Tuning the Ford Focus ST

"Thank you for reading my Ford Focus ST tuning guide."

The Focus ST, currently in it's third generation, is a brilliant project car to try.

The early ST build on the success of the Focus, with the addition of aggressive styling, better engines and imroved suspension and brakes.

With the right mods your Focus ST can be transformed into a stunning project. Don't waste money, do your homework and follow our unbiased guides to each performance upgrade to avoid disappointment.

Handling/Suspension upgrades

Many Focus ST owners uprate the handling of their cars with modified suspension parts as a priority, this will certainly increase your enjoyment of the car.

We found that most Focus ST factory suspension setups need tweaking, a few degrees of toe out for cornering or toe in for stability, 1 to 2, and some negative camber will often enhance your cornering and handling.

We would go to a maximum drop of 25mm - 30 mm. on most models. You risk handling compromises if you go lower than this.

Our aim in Focus ST engine tuning should be to increase peak power and Torque at the top end.

A rear sway bar will tighten up the handling and help to keep all the wheels on the ground under heavy cornering.

The Mountune big brake upgrade kit works really well, so if you are looking to replace your brakes, it makes sense to improve them with an upgrade. But we've seen quite a few very capable big brake upgrade kits out ther.

Engine tuning mods.

The 2.0 litre EcoBoost was designed for the ST, and offers an impressive 252hp and 270lbft of Torque. The previous 1st generation ST engine offered 225hp.

If you were in Europe you could specify a 2.0L TDCi Duratorq  engine, offering mountains of Torque and 182hp of power.

Plan your mods carefully and always end with a remap, to fully realise the potential of your upgrades.

We see most of our members opting for the Cobb Tuning AccessPORT to flash maps via the OBDII port. But if you've done quite a few mods you can't beat a custom rolling road map setup with a specialist tuner.

This list of the stages and sports parts are usually installed by our members, decide how far you want to go before you get going.

Getting the best motorsport mods for your planned usage of the car is vital. Stage 3 competition upgrades just don't work well on the road difficult in stop start traffic.

Please watch our introduction Video tutorial to car tuning. Be sure to subscribe and support our new channel.

Modifying to Stage 1:

 Sports exhaust, Alloy wheels, Suspension upgrade (drop 25mm - 30 mm.), Remap, Lighter flywheel, Panel air filter, intake manifold spacer.

Modifying to Stage 2:

 Ported and polished head, Fast road cam, fuel pump upgrades, Power/Sport clutch, high flow fuel injector.

Modifying to Stage 3:

 Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Sports gearbox, Engine balancing, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Competition cam.

The point of our articles is to give a brief overview of tuning modifications and point you in the right direction, our forum is the place to go for detailed advice and tips on your tuning project, the best motorsport upgrades and all aspects of modding cars.

A front mounted intercooler upgrade and remap are one of the first modifications most owner do. Turbo upgrades unlock even more power, and most go for a hybrid turbo.

One of the most cost effective mechanical sports upgrades you can do to after a remap and turbo upgrade is to fit a fast road camshaft .

The intake and exhaust valve timings play a huge role in your cars power band, but be careful here, getting this wrong can upset the idle and make the car hard to drive in traffic. You'd need to follow a camshaft upgrade with other mods and finish with a reflashed ECU for the best performance gains.

When pushing up the power you will need to uprate to the fuelling. More power needs more fuel.

Using higher octane petrol is another option if you find you are suffering from detonation or premature ignition on your Ford project after fitting other sports modifications. To get sufficient fuel you may need to upgrade the injectors on your engine.

Uprate the fuel pump to cope with the extra fuel requirements of your tuned Focus ST's uprated injectors.

The rear engine mount is not great, and if you want to get rid of the annoying thud on rapid gear changes, then an aftermarket rear engine mount will make a big difference.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Air induction kits only help to add power if your air intake is struggling! Adding an induction kit to most stock engines will see NONE OF A LOW END POWER GAIN AT ALL. If you have heavily modified your engine and it's need for air INCREASES DRAMATICALLY then an induction kit is the answer and will help remove this restriction.

The intake manifold spacer is a budget option (compared with a whole new intake) and it will bring up the low to middle range torque, thanks to the fast flowing intake air.

Derestricting the air feed into the engine is the primary part of tuning so get a better flowing air filter if you find that the car is running lean. Induction kits can sound sporty but due to the warm air in the engine bay they will not do much to increase power and actually rob you of power.

Sports exhausts generally help improve air flow out of the engine but do not go too big or you may end up will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches as a rule of thumb.

Getting a professionally gas flowed head with larger valves can fully release the engines power. A good triple plate fast road sports clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never skimp or think that the standard clutch to cope. The best mods we would do for your Focus ST are remaps, sports camshafts and induction improvements.

Remaps offer big power gains on all turbo charged cars. On NASP engines the benefits are doubtful. However a remapped ECU on a NASP engine will help unleash the potential if you have done a lot of mods.

We've also seen some tuners experimenting with twin charging conversions and making some impressively high power gains.

Adding forced induction will see impressive power gains but this is usually too expensive to be cost effective. It is often easier to add a supercharger than it is to fit a working turbo. Turbos increase power in exponential proportion to rising engine speed and this can make mapping difficult.

The nice directly proportional boost and rpm characteristics of the supercharger make them simpler to map. To cope with forced induction you will usually need to decrease the engines compression ratio .

Alloy wheel upgrades.

Alloy wheels will help the brake cooling and are generally lighter than the steel ones. Pay attention to your choice of tyres (tires) for your car, a good track legal slick tire can really enhance your cars handling. The drawback to large rims on your Focus ST is that you alter your effective final drive ratio and this will have a negative effect on performance and acceleration.

Due to this try to keep the overall rolling diameter of the wheel the standard factory sizes. In all cases avoid going over 18 inches.

For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss Focus ST options in more detail with our Focus ST owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Ford tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.

We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which mods work best for them on each model of car. Comments are used to improve the accuracy of these articles which are continually updated.

This article was written by Waynne Smith on TorqueCars, and I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Ford. You can leave a response below or join TorqueCars forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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