... to find a good Kia Forte Forum with actual KNOWLEDGE? I have found two so far, one that is a dead site, the other full of...umm... "interesting" ideas. Like adding a ton of little bars and braces make a bone stock car "handle like a gokart" and "ride really rough". No, not spring/strut changes. Not swapping from the stock 15" steel wheels and 215/60/15 HAnkook all season tires... no, $100 worth of silly braces.
I just want to find some GOOD information without sorting through all the "herrafrush" crap, body kits, "how man subs can I stuff in" and all the other stupid crap. I don't want a turbo. I don't want 20's. I want real information on how to make the car handle better, stop better and make a little more power.
Why is it so hard to find good forums anymore?
Because knowledgeable people don't by Kia Fortes?
Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
mndsm
PowerDork
10/3/12 9:18 a.m.
Because as cars get more advanced, they get harder to monkey with from a performance standpoint. As a result, people with the mod bug move on to other areas. Plus, it's a Kia. I know the people are out there, but how many people REALLY wanna go fast in a Kia? 95% of the world buys them as throwaway appliances.
The Kia Forte is a fairly new car that doesn't have a whole lot of appeal to the motorsports crowd so it should be no surprise that the dedicated forums don't have that kind of info/expertise.
The Forte is a good-looking little car that has a lot of potential. It is just too new to have much information out there. With Kia out there racing, maybe they will have a Kia Motorsports catalog out soon. Until then, the advice on this board applies to any car. Stiffen the suspension with poly bushings, add coli-overs, sticky tires, a bigger anti-roll bar...
Oh, and try it with a Rondo!
pinchvalve wrote:
The Forte is a good-looking little car that has a lot of potential. It is just too new to have much information out there. With Kia out there racing, maybe they will have a Kia Motorsports catalog out soon. Until then, the advice on this board applies to any car. Stiffen the suspension with poly bushings, add coli-overs, sticky tires, a bigger anti-roll bar...
Oh, and try it with a Rondo!
This.
There's nothing weird or special in how to make the car handle better. Just get to it. 
bravenrace wrote:
Because knowledgeable people don't by Kia Fortes?
This is it.
The Swift GT forum is very strong technically. The Geo metro forum is probably similar to your Kia forum.
They are the same platform.
I don't visit this site, but my son does. It may . or may not be any good.
streetkiaz.com
Duke
PowerDork
10/3/12 9:51 a.m.
DeadSkunk wrote:
I don't visit this site, but my son does. It may . or may not be any good.
streetkiaz.com
Without visiting the site, I have to say the "Z" on the end doesn't inspire confidence.
Bob I have a 3rd Gen Hyundai Accent so I know the feeling. I decided I was content with a set of lowering springs and rims, it is what it is. My commuter "appliance" but at least it looks kinda good. ish.
I think there might be a whopping 2 or 3 people on the forums I visit that actually track/autocross/compete with their 3G Accent/Rio.
The Forte (and most other newer Kias and Hyundais) are still pretty new, most are still under factory warranty, and lets face it, a majority people buy them because they are a good all around bargain. Not because they are sports cars. There is just about zero aftermarket parts options (relatively speaking). Because of that, what IS available, is overpriced (IMO) because there is no competition. Not exactly an easy sell to bargain minded customers. Also impossible to find a believable review that isnt so biased by the owner from thinking his car is the now the best performing car evar.
and yeah streetkiaz......lol. same for kfx performance......lol
Call up Kinetic Motorsports. They won those Grand-Am races with the Forte. They should be able to answer any questions you have.
http://www.kssmotorsports.com/
Bobzilla wrote:
Why is it so hard to find good forums anymore?
The fact that you have posted this here on this forum strikes me as just a tad ironic.
4cylndrfury wrote:
Bobzilla wrote:
Why is it so hard?
thats what she said.
sorry, couldnt resist
If it continues to be hard for 4 or more hours, seek medical attention
Some cars probably won't have very strong support forums. The Forte, as nice of a car as it is, doesn't attract the buyer who will typically go on a forum for that info. Sure, some will. But your average Forte sedan buyer just needs to get to work and back.
I don't expect to find much technical support for my Kia Sedona either...not much of a performance market for it.
Alan Cesar wrote:
Call up Kinetic Motorsports. They won those Grand-Am races with the Forte. They should be able to answer any questions you have.
http://www.kssmotorsports.com/
I was thinking of Kinetic Motorsports (and Ed Senf, who's been handling their race car tuning) when I saw the question. Right now it seems that Kinetic's work does not seem to have translated very much into roadgoing clones of their World Challenge cars, but it's kind of tough to expect that to happen when Fortes are still all in the warranty time period.
No idea if that will happen when Fortes are no longer under warranty, but as these aren't in the same "Dude, I want to race that NOW" category as the new Camaro or the FR-S, I would expect them to take a bit of time to get a critical mass of them in the hands of enthusiasts if such a thing does happen.
Kinetics do offer some products, like their exhaust with a dyno chart showing ~7hp gain across the board. that's great, and an extra 7hp is nice, but hte 2.4 isn't exactly lacking in power. We need to put the power to the ground and be able to control it.
What I specifically am looking for is a decent coilover setup, brake pads (why oh why is Hawk ignoring us?), rear sway bar and intake/exhaust/canned tune.
EDIT: of course, I am not in a position to buy any of it until the vette sells [hint hint], but by spring I will be ready for all of it.
I have never seen what I would call decent street coilovers, tirerack has H&R sport springs though. Get those, a set of bfg Gforce sport or KDW-2 tires, and some carbotech brake pads and what else do you need? Just a new set of struts? (that could be harder). Intakes are rarely worth it, it sound like you already found the exhaust and the tune is probably not going to happen. The only thing I couldnt find in a couple minutes of looking was a rear swaybar. lol
If you want full coilovers some Googling says to check Megan, BC Racing, HSD, Stance, Neotech, and Ark (?)
Seems there are quite a few on the market.
Travis_K wrote:
I have never seen what I would call decent street coilovers, tirerack has H&R sport springs though. Get those, a set of bfg Gforce sport or KDW-2 tires, and some carbotech brake pads and what else do you need? Just a new set of struts? (that could be harder). Intakes are rarely worth it, it sound like you already found the exhaust and the tune is probably not going to happen. The only thing I couldnt find in a couple minutes of looking was a rear swaybar. lol
RSB is found at Ultra Racing. Intake and exhaust are plentiful. The Theta II likes the intake/exhaust opened up and an additional 10hp from the pair at therear wheels is not hard.
I can find parts and pieces... what I really want is real experience with them and what works/doesn't work. I had to do 95& of my own R&D with the Elantra many many moons ago because NO ONE touched them.
My train of thought has been to snag the Megan's, and then I can change front spring rates to suit. the UR RSB to put on in place of nothing (does not have one stock), some RPF1's in 17x7.5 wrapped in some 225/45/17 Star Specs, Solo Performance catback (no resonance) and some intake modification of some sort. THe stock setup is decent, but the filter area is tiny for an engine this size. The 2.0L 135hp Beta in the Elantra used a much larger filter stock.
I was spoiled with the Elantra, and the swift really. Both had forums full of people with knowledge other than neons, slammed, hellaflush, stereo and tint. Both had people that were really interested in developing the most potential out of the car and not pipe dreaming abouta turbo that they'll never put on, or "racing" some dude on the interstate for some "3rd gear pulls" etc etc.
I guess the internet has evolved and those types of places are now hard to find.
I think the problem with the Forte is that it hasn't been out there long enough because I know there are forums on Yugos, Justys and MB diesels that have people that know a lot about them. So I think it is a matter of time.
In reply to Bobzilla:
Maybe you should try a Corvette forum?
