Ford Focus styling help

kidloco said:
is it easy to take the door panel off on the focus, I want to upgrade the speakers on my ST170 but am paranoid about doing after the nightmare that it was on my old vectra, there was all kinds of brittle plastic lugs that fell to pieces, it was never the same again.
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Yeah its a piece of cake mate, takes about 5 mins if that. You just need a flat head screwdriver, a pz2 screwdriver and a phillips 2 screwdriver.

Behind the interior door handle (the one that unlocks the door to open it) you should see a small screw cover, pop that off then undo the pz2 screw.

Then you need to remove the cover from the interior door handle below the one you have just removed the screw from. To do this just use a wide bladed flat head driver to lever it off from above. If that wont work then a butter knife or similar may do it. Just be careful not to mar the plastic! Once its off there should be 2 pz2 screws behind, take these out but make sure to use a pz2 driver as they're pretty tight.

Then there are 4 or 5 screws around the edge of the door trim, remove these.

The door handle/ electric window switch unit can now be removed, it should just pull out, but make sure to disconnect the leccy window switch.

The door should now just lift out, make sure to lift up as there is a water channel at the top thats clips onto the door.
 
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Both tweeters are in place and wired up, all wires are soldered and I'm ready to hook it all up tomorrow :).

1CE, not bad for 20 mins work mate, those leads really smarten the engine bay up.
 
I didn't think they would fit, plus there would be 4 indicators on the front lol. I wish there was some for the MK1 that look similar to those.

Yeah i was thinking of doing something like that but getting a cheap used set from ebay to have a mess with. Not sure though as from what Ive read theres a lot of messing about to swap the MK1 lights over.
 
Just thought id post a before and after of my car so far. I'm still on the lookout for an exhaust trim, but not at the full £40 price if possible. Id also like to get some front lights similar to the ST lights as posted above but that might not be possible.

The main thing at the moment is getting the rust on the rear door sorted. Ive done a temp fix which will be fine for the moment but I'm going to take it to a body shop to get sorted properly. Once thats done I'm going to get it polished with a buffer to get rid of the swirls. I may even buy the Maguires buffer and have a try at it myself but not to sure on the thickness of my paint :eek:.

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Before, this is after i had just fit the Zetec badge, it came with no badges on. EDIT: Image is mirrored btw :)

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This is the only pic i have of the car at the moment, a quick pic i took out the window. I'll get some better pics after Ive washed it, when the weather bucks up. I'm really pleased with the mods, looks a lot better IMO.
 
:D yeah would love to get some new alloys at some point. They look comical when my sisters boyfriend parks his Civic Type R up next to my car :D. But then id also need to get her lowered which is even more cost. I might be bored of it in a year or so like most people seem to be so don't want to spend a fortune. The mods Ive done have cost very little and made it a bit more individual which is what i was after.

Just out of interest what alloys do you think would suit the Focus?. Ive had a look at alloys before but theres so many out theres its quite daunting. What size would be best on this car 17s I'm guessing?.
 
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Are those the ones you were looking at on ebay?, £300 iirc. Would look miles better with them on but it would need lowering and i dread to think how much that will set me back :eek:.
 
I think my wheels would look better if the car was lowered, theres a big gap above the wheels that make the wheels look smaller.

Conscript, i can see what you mean about the brakes looking small, but I wouldn't have thought 16s would make all that much difference?. Then again i also have rear drums so these would look even worse with bigger alloys.

I think its also that first pic making them look a bit odd, the suns catching all the dirt etc and highlighting them. Plus Ive mirrored the image to make it at the same angle as the second pic for a better comparison shot. In the second picture they don't look too bad. In real life they look OK but like i said as soon as a car with bigger wheels parks near mine they immediately look really small.
 
Think I'll be doing the same, I'll keep this for 2 years and build a couple of no claims bonuses up then get something faster. Either an RS as i do like the Focus, or an Integra as Ive always liked these :cool:.
 
The reason Ive added a few visual mode to my car is to make it a bit more individual and to improve the looks. Adding the clear indicators made a massive difference IMO and it looks far better than the other 5 :eek: MK1 Focuses on my street. If i could get ST front lights and fogs for mine i would also buy these at the price Tom paid as they look great.
 
:eek: nice find, Ive been checking ebay religiously for months and the only new one i can ever find is £135. Also been looking for the exhaust trim but no luck.

Found a second hand RS wheel but I'd like to get a brand new one and wear it in myself :D.
 
Ive finally found a genuine collection exhaust trim on ebay, checked it every day for ages and finally there was one listed as buy it now for £15. Much better then the £40 Ford wanted :eek:.

Then its some new alloys, looking at getting some OZ Superturismos in 16" as 17" is a big jump in price. I think 16" should look good tho and far better than the 15" ford alloys on at the moment.

This is what it looks like at the moment :D

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Spraying is really easy, you'd be amazed at the results you can get with a spray can. On something so small i reckon you'd be better off giving it a go yourself.
 
Yeah i think so with it being silver metallic. You can get the spray paints from Ford, it comes with the colour and the lacquer in 300ml tins. I think this will be enough for 2 wing mirror covers.

Might be worth finding out how much a spray shop would cost first as they might do it cheap with them being small items.

If you do decide to give it a go get some 2500-3000 grit wet and dry and some tack cloths. Spray fine coats making sure to keep your arm moving and not staying in the same spot. After every coat allow to dry for 15-20 mins and then de-nib with the wet and dry taking off any high spots, then use the tack cloths to remove any dust before spraying another coat. On the last colour coat don't sand this back as the sanding marks can be seen through the lacquer. Then leave it 2 weeks to harden before de-nibbing and polishing the lacquer and it should look great.
 
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Hi,

What do you Focus peeps think of these wheels?. I'm wondering weather to get a set of these in 16" instead of getting a set of ST alloys. Main reason is its a big jump in price from 16" to 17" in both the wheels and the tyres.

Has anyone got a picture of a Focus with 16" Turismos on it?.


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Oh and my exhaust trim turned up from ebay, not bad for £15, just needs a polish.

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:(, why do 17s have to be such a bump up in price from the 16s. I'll have to keep my eye out for some 17s. Yours looks great with 17s, i could do with finding a pic of one with 16s to see how different it looks.

Chrome Trim looks good, mine looks much worse than that
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If you want to get it looking brand new again get some Autosol metal polish, really impressed with this stuff.

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