Detailed: 2013 Ford Focus ST (bye bye Veloster)

[The Ryan]

Yup... BYE BYE VELOSTER!

 

Say hello to my new 2013 Ford Focus ST(2), in Race Red:

 

 

First off before I get to fun stuff, and to set the record straight about the Veloster. Its really not a terrible car, unless your a car nut. For anyone else that just needs a car to get from here to there in a fair amount of style, and with excellent MPG's it really isn't too bad of a ride... However with that said Emily and I have a new bundle of joy due in February.. I started looking for a FUN TO DRIVE 4 Door car. After much research, and driving everything in its class (MazdaSpeed3, VW GTI, WRX, Ect.) and a few true sedans (Audi A4, BMW 328i, 2013 Fusion, Cadillac ATS) I found a nice balance of Sport, Practicality, and Price within the Ford Focus ST (and I really wanted back into a American Car).

 

This thing is called a Focus but to be honest once you get inside it; it feels like a straight up race/rally car. With a 6 speed gear box, Recaro leather trimmed seats, polished pedals, and its 252HP 270lbs torque power plant; its officially a FUN car. This thing is a total sleeper in my eyes, 0-60 comes at a quick 5.9 seconds and well I'm just gunna say it... This car IS more fun than my 2010 Camaro.

 

On to the fun stuff, the detailing!

 

I started this morning with a few shots of the exterior:

 

Some grease spots caked into the paint:

 

Very heavy brake dust off the large rotors and pads (after only 3 days of driving, its reminding me of the Camaro ):

 

It was time to bring in the Adam's Arsenal to tackle the new car prep ahead of me:

 

I started out with a APC foam down of the tires:

 

Then I primed Adam's Fender/Tire brush with a few pumps of APC and went to town on the rubber and fender wells:

 

After getting all the new gunk off the Goodyear Eagle F1's I moved on to the wheels and started with a foam down of Adam's Green Wheel Cleaner:

 

After the foam bath, I cleaned the wheel barrels with Adam's Turbo Stick:

 

Today I thanked God for the invention of Adam's Wheel Woolies! The wheels have very tight corners and I would not have been able to clean them without them:

 

 

I then used Adam's Lug nut brush and finished them off with Adam's Boars Hair brush:

 

And a final rinse with Adam's Fire Hose nozzle and the extra hardware:

 

 

Time to get the bucket and foam gun ready for some heavy use:

 

I rinsed the car off to do some product testing comparisons then moved along to the foaming! The fun stuff... I love foaming my cars down:

 

 

I then used Adam's Lug Nut brush to clean the honeycomb grille and exterior plastic louvers:

 

 

On to a full blown hand job done with Adam's Merino Wool wash mitt:

 

 

This brand new car couldn't need a clay job could it? Well after its long journey from Michigan, it did, BADLY:

 

 

A brand new clay bar was split up and then flattened out on the windshiled with some Detail Spray:

 

 

This is actually the worst I have seen a brand new car!

 

I gave the car another rinse, then it was on to the pooling method to knock off as much excess water as possible:

 

 

I then pulled my new sleeper into the garage, where it received a forced air treatment via Adam's Metro Blaster Sidekick:

 

 

Another must have for this car's honeycomb grille:

 

I then moved on to a quick drying method via Adam's Great White Microfiber, and some Detail Spray:

 

 

I gave the door jambs a DS wipedown with a Adam's Multi-Purpose Microfiber:

 

 

At last! Washing was complete, it was time for a paint inspection as I was sure thing needed a once over with a polisher since I was sure a few kids with dirty rags had washed it at the dealership before I swooped it up:

 

 

 

NO FREAKING SWIRLS!! Hallelujah !! And this ladies and gentlemen has NEVER happened to me, but its exactly why when you take delivery of your new ride, you NEVER let them "Detail" it! I did find a few scuffs, a scratch in the rear Ford emblem, and crazy swirled plastic pillar pieces though:

 

 

I proceeded to polish the spot areas with Adam's 4" spot pads via a 18v Dewalt drill [Disclaimer, please don't polish like this unless you're familiar with rotary polishing, this can and will lead to a strikethrough if you don't do it correctly, I recommend using the 4" pads a PC 7424XP] I used a light polish as this was merely a scuff, white pad and Adam's Fine Machine Polish (love that stuff!):

 

 

Much better:

 

Ford Emblem, I used a more aggressive pad and polish as this was a full blown scratch, not just a scuff:

 

 

Finished with Fine Machine Polish on the white pad:

 

 

Presto, like it never happened:

 

 

Side pillars were treated only with Fine Machine Polish and a white pad:

 

 

Viola!

 

 

I went on thinking about how dumb the emblem placement was in the rear of the car. The "Focus" was low and in the driver side corner, and the ST was high and in the passenger corner:

 

 

The Focus had to go, I grabbed some fishing line for a fishing pole I don't own, and took it off with one quick swipe:

 

 

 

 

I then used a mild adhesive remover (clear coat friendly) and removed the rest of the adhesive:

 

 

Much better, now no one will know its a Focus!

 

 

Moving along to the trim, I was actually surprised how dry and nasty looking the exterior rubber was on this car:

 

 

Have no fear, Adam's Super V.R.T to the rescue, here's a nice 50/50:

 

 

After treating the rest of the trim I knocked down the excess product with a Single Soft Microfiber towel:

 

 

 

Sooo much better:

 

 

 

 

The front and rear louvers were treated with Adam's In & Out spray:

 

 

 

 

Moving along to the heart of this little rascal, the Ford 2.0L "EcoBoost" turbocharged engine bay, it was pretty filthy for a new car:

 

 

 

 

I wiped down the engine compartment with a black multi purpose towel and Adam's detail spray:

 

 

TURBO!:

 

 

Back to the wipedown:

 

 

I treated the plastics with a helping of Super VRT, another 50/50:

 

 

The finished product:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then moved on to the interior, I didn't let them remove some of the interior plastics on deliver as I wanted to remove them myself:

 

 

 

I love these Recaro leather trimmed seats:

 

 

 

Back to the interior:

 

 

 

 

 

I vacuumed it all up and moved on to a generous helping of Adams Leather and Interior Conditioner:

 

 

Here's a nice 50/50 of the treated leather:

 

 

Back to the treatment:

 

 

 

 

I wiped the fingerprints off the center display via a multi purpose towel and some Adam's Glass Cleaner:

 

 

I then knocked down the excess leather and interior conditioner with a multi purpose towel:

 

 

I cleaned the interior glass with Adam's glass cleaner as my 2 year old Claire watched Daddy "clean his new car"

 

 

All done with the interior:

 

 

I then moved on to work on the exterior glass, all exterior glass got a helping of Adam's Glass Sealant:

 

 

 

While the Glass sealant was curing I decided I wanted a mix of excellent protection for the paint, and a OMG thats RED look, so I started the exterior with a coat of Adam's Quick Sealant:

 

 

I also treated the brake dust monsters with Adam's Quick Sealant:

 

 

I went back and removed the Glass Sealant with a Adam's Glass Towel, and some more Glass Cleaner while the Quick Sealant on the paint cured (this really wasn't necessary to let the Sealant cure as AQS is generally ready for removal in minutes):

 

 

I love Adam's Quick Sealant, even when its applied you don't know its there:

 

 

I buffed off the Quick Sealant via a Adam's Double Soft microfiber towel:

 

 

On to the wax! A coat of Adam's Americana was applied over the Sealant to give it that melt your face off shine:

 

 

 

 

After buffing off the fresh coat of Americana, I treated the Goodyear Eagle F1's to a helping of Adam's Super VRT:

 

 

And a 50/50:

 

 

At last, my new Race Red ST had earned it's badge of honor:

 

 

 

I was done!

 

 

I pulled it down the street across from a park to take a few beauty shots:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I found a little more rural spot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course, some Von Kleisting:

 

 

 

Hope it was a good read, I know I'm enjoying a Ford for the first time in my life!

Edited November 24, 2012 by The Ryan

[69supersport396]

Very nice!

[Kenneth]

Wow. That Focus looks amazing. I actually like it. Is it front wheel drive? What size motor and whats the stock HP with that turbo? Ford has stepped it up a notch with this new Focus. Just imagine with with full turbo back exhaust, CAI, and a tune. 100 more HP most likely lol.

[The Ryan]

Yea unfortunately its FWD, its packing a 2.0L turbocharged "EcoBoost" engine with 252hp and 270ft lbs of torque. It only weights 3,200lbs

[AmyAtAdamsAustralia]

Very nice and congrats on the car! That was enjoyable to see the change through the photos. I can only imagine if a coat of BG went on before Americana!

 

2 thumbs up*

 

I'm going to share this thread so all the Ford fans in Australia see the shine potential their ride has!

[The Ryan]

Please do.. I've been looking for an excuse to upgrade my photobucket bandwidth

[07RS4]

Nice job Ryan, great write-up. I know taking the time to take pictures during a detail can be a drag, so thanks for taking the time. Car looks great.

[teamcrossworks]

Nice job Ryan, great write-up. I know taking the time to take pictures during a detail can be a drag, so thanks for taking the time. Car looks great.

 

 

What he said! Thanks. Great write-up and enjoyable pictures.

[blick05SS]

I just got a new ford myself and i have noticed some of the same things my car needs clayed badly i can feel it and i noticed those grease spots as well but incredible job on the car it looks great

[zxgto06]

Awesome car man! I love it! Nice write up, I really enjoyed reading it!

[zxgto06]

Awesome car man! I love it! Nice write up, I really enjoyed reading it!

[egott_91]

For a Focus, it's a pretty good looking car.

 

I love the new ATS's but I don't love the price tag that goes along with them for only a 4 cyl.

 

And I know you were just messing around when you said a FWD hatchback is more fun than a RWD sport/muscle car.....RIGHT?! Lol.

[egott_91]

Dang Internet double post glitch...

[Green Machine]

Looks awesome Ryan !!!! good luck with it!!!!!

[Captain Slow]

[Holder]

Yeah man, looks sweet. I love the red.

[694doorbird]

Ryan,

Looks great .

 

A few years ago my son and I rented a 5 door Focus drove it from Seattle to Portland. Not once did we feel cramped in it. I'm looking at one of these or the new Fusion to replace my Ranger in a couple years...

[redneck08sierra]

car is cool!

[Golf for Life]

Congratulations Ryan love the red especially after the complete Adams treatment.

[mc2hill]

Nice work and write-up Ryan!

 

And thanks for doing my 'leg work' for me! I have been looking at that same group of cars and really like the looks of the Focus. Sounds like you actually like the paint on this one!

[goheels]

Very nice and complete write-up - very much enjoy the sequence of pictures! I'm sure you drove very slowly on the dirt road for your more rural pictures

 

Also, please tell me that dirtied-up clay is from just claying the windows and not from claying the paint of a new car. I mean, I know that you should clay after gettting it from the dealership, but damn....

[Redbeard]

Nice job! I can't believe the clay was so dirty on a new car! Let that be a lesson to the rest of us.

Also, while I'm sure we all appreciate the pics, what were you thinking driving on a dirt road immediately after doing all that work?!

 

(P.S. Way to rep with the Adam's plate and decal. Now you're obligated to keep it up to those standards!)

Edited November 24, 2012 by Redbeard

[Team Adam's]

Awesome! Car looks great in red too... excellent choice and great writeup my friend!

[Blue04SSS]

Awesome write up and car. Congrats on your new car!

[ExpressThis13]

Very nice car and writeup! I would take it back to the salesman and see what he thinks lol.