MarkCup's 2017 Ford Focus RS

[Flat Eric]

I've got PS4's on my new fiesta 140ps
Great tyres so far.

 

[ForceIndia]

I like the ps4, but they don't wear well. Changed the fronts from f1's in Nov, to ps4. They've already got less tread than the f1's which are 20k older on the rear (and have done an airfield day).

They're good, but not enough to justify changing twice a year.

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[mace¬]

Thuis thread was loads better when it was breaking all the time.

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

I like the ps4, but they don't wear well. Changed the fronts from f1's in Nov, to ps4. They've already got less tread than the f1's which are 20k older on the rear (and have done an airfield day).

They're good, but not enough to justify changing twice a year.

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I'd find it surprising if Michelin had suddenly gone backwards in wear rate. Pilot sports have (generally) lasted very well.

Were your rears on the front in the past or are you comparing fronts to rears on what I presume is your VRS (a FWD car)..

 

[c4pob]

They're good...basically I have 3mm on the front axle and 5mm on the back. A swap around, a couple of thousand more road miles, and a trackday and they'll be done. Much as I want to stick to OEM all the way with Michelin Pilot SuperSports I keep hearing good things about the PilotSport 4 tyres so I may give them a bash after the trackday.

I've read the same about the PS4. Thing is, the PSS have been a good tyre for me and the wear rates are pretty impressive so I don't have a real reason to change what ain't broken...

 

[McGherkin]

Mine seem to have lasted OK. All of 9 months, which is impressive for me.

 

[c4pob]

@MarkCup PS4's are on offer on Blackcircles at the moment...

 

[MarkCup]

I'm going to stick with the PSS I think. The mileage I got and the confidence they give is enough for me to stay OEM.

In other news I'm at Surrey Rolling Road today to have my new engine run.

Overlaying today with the original pre-engine failure run gives an interesting comparison. The engines have definitely changed!

 

[ForceIndia]

I'd find it surprising if Michelin had suddenly gone backwards in wear rate. Pilot sports have (generally) lasted very well.

Were your rears on the front in the past or are you comparing fronts to rears on what I presume is your VRS (a FWD car)..

Comparing new f1's (which were on prev), to new ps4, I've got roughly half the mileage out of them. And the f1's were subjected to a car control day, on a very abrasive airfield.


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[gez 172]

RSDirect have 2 red edition new RS's for sale

 

[MarkCup]

Here we go, new engine v old engine...despite starting at the exact same point with the lines tracing each other for the first few thousand RPM, the new engine starts to move ahead as the revs increase. I'm happy enough with that!

 

[c4pob]

@MarkCup at what stage did you RR you old engine, was it fresh or just before it blew the gasket? Either way though 10bhp improvement is not to be sniffed at!

 

[mr bognor]

Just about ready for that Mountune upgrade now

Here we go, new engine v old engine...despite starting at the exact same point with the lines tracing each other for the first few thousand RPM, the new engine starts to move ahead as the revs increase. I'm happy enough with that!

View attachment 1364370

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

Thought I'd love the FRS in red but I just see it and think "inferno fiesta" when I look at those pics.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Thought I'd love the FRS in red but I just see it and think "inferno fiesta" when I look at those pics.

 

[McGherkin]

Should’ve been dark blue

 

[Scrooge]

That red just looks wrong, very aftermarket and a bit trashy.

 

[shiftspark]

Looks nice that does

 

[Silent_Scone]

That red just looks wrong, very aftermarket and a bit trashy.

Yeah, I think it looks pretty s**t

Should’ve been dark blue

Literally, anything other than red would have looked better lol. Banana yellow, genuinely

 

[Silent_Scone]

This has been bugging me, too. The interior really is pants. Here's this special edition:

Now here is the RS500. No fuss.

 

[donnylad]

Mark I don't have a focus nor do I care about them, but I watched the video because I thought you had a presenters voice and seemed quite professional haha. You should be on a property program!

 

[Silent_Scone]

Mark I don't have a focus nor do I care about them, but I watched the video because I thought you had a presenters voice and seemed quite professional haha. You should be on a property program!

Walking down the stairs, the camera following from the front, hands clasped.

 

[flebay]

Mark I don't have a focus nor do I care about them, but I watched the video because I thought you had a presenters voice and seemed quite professional haha. You should be on a property program!

His brother is, can you see the similarity?

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

I think the Red Edition looks bloody brilliant personally. The standard colour palette was all monochrome apart from Nitrous. Red should have been a standard colour option. You could never expect too many interior changes. They've added the choice options, what else were they going to do? The more stuff they add, the more expensive the car becomes.

Incidentally, the production MK2 Focus RS500 didn't have red seats. They were black leather with grey alcantara/suede centres, same as a regular RS with the Lux interior, only with red stitching instead of blue.

My friend had a Pug 306 Mardi Gras when he was 18. That was the shittest 306 in the world, with no PAS or even central locking. They colour-coded the bumpers and put some stickers on it and that was enough for it to be a special edition. By comparison, a unique colour, forged wheels, limited-slip diff and Recaro CS seats doesn't seem bad to me.

 

[_Tom]

The red looks lovely to me. They look MUCH better in the metal.

RS direct have two - https://www.rsdirectbristol.co.uk/showroom/Ford/Focus/ - Well they did as one is now reserved.

 

[Silent_Scone]

I think the Red Edition looks bloody brilliant personally. The standard colour palette was all monochrome apart from Nitrous. Red should have been a standard colour option. You could never expect too many interior changes. They've added the choice options, what else were they going to do? The more stuff they add, the more expensive the car becomes.

Incidentally, the production MK2 Focus RS500 didn't have red seats. They were black leather with grey alcantara/suede centres, same as a regular RS with the Lux interior, only with red stitching instead of blue.

My friend had a Pug 306 Mardi Gras when he was 18. That was the shittest 306 in the world, with no PAS or even central locking. They colour-coded the bumpers and put some stickers on it and that was enough for it to be a special edition. By comparison, a unique colour, forged wheels, limited-slip diff and Recaro CS seats doesn't seem bad to me.

Still looks nicer to me..

 

[Ian_182]

I must say I really like the red.

 

[mace¬]

Walking down the stairs, the camera following from the front, hands clasped.

Walking into an empty room and giving that look about.

 

[massiveCoRbyn]

Still looks nicer to me..

I can't really see a difference to be honest. One is a Focus with some extra gauges and fancy Recaro seats, while the other is, err, a Focus with some extra gauges and some fancy Recaro seats. The MK3 Focus doesn't have the most attractive dash in it's class (though neither did the MK2), but Ford Performance couldn't really do much about that. I drive a MK3 Focus quite a lot for work and it's a nice enough place to be to be honest.

 

[Silent_Scone]

I can't really see a difference to be honest. One is a Focus with some extra gauges and fancy Recaro seats, while the other is, err, a Focus with some extra gauges and some fancy Recaro seats. The MK3 Focus doesn't have the most attractive dash in it's class (though neither did the MK2), but Ford Performance couldn't really do much about that. I drive a MK3 Focus quite a lot for work and it's a nice enough place to be to be honest.

Both aren't particularly appealing on the inside, but one is definitely less busy and looks more 'focused', cleaner. The dash in the Mk3 looks like a transformer if it were disguised as a Nokia phone. Agree with what you've said in that honestly if I lived with either it wouldn't bother me either way when all is said and done.

Although... the dials look really Fischer Price in the Mk3. Think it's a combination of the silver trim and the colours.

Walking into an empty room and giving that look about.

lol - hands still clasped, looks around and does the Kermit nod.

 

[MarkCup]

When CS suggest, I have to deliver...now, to find some stairs I can safely film on...hmmmmm.

As for the interior, it is OK for what it is. It's functional and comfortable...but not something you want to boast about. Like the Fiesta ST though everything feels absolutely bang on. That's plenty good enough for me.

 

[Silent_Scone]

When CS suggest, I have to deliver...now, to find some stairs I can safely film on...hmmmmm.

As for the interior, it is OK for what it is. It's functional and comfortable...but not something you want to boast about. Like the Fiesta ST though everything feels absolutely bang on. That's plenty good enough for me.

Yeah, not dishing out snobbery. My current daily is a mk2 focus and my weekend car is an Evo which has the cabin quality of a viking ship.

 

[MarkCup]

...and here's me ragging the arse off the 375 bhp BMW 440 with Gordon doing likewise to my RS...

 

[Short Norman]

@MarkCup you been speeding (and drinking)?
Speeding driver clocked at 132mph near Bedford http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-44574688

 

[MarkCup]

Not me. Well, not while drunk at least. Only 132 is a poor effort.

Ahem.

 

[MarkCup]

This one has, quite literally speaking, taken me over a year to make...

 

[shiftspark]

Is that a Garmin watch your wearing ? Which one is it, if it is lol

 

[MarkCup]

Is that a Garmin watch your wearing ? Which one is it, if it is lol

Not Garmin, no, it's a Samsung Gear S3. I've only had it a few months but it does the job well enough.

 

[shiftspark]

@MarkCup Cheers, looking for a Garmin and thought you could branch out into Smart watch reviews ?

 

[MarkCup]

Time for a bit more of an update having had a fantastic first trackday in the RS at Goodwood yesterday...

All is (almost) well in RS land, it does exactly what it says on the tin...hilarious fun on track, really heavily rear biased giving some genuine LOL moments with epic power oversteer moments. The oversteer also comes on turn in with just a little maintenance throttle. How much angle you want is directly related to how much throttle you give.

I say almost as the brakes didn't seem to hold up to Ford's bold original claim that they could "withstand 30 minutes of hard track use". They were going well all day, you only get 15 miuntes at a time at Goodwood, which in reality is more like 13 minutes, and with an out lap and cool down lap that's circa 9 minutes of full on driving, nowhere near the 30 minutes they claim.

As I know Goodwood like the back of my hand I was seeing what the RS could do and the brakes just absorbed whatever I could throw at them, the pedal stayed firm, required pressure stayed constant, in short, they were epic. That is until @Sir_Dave jumped in for a ride...

We were talking about just how good the brakes were when I suddenly had that sickening sense through the pedal that something was grinding. Pads worn down? Unlikely...this is what they looked like two ago as I went into full-on detail mode giving the car a thorough detail clean...

So I called it a day for that session, let them cool a little, visually inspected them, had a test drive around the paddock to see if it might just be pad deposits (there was still visible material on the outer pads on all four corners) but no. Time to end the day at about 1530.

Then off I went to have new tyres fitted this morning as three of the four had done 15.5k miles (the other was almost brand new following a recent puncture and being the back right had done next to bugger all work at Goodwood) and although the other three still had life left in them I wanted balanced new rubber all round...

While it was in I asked if I could take a look at the brakes. "No sir, health and safety and all that" came the response so I sat down thinking I'd need to get it up on stands at home this afternoon to see what was up as I still had the grinding.

Then 30 minutes later I hear "Mr Briggs...err, umm, you might want to come and have a look at this"...

The pad material crumbling wasn't a suprise, I've had that many times before on many different pads, nor was all of the paint on the backing plates and hubs having been completely burned off...but this was...

Not only do that pads seem to have worn unevenly (the lower outer piston in the first picture has managed to get the backing plate itself quite worn but on the inside the top most piston seems to have done more work)...in the bottom picture it looks like I've actually bent the pad backing plates!

I've no idea what's gone wrong but the pressure balance across the pistons seems to go to s**t as soon as things get, ahem, a little heat in them. It had the tyre fitters chuckling LOL

Lesson learned from all this, and given how much material was left on my tyres and how little remained on my brakes, is do less braking and more sliding...like this...



There's a lot more of that coming soon but I have a film of me driving my buddy's Fiesta ST and him driving my RS to edit and upload first. For now though...I have some brakes to sort... ???