2013 Ford Focus ST

mfrickman

mfrickman

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This client is a neighbor of mine and this is one of my favorite cars to clean. This was a maintenance wash and we have been experimenting with different wheel coatings and nothing thus far has been able to ease the terrible brake dust that these ST's are known for. Vehicle was completely decontaminated during the last wash so the paint was just a little dirty.

Anyways, on to the goods!

Process:

-D103 on wheels and tires with various brushes
-Poorboy's Spray and Rinse on the driver's side wheels because I fought like hell with the D103 on the pass. side wheel barrels
-Pre-rinse with CG CWC in the foam gun
-Poorboy's Bug Squash for pre-treat of front bumper and side mirrors
-2BM with CG CWC and microfiber mitt
-Dried with 2 waffle weaves
-Poorboy's Professional Polish for some paint transfer on the driver's door
-D156 as a LSP since the Jetseal from last wash was still beading great.

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very clean looking hatch, nice job cleaning it up...
 
Nice. I also own a ST, the brake dust can be a challenge. The last time I washed mine, I put some wheel-wax on the face of the rims. It seems to help, my guess is the dust has a hard time sticking to a waxed wheel.

Wish I could find a way to keep the exhaust clean.
 
Thanks for the kind words, guys!

We've talked about opti-coat but he isn't 100% sure he wants to pull the trigger on doing it. We've tried jetseal 109 and poorboy's wheel sealant but nothing is touching it haha
 
mfrickman said:
Thanks for the kind words, guys!

We've talked about opti-coat but he isn't 100% sure he wants to pull the trigger on doing it. We've tried jetseal 109 and poorboy's wheel sealant but nothing is touching it haha
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Jetseal and PB Wheel sealant doesn't help? My customers are so happy when i use PB on their wheels, it keeps them clean for 3 months or so.
 
Nothing yet, noslef. He just got rid of integra that he had about 18k dropped into. He's afraid once he starts, he'll be back at it heavy and will go all out haha
 
GenesisCoupe said:
Jetseal and PB Wheel sealant doesn't help? My customers are so happy when i use PB on their wheels, it keeps them clean for 3 months or so.
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Don't get me wrong! I use them for every other vehicle and have had no issues. These wheels in particular just produce so much brake dust. The only thing the sealants have helped with is making them easier to clean. I would hope for some resistance to the dust but it isn't noticeable and 2 weeks later they are filthy again. I'm sure he'll get fed up having to pay me so often that he'll finally go for a wheel-off detail where I can opti-coat the entire rim.
 
I have a ST also, and as bad as those wheels looked and as good as they look when you are done, they are probably like they started when you got the car back home. They really are terrible for holding onto dust.
 
The wheel coating isn't going to ease the dusting, only make it easier to clean. What coating is on the wheels currently?

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online
 
Great job! Car looks great! If I ever get promoted I've been looking at the ST's. I've heard the interior is amazing on em. Best way to keep that exhaust clean though... Have it tuned and lean it out (to a safe point of course). If its not running the rich factory tune then there should be less black soot on it.
 
tripperfx3 said:
Great job! Car looks great! If I ever get promoted I've been looking at the ST's. I've heard the interior is amazing on em. Best way to keep that exhaust clean though... Have it tuned and lean it out (to a safe point of course). If its not running the rich factory tune then there should be less black soot on it.
Click to expand...

I have a Focus SE which has virtually the same interior. The primary differences are the 'gauge pod' on the ST, and there are optional Ricaro seats on the ST. The interior is magnificent, not something at all you'd expect from a "C-Segment" car. You won't find hand stitched leather and wood, but you also won't be touching tons of hard plastic everywhere. It's all soft touch, and there are lots of packages available that include a leather wrapped steering wheel and shifter (like I have with the SE Sport package). The layout is great and you can do just about everything from the steering wheel. Definitely one of the reasons I decided to go with the Focus. (Though I just use it for a daily driver; it's not an ST model!)

But you're running almost 400 AWHP on that Evo. I'd stick with that! There aren't a lot of major mods available for the ST yet. Probably never will be as many as what's available for Japanese cars. There are rumors that the Focus RS is coming to America though; and that thing puts out almost what your evo puts out.... stock. The rumor mill though is that it won't be the 5 cylinder Volvo engine like the overseas RS, but the 2.3L 4 cylinder Ecoboost turbo that is going in the Mustang that's supposed to clear near 350 ponies.
 
tripperfx3 said:
Great job! Car looks great! If I ever get promoted I've been looking at the ST's. I've heard the interior is amazing on em. Best way to keep that exhaust clean though... Have it tuned and lean it out (to a safe point of course). If its not running the rich factory tune then there should be less black soot on it.
Click to expand...

It's direct injected and turboed, you'll never get rid of the soot. I painted the exhaust tips black on my ST so it wouldn't be as noticeable.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
 
Romans5.8 said:
I have a Focus SE which has virtually the same interior. The primary differences are the 'gauge pod' on the ST, and there are optional Ricaro seats on the ST. The interior is magnificent, not something at all you'd expect from a "C-Segment" car. You won't find hand stitched leather and wood, but you also won't be touching tons of hard plastic everywhere. It's all soft touch, and there are lots of packages available that include a leather wrapped steering wheel and shifter (like I have with the SE Sport package). The layout is great and you can do just about everything from the steering wheel. Definitely one of the reasons I decided to go with the Focus. (Though I just use it for a daily driver; it's not an ST model!)

But you're running almost 400 AWHP on that Evo. I'd stick with that! There aren't a lot of major mods available for the ST yet. Probably never will be as many as what's available for Japanese cars. There are rumors that the Focus RS is coming to America though; and that thing puts out almost what your evo puts out.... stock. The rumor mill though is that it won't be the 5 cylinder Volvo engine like the overseas RS, but the 2.3L 4 cylinder Ecoboost turbo that is going in the Mustang that's supposed to clear near 350 ponies.
Click to expand...

I need to change my sig. I forgot how old that is. The Evo was wrecked long ago and I've been running around in an 05' WRX that I despise for various reasons. Main one being its not an Evo lol. Regardless I'm a Dad now and was just looking for something that will still be fun to drive but have all the conveience features of our 2013 Accord and then some from what I've seen on the ST's. Also the limited availablity of mods for it will keep me to just doing an intake, exhaust, boot control of some sort and a tune and some suspension things here and there, so I won't be as tempted to go as crazy as I did on my Evo lol.
 
tripperfx3 said:
I need to change my sig. I forgot how old that is. The Evo was wrecked long ago and I've been running around in an 05' WRX that I despise for various reasons. Main one being its not an Evo lol. Regardless I'm a Dad now and was just looking for something that will still be fun to drive but have all the conveience features of our 2013 Accord and then some from what I've seen on the ST's. Also the limited availablity of mods for it will keep me to just doing an intake, exhaust, boot control of some sort and a tune and some suspension things here and there, so I won't be as tempted to go as crazy as I did on my Evo lol.
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Haha, well sounds like you've got a plan. Those ST's are sharp! I'd kinda like one too, but I liked the price point of the SE and with 40mpg it's a bit more practical. Plus, I don't really need to go fast!
 
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