I'm looking for more stability during acceleration and higher speed driving.

[FLORIDAST]

I have a 2016 FiST with a X-47, 15x8 Team Dynamics and stock suspension. I do have a TB trunk brace as well.

So with the added power, I'm getting much more torque steer and I feel like I have less stability with the 15x8 wheels. I plan on getting some Mountune springs for my stock shocks and also considering moving back to a 17x8 for less sidewall movement and possibly some more bracing. Anybody have any recommendations? Maybe I'm missing something obvious.

 

[alexrex20]

I'd start with a 2pt front lower brace at a minimum. For high speed stability I'd look into a complete sway bar set. The car is well damped from the factory. Tires will also help. What tires are you running now?

I too felt like the rear was too floaty at high speed. I am only running a larger rear sway bar now and it helped a bunch. The car favors oversteer which I am ok with. I do plan on switching to Eibach swat bar set in the future.

Back to the tires, if you go to an aggressive 15in tire you can regain some of the stability you gave up from 17s. A 15in tire with stiff sidewalls will have more stability than a 17in all-season with squishy sidewalls.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[FLORIDAST]

Tires are BFG Sport Comp 2. 195/55R15

 

[theblue]

more spring rate is number one on these cars, they are dampened great, but the springs are no inspiring. then tires, then alignment, then icing on the cake like braces.

 

[kevinatfms]

More spring rate? The dampers are too aggressive for the spring rates in the rear as is. That is why the car is so playful in stock form at low to medium speeds. At high speeds the rear skips and wallows around corners. Get a damper with the correct valving for the spring application in the rear.

172 is the stock rate front and rear. The rear damper is the culprit for the unstable feeling on high frequency bumps because the rebound is too high. Id change the rear damper at a minimum to something with better valving to handle the rebound better. The Koni Sport(for adjustability) or the Bilstein B6(fixed valving) are a good place to start. The stock front struts are quite matched with the springs in stock trim.

 

[FLORIDAST]

So would Bilstein B6 rears and mountune springs be a good start? I have to get the car more stable at higher speeds as I drive on the freeway almost exclusively.

 

[theblue]

More spring rate? The dampers are too aggressive for the spring rates in the rear as is. That is why the car is so playful in stock form at low to medium speeds. At high speeds the rear skips and wallows around corners. Get a damper with the correct valving for the spring application in the rear.

172 is the stock rate front and rear. The rear damper is the culprit for the unstable feeling on high frequency bumps because the rebound is too high. Id change the rear damper at a minimum to something with better valving to handle the rebound better. The Koni Sport(for adjustability) or the Bilstein B6(fixed valving) are a good place to start. The stock front struts are quite matched with the springs in stock trim.

In my mind, the ratio of spring rate to damper difference is what does this and therefore more spring will neutralize that to some extend. I would think a B6 wouldn't really be much different from stock and B8 would just have a shorter stroke that plays better against a lower height spring. There are many ways to spend a lot of money here, and I haven't modded my suspension at all yet. The logical thing in my mind is throw some whiteline or other stock damper compatible springs at the car and see what you think. After that invest more if you want to.

 

[UtahST]

Start with a 2PT brace in the front. It makes the front end more stable while cornering on throttle. A rear torsion beam brace after that may help the car feel more balanced overall.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kevinatfms]

In my mind, the ratio of spring rate to damper difference is what does this and therefore more spring will neutralize that to some extend. I would think a B6 wouldn't really be much different from stock and B8 would just have a shorter stroke that plays better against a lower height spring. There are many ways to spend a lot of money here, and I haven't modded my suspension at all yet. The logical thing in my mind is throw some whiteline or other stock damper compatible springs at the car and see what you think. After that invest more if you want to.

The seals, valve, piston and gas or nitrogen charge are all of higher quality material in a Bilstein or Koni damper versus a stock OEM mass produced damper.

For me the damper is what controls the spring, not the other way around. He is complaining about high speed stability. Id look at the root issue which is the rear damper rebound causing the car to chatter during high speed maneuvers. The Bilstein/Koni damper can handle the high speed compression and rebound better than the OEM damper due to the piston and valve design.

 

[theblue]

I'm sure they are higher quality, I've run the B8s on a couple of my cars including my current racecar and love them. I'm impressed with the stock dampers on the fiesta ST and curious to see how they act against more spring rate. everything I've read says they do great up to a certain drop / stiffness. If you don't compress as much or as often, you don't need to dampen the rebound and get more stability. That's where my thought is. It's all untested for me until I get some springs in which should be soon I hope

 

[TyphoonFiST]

I'd start with a 2pt front lower brace at a minimum. For high speed stability I'd look into a complete sway bar set. The car is well damped from the factory. Tires will also help. What tires are you running now?

I too felt like the rear was too floaty at high speed. I am only running a larger rear sway bar now and it helped a bunch. The car favors oversteer which I am ok with. I do plan on switching to Eibach swat bar set in the future.

Back to the tires, if you go to an aggressive 15in tire you can regain some of the stability you gave up from 17s. A 15in tire with stiff sidewalls will have more stability than a 17in all-season with squishy sidewalls.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Thanks Buddy! You got me thinking and I went out and got me a 2 point brace!

 

[FLORIDAST]

Thanks for the tips guys!

 

[green_henry]

If you haven't lowered it yet, that to me would be one of the first things to reduce the floating sensation. Even a moderate drop (e.g., Swifts) is immediately noticeable when you first sit in the car.

 

[Turbo1]

I'm running KW v1 with oem tires. KW's lowered my ride a lot. The grip is magnetic, almost no body roll, extreme control at high speed canyon drives. KW's are better at handling than the Bilstein b14 I ran, and extremely far better than meister shocks.

 

[theblue]

^they should be for double the money. It looks like you dialed in a lot of rake?

 

[Turbo1]

^they should be for double the money. It looks like you dialed in a lot of rake?

I thought it looked cool that the front is slightly lower than the front. I never heard of the term rake. I’m glad you brought it up. Anyone know the recommended rake ? Or recommend height ?

 

[theblue]

In perfect world you corner balance the car by putting it on scales and moving the heights up and down to get the balance right on. For most people you just want to set them similar rake to stock with an overall height you want and call it a day.

 

[SST]

I'm running KW v1 with oem tires. KW's lowered my ride a lot. The grip is magnetic, almost no body roll, extreme control at high speed canyon drives. KW's are better at handling than the Bilstein b14 I ran, and extremely far better than meister shocks.

is the KW harsh at all? can you comment on the comfort part a bit? my epxerience with KW is always harsh, but that was on two VWs, thanks in advance

 

[Turbo1]

is the KW harsh at all? can you comment on the comfort part a bit? my epxerience with KW is always harsh, but that was on two VWs, thanks in advance

Yeah it’s a stiff and harsh ride over bad roads and bumps. But it’s not too bad. I’ve gotten used to it. The fiesta is a very stiff car. The KWs feel great on smooth roads however.

Bilstein b14 had the best balance between comfort and stiffness.

 

[theblue]

KW is more towards stiff until you get into two way adjustables where you can set compression and rebound. I'm not even sure anybody makes a 2 way damper for our cars.