[Cesso]

I never expected the Fiesta ST, I thought the Focus ST was all we were going to get here in the states, I hadn't even heard of the Fiesta version, so when one showed up off the delivery truck I was very intrigued. When I sat in it, I was excited. And when I first saw Molten Orange, I was in love. Finally getting one was a difficult and time consuming affair, one I chronicled here: Ordered My First New Vehicle, but finally the car is here and getting sorted out just the way I want it.

This wont be a race car, I already have a purpose built one and I've ruined enough perfectly good street cars to know that it isn't worth it. My goal is to preserve and enhance the car as it is, not fundamentally altering it. I have no intention of voiding the warranty while it is in effect, so I wont be making any power modifications until it runs out. I am going to go about tweaking this car in a different manner, tackling the things that will improve it as a whole instead of delving into maximum straight line performance right off the bat.

First off, this is what I ordered:

2015 Ford Fiesta ST
Molten Orange Tri-Coat
Recaro Partial Leather Seats - Molten Orange
Moonroof
Navigation
Rado Gray Wheel Package
Front License Plate Delete

When it first came in, filthy from transport across Mexico and missing the Rado Gray wheels:

Completed the paperwork, filled it with premium gas, and took it straight to the detailer of my choosing. Going to do it right the first time.

A few teasers of his correction work on the factory paint defects:

He is also coating the paint with CQuartz Finest, a high-tech ceramic nano coating that will protect the paint from UV radiation, dust, swirls and scratches. It is guaranteed to last at least 2 years, and I have seen some excellent results from it in the past. You can read about it here: CQuartz Finest. Their new leather coating, CQuartz Leather, just arrived at his shop and he is coating my seats with it to test its durability as well.

In a few hours I am picking the car up, finished, coated, and with a few choice modifications. Then it's time to mount the Rado Gray wheels and park the car in the garage for the incoming snow storm. Stay tuned for more photos and details!

A happy new year to you all as well!

Ian

 

[RodMoe]

looks good enjoy it

 

[XR650R]

Are you keeping the silver wheels, or are they taking them back? Either way, it's nice to see you take pride in your ride!

 

[Tokendog]

That orange paint. Perfecto!

 

[Cesso]

Thanks for the compliments guys! I'd love to keep the silver wheels as well, perhaps I can strike a deal with our service manager.

I wasn't able to get the Rado wheels on yesterday, that will have to wait for tomorrow. Luckily the sun came out briefly and I managed to snap some freshly detailed pictures of the car. The real photoshoot will have to wait for next weekend when it is freshly washed, tinted (hopefully), and with the right wheels mounted. I was absolutely blown away by how the car looked when I picked it up, pictures simply can't capture it. Especially how it looks going down the road. This paint is insane! You also might notice I had some parts vinyl wrapped... and I couldn't be happier for how they turned out. Major props to Elijah at Diamond Detail, his work is second to none.

 

[Sil3nt611]

Nice car. Why do they put their huge temporary tag on the rear window? There's already too many blind spots.

 

[Cesso]

Been a while since I have updated this, been out driving the FiST! 640 miles on it so far, and I love it more every day.

My WeatherTech mats came in and I will do a photoshoot/writeup on those soon. They are fantastic and do exactly what I want them to do, my only gripe is that at the bottom of its travel the clutch pedal does come into contact with the driver's mat. It doesn't effect operation, but you do feel it.

With 600 miles on the odometer I put the car on the dyno at a local Dyno Day event just for fun and to see how it would do completely stock. Gas was Costco 91 octane.

I'm very impressed with the results, HP is exactly where I would expect it to be and the TQ is the best number I have seen on a bone stock car. Overall, a great platform to start with.

Some current pics, and a photo with the color matched license plate I special ordered for the car:

Coming up soon is a clear bra to protect the paint from the flying rocks on the highways here. Then it'll be time for tint before the weather starts heating up!

Can't wait to get out and drive some more!

Ian

 

[BlackBird]

Nice stock numbers! I think your car would look great with some sort of front lip to go around with the black center and roof.

 

[Cesso]

Nice stock numbers! I think your car would look great with some sort of front lip to go around with the black center and roof.

Thanks! I'm definitely considering the Triple R Splitter, but I want to be certain that clearance on my driveway will be acceptable with it and the Mountune lowering springs I also plan on getting. Modding this car will be a slow process as I have other projects that need more time and money at the moment, and this car has absolutely nothing wrong with it that needs fixing (which is a first for me!).

 

[Golfguy11800]

Wow. Gorgeous!

 

[Daniel Grant]

Don't worry about clearance. You get the hang of it. Here's my Evo 4 at a local Canadian Tire in Calgary...

 

[9]

Lookin' good. Love the wrapped roof.

 

[Cesso]

Wow. Gorgeous!

Lookin' good. Love the wrapped roof.

Thanks guys!

Don't worry about clearance. You get the hang of it. Here's my Evo 4 at a local Canadian Tire in Calgary...
View attachment 1840

I've had super low cars on coilovers in the past, and I don't want to repeat that experience again, I want this car to remain easily driveable on the street without me worrying about clearing commonplace obstacles.

Now on to the updates on the ST:



The non-ST Fiesta spare and tools I snagged from a wrecked car at the dealership, they fit perfectly in place of our fullsize and allows the cargo floor to sit flat on the lower setting. However, our cargo floor is not really designed to sit down there, it fails to cover the whole area and slides around when driving. The base Fiesta cargo floor does fit there perfectly and matches our carpet exactly, but I was unable to take that from our wrecked car. I'll try to find a part number so I can order that piece from Ford or a parts reseller. Then the top level cargo floor can be removed when needed and the bottom level will already be covered and be completely factory correct for this car.

The WeatherTech floor mats I installed earlier have really been great, even though I don't see the harsh weather of the North East. They are relatively thin while being very tough and rigid, with just enough flexibility to get into place. They seem no heavier than the factory carpet mats either.

The driver's mat (above) locks into place on two raised pegs from the floor, and it locks VERY securely. It takes a lot of force to lock it down and a really tremendous amount to get it unlocked again. It also covers a decent amount of the non-existent dead pedal area, nice!

However, this is also the place where the one eccentricity of these mats lies: they aren't designed to work with the clutch pedal. When I first installed the mats the clutch would interfere with the mat at the bottom of its travel. Now, a few hundred miles down the road, the pedal arm has worn two grooves into the hard material and no longer interferes at all. No problem!

The other mats fit so snugly that they are nearly as difficult to remove as the drivers mat but without the locking pegs. The black color also matches with the carpet dead-on for a nice factory OEM look.

Finally, I also got the windows tinted. I went with Llumar CTX 40 ceramic 40% tint on all the windows except for the windshield. The tint looks dark on this color of car, but is very light for its heat rejection properties. On a moonless night I can see crystal clear through it without any strain. Never again will I go with a dangerous and illegal sub 20% tint job on a daily driven car. The windshield got tinted with Llumar Air 80 ceramic which is essentially invisible but rejects just as much heat and UV as the CTX-40. Now I don't have to worry about taking a bulky sun-shade with me to keep the sun out of the car while parked. I have had these high-end films on other vehicles without A/C and I only ever became uncomfortable when sitting still in traffic on 105 degree plus summer days. I should hardly need to use the A/C at all in this car now, which means less parasitic loss on the engine and less underhood heat during the summer! Win/win.

I have been avoiding the cost of a high-end clear bra, but with three small rock chips on the car already, it has to be the next thing on my to-do list. Perhaps I'll install some low-profile mudflaps to cut down on rock chips on the quarter panels as well. I don't want to be touching up this orange pearl paint on a regular basis!


Cheers,
Ian

 

[b17drvr]

Very Nice

 

[Whosjonny]

The front license plate linked to one for a Subaru. Is that what you used? Know of a write up for install?

 

[Cesso]

The front license plate linked to one for a Subaru. Is that what you used? Know of a write up for install?

Wrong thread? I've got no idea what you are talking about.

 

[Pedro]

I feel like this is the first time I have seen a Molten Orange that actually looks orange. I really like it! MO was my original choice but there were none available with the options I wanted when I was buying. Thankfully I liked the Green Envy just as much. I think I may use the same tint as you, did you just go to a tint shop and they had that brand or did you have to order it online and take the rolls of tint in. (I have never had a car tinted before).

 

[Cesso]

I feel like this is the first time I have seen a Molten Orange that actually looks orange. I really like it! MO was my original choice but there were none available with the options I wanted when I was buying. Thankfully I liked the Green Envy just as much. I think I may use the same tint as you, did you just go to a tint shop and they had that brand or did you have to order it online and take the rolls of tint in. (I have never had a car tinted before).

I've never seen a Green Envy car either, and green is a favorite color of mine. I was worried it would be too bright and garish for me (yeah, yeah and I have an orange car....). Lucky for me, I have a friend who has been in the tint business a number of years now and he uses Llumar for his high-end films. On a previous car of mine I went to different tint shop that destroyed the rear defroster and integral radio antenna as well as killing my car battery. Now I would recommend only going to an experienced retailer that backs their work with quality assurance and a lifetime warranty on their work, I'd expect to pay roughly ~$500 for the films I got on this car. Because my friend was nice enough to hook me up with a great deal I paid $346 for all the windows.

I would imagine that any reputable shop in your area should have a variety of lifetime films to choose from including ceramic options. I know there are other similar products to the Llumar films, but they just happened to be what was available to me through my friend's shop which I why I chose them.

 

[Sil3nt611]

You have to see molten orange in person in the sun to really get the full effect. Same goes for green envy. If you've seen a bright green Mustang it's the same color. I've seen them both in person and if you like bright colors you'll like them both. Molten orange is my first color choice but if that wasn't an option I'd go with the green for sure.

 

[HuffpuffST]

Very nice! Mines a 2014 molten orange