Cruise control

[Mick K.]

Hi,

Just picked up a 2003 Focus Zetec 3 door this week and it's all good so far, except I am missing cruise control that was on my previous car ('99 Golf).

Ford say $695 fitted (leather wheel), but I believe that means basically swapping the steering wheel for a new cruise control button equipped one.

- Anyone found a better price than that?

- Anyone tried out some other dodgy aftermarket cruise?

- Is there a CC unit under the bonnet that needs to be installed too - or is it already there?

Also, the handbook says cars with 4 elec windows get some remote key controlled windows up feature - is there something I can do to make this work for my 3 door?

Other than getting some tinting very soon, and probably the 2.0 auto air thing and a K&N panel filter, I'm probably going to leave it unmodified - at least till August '06 when the warranty is up.

Cheers,

MK

[WASACL]

Dude do you have any idea how expensive those leather steering wheels are... $695 is for the bolt on bit on the side/centre of the steering wheel...

Now about the windows up feature... Your car need to be fitted with window lifters and a alarm system that can operate them... Dont think any stock ones have this fitted

Hope that helps alittle

Russ

[Mick K.]

Originally Posted by WASACL

Dude do you have any idea how expensive those leather steering wheels are... $695 is for the bolt on bit on the side/centre of the steering wheel...

The Ford dealer I spoke to said the whole wheel is replaced (airbag swapped) and that is why he wanted to know if I had a leather or non-leather wheel. Other parts of the $695 charge are throttle sensors, brake and clutch pedal sensors and the cruise control unit.

So - if I picked up this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=40017

maybe I'd save a bit? I'll see if Ford can give me an itemised quote for parts and labour to see if it's worth shipping a wheel from the US or looking through wreckers for rear ended written off Focii here in Brisbane.

Mick.

[XP6]

Nope no auto up option with factory alarm(well not on the ST anyway)should be able to do it with an aftermarket one.
Your lucky MK, cruise cant be fitted to mine... bloody 6 speed C/R wont allow for it!

[WASACL]

Originally Posted by ST170ish

Nope no auto up option with factory alarm(well not on the ST anyway)should be able to do it with an aftermarket one.
Your lucky MK, cruise cant be fitted to mine... bloody 6 speed C/R wont allow for it!

And he is just hard done by too with the full leather trim, sport tuned suspension and 130kw to play with.... Poor man, i feel your pain... And i am a caring man... Wanna straight swap? :P

Russ

yea well i can't have cruise either cos of the damn traction control. you'd think ford could design a car that could have both.....

[fordel]

Well according to a join on Main North Road next to the Pug store, they are able to fit C/C to my car even with the T/C..

I dont know how believeable this is, but they are about $750 fitted

Chris

im sure they must be abe to do it, maybe its just the ford product that doesn't work with t/c...which i find completely stupid. i can't believe the traction control rules out cruise all together. look how many cars have both...it seems stupid to build a traction control system that can't have cruise control aswell....a little limiting..

[fordel]

yeah i have to agree there, its pretty stupid that they wont do it

chris

[XP6]

They said to me the only reason it cant be fitted is because of the 6 speed, think of it this way... your in 6th at say 80kmh and a huge hill comes up, the cruise cant change down gears can it all it will do is stress the motor/gbox and use heaps of juice, it wont accelarate its not a V8 auto!

Originally Posted by WASACL

And he is just hard done by too with the full leather trim, sport tuned suspension and 130kw to play with.... Poor man, i feel your pain... And i am a caring man... Wanna straight swap?

You'll have to fight the missus for it, its her runnabout I barely drive it anymore... she already scraped one of the wheels so far.

[Mick K.]

That doesn't sound right (about the 6 speed 'box). It is something to do with VDC, not the gearbox.

VDC monitors the speed of each wheel and some other things (angles etc) and applies individual wheel braking if necessary to control the car. It also cuts the throttle to the front wheels if required - and this is where I think the incompatibility with cruise control which is itself adjusting the throttle to maintain the set speed.

If VDC and cruise talked to each other and perhaps VDC had the power to disengage cruise, then this wouldn't be an issue, but maybe it can't???

I spoke to another Ford dealer today, they say $500 odd for parts (including a whole new steering wheel) and 4 hours labour to fit (so my original quote of $695 fitted is looking good). I can get an aftermarket unit fitted for less than $400 and it doesn't look too bad from the place I am going to get my tinting done at. Theirs is vacuum operated as opposed to electronic on the factory unit and probably won't be as good, but I'd rather spend the extra $300 on something else.

Mick

[fordel]

that doesnt really make sense tho, as i had cruise in my old galant, even though that was a 5 speed, it still had cruise on it and did ok

chris

[XP6]

Originally Posted by fordel

that doesnt really make sense tho, as i had cruise in my old galant, even though that was a 5 speed, it still had cruise on it and did ok

chris

Your ol'galant would've made more torque at low revs than the ST, try it you own an ST, find a hill and try and accelorate up it in 6th starting from 80ks... it wont the ST has no power below 2000rpm ever wondered why the ST is so easy to stall, just ask my woman its taken her months to get use to a car that has no lo-rev power and heaps of mid and top end(which is what this car is designed for)

Originally Posted by Mick K.

VDC monitors the speed of each wheel and some other things (angles etc) and applies individual wheel braking if necessary to control the car. It also cuts the throttle to the front wheels if require

think about it how would cruise affect the VDC monitoring the wheel speed, the only way it would affect would be the cruise cut-out when the brakes are applied, if the VDC activated the brakes it would cut-out the cruise. Now while using cruise is the car likely to wheel spin and swerve uncontrolably all over the road NO, cruise is set so it cant accelorate that hard! There are many other cars that have the VDC(or some thing very simular)and cruise, think how many euro's would be upset thier if $150k merc/bmw didnt have this... The VDC sounds like an excuse by salesmen IMO
I dont think the VDC controls the throttle it retards the ingnition timming for a power decrease(I could be wrong tho!)
Personaly I dont like the VDC on the ST, its not good in the wet on the hyway when u hit water laying on the road the VDC goes stupid and starts applying the brakes... the 1 thing you dont want while "aquaplaining":togo:

[fordel]

Yeah i can understand where you are coming from there, if another company can do it with the VDC then i am sure ford should be able to.

You are right about the no low power, i still sometimes have problems stalling that thing hehe

I hate the VDC in the wet, been through a couple of huge puddles and its gone crazy on me :(

Chris

[Suth]

Chris, are those installer blokes next to Taylors worth a look? All of this damn highway driving from my place into the city is starting to frustrate me a bit. Would definitly spend the money on CC if I could find a mob trustworthy enough to do it.

[fordel]

I spose so, they seemed ok when i went in there, mind you i never have had any work done by them so i cant say anything about that part of it.

They were helpfull enough though.

The Pug dealer was helpfull as well when i was looking for spare parts for the focus

Chris

[zetec]

Mink the airbag isn't replaced, that is total rubbish trust me, amazing a Dealer told you that!!! No way in conceivable hell would they replace an airbag, thos things cost a BOMB. They only replace the actualy rim of the wheel, they simply remove the airbag and centre hub/horn cover. The New wheel come with the cruise parts connected. The silly thing is it is only like $50 more for leather wrap cpmpared with non-leather, why wouldn't you?!!!

As for the Cruise on ST and Zetec, it's purely the VDC and not the 6-speed. It is something to do with the fact that the VDC is an older system (7 years old now) which was never designed for Cruise control dual capability. The annoying thing is the Territory uses a VDC like system called DSC which has TC and SC along with Cruise, however it is the latest Bosch 8.0 program which was developed only a year ago or so so it is much smarter. I'm still annoyed, Cruise would make my car perfect.

It should be able to be fitted manually elsewhere, but remeber it's not a factory install so it'll never be official, but if it does the job then it's all good.

Lastly, it only costs about $100 - $150 fora good leather wrap of the stock wheel, which has the bonus of making it fatter and choosing the colour you want. I'm going to re-wrap my worn leather (must have corrosive sweat in my hands, or maybe the KFC grease from all the crap I eat...) in two tone grey and black. Then you can add your own cruise (I'm talking here for those of us lucky enough to have a Focus equipped with VDC, so a Zetec or sn ST)

The Power window switches are only in the Ghia, they are special switches with the global close, and they are not available on any other model, however you can have it done on any other model you want aftermarket.

Hope it all helps!

By the way in case you don't know, I worked in a Dealership for months in sales and now work for Ford Mo Co in Melb Head Office so I've had a little exposre to the background for a while ;)