DocWalt's 2016 Focus RS

[DaveSTi]

Ugh, that really sucks. I am so sorry you're having such simple issues that require a headache to solve.

[DocWalt]

Thanks man. It's on the bodyshop that Ford contracted out to, unfortunately. Idiots didn't mask it... they masked the driver's fender, why not both?

[DaveSTi]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

Thanks man. It's on the bodyshop that Ford contracted out to, unfortunately. Idiots didn't mask it... they masked the driver's fender, why not both?

Because that would take compassion about your car. Some of these shops, man...I swear. They truly don't give a ****.

[DocWalt]

Originally Posted by DaveSTi

Because that would take compassion about your car. Some of these shops, man...I swear. They truly don't give a ****.

Yeah, which is why I'm in no rush to take the car in for the little weepy seal on the transfer case. It requires some careful work to not damage the new seal while sliding the shaft in, as well as replacing and properly torquing a lot of TTY bolts... and then making sure they didn't screw the alignment up while taking it apart...

Ugh. I'd rather do the work myself, it's a $5 seal... but then it's not on Ford's books as being a problem.

Apparently there are dealers that have already replaced the seal and/or the t-case on 3+ RS's, lol

[DocWalt]

Color matched Rally Armor flaps. I'm pretty happy with them.

[DaveSTi]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

Yeah, which is why I'm in no rush to take the car in for the little weepy seal on the transfer case. It requires some careful work to not damage the new seal while sliding the shaft in, as well as replacing and properly torquing a lot of TTY bolts... and then making sure they didn't screw the alignment up while taking it apart...

Ugh. I'd rather do the work myself, it's a $5 seal... but then it's not on Ford's books as being a problem.

Apparently there are dealers that have already replaced the seal and/or the t-case on 3+ RS's, lol

wish Ford corporate could read all of this.

not a mudflap guy (even on my sti), but those look good and fit the car!

[DocWalt]

Originally Posted by DaveSTi

wish Ford corporate could read all of this.

not a mudflap guy (even on my sti), but those look good and fit the car!

Based on their reaction to the threads about it on the Focus RS forums... They don't give a ****.

"We're too busy to keep up with all of these threads!"

Well, maybe don't build cars with problems?

Yeah, I'm not a mudflap guy either, but protection is nice to have.

[DocWalt]

Found this pictogram detailing the different driving modes of the RS. The "Engine" mode that's referenced is essentially the throttle pedal mapping, it doesn't make more power or anything, just a sharper pedal response.

[DaveSTi]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

Found this pictogram detailing the different driving modes of the RS. The "Engine" mode that's referenced is essentially the throttle pedal mapping, it doesn't make more power or anything, just a sharper pedal response.

Very cool! Looks really similar to the mapping on my car. Are you able to do a custom setting? Steering on Tour mode, shocks on Track mode, etc?

[DocWalt]

Got the car back from clear bra, they finally got the satin in to do the black insert on the front bumper and the rear wing. They also redid the passenger fender and it all seems good now, but of course it's been raining since...

Originally Posted by DaveSTi

Very cool! Looks really similar to the mapping on my car. Are you able to do a custom setting? Steering on Tour mode, shocks on Track mode, etc?

You can set the shocks however you want, and play with the ESC setting, but everything else is tied to a mode.

For example: at autocross I set it to track mode, ESC completely off, shocks on normal.

There's a few pretty fun corners on the road I live on, I've found that running the shocks in sport mode but leaving everything else on is actually a lot nicer as the pavement is mostly smooth (so no bouncing) but the undulations over the crests and off camber corners feel a LOT better when the body is "tied down" more than normal.

[cavillac95]

Originally Posted by cavillac95

holy picture resize batman!

jesus!

[DocWalt]

Originally Posted by cavillac95

jesus!

When I post them on other forums they're nicely resized to something like 720p before the forum scales them to fit on the page, not sure how to make that happen on TST.

We're on a fresh page now, so whatever

[DocWalt]

Installed the front mudflaps today. The rears definitely keep the back of the car cleaner, hopefully the fronts keep the side of the car cleaner.

[DocWalt]

A bit of a diversion... but way too much fun to not share. I did some rallycross yesterday in a buddy's Miata. The course got slower with every run, which was a new experience.

Run 1 from the AM session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jePOx_nc7dM

Run 1 from the PM session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COlJU6DUK9k

Run 2 from the PM session (I was trying to link some corners with little drifts, well, I lost too much speed and had no grip to add speed, lol)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTEp4I8qxDc

and an oopsy... I scared the course workers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSge9f7PHno

[DaveSTi]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

A bit of a diversion... but way too much fun to not share. I did some rallycross yesterday in a buddy's Miata. The course got slower with every run, which was a new experience.

Run 1 from the AM session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jePOx_nc7dM

Run 1 from the PM session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COlJU6DUK9k

Run 2 from the PM session (I was trying to link some corners with little drifts, well, I lost too much speed and had no grip to add speed, lol)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTEp4I8qxDc

and an oopsy... I scared the course workers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSge9f7PHno

Haha...reminds me of a time when I autocrossed a buddy's gen 1 miata.

I was used to driving a 2000 Mustang (just to put this into context), and the Miata steering was so damn quick with the car so damn willing to move around turns that I spent the entire run with my arms flailing around to keep the rear end straight from me overcorrecting the car. The funny part was that I basically just drove the course at 40mph and still was able to get into midpack.

[DocWalt]

Originally Posted by DaveSTi

Haha...reminds me of a time when I autocrossed a buddy's gen 1 miata.

I was used to driving a 2000 Mustang (just to put this into context), and the Miata steering was so damn quick with the car so damn willing to move around turns that I spent the entire run with my arms flailing around to keep the rear end straight from me overcorrecting the car. The funny part was that I basically just drove the course at 40mph and still was able to get into midpack.

Hahahah... Miata felt SO slow steering wise compared to the RS.

Your bit about driving like an idiot and doing well... I won my class by nearly 208 seconds

[DocWalt]

So ETS released their exhaust officially on Monday with a proper video posted today... https://adamtuned.com/products/ets-c...-ford-focus-rs I love how it sounds, it's just a smidgen too quiet. Louder than stock for sure, but not quite loud enough.

So I ordered a custom one... They're throwing in $5 worth of stickers for free, so I guess that eases the pain a bit.

Details to come in the next few weeks

[DocWalt]

I did the free mod too. I didn't get quite as much out of mine, the nut started hitting the curve of the bar and I wasn't comfortable having it dig in. I also didn't get the hole placement perfect... Didn't seem to be terrible and the end links still fit OK. I'd like to have some adjustable links to make sure there's no preload, but that'll be down the road. I don't want to mess with those again any time soon, there's not much clearance

Before:


After:


All done:


I did the math, it should be good for about an 18% difference in bar rate, at least at the 3/4" hole spacing that I got. I'm on snow tires and I didn't push it hard or anything, but it seemed to have a bit less roll up front. I'll find out tomorrow with a longer than ~5 minute drive.

Also, I got some resistors in the mail today, I'm aiming to disable the rear shocks and have the fronts go into Sport mode to speed up transitions even more. Should be B Street legal, but I'll have to talk to a few more people about it.

[blue91lx]

Car is looking good, man! I know that Wawa all too well, and I'm pretty sure I've seen those cars before.

So sorry you're dealing with all of the ridiculous issues. I have a pair of buddies who purchased new '15 WRX Limiteds and they have both been back to the dealer more times than I can count. Seems ridiculous that cars are being released with such glaring issues/imperfections.

[DocWalt]

Thanks man. There's now a blown head gasket scare going around the forums & facebook groups... Joy.

That was a seems to attract a lot of cool cars on nice weekends