Hi,

I feel like the ride quality in my ST is pretty poor, I am coming from an ND MX-5 so might be that, but I feel like the ride on relatively normal British roads is pretty rough. It's not any rattling or anything but more of a slight shake and I can almost feel all of the ground very directly leading to a fairly uncomfortable drive. I was doing some reading and some people suggest installing different bushings, suspension or upsizing the tyres. If I was to go with any of those options it would probably be the tyres as I need to do them soon anyway and would be a much cheaper option. I currently have 17" 205/40 tyres all round. One person suggested 215/45?

 

Has anyone upsized their tyres and what is your experience with ride quality and any rubbing?

 

Thank you 🙂

The mk7 ST is a hard ride. It’s setup for handling. Not sure there is much you’ll be able to do about it. 

It's par for the course as contemporary road test reports made clear, e.g. quote  from Autocar below.

I have seen mention of swapping to 215/45 tyres but that was more for cost/availability and I haven't seen any mention of improved ride. It did put the speedo out by about 3mph Iirc though.

The ST200 version did get revised damping which I think did make it onto the regular production version towards the end and was slightly more compliant. That might be worth exploring particularly if your dampers need replacing anyway.** Comments on this below are from Auto Express. 

(**This change was late 2016 ? so depending on when your car was built it may have them already.)

 Autocar: "First things first: the ride. That’s what you’ll notice initially. Set off in a Fiesta ST and within a few metres it’ll occur to you that this is quite a firm set-up.

The ST isn’t harsh – it doesn’t crash – but it moves all of a piece, with significant vertical interference. It’s sufficient to make you think: “I hope this is worth it.” At low to moderate speeds, you could almost wonder whether it’s worth the trouble over a Fiesta Zetec S, which is a car that has a fine ride/handling balance."

 

Auto Express: "Speaking of which, Ford’s engineers claim to have retuned the dampers to make the car more comfortable. These changes have actually been made across the Fiesta ST range, and while it’s still a firm car, there’s definitely a more compliant edge to it over rougher roads. Moreover, it doesn’t adversely affect the handling."

 

Another quote - this time from Evo October 2016, suggests your car may have the ST200 set up already:

"The chassis has been tweaked with slightly softer springs and dampers all round and a stiffer rear torsion beam and front anti-roll bar - both by 33 per cent - in an effort to improve both ride quality and handling precision. Those upgrades were quietly rolled out on all Fiesta STs at the end of last summer, however, so they're not unique to the ST200."

2 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Another quote - this time from Evo October 2016, suggests your car may have the ST200 set up already:

"The chassis has been tweaked with slightly softer springs and dampers all round and a stiffer rear torsion beam and front anti-roll bar - both by 33 per cent - in an effort to improve both ride quality and handling precision. Those upgrades were quietly rolled out on all Fiesta STs at the end of last summer, however, so they're not unique to the ST200."

Hi,

I looked at my car details and the details of the article, looks like I missed those retunes. So, I'm, guessing the best way would be to look at some dampers?

Can't comment from personal experience** but I've seen positive reports of Eibach springs also. Probably a case of doing research and see what seems to work for others, but perception of "ride" is a very personal thing.

**I was put off buying a Mk 7 originally because there was no 5 door option then, so went elsewhere. I did have a number of lengthy test drives at the time and found the ride acceptable for the type of car, but we're all different!