My last post was all about upgrading visibility up front in the headlights. I figured, why not check out the back? 👀 But seriously, why have I waited 6 years to do this!? Out back there are 4 lights per side.
What was good for the front is good for the back - I'm talking LEDs!
It's always a good time to change your cabin filter!
After all the fires this past summer in NorCal, I decided to check the cabin air filters in our cars. All I can say is O-M-G that's NASTY! You can get a cheap $10 filter like the FD920 Cabin Air Filter for Ford Focus, or upgrade to a nice HEPA based one like the PureFlow HEPA Cabin Air Filter PC6174HX
Whatever you do - just do it! Look at our old filter compared to the new one! Seriously disgusting!
If you don't know how, it's a really simple process on the Focus family. You just need one torx bit and everything else is pretty much hand driven.
Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 - great option for performance all-season tires!
Our Michelin Pilot Sport 4s finally were at about 2/32nds and had to be retired at 32k of usage, so at least they met the warranty lifetime of 30k! My wife is about to start a new job where there may be more 'weather' to deal with so we opted for the Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4s to replace them with. The tire is excellent, great ride quality and the grip is darn good!
These tires have a 50% upgrade in warranty to 45K so that's a benefit as well for longevity. Only 54K on our 2016 FoST and loving it!
Overall, we stuck with the 245/40R18 size for a little width gain from the stock 235 size. We've been really pleased with them so far!
Upgraded to Diode Dynamics SLF LED Fog Lights
Replacing the D3S HID bulbs in the Ford Focus ST
The stock HID ballast in the ST3 are Osram 35W, so that's already good (as compared to older 25W versions) There are the usual HID replacement parts, and boy can they be expensive!
If you know the HID Kelvin color chart, 4.6K from the Osram is a decent HID coloring (as shown below) to see well, if you go too low you're yellow (good for fog lights), and if you go too high - well, you turn into ricer purple, heck I've even seen some guys go to 30,000K and it's HULK green!
mounted the DVC Kicker (finally)
Focus ST T-Shirts n-stuff
Michelin Pilot Sport 4S are Installed
The techs at America's Tire loved the ST and said I would absolutely love the Sport 4S tires - they're super high rated, and knowingly so since they're the successor to the insanely popular Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires...
OEM size of the Goodyear Eagle F1s are 235/45R18 which are a bargain compared to the Michelin rubber, to be honest, less than 1/2 the price!!
Ordered a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4S - install pending
I've had the Michelin Pilot Super Sport (PSS) on my AMG E55 and even on our 2011 Mazda MX-5 - the handling and grip is amazing! So I looked for those as a replacement - and found them for $149/ea at America's Tire - alas they're an older set of PSS that they're discounting due to age, and they're being phased out...
So we ordered a new set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S which is the successor to the ever popular PSS.
*UNOFFICIAL* SYNC 3 Version 3 update BUILD 17276 is OUT
1. Download.
2. Unzip onto desktop.
3. Grab a USB Flash Drive, 32GB minimum.
5. Put the extracted files inside the flash drive.
6. Turn car on. Turn bluetooth off, just in case(optional). Or master reset before beginning.
7. It might take 5 mins for Updating System Software message to pop up, then 19 mins to install from there on
Depending on the Ford model, it might reboot automatically after installation is complete, if navigation maps don't come back don't worry turn off/on the car again.
*OFFICIAL UPDATE v2.3.10 --> OWNER.FORD.COM*
**CAUTION:There are FOUR versions to this update, MY 16 Nav/Non-Nav, and MY 17 Nav/Non-Nav, a single file will not work for both years! Even if they appear identical, use the one for your model year! You risk damaging APIM and/or Gracenotes and possibly other things**
***FOR INSTALLATION TO GO FLAWLESSLY THE FIRST TIME, USE MIN. 32GB USB DRIVE WITH 3.0 SPEED FOR BEST RESULTS.***
Official link to MY 16 w/Nav: HereOfficial link to MY 17 w/Nav: Here
USB Step 2 PDF
USB Step 3 PDF
USB Upgrade to SYNC3 Version 3.0
- New Nav Icon.
- Fixed keyboard
- added symbol $
- MUCH faster interface smoother, snappier
- Support for new apps
Installation instructions: 1. Download. 2. Unzip. 3. Grab a USB Flash Drive, 4GB is fine. 4. Format the drive to either exFAT or FAT32. 5. Put the extracted files inside the flash drive. 6. Turn car on. 7. Plug in car and enjoy!!
***** Note that depending on your USB device it might take up to 10 minutes for the stereo to show "Updating System"... *****
The USB in the car is NOT USB 3 therefore read speed is limited, so if you don't see anything, DO NOT unplug - just wait....
There are two versions to update your particular SYNC 3 system
Navigation
Non-Navigation
found this over at http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90236&fref=gc&dti=935473876561093
Focus STaRS american flag vinyl - looks great!
They are a larger sheet so you'll have to lay it out on the glass, trim the edges, then place the vinyl and trim as needed - took me about 5 minutes per side... very nice quality and subtle patriotism!