are getting their cars on the track but not in NA yet as they are just now starting to schedule the Fiesta ST's to be built down in Mexico... but a light car is a fast car ...

 

[blackbird]

Oops, saw the Fiesta section and read Focus. I haven't been following it as much but suspect much will be the same for it. The advantage being that the basic architecture/platform has been around for a few years, pretty popular in Europe and the ST version doesn't look to be making any major alterations (springs/dampers and new torsion beam rear axle assembly) so existing suspension kits may be adaptable without too much work (retuned dampers, different spring weight, etc.) It's sounding like it will be a fun car from the early Euro press and with the weight advantage over the bigger Focus should make it a little more tossable.

If you haven't checked it out, I know Grassroots Motorsports were playing around with the car and some of the Fiesta centric sites might offer a little better info. There's not a lot of owners on here right now (probably more when the ST is fully out) but I think there's a few current and former Fiesta owners that are members and can maybe they can offer some suggestions.

 

[wash]

I expect that there is some amount of knowledge out there. The Europeans have been racing Fiestas and there is the Bspec stuff, so people have been trying stuff, they just haven't gone very far or haven't shared very much.

One idea I have is to take out the twist beam rear axle(?) and remove all the fat that doesn't contribute to the stiffness of the beam. It will probably only be a couple pounds and likely illegal for most Fiesta competitive racing classes but it is unsprung weight. On the other hand, its rear suspension which means its pretty much just along for the ride.

 

[blackbird]

I have another dedicated front drive racing car ('93 Olds Achieva SCX W41) that has a twist beam rear axle and built for SCCA Improved Touring from parts from an old World Challenge car. One those cars it was common to reinforce the rear axle as well as replacing the stock second rear sway bar with an even larger bar and mounting hardware. On a car with independent suspension and trying to keep the wheels in contact with the pavement and getting the suspension to work better reducing unsprung weight is great, but on a torsion/twist beam rear setup the rear axle itself is helping push the outer wheel into the ground and you'll likely see way less of any appreciable improvement trying to remove weight.

 

[wash]

I realize that fwd cars with light rear ends use very light rear springs which makes the roll stiffness of a twist beam dominate and thus we have three wheel action in the corners (also because front roll stiffness isn't quite enough).

In any steady state cornering test unsprung weight will have no effect other than change cg but the transients, braking over rough surfaces and possibly ride quality improve with an unsprung weight reduction. The rear suspension is probably the worst place to find improvement but its simple enough that I'm pretty sure I can't screw it up and that Ford probably left some meat on the bone for me to trim off.

I can't really speculate on the front because I bet Ford spent a lot of engineering hours to make it work nice. There might be very little to do outside dampers, springs and alignment tweaks.

 

[bubadrft]

I'm looking to kill that horrible front wheel gap but i dont want to lose the fiST handling (i havent drive it yet) but for what i've seen it looks pretty amazing so.. i hope that H&R makes some decent springs or tanabe i currently have tanabe on my yaris and it imprioved the handling amazing so lets wait and see what the companies offer

 

[[email protected]]

We have a very nice selection of performance and suspension upgrades here: Ford Focus Performance | Ford Focus Cold Air Intakes | Ford Focus Short Shifters | Ford Focus Lowering Springs | Ford Focus Exhaust

Great fit and ride!!!
Had the springs installed and you can feel the tightness in your turns, the stance of the car is perfect. Not too low where it can be a problem but just the right drop and eliminates that terrible that tire / fender gap. The Focus is also more level and doesn't sit tail end high. The ride is a little stiffer but I'm being hypercritical. You would seriously have a hard time telling the difference. Great everyday drive but it's there just in case you need to go fast and stay tight.

Better in every way
First of all the new ride height I think is perfect! It looks the way I think it should have from the factory. Now for the functionality, I have tested these springs in every element:
For daily driven purposes they are just slightly more firm then stock. Still very forgiving and enjoyable to drive every day. For track use or "spirited driving" once under load into the turns they greatly reduce body roll making it much more usable with more aggressive driving. Coupled with the rear sway bar it is downright impressive. I have even tested the new suspension setup at top end, where the car used to have stability issues and start to sway around 140-145, now it is stable up and through 150. In every way, night and day better. Way to go Steeda!

 

[bubadrft]

Do you guys already have springs for the fiesta st 2014 ? because its lower than the regular fiesta

 

[[email protected]]

Oh my mistake ... I though I posted in the Focus ST section.

We are doing our testing and seeing what can be developed and cross-over from the current Fiesta.

I will keep you updated.

Best Regards,

TJ

 

[[email protected]]

For example ... the Focus springs didn't work when the ST came out ... we had to develop a stand alone spring for the ST. We will do the behind the scenes work to make another great product for the Fiesta ST consumers.

Best Regards,

TJ

 

[rodmoe]

For example ... the Focus springs didn't work when the ST came out ... we had to develop a stand alone spring for the ST. We will do the behind the scenes work to make another great product for the Fiesta ST consumers.

Best Regards,

TJ

Looking forward to a short shifter from you guys

 

[pelotonracer2]

I wouldn't mind a bit of an aesthetic drop to even the gap from front to rear, but I don't want to have to invest in camber kits (front or rear). That and I really don't want the spring rates to be much stiffer. The streets here are horrible and my last couple of cars were hard on wheels (cracks and bends). Two things that really look silly to other people... 1. Me avoiding pot holes like the plague 2. me avoiding water in the road like the plague (especial after I just washed my car).