When should I do my first mod?

[Based]

Greetings, guys. I just bought a 2016 Fiesta ST yesterday. I'm wondering about when it is safe to do my first mod on the car?

I'm worried that if I put any mods on the car and then 1000 miles down the line something goes very wrong then I will be stuck with the bill because it might void my warranty.

My car has 102 miles on it right now, bought it with 31 yesterday.

This is my first brand new car and I don't know if I should be worried about the engine failing due to a bad break in period or something. Should I wait maybe 3000 miles or so to make sure nothing is wrong and then mod it? Or is my concern just invalid? Different people say different things about breaking in a car.

The mods I want to do are just mountune lowering springs, a set of sway bars, the Cobb 2.5" catback, and maybe a catted DP.

 

[IconST]

I would hold back on the catback and down pipe maybe till about 1k miles but that's me
as for the springs and sway bars you can do that now i would say. as for warranty issues if the problem has nothing to do with your mod you should be okay.
for example you install lowering springs and motor blows they have to do nothing with each other so they cant void it. get me

 

[Based]

I would hold back on the catback and down pipe maybe till about 1k miles but that's me
as for the springs and sway bars you can do that now i would say. as for warranty issues if the problem has nothing to do with your mod you should be okay.
for example you install lowering springs and motor blows they have to do nothing with each other so they cant void it. get me

Alright cool I will keep that in mind man.

Do you have any advice on breaking in the car? I'm not going to lie I accidentally hit redline leaving the dealership. Car is so quiet compared to my other stick shift cars I forgot I was in a manual car lol...

I've been keeping it under 4000 RPM for the most part today though.

 

[lytheum]

I'd personally hold off on engine mods till there were a few thousand miles on the car. Just to make sure nothing was a dud from the factory. Plus you get to appreciate the car in stock form and really notice the changes you are making.

Get the suspension and appearance stuff done first.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Personally , as others have said, wait for the engine stuff. I would also wait on the sway bars, you may feel like it needs it but stock the FiST is quite nice and you may mod it to quickly and not enjoy how the car becomes. After driving some more than you can mod what you feel is required to improve on how you drive and want out of the car.



Mid you I moded mine before I drove it off the lot. Changed the shift knob right away.

 

[MGrizzard]

I think I had my Cobb RMM installed within the first 3-4 weeks. I was driving a lot when I got the car. So about 1-2k miles when I did my RMM.

MBRP 304SS catback was done not long ago around 6750 miles.

I basically drove the car completely stock and felt the hard shifts. So I bought the RMM and solved that. I knew the RMM wouldn't cause any problems so I was okay with that. I figured when I got my exhaust that if anything catastrophic was wrong with my FiST it would have shown itself by then.

Take your time. The FiST stock is an awesome car. Mine is still stock, kind of, but I came from a 2002 Hyundai Accent 5 speed as my first car so it was like getting off of a bicycle and getting into a racecar when I bought my FiST.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

[BRGT350]

I installed the Mountune air filter within the first hours of owning my ST. The Accessport with bespoke tuning from Mountune followed a few weeks later. Both of those things are fantastic modifications and ones I would strongly suggest starting with.

I had spent 6 months with a stock 2014 ST prior to buying my 2015 ST, and the stock ST is a great car out of the box. For my 2015 ST, I wanted to start off with it being a little hotter of a hot hatch than the stock ST.

Cobb RMM, Mountune induction tube, Mountune hot side charge pipe, and Mountune sport springs filled out the balance of modifications for the next year. This year I installed the FSWerks sport exhaust and short shifter. In my opinion, I have the perfect balance of performance, handling, reliability, and drivability. Due to the climate where my ST operates, I opted to not upgrade the intercooler. For my use and location, charge temps are not a major concern.

 

[Based]

I installed the Mountune air filter within the first hours of owning my ST. The Accessport with bespoke tuning from Mountune followed a few weeks later. Both of those things are fantastic modifications and ones I would strongly suggest starting with.

I had spent 6 months with a stock 2014 ST prior to buying my 2015 ST, and the stock ST is a great car out of the box. For my 2015 ST, I wanted to start off with it being a little hotter of a hot hatch than the stock ST.

Cobb RMM, Mountune induction tube, Mountune hot side charge pipe, and Mountune sport springs filled out the balance of modifications for the next year. This year I installed the FSWerks sport exhaust and short shifter. In my opinion, I have the perfect balance of performance, handling, reliability, and drivability. Due to the climate where my ST operates, I opted to not upgrade the intercooler. For my use and location, charge temps are not a major concern.

Ok thanks man I will look into those upgrades. My current upgrade path plan is RMM, Mountune lowering springs, sway bars, maybe grippier tires and lighter wheels, and then maybe a turbo back exhaust and a tune. I'm not going to even try to make this car fast in a straight line. I've read up on a whole bunch of stuff and it looks like if you don't go at least Cobb Stage 2 for $2000 then it's not even worth it. I'm coming from a 97 Miata so really this car is pretty fast compared to that.

I still have to research and I have plent of time to do that. My upgrade plan might change.

 

[BRGT350]

I wouldn't bother with sway bars, go with the Mountune springs and sticky tires. The car is already very well balanced from the factory and sway bars are either going to create more understeer or oversteer. The ST stock or with the Mountune springs can be made to oversteer with either lifting the throttle or left foot braking. A front bar is just going to make the front plow around corners. I used to be in the camp of bigger sway bars, until I really got into suspension tuning and engineering. Proper shocks, struts, and springs get you 90% there. Sway bars and air pressure are for final tuning of that last 10%. Learning to brake properly fixed many of the issues that I used to think I needed sway bars to fix. I had giant front and rear sway bars on my Mustang when I started modifying the car, and now the front is a small bar and the rear is a factory bar. Springs and dampers were the proper method to get the car right, and final tweaking with bars. My ZX3 had a giant rear bar and stock front bar to make up for the understeer problem, which was more due to my driving technique than the car. Both of my Fiesta's had only the springs (and dampers on my 2011) changed, but had far more refined driving techniques and I saw no reason to add sway bars. If you plan on competing with the car and the difference between a class win and podium can be achieved with that final 10% of tuning, then sway bars will be a must. For the majority of us that hit up a few autocross events a year and maybe a track event for fun, the addition of sway bars just makes the car heavier, wallet lighter, and screws up a wonderfully balanced car.

As for exhaust, it simply is a noise maker. I was ok with that as I was already very happy with the performance of the car without the exhaust. The Mountune tuned Accessport is easily the biggest improvement for the money. I went back to the stock tune for a few days while I was messing around with the vehicle health report and wow, I forgot how much of a difference that thing makes. Tune and a drop in filter is the way to get started. Charge pipe and induction pipe did very little in comparison to the tune.

 

[Based]

I wouldn't bother with sway bars, go with the Mountune springs and sticky tires. The car is already very well balanced from the factory and sway bars are either going to create more understeer or oversteer. The ST stock or with the Mountune springs can be made to oversteer with either lifting the throttle or left foot braking. A front bar is just going to make the front plow around corners. I used to be in the camp of bigger sway bars, until I really got into suspension tuning and engineering. Proper shocks, struts, and springs get you 90% there. Sway bars and air pressure are for final tuning of that last 10%. Learning to brake properly fixed many of the issues that I used to think I needed sway bars to fix. I had giant front and rear sway bars on my Mustang when I started modifying the car, and now the front is a small bar and the rear is a factory bar. Springs and dampers were the proper method to get the car right, and final tweaking with bars. My ZX3 had a giant rear bar and stock front bar to make up for the understeer problem, which was more due to my driving technique than the car. Both of my Fiesta's had only the springs (and dampers on my 2011) changed, but had far more refined driving techniques and I saw no reason to add sway bars. If you plan on competing with the car and the difference between a class win and podium can be achieved with that final 10% of tuning, then sway bars will be a must. For the majority of us that hit up a few autocross events a year and maybe a track event for fun, the addition of sway bars just makes the car heavier, wallet lighter, and screws up a wonderfully balanced car.

As for exhaust, it simply is a noise maker. I was ok with that as I was already very happy with the performance of the car without the exhaust. The Mountune tuned Accessport is easily the biggest improvement for the money. I went back to the stock tune for a few days while I was messing around with the vehicle health report and wow, I forgot how much of a difference that thing makes. Tune and a drop in filter is the way to get started. Charge pipe and induction pipe did very little in comparison to the tune.

Does the AP really make that big of A difference? It says on a 91 tune it only increases hp by I think 4%. And yeah I'm not really caring about how much performance I get from an exhaust I just want it to sound better.

 

[BRGT350]

I have the 93 tune and yes, it makes a difference. It isn't just the 4% gain in power, it is the reprogramming of the throttle that makes a noticeable difference in how the car drives. The car "feels" much quicker with the tune. I also have launch control, which worked great at the last autocross. Data logging and ability to read codes, plus monitoring engine parameters is another bonus.

 

[Based]

I have the 93 tune and yes, it makes a difference. It isn't just the 4% gain in power, it is the reprogramming of the throttle that makes a noticeable difference in how the car drives. The car "feels" much quicker with the tune. I also have launch control, which worked great at the last autocross. Data logging and ability to read codes, plus monitoring engine parameters is another bonus.

Oh I didn't notice you said you used the Mountune calibration and not just the Cobb OTS tune. Maybe that's what makes it worth the money.

 

[M-Sport fan]

Does anyone make a drop-in, DRY high flow, but washable (NOT factory paper) panel filter for these cars?

It looks like my fave, aFe does not.

Are the stock replacement type (NON coil over) Swift springs that everyone in the sport compact/tuner markets rant and rave sooo much about, linear rate (as opposed to all of the others being progressive rate ONLY)??

 

[BGPunk2001]

I want to say I had my RMM by 5k, my AP by 10k and a protune by 12k.

 

[bluestang]

Does anyone make a drop-in, DRY high flow, but washable (NOT factory paper) panel filter for these cars?

It looks like my fave, aFe does not.

According to Mountune for their High Flow Air Filter the last bullet point says:

"Dry filtration but can be oiled for severe duty applications"

 

[M-Sport fan]

According to Mountune for their High Flow Air Filter the last bullet point says:

"Dry filtration but can be oiled for severe duty applications"

Yeah, I noticed that as well.

I wonder WHO makes these for them; ITG, Pipercross, BMC, ???

 

[OCS12]

Yeah, I noticed that as well.

I wonder WHO makes these for them; ITG, Pipercross, BMC, ???

Unless they offer something new now, it's always been a K&N as far as I know.

I'm not 100% sure on that, though.

 

[M-Sport fan]

Unless they offer something new now, it's always been a K&N as far as I know.

I'm not 100% sure on that, though.

Maybe, but I've never heard of a K&N that could even possibly be run dry, and as far as I know, one does not exist.

The gray color Cobb drop-in looks like a dry aFe, or AEM Dryflow, does anyone know if it is oiled or not?

 

[OCS12]

Maybe, but I've never heard of a K&N that could even possibly be run dry, and as far as I know, one does not exist.

The gray color Cobb drop-in looks like a dry aFe, or AEM Dryflow, does anyone know if it is oiled or not?

Well, for what it's worth, this picture was grabbed from this very forum showing what comes in Mountune's intake kit. I'll let you draw your own conclusions. Maybe they rebrand it now, or maybe they have a new design. I'm not sure.

 

[M-Sport fan]

I cannot read that K&N box with the clamp bag covering it.

Does it say "DRY Flow" or "HIGH Flow" on it??