When you have a smaller performance vehicle like a Fiesta ST, it can be easy to overdo it or get carried away with it and take away from the subtlety of the car. Dave R recently picked up this handsome little Oxford White ST, and naturally a few upgrades were in order to tailor his new car to his style and taste.
Dave reached out to fellow Fiesta ST enthusiast and ModBargains resident ST vehicle expert Nick to evaluate some of the coilover options available for the Fiesta ST. With the Fiesta ST gaining popularity each month it seems, quite a few coilovers for Fiesta ST are available.
Depending on where you live, the roads around you, the climate and how you plan to use your car, the coilovers that will be best for you will differ from driver to driver. Dave lives in Southerly Orange County, where roads are on the nicer side, but either way, the car’s not going to see snow living here and the freeways here are anything but smooth, so it’s important to look for a coilover that has good damping qualities if you’re going to be fitting coilovers to your daily driver – great track day coilover setups are not necessarily great for the street.
The OEM springs and shocks, built with the Fiesta ST’s budget pricepoint in mind, while they do handle great, leave something to be desired and do tend to ride on the harsher side for a stock car, meaning that the quality dampers featured in any coilover kit stand to make a significant improvement. Dave wanted a coilover that wouldn’t be too harsh for daily use but still wanted the handling benefits offered by coilovers at a reasonable price point – and a set of Vogtland Coilovers for Fiesta ST were just what the doctor ordered.
Some of the options we considered were BC Racing Coilovers for Fiesta ST, which offered tons of adjustability, but requires more input from the driver to get it properly set up – making them not-ideal for someone who doesn’t want to hassle with determining the spring rate he wanted before even getting to the adjustable functions, but great for a track-day enthusiast.
Dave wanted something he wouldn’t need to fuss with the settings, so fixed damping was a great option, and skipping on the adjustable sets also helped keep the overall price down. It was a tough decision between KW V1 Coilovers for Fiesta ST and Vogtland Coilovers for Fiesta ST – both are fixed damping and both sets of coilovers feature quality KW Shock Bodies in their construction. The V1s would be a little stiffer and features a finish resistant to road salt and other conditions facing cars in harsh climates, but between the KW V1s and Vogtlands and ST Suspensions XT fixed damping coilovers, they’re quite comparable, so be sure you’re getting a coilover that’s appropriate for the weather you live in as well as the ride quality you want to have, but Dave ultimately settled on Vogtland Coilovers as they seemed like the best fit for his style and for a daily-driven street car in SoCal.
Vogtland, though not that well-known stateside, has been around in Germany since the early 1900s. Vogtland manufactures their own springs in house and the focus of their tuning style is on the conservative side, designed to preserve the ride quality of your car as much as possible while also dropping the ride height and enhancing handling performance like you want.
Vogtland Coilovers utilize KW shock bodies as the starting point, then pairs up the shock bodies with their own progressive rate springs, manufactured in house in Germany. As you might expect of a German product, these are TUV approved. If you’re in the market for coilovers for Fiesta ST and ride quality is a major concern for you, Vogtland Coilovers should definitely be on your short list.
The Fiesta ST’s rear isn’t a conventional coilover setup, and instead uses and adjustable seat to change the ride height out back. While the car still needs to be aligned before he can really put it through its paces, even just the 40 mile or so drive back home from our shop was enough to notice the ride is actually fairly close to stock, if a bit stiffer while cruising on the highway. Dave tells us that “the biggest difference so far is over speed bumps, it soaks them up better, making the car less hoppy/fidgety when compared to stock.” – a very astute observation as we noted similar improvements in ride quality with the ST Suspensions XTA coilovers on our Project Fiesta ST.
Of course, with a drop in ride height, you really need a set of nice aftermarket wheels for the look to really pop- Dave opted to spring for a set of 17×8 Rota Grid wheels for Fiesta ST, powdercoated in that same shade of dark bronze/gold that defined the original TE37 look. These allowed Dave to retain the great stock tires (which still have LOTS of life left in them) while also reducing the weight of the wheels themselves (compared to OEM FiST wheels).
A set of custom lugnuts finish off the tasteful tuner look. Rota Grid wheels for Fiesta ST, while not regularly offered at ModBargains, are available upon request. Call 714-582-3330 to special order yours from our Mod Experts. With a sharp looking set of new wheels and new lowered ride height, the end result is one clean looking little car, so we had to step back to admire the improvements.
The conservative drop (meaning little to no rubbing) and bright gold wheels give the car the visual pop it needs to keep the sedate Oxford White hue from disappearing into a sea of white compacts out there and we have to say we are huge fans of the look. With his Fiesta ST on Vogtland Coilovers, we’re sure Dave has many happy miles behind the wheel of his Fiesta ST ahead.
Thank you again to Dave for choosing the Mod Experts to get his new suspension ordered and installed and for letting us share these photos with you guys.
If you’re interested in upgrading the performance of your Fiesta ST, we invite you to consult the Ford ST Mod Experts at ModBargains. Call 714-582-3330 to speak to the Mod Experts or chat live at www.modbargains.com for modding advice from our friendly and enthusiastic Modification Experts.
Story & Photos by Nicholas Gregson
Select Photos by Charles Pages, Pages Photography