Mk7 Fiesta Zetec S - Less Is More

[ukcal]

Welcome to my ongoing project with my 2009 MK7 Fiesta Zetec S. My 'motto' might change in the future, but I believe that "less is more"; I like to make small alterations and modifications to my car that improve its looks, but don't require many hours of labour or a ridiculous amount of money. I aim to provide links, approximate prices (not including postage where applicable), pictures and a short blurb of all the modifications to make life that little bit easier for those who might just be inspired.

Here is my car when it was on sale:

And more recently:

As you can see, it doesn't look too much different, but the following modifications have been made...

White Zetec S Rear Inlay

£1.99 from DMB

This was my first modification. Although it is beginning to peel slightly (I blame the pressure washer), I couldn't resist it to eliminate the red S on my blue car!

S Steering Wheel Gel badge

£4.99 from DMB (product is now unavailable)

Simply put, every Zetec S Fiesta should come with a badge like this. Passengers have commented on it and not even known it wasn't originally on the car!

White Steering Wheel Gel Overlay

£3.00~ from gelbadges@gmail.com

I wasn't happy that this one came through looking a bit pixelated. Still, from where I sit, it isn't that noticeable and it is a nice touch against the rest of the interior.

Lockwood Door Sills

£32.99 from Amazon

Practical and good looking. What could be better? It also covers up a few scuffs on the driver's side that were on the sill and protects from further ones occurring.

Aluminium Sport Pedal Covers

£5.00~ from AliExpress

Having decided £50+ for official Ford ones was not going to happen, finding these on the forums was too good a deal to miss. Delivery time was reasonable, too.

Short Radio Aerial

£5.00~ from eBay

I don't use the radio in my car, so having a long aerial was not necessary. So, I swapped it for this one, which is much more discrete (but I do still have signal in my area if I did suddenly want the radio after all...)

Ford Owners Club Stickers

£3.99 from Mufflebox

Why not represent the club? Attached on both sides, they make it obvious that I do rather like my car and, no, it is not okay to leave a dent in my car when you park next to it at Tesco...

Numberplate LED Bulbs

£2.50~ from eBay

Every time I unlock my car, I love the white glow that appears at the back. Simply put, this modification easily contends for the best one I've done to my car.

LED Panel for the Boot

£2.99 from eBay

Quite difficult to capture in a photo, but I stuck the LED panel just below the boot catch on the inside of the boot. I ran some wire round from the original boot light to provide the power. Despite being removed and adjusted a couple of times, the self-adhesive back is still going strong. At night, this boot light is simply brilliant.

LED Panels for Interior Lighting

£5.98 from eBay

This required a little bit of rewiring, but nothing too difficult. Instead of a single bulb (and I did try with LEDs), I chose to add two LED panels to my interior lighting. These are brilliant. Enough light finds its way to the back seats and the front is suitably bright and white, also.

Front Footwell Lighting

Bulb holders: £2.79 from eBay

Bulbs: £0.99 from eBay

After some wiring extension across the windscreen and down the pillars of the car, I have fitted front footwell lighting. The bulbs I got for this aren't actually very bright. However, for this purpose, I find the brightness is perfect as it is subtle on feet and not blinding instead!

LED Reversing Lights

£5.99 from eBay

I don't know quite what inspired me to get these. Needless to say, they look better when reversing, give out at least as much light and they look cool even when they aren't in use!

"De-tangoed" Indicator bulbs

Front: £13.00~ from Amazon

Rear: £13.00~ from Amazon

Side: £2.99 from eBay

I think the side ones, despite being the cheapest, are possibly the best looking! The front ones were a real pain to change, but all of them were worth changing. Whenever I'm behind another Fiesta, the orange indicator bulbs are always too noticeable for my liking!

Cool Blue Intense Main Beam and Fog Lights (and LED sidelights!)

Main (H1): £12.00~ from Amazon

Fog (H11): £27.00~ from Amazon

Sidelights: £0.99 from eBay

It is hard to capture these as they are so bright! The colour of them is definitely whiter than the standard bulbs and both were fitted without much trouble. The main beam blue bulbs are slightly visible, though the colour goes with my blue car anyway! The fog lights and the full beams on dark nights are both simply brilliant; definitely an improvement. LED sidelights are also necessary and quick to fit. I did have to use some amazon vouchers to justify the fog lights, though, as they are pretty steep...

6000K H7 HID Kit

£12.00~ from AliExpress

I was sceptical about fitting HIDs, but the forums suggested these. For the price, I had to have a go and I can say that they work very well. The fitting was okay and the light, spread, etc is really nice. I can't make comparisons against other kits and I know some are sceptical about cheaper kits, but I have run these for a two hour journey and they are still exactly as I fitted them without melting or blowing up, so initial signs are good, right? I also found them less tiring than my previous lights (Osram Nightbreakers, £17.00~ from Amazon) to drive home at one o'clock in the morning on the motorway.

White S Stickers

£1.00 x2 from DMB

I don't know why I got these, other than the fact they were cheap! I just thought I needed to put something on the small front windows and these did the job nicely for only £1.00 each!

Climair Wind Deflectors

£40.00~ from Ford Parts UK (although I got them from a very kind forum member!)

It took a week or so for me to get to like these, and I think then it was actually because of the practical side to them! It is great being able to have the windows down in the warmer months without getting blown constantly in your face, so they really do work well for their designed purpose.  The look of them has now got to me and I'm very glad they are now permanently fitted to my car!

Mobius Actioncams

£55.00 x2~ from Hobbyking (plus about £20~ in extra cables, piggybacks, holders etc.)

Unfortunately, this purchase decision followed on from my older sister being in two crashes within the space of a few months.  It has literally taken a year (written March 2016) for both of these to be approaching solutions and, knowing they wouldn't be resolved quickly, I wanted to make sure I had a little extra 'protection' of my own.  There are a lot of dashcams around these days, some easier to set up than others.  I have found these Mobius Actioncams to do exactly what I want; they turn on when my car is on, stay on for a short while when my car is off and continuously loop record everything that goes off in front of me and behind me.  The front camera is about as discreet as it can be; the rear camera, held up with Velcro and Blu-Tack (it works!) is in a discreet enough position that it is barely noticeable through the tinted rear windscreen.  I'm pleased to say I've only used these to view comical footage or footage of bad drivers, and hope that it stays that way!  What is strange is how vulnerable I feel in others' cars when they don't have these fitted...

 

 

And not really modifications, but...

Kenwood KSC-SW11 Underseat Subwoofer

£102.99 from Amazon

I didn't want a subwoofer that took up half my boot and would never get used to its full potential, so I bought one of these instead.  Fitting it took a couple of hours, maybe, and connects to the back of the stereo speaker cables.  Wired in through piggyback connectors of the fuse box and hidden under the drivers seat, I have found this has worked brilliantly throughout all the months I've had it now.  The car doors no longer vibrate with each beat as the bass is coming out of this, rather than the door Speakers!  I also get to 'feel' the music as I drive a long - something I might add to the passenger side too one day if I have a spare £100!

Kingston 32GB Micro Duo Flash Drive

£9.00 from Amazon

A very fast and discrete flash drive for storing music on for use in the car. It has two ends; the other connects directly into the Micro-USB sockets on most current smartphones, which is also useful!

Last updated 3rd March 2016.

 

Edited March 3, 2016 by ukcal

[ukcal]

Oh, and if an admin could amend the title and capitalise the 'L' in 'less', I would appreciate it!

Yes, I'm that kind of person...

Re-titled, now a reserved post if need be!

[b4zz]

looking good so far

[Shadows Entity]

You can edit it yourself. Just go to edit on the original post the title is at the top

[ukcal]

I had tried that a number of times, but it didn't work... I'll try again :)

[Gems36TY]

Looking good! Has definitely given me inspiration to change my lighting, soon as I store the FOC sticker I purchased one, and a hoodie

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC

[ukcal]

Nice one! I think a lot of us on here have done bulb changing as it really does make such a difference! But it's good to see more club representing too :)

[ukcal]

You can edit it yourself. Just go to edit on the original post the title is at the top

Well, it turns out the title doesn't recognise simple letter case changes. New title it is! Thanks all the same :)

[LewisZetec]

hiya mate, im thinking of getting an underseat subwoofer for my fiesta and the one im looking at is the same kenwood model as yours. how well does it fit underneath the seat? my dads a bit skeptical about it since i only have a 3 door, I might be moving my seat around to let people in the back seats and he wonders if the sub would obstruct that, have you had any problems with yours?

[ukcal]

On 09/05/2016 at 10:35 PM, LewisZetec said:

hiya mate, im thinking of getting an underseat subwoofer for my fiesta and the one im looking at is the same kenwood model as yours. how well does it fit underneath the seat? my dads a bit skeptical about it since i only have a 3 door, I might be moving my seat around to let people in the back seats and he wonders if the sub would obstruct that, have you had any problems with yours?

Hey mate. I would say it fits in really well.  From memory, it fitted a little bit better under the passenger seat rather than the driver's seat, but it fits under both sides without any issue.  I move my passenger seat more frequently and found that I'd rather the vibrations from the bass were under my bottom than my passenger's so I've fitted mine under the driver's seat.  Absolutely no issue with moving the seat forwards or backwards, nor did I have any issue rooting the cables from the stereo and fusebox behind the glovebox across to the driver's side :)