Hi all

My son's just bought a 2018 Focus ST with 10k on the clock

He's had it 3 weeks or so, but hasn't been able to drive any distance, but today was his first day at his new job, so he's finally had the chance to drive it a reasonable distance

He's come home from work really deflated as he says he can't live with the twitchy harsh ride, and the car pulling and tramlining all the time, he's now considering selling it

Anyone else had experience of the ride quality in these cars at all? Is there a simple solution for it like a suspension upgrade?

 

Sounds like it could be the tyres especially if its tramlining. With only 10k miles from new there should'nt be any suspension problems already.

 

What car or cars did he have before the S.T?

 

It's got decent Michelin Pilot sport tyres on, so no cheap and nasty ones that could cause problems

He's just handed back a company car when he finished his last job, that was a 68 plate Seat Leon FR 2.0D

 

It does'nt have to be only cheapo tyres that can cause a problem, I had Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres on my 2wd Saff and they were really bad at tramlining. It felt like someone else suddenly took control of the car and it steered itself. I changed them for a set of road legal track day tyres and it transformed the handling with no more tramlining. Maybe the Michelin tyres just dont suit the car? I would check underneath all the suspension components and if they are all ok the tyres would be my next suspect. The way you have described how it handles just seems so odd for such a low mileage car.

 

Is it on 18 or 19 inch wheels?

 

It's on 19's

 

The ride on the Mk3 is harder than the Mk2 ST, & that hard. Even worse with the 19" wheels. Not sure what else you would expect. The 18" wheels look better aswell.

 

The ride may be firm but why would it be following undulations in the road and tramlining? I thought these new Focus STs were a sorted car straight from the factory capable of handling all types of roads? Tramlining can be very scary, surely this is not normal?

 

I think we've sussed it. It has 3 pilot sport 3 tyres on, and one pilot sport 4s on the front nearside.
the two rears have about 5-6mm of tread, the offside front has about 3mm, and the 4s on the nearside has about 6-7mm
swapped the two evenly worn tyres from rear to front, and seems to drive much better.
still very skittish under acceleration on a bumpy road, but that's FWD for you I guess

 

I noticed a big drop in ride quality when I went from 18s to 19s. I think the only way you will fix it is to drop to the 18" wheels, a full alignment wouldn't go amiss either.

 

Glad you got it sorted , right from the off I was pretty certain it had to be tyre related.

 

Hopefully he can enjoy now.

 

well, he's certainly stopped moaning about it 😁

 

Ha ha job jobbed then mate

 

Happy days. Tyres make a huge difference to a car.