2014 Ford Fiesta ST project

[razorlab]

$2600 for Ohlins would be cheap compared to the custom 3-way set I had made for the M3/LS I was building and they gave me a deal for being the first one for the E36 chassis, $8500, OUCH!

Yea Ohlins just did a big price drop. They used to be $3,000+.

Suspension depends on driver of course. I was actually 3 seconds faster on the same track with the same mods and power in my Evo 8 with $950 Apexi coilovers than I was with $2400 KW V3's.

 

[razorlab]

If anybody is curious what the max negative camber you can get with the BC Coilovers with the bottom slotted strut to hub mount set to max negative camber, it is -2.6.

Obviously every car is a slightly different and it also depends on the top hats as it seems Ford designed in some adjust ability with the bolt holes on the chassis, as they are a good bit larger than the top hat studs so you can push and pull a bit there as well.

 

[rodmoe]

Yup set them there for summer and will adjust for winter soon .. Back to -.5 or so

 

[razorlab]

I set it to -2.1 as I wanted a nice balance of corner grip and more stability under braking.

So far these coilovers are meh, about what I remember them being in the Evo world. Hopefully they are okay on track for my intentions. Will find out Friday.

 

[ryst]

So far these coilovers are meh

How do they compare to the billsteins?

 

[razorlab]

How do they compare to the billsteins?

I'll wait to give a proper review until after this coming Friday. Initial thoughts are that the Bilsteins felt like they have proper real dampening and the BC's just feel firm.

If you have driven cars with really nice dampening you can relate to that contrast.

I felt like I had more mid corner grip with the Bilsteins compared to the BC's but that could just be an illusion and I could be hitting higher cornering speeds and thus less grip from the tires at the highest G point. I'll never know because I don't have data from before.

That said the car corners much flatter with the BC's with the extra 100lb spring rate front/back but anybody that knows suspension knows that doesn't mean every thing.

 

[razorlab]

Put my track wheels on today in prep for Friday.

The Dunlop Z2 Star Specs are impressive. However they are loud as hell at over 70mph. Sounds like 100,000 angry bees chasing after you. I'm too old and cranky to daily drive tires like this. Good thing I got them for track use.

 

[RAAMaudio]

A bit of toe change might help, take a look at them to see if wearing on the inside or outside or feathering started, front and rear tires though not much you can do on the rears unless shims or way too many hours like I have in mine.

I fully understand noisy tires, not sure how some guys can handle mudders on a truck when many performance tires on a car drive me nuts....

 

[razorlab]

A bit of toe change might help, take a look at them to see if wearing on the inside or outside or feathering started, front and rear tires though not much you can do on the rears unless shims or way too many hours like I have in mine.

I fully understand noisy tires, not sure how some guys can handle mudders on a truck when many performance tires on a car drive me nuts....

Front:
Camber -2.1 / -2.1
Toe 0.00 / 0.00

Rear:
Camber -0.7 / -0.6
Toe 0.08 / 0.08

They are just noisy ass tires. I'm not complaining, just observing. On the track I won't care.

 

[RAAMaudio]

With settings like that is certainly is the tires!

I had 335 and 285 NTO5 tires on my convertible vette and they were not noisy at all and quite sticky, it was a very modified, for handling and brakes first, car and quieter with the top down than up.

I had some 615's on another car back when they were the hot tire and hatted the noise and harsh ride.

 

[razorlab]

Track tires and wheels mounted yesterday in prep for this weeks track event.

 

[RAAMaudio]

I am pushing myself to get my car done, broken in and on track before the season is over!

Looks great, have fun

Rick

 

[razorlab]

Well, I almost killed myself and the car today at Thunderhill. Second lap into the second session, at 110 mph in the front straight into the braking zone I lost all brakes and had a serious OHHHH FUUUUUU moment.

Lesson learned, Wilwood BP-20's have no business being on a car that is on track. They melted and smeared all over the rotors.

Pedal going to the floor at the end of the front straight....

Man that seriously sucked.

 

[Kip2MyLou]

Damn that sucks to hear man. Real disappointment.

What's your track wheel and tire set up?

 

[jayroddrumz]

Damn that sux. Glad you and the car are good. Are you gonna go with some hp plus?

 

[razorlab]

Damn that sucks to hear man. Real disappointment.

What's your track wheel and tire set up?

Another set of the same 17x7 black sparcos and Dunlop ZII Star Specs. They weren't bad.

I have a ton of datalogging and I'll post a bigger write up about today when I relax a little bit more.

 

[razorlab]

Damn that sux. Glad you and the car are good. Are you gonna go with some hp plus?

I had a set of wilwood BP-30 race pads that I put on after the incident. I SHOULD have done that before the first session but silly me thought I would be ok the first two sessions getting used to the car but the BP-20's had a different idea. Seriously wait till you see the photo of my rotors with the pad smeared all over it. It's like playdoh.

 

[rodmoe]

Holy Cow man glad you managed to save it .. Glad you OK too

 

[Kip2MyLou]

Another set of the same 17x7 black sparcos and Dunlop ZII Star Specs. They weren't bad.

I have a ton of datalogging and I'll post a bigger write up about today when I relax a little bit more.

I'm thinking about going with them for my spring wheels next year. How you like them? The sparcos? And you still run 205/45 on those as well?

 

[jayroddrumz]

That's crazy! So how did the car feel after the fact, as far as turn in and handling. Stable in the corners. Or did you stop for the day after the underwear change lol