2014 Ford Fiesta ST - Major Maintenance

[Fiesta ST News]

When we took our 2014 Ford Fiesta ST in for its first scheduled service, this hot hatch was feeling worse for the wear after a few months of hard driving. Along with the regular maintenance, we had the dealer check out a few issues staffers had noticed. Most notable were vibrations at highway speeds and some clunking noises from the rear suspension. Below is the full timeline of our issues and how they were resolved.

3,294 miles: The front tires are looking worn after an autocross and a track day, so we rotate all four to even out the wear.

5,395 miles: Associate Web editor Jake Holmes notices that the brakes are squeaking a bit. He also points out a vibration from the front end that may signify a bent or unbalanced wheel.

5,552 miles: After yet another autocross and even more hard driving, all four tires need replacing. Our friends at Tire Rack send us a new set of the Fiesta's OEM tires, RE050A 205/40R17 Bridgestone Potenzas. Including the labor to mount and balance all four, the total cost for the new rubber is $764.

5,773 miles: We make a trip to an alloy wheel repair shop to straighten out the left front wheel that was causing the vibration at highway speeds. Total cost is $135.

6,642 miles: The vibration is back, and road test editor Chris Nelson notices that the rear shocks are feeling worn. They make clunking noises over large bumps, and the rear end doesn't feel nearly as tight as it did when we first took delivery of the car.

7,022 miles: Although the 2014 Ford Fiesta ST's maintenance schedule recommends a service every 10,000 miles, we took our car in to Dean Sellers Ford in Troy, Michigan, a bit early for its scheduled maintenance. We also asked the dealer to take a look at the squeaking brakes, the vibrations, and the rear shock absorbers.


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[airjor13]

WTF?! 3 bent wheels and 2 blown rear shocks within 10K miles...

 

[RAAMaudio]

Using the car hard all the time, running over pot holes, jump the curbs at the track?

 

[JPGC]

Using the car hard all the time, running over pot holes, jump the curbs at the track?

Has to be!

 

[razorlab]

That car is obviously driven without sympathy...

 

[rodmoe]

Imagine that you beat the crap out of a car and stuff wears out.. BRILLIANT..
How much you wanna beat the "staff" drove it like a rental....

 

[RAAMaudio]

I bet many would think I am pretty hard on my car if they saw me on track.

I was even harder on it that I normally am but wanted to ensure if anything was going to break it would do it while I still have a shop and all my tools available, not on the road with minimal support as cannot carry to much weight in the trailer as it is already very very heavy with the car in it.

 

[D1JL]

Still hard to believe.


Dave

 

[Sourskittle]

I'm incredibly hard on a car. And i haven't noticed any of this. At 2,000 miles I took my car to the dragon's tail for 3 days. Its been to the drag strip 4 times. I have a few local places I can have free rein to deal out road course type punishment, and I do. I needed brake pads at 14k miles ( they could have a waited actually a bit longer ). All that, I have had no such issues at all with 20k miles. Other than running the car into things, which they have obviously done, its def a isolated issues with THAT car.

 

[outatime]

Doesn't sound too terrible to me. I can see the wheels getting bent. Those northern roads really have to be seen to be believed. I don't even see how its possible a 40 series sidewall could even survive a month on those roads. OEM shocks are notoriously crappy. Most only have a 20k mile lifespan. With gradual degradation, most folks don't even notice. I can't believe they weren't a warranty item, though...? Tires and brakes? Those issues are to be expected.

 

[razorlab]

Most only have a 20k mile lifespan.

This is exaggerating just a wee bit.

 

[RAAMaudio]

I have never had stock shocks last very long as always went to higher end shocks and springs or coilovers shortly after buying any car or truck I have owned except two trucks that came with Bilsteins.

 

[limbo]

Only 5500 miles on the oem tires? Sounds like this car is road hard and put away wet.

 

[CanadianST]

My tires are by no means done but they've got some significant wear for a car with only 12,000km. Even my rears are starting to get down there and i've never really done anything that should cause them to be going so fast, guess they just wear out super fast

 

[RAAMaudio]

There is a fair amount of toe on on the rears which may be part of the wear issue, since not much camber it could show more across the thread than just the outside edges. If you drive the car hard it will increase the issue as more outside wear, more rear camber might help the tires wear better considering how you drive, etc......

Options:
1) Wait for some camber/toe shims to finally be made, which can happen with a group buy, we have somebody willing to do it.
2) Get a non ST rear axle, at least it has good camber, not sure on the toe, then probably need a sway bar.
3) Cut and weld the stock axle flanges as I did, it took a huge effort to get it right but glad I did it, now I could do one in 1/4th the time.

 

[razorlab]

2) Get a non ST rear axle, at least it has good camber, not sure on the toe, then probably need a sway bar.

What camber does that give you?

btw, how much more front castor did you really get from the powerflex bushing?

 

[RAAMaudio]

I have to get my castor camber gauge working properly again, it caused me great grief when it went bonkers before doing the first axle mod, then got it working, then I figured out I need to change the way I loaded the axle, then worked out an even easier and more accurate way to make the changes, got it right, then it went bonkers again before I could do the front castor check........so I do not know but really like the results though did not drive it at speed stock.

I found this on a forum, looks legit:

Rear Left Camber -1.52 degrees, plus/minus 0.75 degrees
Rear Right Camber -1.52 degrees, plus/minus 0.75 degrees
Only total toe defined,
Split 0.31 degrees plus/minus 0.30 degrees,
Thrust Angle 0.00 degrees plus/minus 0.50 degrees

The rear knuckles are machined with camber and toe in them so it may be possible to just get the ones for that car but they would not have mounting ears for the brakes.....which would require a BBK kit I believe is made for it but I did not like the cost for a single piston kit with cable parking brake....I think they have a kit for the ST as well. I built my own BBK and working to make them available, not from me, I am retired, from a brake company.

 

[jcr557]

I don't believe this story at all. I've ran my stock ST at 2 autocrosses with stock suspension and also ran the ST's first rally competition with stock suspension components with no problem. I am 100% sure that that's more abuse than a few runs at an autocross haha. That being said, my brother's ST has been through the same and no problems. Of course now we have a different setup, but the stock suspension took it like a champ.

These cars are great and I can truly say these cars do resist abuse which is why I bought another ST, however this one is being babied lol.

 

[ItMightBePizza]

If you keep racing this car, Ford is going to nullify your warranty.