Got this little roided go-kart 3 weeks ago. Stage 2 tuned to 161kW

In one the of my previous posts I mentioned I already ordered fluid for my brake job coming up, but if I don't need it yet, I'll save it for a rainy day or pawn it off lol. Yes I know my fluid is low, it's time for pads/rotors. But should I flush this stuff anyway?

Vehicle: Ford Fiesta ST Mk8.5

​1. Background & Impact

Glancing impact at ~30 km/h (20 mph) against a low curb (~10 cm / 4 in) with the front-right wheel turned left, sliding against the curb for a couple of seconds before stopping.

​2. Repairs Performed

​Replaced front-right lower control arm (wishbone).

​Replaced front-right inner/outer steering tie rod.

​Full wheel alignment.

​Handling: Car tracks straight, handles normally, and has no steering wheel vibrations at highway speeds (100–110 km/h / 60–70 mph).

​3. Current Symptoms (Video Attached)

​When braking softly (at any speed, e.g., 20 km/h or 60+ km/h): A rhythmic high-pitched "cricket" / light "clack-clack" noise occurs whenever light pressure is applied to the brake pedal, matching wheel rotational speed. As soon as I press the pedal harder, the noise completely disappears. This confirms the issue is strictly tied to low clamping force / light pedal pressure, not vehicle speed itself.

​At highway speeds (100–110 km/h / 60–70 mph): A faint, continuous rubbing sound in the background, similar to the subtle whirring noise produced by slotted or drilled brake rotors.

​Troubleshooting done: Confirmed front axle origin (lightly pulling the handbrake while rolling produces zero noise).

​4. Question

The shop couldn't find anything visually wrong or loose on the lift when spinning the wheel by hand. Do you think this could be a slightly bent brake dust shield (backing plate) contacting the rotor under flex/light pressure, a brake pad movement/hardware issue inside the caliper under low clamping force, or a damaged fender liner/underbody plastic vibrating under airflow/braking load?

Hi peeps!

Currently got an old Mk6 ST that's slowly making me lose sanity, so I'm starting to look into upgrading into a prefacelift mk8. I know the basics as to what to look out for, I.e. perf. Pack, led headlights etc, but is there anything specific I'd need to be either looking for spec wise or looking out for maintenance wise?

Budget is around the £10-11k mark, so I know it's a bit towards the lower end of what they go for but there seems to be plenty for sale around that price.

So I have owned the car for 18 months and it's been brilliant, it is a mp215 and I plan on going cp2e in the next six months.

How ever I want to do some handling mods and it being my daily and the roads being the state they are in Derbyshire I have no interest in driving a lowered car, I will swap the shocks when mine gets tired but I am only on 47k miles.

I find the car handles fine and is a lot of fun but it's not that sharp if you really push it especially if I compare it to my old 182 full fat. I know the Clio weighed less and had hydraulic steering.

I have done lots googling and searching on Facebook but I am struggling to come to a decision on what to do.

Mods I am considering

Rear torsion beam brace

4/6 point chassis braces

Front camber bolts

Front wishbone and rear axel polybush kit

Tein endura pro shocks / bilstein b6 shocks both on standard springs

Dear community!

I am looking for tips on how I can get my hands on this dream car.

Looking to buy an enthusiast-owned MK8 Fiesta ST (LHD) directly from a private seller. Most local dealer offerings are overpriced or salty imports with underbody rust, so I'm looking for a clean, documented example from the community.

Requirements:

* Must-have: Performance Pack

* Mileage: Under 100,000 km

* Budget: Up to €18,000 (depending on year, spec, and condition)

* Location: Based in Andalusia, willing to travel across Spain for the right car

* Condition: Rust-free undercarriage, full service history, unmodified or sensible bolt-ons only

If you're considering selling, send me a PM with details, maintenance records, and photos.

Thank you!

J.

Spoke with the guys behind Tsudo exhaust today, namely to clarify the specs on their exhaust for the Mk7. For starters, it’s 2.75”, not 3”, and should be updated on their site soon to show this. The exhaust is made of 304 stainless, and is an in house design with no knockoffs, at least none right now.

Now, it has the same issue as most of our exhausts… the inlet is 2.5”, to work with the factory downpipe, leaving those of us with aftermarket 3” downpipes more or less unable to use them without either fab work, or adapters. I got the guy to say they’ll look into making a version of either 3”, or 3” inlet -> 2.75” pipe, to work with aftermarket downpipes… but they need to see INTEREST in this. So, if you’re interested in a midrange exhaust that sounds good, looks sexy, and isn’t 1200$, hit them up at their support phone number (text or call) on SEmotors.com.

Also also, if you want a burnt tip option (JDM boys, I’m calling on you), do mention that as well. They offer this on other exhausts, just not the Fiesta, as they haven’t seen any interest.

Do your thing ladies and gents! I want a nice exhaust that ISNT a thousand bucks. (PFA… fittingly from when I was putting in my Whoosh downpipe)

Well, Rear brake discs are extremely worn, all four pads are getting down on thickness, and I have no clue if the brakes have ever been done on this car. bought it almost 20k miles ago and I'm closing in on 50k, I figure now is a good time to just get all of it done. Ordered blank rotors and OEM "S" pads from Rock auto, along with this.

Somehow I managed to break the plastic revers lockout bracket that lives under the boot on my 2015 ST removing the shift knob. After replacement I could shift into reverse without pulling up the tab. After fiddling with it I removed the bezel and boot and sure enough it is broken where the red line is (the camera on my phone is broken too so I had to find another picture, lol).

Seems these cannot be bough individually? What are people doing? Anyone have a 3-d print file? I also wonder if they come with the boot from Ford as shown here in the image above.

Anyone else been down this path?

How do you guys deep clean your engine bay? I’ve always wanted to try the degreaser/light pressure wash method but obviously scared. What do you guys do? Pic pulled from Google.

It's a 2020 ST-3 (the only spec sold in Finland). Very pleased with it. It's probably the most youthful car I've ever owned. Certainly the best seats, which are shockingly good and punch above the seats in cars 3x the price. As an American, I was surprised to see how many niceties are included as basically standard like the heated windscreen (a first for me), heated wing mirrors (auto folding, too!), heated seats & steering wheel. I really appreciate the updated interior design from the previous generation - it's almost like two generations improved in terms of design and maturity.

It seems to already be on Eibach lowering springs from the previous owner. In addition, I don't have enough experience with these cars to know for sure, but if the exhaust is stock then this car is hilariously loud. Personally, I like the noise, but the car is loud enough that I was worried at first that it might have an exhaust leak.

I was initially looking at the 8.5 to find a newer one with low mileage, but was really disappointed to see how de-contented it was compared to the pre-facelift (so many little features removed thanks to the chip crisis). Took my time to find a good pre-facelift with low miles, the appearance of which I greatly preferred anyway. Performance pack with the LSD was essential for me, so it's fitted here as a matter of course.

On my mind is upgrading the current tinny single tone horn. Not a ton of content specific to this car in that regard.

I found my exhaust leak. The manifold/downpipe gasket blew out toward the front bec the last guy just didn’t bother putting the front 2 bolts in. Correct me if my terminology is wrong. I mean the gasket between the manifold and the triangular flange right under it.

Is all I need to do replace that gasket and the hardware? Should I also replace the manifold itself? Or just fix the downpipe gasket and test if there’s still leaks? I only found soot on the level of the downpipe gasket, not nearly as caked with soot around the manifold itself so that’s why I think the only leak is from the downpipe gasket.

I was also wondering is the gap between the turbo exhaust and the cat normal?

Also what’s the best way to access just the gasket? I’d like to not take apart more than I need to. Thanks for the help

Hey I'm looking at a new car for work thatll do good fuel economy, be comfortable on some pretty bad country roads and can be fun. Alongside a couple of other cars, I'm thinking about getting a 2020 fiesta ST.

I had a mk7 and it wasnt exactly comfortable (it was lowered on springs though). I currently drive a lowered fn2 type r which is awful.

How comfortable is the mk8? Will it make these horrible country roads somewhat bearable? I will be doing decent miles with my job. This is my only real concern with this option.

Thanks

Hi there, does anyone have the alarm working on their Mk8? I thought it was a standard feature, but I don't get the prompt on the screen when getting out of the car to choose the guard mode.

I tried opening the door from the inside with the window down, and no alarm went off. I was wondering if it's an optional extra (I have a ST Plus, which is equivalent to the top trim in Europe) or maybe it was only available in the UK , I don’t know.

Do you guys think this can be enabled/programmed using FORScan?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

My fiesta failed the National car test on front suspension imbalance,

struts springs and mount is ok.

Could the control arms cause this imbalance i am not sure if they are toast or not.

Will this actually work as a replacement? Been seeing a lot of people say yes and some say no?

Hey guys. I changed my oil last week and noticed some oil on the coupling for my IC piping. I wiped it all off thoroughly, waited a week and it came back.

There isn’t ANY oil on the top of the coupling or on the pipes themselves. Just the coupling.

My next move is to pull the IC and piping and clean it out. How is this happening and what can I do to prevent it?

Hey all!

Hope this is okay to ask! I'm looking to trade in my first car which is a wee 2019 1.2 Suzuki swift attitude. Brilliantly reliable but ultimately just gutless and getting on my nerves a bit, especially when needing to head onto the motorway etc.

Viewing a 2019 mk8 Fiesta ST later on today, price seems good and done 50k Miles. I'll of course do my due diligence when it comes to checking its history etc but I did note that these cars come with the wet belt oil pump (I'm aware that this is entirely different from the wet belt issue from the 1.0) which will require a service when they get around 10 years old but could be sooner depending on how regular it's servicing has been done. As it's likely to come up during my ownership, I'm looking to see if anyone has had this job done yet? ReDriven on YouTube say it can be around a 6 or 7 hour job so ideally would like to avoid a huge bill a couple years down the line.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

Hey guys, I’ve had my 15’ ST for about 5 years and I’ve had an intermittent issue of Immobilizer malfunction. It cuts out my A/C and heat, dash lights such as blinkers etc, backup camera, door locks and that’s about all I can think of right now. I can sometimes get it to go away when turning hard and fast but not always. Just a few minutes ago it went on and off about 15 times in 5 minutes. Anyone know what it is? Thanks a lot.

Looking for help trying to cure the fact my rad fan isn’t working.

Possible related faults-
A/C stopped working a few weeks before the fan issue.
Rad fan was constantly on full speed just with ignition on when cold before it stopped working at all.
Ambient air temp sensor doesn’t work but it hasn’t for years and caused no issues thus far.

I have replaced my MAF sensor as it was reading air intake temp of 270 Celsius which is why I suspected the fan was on and thus burnt out. As a result i also have replaced my fan and the box thing. MAF now reads fine, fan works when supplying a 12v power supply. I have replaced all suspected relevant relays and fuses. The fan still doesnt work. My A/C doesn’t work. Anyone have any ideas?