Hard to control my FiST E30 tune Falken ZE960 tires

[Ubermeister]

Hey everyone! Looking for a bit of understanding/guidance. Bought a 2017 FiST a few months ago so far I have a Mishimoto FMIC, CAI, a RMM and Step 1 colder plugs running Dizzy’s E30 tune through my AP. The car is fun as hell to drive but I feel I am constantly having to baby it to keep it under control. Any sort of hard acceleration introduces enough torque steer it’s scary on side streets. Tires constantly seem to lose traction any time I over 1/2 way to 3/4 WOT (even rolling it there fairly slowly.) I’ve owned an AWD 2015 BMW M235i (auto transmission) that had a JB4 piggyback tune and other bolt ons that would hit 60 in under 4 seconds easily and a 2017 GTI (manual) also tuned with a JB4 both running E30 blends. Even though the GTI is FWD I felt like I had no torque steer with it and both of those cars would just pull like hell and made me feel more confident in my driving. My FiST is great but damn it’s a squirmy little sucker! I would love to get more power and do a big turbo but I feel that adding any more power with the torque steer is going to make that it unusable. I have thought about getting a LSD to help but not sure if it’s worth it unless I do go with a bigger turbo and that greatly increases the cost/complexity of adding power. My tires are Falken ZE960’s which were on it when I bought the car and still have a good amount of tread left never used or heard of Falken before owning this car. Tire pressure is set to factory specs as the tires are also on OEM rims. I guess my main question is for those with some experience in effectively reducing torque steer to make the car safer to drive with more power through an LSD, new rims with some spacers and fender flares with wider tires, or if just getting some better tires would make enough of a difference to make the car feel more in control while driving it harder.
Life circumstances have put me in a position where the FiST was the best deal for power/performance that I can currently afford.

Appreciate any thoughts or feedback!

 

[ronmcdon]

I think it's always going to have some torque steer and that's arguably my least favorite part of this car. already have lsd, 200tw tires in 225/16 and bunch of mods that would increase traction, Cobb stage 2 tune for full bolt ons sans hi flow downpipe.

People have a hard time fitting wide rubber more than 225's it seems. Am planning to try fit 245/17s later in the year but it's a total gamble and doubt it will fix the torque steer significantly.

My guess is to talk to your tuner to maybe reduce torque on 1st and 2nd. Have a hunch going with s280 turbo would help given that reduces some low end torque but thats pure uneducated speculation on my part.

Get stickier tires. If you dont like the car not a bad idea to sell given we get good pricing on that right now. LSD you are looking at 2500 easy for install and parts, give or take.

 

[Jabbit]

Trash tires for those mods. Try something stickier and you'll have better results. Firehawk 500 seems to be all the rage.

 

[rcarbajal4]

I agree with stickier tires. I run RS-RRs with FBO and E30 tune, no issues here.

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[dhminer]

OEM tires would spin on Dizzy E30 for me. Put big turbo, push power higher in the rev range. 0 wheel spin.

 

[Dpro]

I think it's always going to have some torque steer and that's arguably my least favorite part of this car. already have lsd, 200tw tires in 225/16 and bunch of mods that would increase traction, Cobb stage 2 tune for full bolt ons sans hi flow downpipe.

People have a hard time fitting wide rubber more than 225's it seems. Am planning to try fit 245/17s later in the year but it's a total gamble and doubt it will fix the torque steer significantly.

My guess is to talk to your tuner to maybe reduce torque on 1st and 2nd. Have a hunch going with s280 turbo would help given that reduces some low end torque but thats pure uneducated speculation on my part.

Get stickier tires. If you dont like the car not a bad idea to sell given we get good pricing on that right now. LSD you are looking at 2500 easy for install and parts, give or take.

I can attest to this on my S280 pump gas tune once I added in the Damond motorsports passenger side engine mount Torque steer was almost eliminated. Then I went and did and E30 tune for my s280 . I got back the donkey bottom end car is a missile and I have torque steer again. lol I will shortly go to an LSD .

 

[ronmcdon]

does this mean, all things equal, e30 adds a lot of low end torque?

never really looked into e30, always seemed like it was too much work for a lazy person such as myself

 

[Dpro]

does this mean, all things equal, e30 adds a lot of low end torque?

never really looked into e30, always seemed like it was too much work for a lazy person such as myself

Yes that is pretty much true. I picked up about 15 hp but gained roughly 50-60 ft lbs TQ. . I could not tune further with injectors. If I add injectors I will pick up another 30-40whp who knows how much more torque. Honestly I wonder If I really need anymore at this point . The car is pretty potent.

 

[gtx3076]

Leave traction control on. I set mine to intervene as quickly as possible.

 

[Poofies]

I’m on stock turbo, fbo except downpipe and have almost zero torque steer with nitto neogens, 2 point track bar, and all three mounts with inserts. Have an e30 tune and a 91 stratified tune.

 

[ronmcdon]

Yes that is pretty much true. I picked up about 15 hp but gained roughly 50-60 ft lbs TQ. . I could not tune further with injectors. If I add injectors I will pick up another 30-40whp who knows how much more torque. Honestly I wonder If I really need anymore at this point . The car is pretty potent.

ah good to know. the primary appeal of the s280 to me wasnt so much the added power but power delivery itself. really liked how it muted a lot of torque on the low end, even compared to COBB ots stage 2 tune (just bolts on).

I wonder what one can do to add more power on the s280 while not increasing torque all that much.

 

[Ubermeister]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone, I’ll probably get the rest of the mounts replaced and look at some additional bracing before going LSD or something. Then get some wider wheels with better tires when I upgrade the turbo next year. I’ve got a friend who turned his 2002 Hatchback Civic with a V6 VTEC swap into a big turbo AWD monster and that thing is well.. hilarious…. I’ve tried looking around on the forums to see if anyone has tried modding their FiST into an AWD and haven’t seen much. Anybody aware of someone who has attempted this?

 

[bflan2001]

With the upper motor & trans mount inserts (or replacing the whole mount), rear motor mount, and a Pierce traction bar you will eliminate almost all torque steer regardless of what tires you’re running.

There are rumors that the EcoSport AWD drivetrain will fit in the Fiesta but nobody has successfully done the swap yet that I know of.

 

[HardBoiledEgg]

Learn to drive

 

[ronmcdon]

if you have to convert to awd, think you’re better off trading into a focus rs or evo with a well sorted out awd system.

fiesta already a bad enough money pit as is if you’re not careful

 

[gtx3076]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone, I’ll probably get the rest of the mounts replaced and look at some additional bracing before going LSD or something. Then get some wider wheels with better tires when I upgrade the turbo next year. I’ve got a friend who turned his 2002 Hatchback Civic with a V6 VTEC swap into a big turbo AWD monster and that thing is well.. hilarious…. I’ve tried looking around on the forums to see if anyone has tried modding their FiST into an AWD and haven’t seen much. Anybody aware of someone who has attempted this?

This comes up every so often. My experience with a FWD car that came with a limited slip differential is it did nothing to mitigate torque steer when the car was stock, and continued to do nothing but spin both tires as I added over 100whp and 100wtq, despite aggressive motor mounts and sticky tires.

From the videos I have seen the civic type R has managed to eliminate torque steer.

View: https://youtu.be/Gw5-lVlzNoY?t=185

 

[Clint Beastwood]

There are all sorts of tricks. I think dodge srt4’s had the simplest solution - equal length halfshafts, no torque steer.

 

[rallytaff]

I had a set of Falkens on my stock 93 Focus before I got my ST. They were $hit! No emergency stops, no racing and they ended up with 2 BALD patches on the front tyres! Complained to Falken in Rancho Cucamonga and even offered to take the tyres to them! They basically said, "Shove off, not interested". Would invest my money in better tyres instead of wasting it on Falkens!

 

[M-Sport fan]

I had a set of all season Falkens on the daily driver wheels of my '00 Z28, way back when (the early forerunners of the 912s/960s, the 512s I think?), and EVERY SINGLE sidewall bubbled in multiple places on those.

As great as their 200 tread wear gummies are, their lower line tires are crap.

 

[rallytaff]

I wouldn't put those pieces of crap on my car even if they were giving them away! I have more respect for my car!