Improve 06 Tdci Engine Sound?

[serbusfish]

Ive just become the owner of a Fiesta Zetec S TDCI, and for the most part im liking the car, it drives well and has a nice oomph when accelerating. However when acceleration it sounds a bit, how do I put this... like a tractor! Not really a nice sound. Its something I can live with if I have to, the TDCI is worth it for the £30 tax cost, but is there anything I can do to improve how it sounds?

[FOCA]

Thats an interesting question - in my opinion, there is little you can really do to improve the sound

You can make it louder, then it sounds like a big truck, instead of a tractor you can make the induction sound louder so it is more of a "drone"/ roar

sound is very subjecive, though

a few genuine performance mods (eg- remap etc) can change the character of the engine sound,slightly and you get used to it, as well - there is no hiding you are driving a diesel when you start it from cold, though

,

[serbusfish]

Ah right I see, in that case i'll just make sure I play music when driving :) Its not THAT bad anyway, I just figured if it could be improved without doing anything drastic I could give it a go.

One thing that is slightly more annoying though is the ride comfort, my old Fiesta 1.3 flight was quite a smooth runner,I dont know if its because of the low profile tyres or the suspension but with the Zetec S I feel literally every bump on the road.

Is this normal for this car? I should note it doesnt have regular zetec S wheels, it has 16" ST wheels:

[FOCA]

Ah right I see, in that case i'll just make sure I play music when driving :) Its not THAT bad anyway, I just figured if it could be improved without doing anything drastic I could give it a go.

One thing that is slightly more annoying though is the ride comfort, my old Fiesta 1.3 flight was quite a smooth runner,I dont know if its because of the low profile tyres or the suspension but with the Zetec S I feel literally every bump on the road.

Is this normal for this car? I should note it doesnt have regular zetec S wheels, it has 16" ST wheels:

Its the profile of the tyres (look how thin the sidewalls are- no "give" in them)- you would get a better ride with smaller wheels and higher profile tyres with fatter sidewalls (the outside diameter would remain the same)

The wider/ lower profile tyres make a small difference in emergency stops or when cornering very hard in the dry, they may have a higher limit but they might "let go" more suddenly, the narrower tyres / fatter sidewall have a lower limit but a more progressive breakaway,

so the wider, lower profile tyres have a much worse ride, and slightly better grip but breakaway suddenly compared to the higher profile tyres

Most people fit the wider, lower profile tyres/ bigger wheels for appearance, often, they are heavier than smaller wheels, and produce more drag, so actually slow a lower- powerd car down, on a more powerful car (200+Hp) you might need the wider tyres to get the power down, years ago cars were fitted with narrow, skinny tyres, and putting wider ones on was a big improvement, nowadays, many smaller, lower powered cars are fitted with tyres that are un-nessesarily wide, wheels that are too big and too low a profile

[serbusfish]

Its the profile of the tyres (look how thin the sidewalls are- no "give" in them)- you would get a better ride with smaller wheels and higher profile tyres with fatter sidewalls (the outside diameter would remain the same)

The wider/ lower profile tyres make a small difference in emergency stops or when cornering very hard in the dry, they may have a higher limit but they might "let go" more suddenly, the narrower tyres / fatter sidewall have a lower limit but a more progressive breakaway,

so the wider, lower profile tyres have a much worse ride, and slightly better grip but breakaway suddenly compared to the higher profile tyres

Most people fit the wider, lower profile tyres/ bigger wheels for appearance, often, they are heavier than smaller wheels, and produce more drag, so actually slow a lower- powerd car down, on a more powerful car (200+Hp) you might need the wider tyres to get the power down, years ago cars were fitted with narrow, skinny tyres, and putting wider ones on was a big improvement, nowadays, many smaller, lower powered cars are fitted with tyres that are un-nessesarily wide, wheels that are too big and too low a profile

Ok I see, well would I not be able to keep those alloys and get some tyres that are a little bigger? I really dig the alloys :) Plus it would be more expensive to get new alloys and tyres. Looking at the tyres it says '205/40ZR17 84W' on the sides.

[Hjalle]

I did the swap from a 195/50-15 tire to a 195-45-16 tire and like you said above yes the ride is a lot firmer and you literally do feel every imperfection in the road. Even roads that I think are perfectly smooth seem to have imperfections in them and the ride can be a bit fidgety. Sometimes it can get a bit annoying but then I see a reflection of the bigger alloys and it makes it worth it. Thats all personal opinion though

You should be able to increase the sidewall, but then you will have a bigger diameter tire and mean your speedo will be out. If you put the next size tire up in the calculator it will tell you your speedo error.

http://www.tyresizecalculator.com/tyre-wheel-calculators/speedo-error-calculator

A general rule of thumb for change is no more than 2% becuase then your speedo will be so out that you are likely to get caught by the police. I put a 195/50-16 tire in and had a 4% difference from my 45's so decided to just man up, live with the firmer ride (which does also offer a better drive) and go for form over function

[serbusfish]

I did the swap from a 195/50-15 tire to a 195-45-16 tire and like you said above yes the ride is a lot firmer and you literally do feel every imperfection in the road. Even roads that I think are perfectly smooth seem to have imperfections in them and the ride can be a bit fidgety. Sometimes it can get a bit annoying but then I see a reflection of the bigger alloys and it makes it worth it. Thats all personal opinion though

You should be able to increase the sidewall, but then you will have a bigger diameter tire and mean your speedo will be out. If you put the next size tire up in the calculator it will tell you your speedo error.

http://www.tyresizecalculator.com/tyre-wheel-calculators/speedo-error-calculator

A general rule of thumb for change is no more than 2% becuase then your speedo will be so out that you are likely to get caught by the police. I put a 195/50-16 tire in and had a 4% difference from my 45's so decided to just man up, live with the firmer ride (which does also offer a better drive) and go for form over function

Well to be honest I cant really be sure this car has been calibrated for what I have now, the garage I bought the car from had recently had robbers jump over the fence and steal wheels from 4 cars, mine included. The dealer told me he couldn't get proper Zetec S wheels so got ST wheels instead. He may have sorted it but I cant be certain. Is it cheap for a garage to check and alter this for you?

[Hjalle]

Are you serious, thats crazy! This is why I am considering getting anti theft lugs

Dont quote me on this but, you should be fine because the factory calibrate their speedos to be able to take all the alloys in a range. They allow enough leigh way for the bigger ST 17's running 40's right down to the 50-15's. This is so that they don't need to calibrate speedos for each model of car and can standardise manufacturing.

So moral of the story if you are sticking the Fiesta rims with standard spec tires you should be fine

[serbusfish]

Are you serious, thats crazy! This is why I am considering getting anti theft lugs

Dont quote me on this but, you should be fine because the factory calibrate their speedos to be able to take all the alloys in a range. They allow enough leigh way for the bigger ST 17's running 40's right down to the 50-15's. This is so that they don't need to calibrate speedos for each model of car and can standardise manufacturing.

So moral of the story if you are sticking the Fiesta rims with standard spec tires you should be fine

Haha yeah, with mine they not only got the wheels but also took the front grill and the boot spoiler! There was also another fiesta + an Audi and a BMW. Fortunately they didn't do any physical damage to the cars.

Right ok, i'll see if I can get some tyres that are a little big larger. I'll pop into my local garage tomorrow and see what they say.

[FOCA]

Haha yeah, with mine they not only got the wheels but also took the front grill and the boot spoiler! There was also another fiesta + an Audi and a BMW. Fortunately they didn't do any physical damage to the cars.

Right ok, i'll see if I can get some tyres that are a little big larger. I'll pop into my local garage tomorrow and see what they say.

Its very simple -

The larger diameter wheels have lower profile tyres (eg the ST wheels/tyres)

The smaller diameter wheels have higher profile tyres

so the outside diameter stays the same/ similar

So the outside dianeter of the wheel/ tyre combination stays similar, whatever the wheel size so the ride height stays the same, the speedo does not go out (by much) and the cars gearing is not changed

BUT - if you fit higher profile tyres on the larger diameter tyre the outside diameter of the tyre will be larger, the car will sit higher, the gearing will be higher (you may even need to change down more on hills etc) the bigger tyre may rub on the wheelarches, the speedo will read lower, so you will be going faster at the same indicated speed

there are charts to work this all out, but if you decide to go ahead with the higher- profile tyres - it would be wise to check the actual speed against the speedos' indicated speed with a GPS- based device with an accurate speed readout - as the deviation may already be on the edge of its permitted amount

The other thing is you must buy 4 wheels together, you can never mix different outside diameter tyres on the same axle, and its bad practice to have different (outside) sizes front-to-back (and would defeat the purpose of what you are trying to do) - so effectively, you would have to throw thour old, low profile tyres away (i suppose you could sell them on if they were decent)

Another point is as the Fiesta ST wheels are designed for a certain width/ profile of tyre, fitting non- standard ones may invalidate your insurance, (they will already know you have the ST wheels, of course, as a modification)