Minnesota Focus Owners Club

I finally had a chance to clean it up and put a little more effort into some pics although I did end up just using my parent's driveway. Eventually I'm going to try some posed HDR shots as soon as I find my tripod shoe

First, let's start of where it all began. Nearly new just after I bought it. Everything is bone-stock except for an aftermarket CD/MP3




Now a similar shot as it sits today. The only significant upgrades are SVT suspension, non-SVT rear sway (it had no bar at all), EAPs, and new rubber. The SVT suspension along with the wheels rocks! The only thing is I wish it left the car with an even lower stance; especially in the rear.




Back to the past: check out that wheel gap! If you're wondering why such a picture was taken, my roommate decided to back out of the garage at warp factor 6 and forgot my little Focus was parked behind him as it had been for a year or so; in gear with the e-brake set. You can't tell because of the black car but the bumper cover got worked over pretty good. Surprisingly the subframe took no damage at all. That is NOT why you see the replacement cover in the new pics though. I drove it as is after this incident and eventually clipped a snow bank which surgically removed the lower passenger corner up front; fog light and all.




When you look at the stance of an '05+ SE you may have the nagging feeling you've seen something similar elsewhere. I will now put that to rest.




If I ever ran into some lottery winnings I'd go with the SAP kit, some nice coilovers, and a Focussport Turbo Kit. Until that winning ticket shows up, this is what I get for now. Now here are the rest of the pics from today. Enjoy

Are those 17's? What size tire? How much of a drop did you get going from stock height to SVT susp. height? Will be dropping mine on SVT srpings tomorrow...

Yep they are 17x7 with a 49mm offset. Tires are 215/45-17

For the drop I didn't take measurements but I think most people report anything from the advertised 0.5" to as much as 0.75". The new wheels and tires have a slightly larger overall diameter than the original 15's so that sucked up some wheel gap too.

Yeah....I have heard 0.5" - 1.5"......I'm guessing, the drop won't be noticible, but the handling will.

great another black second gen..... lol, jk. looks nice. i like your choice of wheels. that's all the drop you got out of those? maybe i should do mine, that ain't a dramatic drop. but you say you've seen a big improvement in handling?

The handling improvement is definitely noticeable. Before the car seemed really wishy-washy and leaned too far around corners but now it's much more responsive and confident. Considering the asking price of the setup from Steve it's worth every penny.

Looks good!

The suspension should settle a bit also so it will drop a bit more but not a whole bunch.

Canon 5D? I want one.

Focus is looking good.

Shave the rear emblems off also

Thanks for the comments guys!

Redlineracer12 wrote:Canon 5D? I want one.

Someone's been looking at my exif data lol. These were shot with a 5D and 24-105 F/4L except for the close up of the wheel cap which was with a 50 F/1.8

MNiceGuy wrote:

Redlineracer12 wrote:Canon 5D? I want one.

Someone's been looking at my exif data lol. These were shot with a 5D and 24-105 F/4L except for the close up of the wheel cap which was with a 50 F/1.8

Bad habit I have the 24-105 too, sweet lens. I shoot mostly a 40d (xti for the rig shots).

Patalrob wrote:Shave the rear emblems off also

i just did that today befor i read this.

What's needed for that? Hairdryer and some dental floss to get the emblems off and then some Goo-Gone or similar to take care of the residue?

But then how are people going to notice it's a Focus?

Redlineracer12 wrote:

MNiceGuy wrote:

Redlineracer12 wrote:Canon 5D? I want one.

Someone's been looking at my exif data lol. These were shot with a 5D and 24-105 F/4L except for the close up of the wheel cap which was with a 50 F/1.8

Bad habit I have the 24-105 too, sweet lens. I shoot mostly a 40d (xti for the rig shots).

The 24-105 is the grand high mother of general purpose lenses. I absolutely love mine and would sleep next to it if I could.

MNiceGuy wrote:What's needed for that? Hairdryer and some dental floss to get the emblems off and then some Goo-Gone or similar to take care of the residue?

But then how are people going to notice it's a Focus?

Yep that will work perfect

True they might think its a Prius