Newbie here

[STgirl]

Hello all!

My name is Amber. I ordered my 2014 Fiesta ST in June of 2013. It arrived here on September 13, 2013. (Friday the 13th). I have 45,000 on my car now. I do A LOT of driving. I was a member of ST Nation, although there is not much traffic there. My husband (Supercrackerbox) found this forum and joined and told me about it.

As of right now my car is stock. I am looking into the Cobb packaged in the next year or so. I was looking into trading in for the RS, but found out base the starting price will be ballpark 36k. I would love to get one of those, but not right now.

Looking forward to chatting with everyone and finding out more about the car!

Amber

 

[D1JL]

Welcome Aboard.


Dave

 

[FocusMike]

Welcome

 

[Flaco]

Welcome

 

[degnerd]

Welcome,Amber!!

 

[rexdriver85]

Any issues in the 45,000 miles? Oh, and welcome!

 

[supercrackerbox]

Any issues in the 45,000 miles? Oh, and welcome!

Well, it needs brakes. That's being an issue.

 

[STjake]

Welcome to the forum! I'm pretty new myself. I'm curious too if you've had any issues or complaints in the time you've had your car? I just rolled 10k on mine and I love it so far!

 

[rexdriver85]

I did see your posts about the brake pad dilemma. Why not just get OEM stuff?

 

[Tiempo de Fiesta]

Welcome! I have the same exact sentiments as you regarding the RS!

 

[FatGuyInALittleCar]

Welcome... Good to see some higher mileage perspective here.

 

[BoostBumps]

Welcome Aboard!

 

[supercrackerbox]

I did see your posts about the brake pad dilemma. Why not just get OEM stuff?

Mostly because they give of a ridiculous amount of brake dust, and are about triple the price.

 

[rexdriver85]

Mostly because they give of a ridiculous amount of brake dust, and are about triple the price.

Yeah, I figured. I'm in the same boat about the insane brake dust. I'm only at 13k right now, so hopefully by the time they are wasted we will have solid pads available with similar braking performance and less dust production. Unfortunately the price you pay for high performance braking is almost always high dust production.

There are members who have put the ceramics on vs. the semi-metalics and say the braking performance is reduced but not too much. Hopefully you get it all figured out and report on how the performance vs dust ends up being.

 

[supercrackerbox]

I think a lot of problems with decreased braking performance and shortened brake life is improper bedding procedures. Now keep in mind, I'm talking strictly street cars here. If you have a Track/AutoX car, that's a whole different ball game, where very aggressive pads and lots of brake dust just go with the territory. But pads that aggressive on a commuter car are beyond overkill IMO.

Case in point: The previous owner of my Caliber SRT4 for whatever reason had put EBC Yellowstuff pads on the front. The brake dust was horrendous, and my wheels will need to be completely refinished to completely remove all of it. I bought the car with 42K miles on it, this was the second set of pads, and they too were almost gone, as were the rotors. Rear pads are still stock and as of now still have plenty of life with 75K miles on the car. So one of the first things I did to the car was new pads and rotors on the front. I went with Centric Service Duty ceramic pads and Power Slot rotors. After properly bedding them, the car stops MUCH better, has better pedal feel, and the brake dust is almost non-existent. I went from hand scrubbing my wheels twice a week to just spraying them off when I wash the rest of the car every other week, and with 30K miles on them now, have shown almost no wear whatsoever.

 

[STgirl]

I haven't had any mechanical issues with the car. Still runs great. I am already through the factory tires so I will be looking into new ones in the spring. I run snow tires in the winter and have two seasons on them, but they should be good for another year.

I have noticed one problem with the car that is not mechanical really. On hot days (over 100 degrees) the radio shuts down and turns back on. It has only done this three times though.

I hit a racoon in the car and got new headlights, nose, and intercooler. There was a delay with the parts. Just a heads up... Even if the body shop looks everything up by engine size and all that, they will probably get the wrong parts. The parts catalogs don't differentiate the ST and other turbo cars. If my car has to go to a body shop again I will insist they call the parts company and speak to a live person instead of just ordering from a catalog.

 

[rexdriver85]

Yeah, the OEM pads are very aggressive, but also the best factory brakes I've ever experienced in this price range.

Also you are right about the damaging effects of the massive dust. The wheels require constant attention or they will be ruined. Negligent owners will realize this when its too late.

 

[Joker328]

Yeah, the OEM pads are very aggressive, but also the best factory brakes I've ever experienced in this price range.

No kidding. I've had my car a few months now, but despite some occasional hard braking, I've never had to really max perform them and haven't tracked it yet. However, today I was slowing down for a light and went to shift into neutral and managed to catch the edge of my right shoe (on the brake) with the edge of my left shoe (on the clutch) and pushed it to the floor. Gave myself one hell of a jolt. Just glad nobody was behind me or it would have been a very expensive mistake. Good to know I've got them if I need them though.

 

[STgirl]

I commute for work and take a lot of country roads. I often see deer on the way. I hit a deer in my Honda and it did $6000 in damages. Came across a deer in the ST... Hit the brakes.... Came to a complete stop before the deer was done crossing in front of me. Never had a car stop so fast before

 

[NorthernProducer]

Welcome, Amber!