New ST Owner in Long Island NY Area

[rotation_nation]

Hi everyone - thrilled to be a new owner of a Fiesta ST that I picked up yesterday. I managed to find a 2017 with ~25,000 miles and zero modifications (that last bit is hard to find!). Drove the car several hours home last night and love it. It's my third car - my wife has an Audi Q7 and I have a 2024 Cayman GTS 4.0. I was looking for a car that I can put a car seat in the back of (expecting our first child), and one that I can have fun running around town in. I was considering an R53 Mini Cooper S (was my first car 15 years ago), but after test driving a low mileage example it became apparent just how old those cars have become. Lots of little things that can go wrong. I test drove an ST and was hooked. The torque/power delivery is unbelievably fund. I would venture to say that I have just as much fund throwing the Fiesta around a bend as I do my Cayman. And it's a lower stress endeavor (in the Fiesta, you can have fund without hitting triple digit speeds).

A couple initial questions/issues i've encountered:

1. The steering wheel - I can't stand it. I don't know if mine has just worn poorly, but the stitching is so uncomfortable to the hand and the leather is so hard. I don't like how much the little thumb recessions narrow. I just can't get comfortable. And I really want the human/car interfaces to be perfect, because the driving dynamics are so good. I've done a fair bit of searching, and it doesn't look like steering wheel upgrades are popular on this platform. I saw that Whoosh has a recovered wheel option. And there are those eastern european custom wheel outfits, although I don't want a crazy flat-bottomed carbon fiber wheel. I just want a wheel with a slightly thicker/padded rim in supple leather. I would be curious to hear of any good vendors out there. I love the Whoosh wheel, although would prefer a slightly thicker rim (it looks like they simply re-cover the OEM wheel frame).
2. Ergonomic issues - the position of the arm rest is really annoying. It gets in the way of shifting into 2nd, 4th, 6th gears. Are there any ways to delete the arm rest or lower it significantly? I searched, and didn't see a lot on the matter.
3. Turn in - based on what I had read, I expected the turn in to be incredibly sharp. For me, it hasn't been. It feels like the first sensation is initial body roll, and then the car starts changing it's heading. Once you've settled into that initial body roll, steering response feels good. But the initial bite lacks. My Fiesta was outfitted by the selling Ford dealership with the worst/cheapest tires I've ever come across - Ironman iMove Gen 2 AS. I assume the rubber could have something to do with the softness and lack of steering feel. Is that a fair assumption? If so, I think new tires will have to go on.
   1. The car is black and has the black OEM wheels. I'm not big on the murdered out look, so I want to install new wheels anyway. Thinking OZ Superturismos in gunmetal, although I wish they came in 16".
   2. Not a fan of the tire selection in stock sizes. Once you bump up to 205/45r17 the selection seems to get better. Do you think i'll have issues rubbing with 45s, if I plan to go with Swift or Mountune springs?

Anyway, really excited to have the ST. I've ordered a handful of basic upgrades thus far - Cobb AP (will go with Dizzy), new plugs, drop in panel filter, and Vibra-Technics rear motor mount. Other than Swift/Mountune springs, new wheels/tires, and something to improve the steering wheel, I plan to keep the car understated (no exhaust, intake, etc).

Looking forward to getting to know the platform better over time!

 

[D1JL]

Dave

 

[SteveS]

As you have found, there aren't many solutions for the steering wheel. It might be that you'll have to resort to what I did on the NA Miata I got a few years ago (though I did it for cost considerations). I found a leather stitch-on wheel cover that goes over the top of the original leather covering. This covered the wearing leather on the original wheel and gave me a thicker, softer grip.

If you want to recover your wheel Redline Goods makes kits to do that, and you can get regular leather, perforated, nappa leather, and alcantara.

For the ergos, it may be you are sitting a little too far back. When I went to the Ford Performance Driving School that came with the new FiST, the seating position they recommended for the car was more forward than I had thought. You have more bend in the legs and elbows that way. It's more of a rallying seating position. In addition you don't need to shift with your whole arm, moving the elbow. It's just a flick of the wrist thing. It's such a light shifter that's all that's necessary.

A lot of the sharpness of turn-in came from the OEM tire, the Bridgestone RE050A, which is no longer available. The OEM size tire that gives the closest approximation of that now is the Yokohama Advan Fleva V701. Both of those are summer-only. There's not much experience with it, but the Michelin PS5 has just become available and might be a better choice than Chinesium tires as well. I had to get new tires last year and got the Firestone Indy500, which is good even if not quite as sharp as the Bridgestones were. If you have to go all-season then probably the Michelin PS/AS4 is the best choice. The PS/AS3 was the OEM AS tire, and the cars at the driving school had those. we drove them on the Charlotte road course and on the urbancross (part of the time in rain) and they acquitted well.

 

[rotation_nation]

Thank you so much! My first two days involved damp pavement, and I just had an opportunity to take the car for a rip on dry (albeit cold 34*) pavement. The turn in was markedly better, and the car was able to actually put power down in 2nd without much wheel spin. What a fun car this is!

I still plan to change the wheels and tires. So hard to decide on size/sidewall.

today I also noticed that the rubber trim surrounding my windshield is totally shot. So I need to address that. It was a California car all of its life, so presumably sat in the sun quite a bit. Good for rust, bad for other stuff.

 

[SteveS]

If you're getting new wheels, I'd strongly consider going 16"x7" and getting Continental ECS02 for summer-only or Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 205/45R16 for All Season.

You do lose a smidge of the sharpness going to the 16" but the Continentals are currently the top for handling and grip in each category of road tire.
Then get something like Konig Heliograms at 14.8 lbs. OZ does have the Ultraleggera in that size at 14.7 lbs too.

The rubber strips on either side of the windshield seem to last only about 5-6 years even here in the midwest before they start looking ratty. They are fairly inexpensive and easy to swap out.

 

[rotation_nation]

If you're getting new wheels, I'd strongly consider going 16"x7" and getting Continental ECS02 for summer-only or Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 205/45R16 for All Season.

You do lose a smidge of the sharpness going to the 16" but the Continentals are currently the top for handling and grip in each category of road tire.
Then get something like Konig Heliograms at 14.8 lbs. OZ does have the Ultraleggera in that size at 14.7 lbs too.

The rubber strips on either side of the windshield seem to last only about 5-6 years even here in the midwest before they start looking ratty. They are fairly inexpensive and easy to swap out.

Ugh if I could just find the OZ wheels I like in 16. It looks like they are sold in the UK. Resellers like Demon Tweeks, although I have no experience working with them. And I’m sure shipping costs would be considerable.

 

[SteveS]

If you have to have the Superturismo, Full Car Tuning has it and the website says worldwide shipping.
https://fullcartuning.com/71128-oz-racing-superturismo-gt-wheels-16-inch-7j-et43-4x108-grigio-corsa

 

[Capri to ST]

I agree with @SteveS above, those really crappy tires that the dealer put on your car are definitely hurting your turn in. For me that's the best asset of this car so when I'm choosing tires my goal is to maximize that.
I have the Yokohama Advan Fleva V701 in the OEM size and the turn in is excellent. It's almost as good as the stock and now discontinued Bridgestone Potenzas, which were the king of turn in.
Before you invest in new wheels you might consider trying a better tire in the OEM size. You might find you don't need new wheels, but then if you do get them later you will be able to measure the difference better.

 

[dhminer]

Those tires definitely are your limiting factor. With good tires on 17” wheels the turn in on this car is almost go kart immediate. Dropping to 16s will negatively impact this, but not a ton if you stick with high performance (stiff sidewall) tires.

SoCal garageworks steering wheels are solid but they are of the flat bottom and heavily contoured variety. I love mine but like you I wish it was just fatter, and slightly smaller diameter, than stock.

If you go up to 205/45s I would expect significant rubbing if you also put lowering springs. Fine on stock ride height and it actually will look lowered because the fender gap is so little with the bigger tire.

Arm rest issue is easiest to solve by lengthening the shifter. WC Lathewerks makes adapters as do several others, or there are the long penis shaped shift knobs often seen in conjunction with -20° camber and brazzers license plates. Jokes aside, a shifter extension with a mountune short shift plate on the trans, and a short throw lever from boomba or custom, feels excellent and reduces the long hand travel distance from wheel to low factory shifter. Coolerworx or CAE shifters solve this too at a much higher price point, but racecar shit is cool. Even if you don’t do the extension, the mountune short shifter is awesome.

Welcome to the club!

 

[M-Sport fan]

Ugh if I could just find the OZ wheels I like in 16. It looks like they are sold in the UK. Resellers like Demon Tweeks, although I have no experience working with them. And I’m sure shipping costs would be considerable.

The wheels Demon Tweaks might sell you and ship here (albeit yes, as you've stated big $$$$ for shipping and not sure of if the UK and Italy tariffs hit yet or not).
But tires FUGGETABOUTIT!
They flat out refused to sell me the readily available, right on their shelves in great quantities there Michelin Pilot Sport 5s I wanted in the totally unobtanium here stateside, 215/40-17 size (or any other tire I was considering, like the Toyo TR1s which will never come here in any size it seems).

They would not even tell me whether it was because the manufacturers forbade them from being sold here, or just they did not want to bother with shipping themselves.

But yeah, the UK/Europe get tons more varieties/sizes in the OZed wheel lineup than they ever offered U.S. here, exclusively through Tire Rack.

Those Superturismos would look wicked in gunmetal, and yes they can have them in 16" sizes (as well as a 17x8, whereas we only were offered a 17x7.5 here).

How far out on the Island are you??

Bridgehampton was one helluva road course, but I am guessing that you never got to do an open track day there before they turned it into a golf course and townhouses, or did you??

Do they drop a billion tons of salt and oceans of brine on the roads there when you are going to get a half inch of snow like they do here?

 

[rotation_nation]

Unbelievably helpful posts, thank you all so much! The vibe here is about 100x more helpful than on rennlist.

I am in the locust valley area of Long Island. Way too much salt on the roads here!! I sadly never got to drive bridgehampton, but have driven lime rock and Monticello in the past.

I was able to make the arm rest issue quite a bit better by raising the seat height. I’ll go ahead and install the mountune short shifter as well. The chrome flake on my reverse lockout collar is flaking so I’ll pick up an aluminum version while I’m at it.

As for tires, 205/45s are out then….I can’t stand rubbing. I don’t want to lower the car significantly, but do like the height offered by the mountune springs. So I need something that won’t rub with those. And for all the points others have mentioned, it’s a hassle ordering from the UK so I will probably just go with the Superturismo GTs in gunmetal from tire rack. They sell it in 17x7, so I suppose I will just use the stock tire size. But the choices on tire rack are so limited. For UHP A/S they have the Toyo Extensa HP II, General G-Max AS07, Kumho Ecsta PA51, and Pilot Sport AS4 (would rather not spend that much). Then for UHP summer, there is the Kumho Ecsta PS31.

I am almost reluctant to go with an ultra sticky tire, as the fun in the fiesta is its ability to rotate at reasonably safe speeds. Perhaps you still can with sticky summer tires? What I care more about is steering feel.

 

[M-Sport fan]

Even on a 17x7 wheel, you can still go up to a 215/40-17 tire, albeit yes, with a micron of lost turn-in due to less stretch of the side walls, but a tiny bit more cushy ride, and protection of the $$$ OZed wheels on I am sure less than perfect roads out there.

The sad thing is that there really are no more, probably even less (street summer >300 tread wear, and all season) choices in that size than our OEM 205/40-17 size.

 

[rotation_nation]

Even on a 17x7 wheel, you can still go up to a 215/40-17 tire, albeit yes, with a micron of lost turn-in due to less stretch of the side walls, but a tiny bit more cushy ride, and protection of the $$$ OZed wheels on I am sure less than perfect roads out there.

The sad thing is that there really are no more, probably even less (street summer >300 tread wear, and all season) choices in that size than our OEM 205/40-17 size.

wow yes, the choices are even more limited! Can anyone comment on the fun factor/rotation tendency of the car using a sticky summer tires vs UHP all season?

 

[dhminer]

Congrats on the soon to be kiddo. I joined the parent club unexpectedly in May 2023 and it’s been a happy little accident, so we just had another. Go ahead and start looking for the Moderno power wheels car you like best, they’re the only 24v I could find with a parent remote. Pretty sure they make Porsche versions. Speaking of which, Porsche pics please!

 

[SteveS]

wow yes, the choices are even more limited! Can anyone comment on the fun factor/rotation tendency of the car using a sticky summer tires vs UHP all season?

The car came from the factory with sticky tires unless you got the all-seasons. The RE050As were TW140 tires.

The Yokohama Advan Fleva V701 is generally better regarded than the Kumho Ecsta PS31. Look at Tire Rack's comparison test. As I said, the Michelin PS5 might be great but nobody here has reported on it yet.

I haven't had experience with all-seasons other than the PS/AS3 since I use summer tires and swap to snow tires.

 

[rotation_nation]

Congrats on the soon to be kiddo. I joined the parent club unexpectedly in May 2023 and it’s been a happy little accident, so we just had another. Go ahead and start looking for the Moderno power wheels car you like best, they’re the only 24v I could find with a parent remote. Pretty sure they make Porsche versions. Speaking of which, Porsche pics please!

wow those power wheels look awesome!!! It will definitely find its way under the Christmas tree soon. As for Porsche pictures, here is one. Although the fiesta is every bit as fun to drive based on the 500 miles I’ve done over the last week!

 

[rotation_nation]

The car came from the factory with sticky tires unless you got the all-seasons. The RE050As were TW140 tires.

The Yokohama Advan Fleva V701 is generally better regarded than the Kumho Ecsta PS31. Look at Tire Rack's comparison test. As I said, the Michelin PS5 might be great but nobody here has reported on it yet.

I haven't had experience with all-seasons other than the PS/AS3 since I use summer tires and swap to snow tires.

Good point on the car coming that way from the factory. In that case I will focus on summer tires. I already have the cheap A/S tires on the factory wheels and can swap them on when it gets cold.