'12 Focus SE Sport - Blue Candy

[Zillon]

I have the Thule Aeroblades, and there is no wind noise whatsoever. Pretty amazing, if you ask me. My Yakima rack HOWLED without a fairing.

With the windows down, there's a very slight whistle at some speeds, but again, it's very minimal.

The Thule mounting system is also pretty harmless when it comes to keeping your paint undamaged. My old Yakima rack kept sliding back on the roof with bikes mounted to it. The Thule hasn't moved in the 3 months it's been on the car. You could also put some clear vinyl on the car where the footpads sit to further protect the paint.

[thisisbenji]

My Yakima howls without out the fairing as well. It was so bad on my Civic that I couldn't open the sunroof. That being said I never had a problem with it sliding back, but the footpads would leave a mark.

I might have to look into getting the Thule set up, although I wish there was a factory option.

[Twenty]

I had a roof rack on my Grand Prix (now it sits in the basement) and with the fairing it was fine. I had an older unit originally without a fairing and it was LOUD.

Zillon, excellent photo! Yours are always so nice.

[Zillon]

Yeah, with a fairing, my Yak was fine. Although I liked the look, it became a pain to clean around, and it was leaving dark marks on my roof. Easier to go fairing-less. I had a friend who needed a rack setup for her Fiesta, so I sold her my old rack setup w/2 trays & fairing and put the money towards the new setup.

And thanks for the compliments on the photos!

More updates:
My K&N came in today, just installed it out in the parking lot here at work.

Also, I've ordered the following ST-specific suspension parts from Tousley Ford:
- AD-1098 F Upper Strut Mounts
- AST-12281 LH F Strut
- AST-12287 RH F Strut
- ASH-24518 Rear Shock

[focusonthis420]

Originally Posted by Zillon

Thanks for the compliments. I love this color.

Here's the latest photo:

Do you have part numbers for the rack you bought. And are those Rockymount pitchfork bike racks? I've got a set laying around from my last car that I'd like to use with the aeroblades or whispbars if I can figure out what base racks will work on the ff.



EDIT: Is this it?

[Zillon]

Originally Posted by focusonthis420

Do you have part numbers for the rack you bought. And are those Rockymount pitchfork bike racks? I've got a set laying around from my last car that I'd like to use with the aeroblades or whispbars if I can figure out what base racks will work on the ff.



EDIT: Is this it?

My apologies, I didn't realize you replied!

Anyways, I used the ARB53 load bars, the 1627 fit kit, 544 cores, and the 480R towers. And yes, they're Euro Pitchforks. I had Lariats on my last car, but I LOVE the Pitchforks. Super solid and silent.

[Zillon]

Well, my MS3 RMM finally arrived; the first one fell out of the package in the mail and all I got was an empty envelope, so I had to have them ship me another RMM and bolt.

Also, the strut bearings for my car finally came off of backorder; I'll be picking those up later today! Hopefully I can make some progress this week and get my ST suspension installed!

[Twenty]

Great news, I can't wait to read your findings.

[dyn085]

Originally Posted by Twenty

Great news, I can't wait to read your findings.

^^^What he said

Sent from my stupid phone, please dismiss my illiteracy

[Zillon]

Well, the dealer I bought my strut bearings from today had a yellow ST in stock. I took a peek at the rear suspension, and it was immediately obvious that the rear shocks from the ST won't work on our cars, unfortunately.

So, I've now got 2 worthless OEM shocks.

The fronts seem to be a direct fit, though. Not sure when I'll be able to bolt these up, but I'll have updates when I finally do.

In the meantime, I need to do some research on what rear shocks I'm going to run now.