New Owner in Northern California

[Pinchemateo]

Hey all! Got my 2016 Kona Blue Fiesta ST a few months ago and like everyone else I am loving it! I have tracked it twice. Once at Laguna Seca and once at Thunderhill West. Only thing I have done to the car is the garageline pedal spacer and I changed the brake fluid out to Motul 660. I have also dropped the cargo floor to the spare tire with a weather tech cargo mat. Looking to you all for advice on brake pad selection and tires real soon as the ones that came with the car are going to be worn out. Since I daily it most likely will go Pilot Super Sports? And then for pads im looking into Carbotech. To give some back ground I have a 1985 Corolla GTS and just sold my Suzuki SX4 for the Fiesta. I am looking to start a little vlog in the coming weeks about my experience thus far and will keep you all posted!

 

[Flaco]

Welcome !

 

[BoostBumps]

Welcome Aboard!

 

[spymac]

Welcome! I'm new too around here, from Central California. How long were you on track and did you have any overheating or reliability issues? I'm looking forward to next season at Buttonwillow raceway outside of Bakersfield. Have a number of track days on my motorcycle but this will be the first time on 4 wheels. Some people on here are saying that they had cooling issues so I'm curious how another Californian did with the ST?

Any options on your Kona Blue other than the black wheels? I got Nav with mine only because I didn't want to travel to the bay area or the LA area to find one without.

 

[M-Sport fan]

WELCOME!

The Pilot Super Sports are not available in our factory replacement size (205/40-17), but they are in a 205/45-17, which some seem to think is a better choice anyway due to a little more sidewall cushion for the wheels. GREAT tire though, and I WISH it were available in more of the sizes we could use.

You cannot go wrong with the various Carbotech, or G-LOC (company started by some of the original startup Carbotech people who broke away from that company) pads on these cars, although, as I'm sure you already know, as you get higher up into their full race lineups, they become less and less 'steetable' as far as that initial first cold 'hit' on the street, increased rotor wear, and noise/dust go.

 

[MKVIIST]

Welcome aboard.

 

[Pinchemateo]

Welcome! I'm new too around here, from Central California. How long were you on track and did you have any overheating or reliability issues? I'm looking forward to next season at Buttonwillow raceway outside of Bakersfield. Have a number of track days on my motorcycle but this will be the first time on 4 wheels. Some people on here are saying that they had cooling issues so I'm curious how another Californian did with the ST?

Any options on your Kona Blue other than the black wheels? I got Nav with mine only because I didn't want to travel to the bay area or the LA area to find one without.

Hey there thanks for the welcome! For each track day I rode with SpeedSF and they do 5 sessions each 20 minutes long. Both the days it was in the upper 90s and I had no issues heating wise where the car would go into "limp" mode. There was only one session at Thunderhill where the temp went all the way to the top end but I wash pushing it super hard and not downshifting to try to get a better time. I just did some cool down driving up and down the paddock and it cooled down just fine. I am not a seasoned driver so maybe I wasnt pushing it as hard as others who face the heating issue but hard to say. I feel like that a lot of modded Fiesta's have heating issues with tunes but that is just my opinion. I am also considering going to Buttonwillow and if I do ill let you know how it goes!

As for options I just have the wheels. I didnt really want anything else because I use my phone for GPS and they told me at ford that android auto is coming to Sync 3 in the near future.

 

[D1JL]

Welcome Aboard.





Dave

 

[Pinchemateo]

WELCOME!

The Pilot Super Sports are not available in our factory replacement size (205/40-17), but they are in a 205/45-17, which some seem to think is a better choice anyway due to a little more sidewall cushion for the wheels. GREAT tire though, and I WISH it were available in more of the sizes we could use.

You cannot go wrong with the various Carbotech, or G-LOC (company started by some of the original Carbotech people who broke away from that company) pads on these cars, although, as I'm sure you already know, as you get higher up into their full race lineups, they become less and less 'steetable' as far as that initial first cold 'hit' on the street, increased rotor wear, and noise/dust go.

Thats good to know! So I can get the 205/45-17 and be fine anyway right? I am tempted to go Direzza II's because I have them on my old Corolla and they are great but the tread life is a lot shorter. Since this is my daily I need to pick a good balance between the grip on the track and decent tread life. Ill take a look into G-LOC I wasnt aware of that brand at all thanks!

 

[spymac]

Hey there thanks for the welcome! For each track day I rode with SpeedSF and they do 5 sessions each 20 minutes long. Both the days it was in the upper 90s and I had no issues heating wise where the car would go into "limp" mode. There was only one session at Thunderhill where the temp went all the way to the top end but I wash pushing it super hard and not downshifting to try to get a better time. I just did some cool down driving up and down the paddock and it cooled down just fine. I am not a seasoned driver so maybe I wasnt pushing it as hard as others who face the heating issue but hard to say. I feel like that a lot of modded Fiesta's have heating issues with tunes but that is just my opinion. I am also considering going to Buttonwillow and if I do ill let you know how it goes!

As for options I just have the wheels. I didn't really want anything else because I use my phone for GPS and they told me at ford that android auto is coming to Sync 3 in the near future.

I felt the same way about the Nav, phone > integrated. I actually would prefer the Nav not be available, on the home screen its a bit annoying although I have learned to tune it out.

I kinda figured some of the tunes/mods may be part of the problem with some owners overheating, but its good to know a quick cool down can help bring things back under control after hard sessions. I'm planning on keeping the powertrain stock until I get some track time in to get a feel for the car. I'm a beginner that's for sure, only done a few autox sessions with my old car but had a blast. I'd like to see what the car will do stock and how it feels before making any changes. Hit me up if you end up at Buttonwillow sometime next year, it'd be fun to track with another FiST.

 

[John9851]

Welcome !!!!!