Hot take: My answer to "Got a new car, what mod do I do first?" is always the same - drive it.

"themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles" (themanwithsauce) 10/23/2017 at 00:37 • Filed to: None

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The only other acceptable answer is to wash/wax it because my god the animals who washed it before I got it used the dirtiest rinse water and must’ve been using a greasy piece of fried chicken for a sponge...

Anyways, maybe it’s just a “me” thing, but I don’t get why everyone on the Focus ST pages are always like “3 MILES ON ODOMETER, HOW I GO STAGE 3?”. I have a theory that this is why there is a high degree of turnover for the STs and similar vehicles - people get them, tune them, imbalancethe SHIT out of them (400hp and an open diff on a FWD hatchback with stock brakes and suspension = no bueno), and then get bored of the car since it is “maxed out” and search for the next high water mark.

Second part of this hot take is another hot take - many many MANY cars nowadays are great. Even humdrum compacts drive okay, and if you’ve got around 20-25k you can get any number of brand new or one year old performance and driver’s cars in your driveway. But if you ask some of these people, then none of them are good until you’ve shoved a new turbo in the engine bay and boosted the poor thing to an inch of its life. Then of course it never quite drives correctly and you get a bunch of engine issues and then they’re back on the group page 3 months later not knowing what to do about it and then they sell it and get something “better”. Sooooooo.....why do it in the first place?

But maybe that’s just me getting older or not being in touch with the scenes these days. Whatever.

The Banana Express still kicks ass and is a hoot to drive while also being stupidly good at eating cargo.

CB > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 00:49

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My thought on modding is that a team of engineers worked their arses off to make something that worked. I doubt Joe Shmo is going to be able to improve the car in one area without a lot of compromises elsewhere.

Svend > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 00:52

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So true. It’s like adding salt to food before you’ve tasted it.

Try it, let the flavours develop, if it needs a little spice add it, but don’t go throwing spice for the sake of adding it.

AestheticsInMotion > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 00:57

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I’ll never get tired of seeing that yellow beauty.

Yeah there are very few things I would mod right out the gate. MAYBE tires. Bad tires will be bad on any vehicle.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > CB 10/23/2017 at 01:06

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Agreed. We had a thread on the facebook group where people who left their stock stood up to get counted....it was a short thread.

Meanwhile the “My car is throwing code P01435 and P011231 and P438947829569286498237, what do they mean?” threads get a hell of a lot of “me too”s.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > AestheticsInMotion 10/23/2017 at 01:07

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I got my hands on the QP-ON ceramic coating products for a product analysis thing for work. It is so shiny right now and extra water repellant. It’s 100$ for the top coat bottle alone.....I got it for free :D

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Svend 10/23/2017 at 01:09

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Mmhmm. How do you know it needs more power if you’ve never driven it anywhere besides a modest freeway? And how much more power do you need if that’s all the driving you do? Gotta be honest, 260hp is a good shove for the FoST and I have no issues getting up to speed and getting around town in a hurry if I need to.

RiceRocketeer Extraordinaire > CB 10/23/2017 at 01:12

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Depends on the car. My RSX-S never felt right, and I suspect that’s because it was a half-assed nerf job on a Type-R. I tried to fix its deficiencies with mods but eventually sold it.

My S2000 feels right though despite having similar power/weight characteristics, and I haven’t done anything besides a basic audio upgrade and backup cam.

Wagon Guy drives a Boostang > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 01:14

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I never get why people ask the question at all. If you’re modifying the car it’s for YOU, not me to decide. Vehicle modification is a very personal statement.

So yes, drive it for a while before you do anything to it.

What I hate are the ones that then pop up with, “I want to change/upgrade [some part], but I had no idea that there were so many available out there, which one is best?” They want everyone else to do the research for them and make their decisions. It’s a different thing entirely to ask how someone likes something they’ve installed on their car, or how well it’s performed for them with that modification, but to just ask which is best is lazy.

Flavien Vidal > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 01:18

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I don’t really ever mod my cars... Things I would do is usually upgrade suspensions once the ones on the car are to be changed. Then proper tires and pads. If I were to have an open-diff RWD car, I might look into swapping a LSD instead. I’ve never needed more power with any car I’ve owned... Be it my 42hp Mini or my 300hp Corvette.

SVTyler > CB 10/23/2017 at 01:21

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I mean, at the same time those same engineers are constrained by time and money to produce the most cost-efficient vehicle they can, so there’s definitely easy places like brakes and tires and suspension where you can make improvements without throwing things out of whack, you just have to avoid going to extremes.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > SVTyler 10/23/2017 at 01:35

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There is definitely truth to that. But back to my point - if you never drive the car as-is, how do you know that that area is restrictive for you? I knew when driving my fiesta ST that the rear motor mount was awful. I heard the symptoms and felt it while driving at autocross and stuff. So I did the mod. But I can tell you exactly why/what/how that mod worked and what it did for me.

Birddog > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 01:45

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You’ll find out soon. Exciting turns into preserving pretty quick.

I’ll be in my 50s when I can buy one of these Hot Fords. (If I make it that long!)

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Birddog 10/23/2017 at 02:21

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You get a star for posting Dalton from Red Green

SVTyler > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 02:23

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Oh I completely agree with you, I was just speaking in absolute terms of modding your car in general, not specifically as soon as you get it. I’ve always thought you should wait a couple years to mod a car because a) you get the most out of the factory warranty and b) it takes time to truly explore and understand what the strengths and weaknesses of your car is, and preemptively modding without researching the consequences is a great way to screw up an otherwise perfectly fine car like you mentioned.

It’s also interesting you replaced the rear motor mount in your ST because that’s a common mod SVT Focus owners make as well. Funny Ford’s still having problems with their smallest hatch ten years later.

Svend > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 02:25

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Exactly. Piglet has 148bhp. Has all the power I need and when I need it.

This guy knows what he likes and after driving the Skoda, knew what he wanted to do.

He took a Skoda Superb 2.0TSi 280ps (276bhp) and turned it into a 560hp sleeper.

He put a ‘TDi’ badge on for fun.

https://www.pistonheads.com/news/general-pistonheads/readers-car-of-the-week-skoda-superb/36590

But there are so many out there that just want to throw stuff at a car for bro-points.

Birddog > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 02:26

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Can I get a second for seeing Steve Smith as Red Green live? It was his last live show. He claims.

03mach1 - Now has a Fiesta ST > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 02:30

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Wow I miss yellow right now. I wasn’t so sure the FoST could pull it off but your car proves it can every time. It hurts knowing my dad and I put in a few hours getting my car detailed and it already is dusty!

But I’ve been noticing this more and more. I want to mod cars less and less now, I don’t think it’s a “Getting older” kind of thing but cars are getting so good. I could list out thousands of dollars of mods for a last gen Mustang, but only a few for the 15+, and I’m clueless on what is possible for the refresh. As of now I don’t even want to get the motor mount because of I’m worried of increased NVH. I drive this car hard but apparently not hard enough to need it, yet.

So far I plan on upgrading the entire stereo (Because that can be improved dramatically) and adding a splitter and or mud flaps. It feels weird not being on American Muscle/Late Model Restoration constantly searching for new parts.

Powershiftmedia-ResidentDSMGuru > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 03:52

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I like the logic. Get acquainted with the car, learn all of the strengths and weaknesses, and go from there. However a nice exhaust is a a very imperative first mod, always for me.

random001 > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 06:34

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My answer is to paint it yellow. Three times!

random001 > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 06:36

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I only argue against this if there was something done that was really stupid by the factory for reasons the engineers would never choose. Like the side-mount intercoolers on the Abarth. It’s clear they didn’t go with the FMIC for insurance reasons, because damn, that was one helluva change.

Milky > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 09:33

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I get your point but I see nothing wrong with better tires and exhaust work. Because thats what I do.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Milky 10/23/2017 at 09:44

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If you know for a fact that the tires your car came with are heavily compromised, then by all means do it. But tires are expensive and I still see people junking good, OEM tires just because they wear fast. Yes, they wear fast but maybe get your money’s worth first? And how do you know you need “more grip” if you don’t even know what grip the car has? But if you have the BMW run-flats or you got your car used and some animal put all-season touring tires on a sports car....then you’re back in the realm of “These are hot garbage and 600$ could really improve this car.”

Exhaust is 100% a personal choice. Don’t really care either way from where I stand.

Milky > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 10:18

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If you junk good tires, you’re stupid. I meant after they wear out.

Every car I’ve bought has kind of sounded terrible stock, so maybe thats more personal/case dependent. But I’m planing on doing something muffler wise to the Miata eventually.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > AestheticsInMotion 10/23/2017 at 11:07

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Update - QP-ON is crap. Freshly clay barred and degreased surface to work with and the stuff is crap after just one morning of rain. It had two days to cure when the bottle says it only needs one hour. Not worth 100$/bottle.

AestheticsInMotion > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/23/2017 at 11:13

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It looked so good! Time to get more samples!

Vicente Esteve > Svend 10/23/2017 at 22:07

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What a winner.