Twenty's Twenty-twelve

[Twenty]

Steeda rear sway bar, part I:

It's Friday! That means I have the day off work and therefore had the chance to pick up my new sway bar.

At a major car show last month I was able to meet the owner of a local shop that carries parts for the 2012 Focus, and placed an order through them shortly after for the Steeda rear sway bar.

Included is the bar, brackets, bushings, grease, and a one-page instruction sheet. A quick read-through and it all looks very simple.

The install is waiting for now, as I got caught in a HEAVY rainstorm while coming home. On the plus side, the undercarriage got a good wash, but I think I'll let it dry out before I crawl under the car.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Hey Bill, guess who's taking serious consideration into the new gen Focus now?

[Twenty]

I'm going to guess a Grand Am owner?

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Going to get my hands on a few to test drive tomorrow.

[Twenty]

Do eet.

Points to consider:

You cannot order 2012s anymore, only 2013s now. Also, the SEL trim and Yellow Blaze/Frosted Glass colors are gone for the'13s.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

That's actually what I'm banking on, getting a '12 on the cheap. Hopefully there's at least one SE with a manual...

Maybe finagle with the salesman to somehow add the Titanium's 18"s and black headlights into the MSRP...

[Twenty]

I recently priced out the Ti lights. With a new core charge, it's nearly $600 for a pair. Yikes.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Damn...I wonder if the dealer even has a Titanium in stock.

[Twenty]

So, today I crawled under the Focus to get to work swapping out the rear sway bar.

And that's what it still looks like now. Yes, that's the stock bar. Yes, the Steeda piece is back in its box. No matter what, I could not get the sway bar free from the end links. It simply would not come out, so I put the bolts back in place and will need to take the Steeda bar with me to work and borrow a hoist.

Sigh.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Invest in an impact gun, grasshopper.

[Twenty]

All bolts and nuts were off. I couldn't get the ends of the bar off of the endlinks.

[havoc1482]

All bolts and nuts were off. I couldn't get the ends of the bar off of the endlinks.

Just do what I do with the Phoenix. If it ain't moving, hammer the shit outta it.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

^ Mike's right. I would have sprayed some WD-40 on the ends, and wacked it with my rubber mallet. It's a sway bar, it's designed to take impacts.

[Twenty]

I'm just going to try when I have better access and can gain better leverage.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Don't you have access to lifts at work? Just do it on your lunch break. Well, that's what I would do.

[Twenty]

That's what I'm going to do. I'll see if I can find a spare lift.

I also need to talk to a coworker who does 3M, a tiny bit of mine on one of the front bumper's lower 'points' got ripped slightly.

[Twenty]

Steeda rear sway bar, part II:

I apologize for the picture quality. A couple were taken quickly with my phone (I wasn't going to bring my real camera to work) and the others were taken while I was laying on the ground trying to see what I was shooting at.

Today I brought the bar to work and at the start of my lunch break grabbed a free hoist and put the Focus up in the air. A co-worker of mine helped out too, and together we had the new Steeda bar in by the end of lunch.

The swap is simple enough, but the bars put up a fight with the endlinks. It was challenging to remove the old one and wrestle the new one on, as it took both of us applying force to finally do so.

The bushings were well greased to prevent squeaking, and then everything was tightened down.

My father and I just got back from a quick round of the neighbourhood. We weren't doing anything crazy, but driving around there does seem to be a definite improvement in the Focus' handling. This is one tight little car.

[[ChaosweaveR]]

Hmmm...the way the Focus's muffler is setup, you could use a crossflow muffler and keep the stock hangers!

[Twenty]

Downforce carbon fiber front lip:

Today finally arrived, and right on schedule a very large box showed up at my door. This is one piece I've waited months for.

I don't normally keep parts in transit a secret, but for this one I really wanted to. This was a special case, and I didn't want any word of what was coming to get out. Only on Instagram did I share any information about this, in fact.

As the title says, it's the new front lip from Downforce.

The reason I wanted to wait for this to arrive before revealing it, was because this is the first production copy of this lip. I am the first person in North America to have it. Aside from my Focus, you'll also see this lip on the Sema show car, and that's it.

That's why.

Since November when I first saw this piece on the ID Agency Focus, I wanted it. I finally had enough waiting and got in contact with Downforce directly, asking when it would be available. Through a running conversation back and forth, I ultimately was able to purchase a lip ahead of anyone else; ahead of it even being advertised for sale. I also had options in the lip's construction, opting for a full carbon fiber piece in a 2x2 weave.

Last night I sent off a text to my friend Terence asking if he'd be willing to lend a hand getting this thing installed. He was happy to help, and I promptly sent him another this afternoon after the lip arrived. After work I picked up some 3M automotive tape, grabbed some dinner for the two of us, and went home to unwrap my prize. Terence showed up shortly after and we got right to work. BIG thanks to him for setting aside his evening on such short notice.

With the 3M tape along the upper edge and either end, the lip was put in place. It utilizes the 6 factory clip locations under the front bumper. We ended up replacing four with tiny bolts and nuts, but kept two of the OEM clips, one on each end of the lip. The other four refused to stay in place and kept popping out, so we had to work around that.

Of course, the best part was after we were done; picture time!

With the shiny new lip in place, I made sure to carefully check clearances entering and exiting my driveway, and later on drove around my neighbourhood to test speedbumps as well. All is good, though I do have to pull in at an angle now, since my driveway's so steep. Also, I can't really back in any more.

But I don't care. I have my Downforce lip. I'm happy.

[RenegadeG5]

That looks GREAT!!!!!

[[ChaosweaveR]]

That looks so slick.

Now, fix the 4x4 status.

[Ringo64]

That's cool! I like the "story" around it glad downforce was happy with how much you liked it and gave you those options!

Looks great too!

[Young gun]

so it isn't OEM+ anymore right?

Looks good thou

[Ghost]

that is awesome!

[Ringo64]

so it isn't OEM+ anymore right?

It's OEM++ now