random stuff w/ my ms3

[pcpower]

this guy Evan at Ira Mazda service dept (MA) is awesome, he knows what he is talking about regarding ms3's and is very down to earth. anyhow, I had a nice road trip this past weekend 2 the cape, and after about 50 miles of highway driving, I pulled over to a rest area, and when parking my car I stalled it. poo. really should have let the engine cool down at least 30 seconds and then uh not stalled the car.

so then when I booted up the car again 10 minutes later, of course the engine indicator was on, signaling a misfire or something else terribly wrong.

but I called Mazda a while later, let them know the car felt fine, even though the indicator was on. so he said wait it out for maybe a week or so, and to bring the car in if the warning light was still on. lo and behold after 2 days or so the light turned off,,, engine is a-okay.... yay. he explained that the cpu can re-calibrate itself over time etc etc.

uh other random thing - is it just me or do the front wheels of your MS3 get extremely dirty in like 2 seconds flats, while the rear wheels manage to remain nice and clean? my car looks like it has 2 brown rims and 2 silver...

highway driving -- I did a lot of highway driving this past weekend,,, although my usual work commute is local driving that might be changing. on the highway do you recommend just leaving it in sixth gear for the entire trip (say if it's 40 minutes), or rather do you shift it down to fifth once in a while. will it help preserve engine longevity by changing up the RPM's every 5 minutes or so?

led's - as cool as they are within 2 weeks of me ordering/installing them, the dome lights are no longer working. I need to pull them out and put them back in to see if that works.... if not,, do you think superbrightled's will accept them as returned/defective items?

thx (mswerd)

 

[Hank3]

uh other random thing - is it just me or do the front wheels of your MS3 get extremely dirty in like 2 seconds flats, while the rear wheels manage to remain nice and clean? my car looks like it has 2 brown rims and 2 silver...

The stock pads are pretty aggressive and spew out dust with the best of them. If you don't plan on track events or auto-x regularly, you may want to look into less dusting pads (Hawk HP or Hawk Performance Ceramics to name just a couple). I have the latter and my wheels look good even after a couple weeks. But for stock pads (Ferodos, IIRC), they offer great performance.

 

[byau]

you ask him about mods? i'm wondering if they're "mod friendly" in case i ever want to bring my car in

 

[BillTheCat]

-Front wheels get dirty faster on most cars, because the front brakes are larger & provide more of the stopping power, resulting in faster pad wear.

- There is no sane reason to alternate between 5th and 6th gears on a highway cruise. Just pick a gear based on your cruising speed, and stick with it unless you need to pass, slow down, etc. Changing up RPM's is for break-on only. After that, it's a waste of fuel & will wear out your clutch unncecessarily.

 

[Saskatchewan17]

- Rim thing is true because of the high performance pads

- Keep in 6th on the highway

- The LED place should accept faulty products back if they only worked for that long.

 

[pcpower]

you ask him about mods? i'm wondering if they're "mod friendly" in case i ever want to bring my car in

haven't asked him yet,, I think he will be cool about it though.

 

[Peter B]

Pcpower.

I commute 2 hours a day, all highway. I only downshift if I need to get around someone in a hurry. Otherwise it completely pointless. Highway driving is actually easier on your car if you cruise at a constant speed. Set your cruise control for 65-70mph and enjoy getting over 30mpg on the highway! Your cruise control is capable of much finer adjustments to your throttle and can detect changes in velocity much faster then you. It is a helpful tool for extended highway driving.

I set my cruise control for a mile or two per hour slower then the flow of traffic. That way im not constantly slowing down when I come up on someone or go up a hill. On a good day I only have to disengage the cc when I go from the pike to 495 or visa versa. Sure a lot of angry commuters give me dirty looks when they pass me, but its not like I do this in the left lane.

The stock pads are pretty aggressive and spew out dust with the best of them. If you don't plan on track events or auto-x regularly, you may want to look into less dusting pads (Hawk HP or Hawk Performance Ceramics to name just a couple). I have the latter and my wheels look good even after a couple weeks. But for stock pads (Ferodos, IIRC), they offer great performance.

Fun fact: Our cars have better braking distance, 70-0mph then a Ferrari F430. http://www.automobilemag.com/featur...6_mitsubishi_lancer_evo_pontiac_g8/index.html

you ask him about mods? i'm wondering if they're "mod friendly" in case i ever want to bring my car in

Wellesley Mazda is somewhat mod friendly. I have discussed some mods with their service dept and they aren't against it. Their stance on it is if you keep the mods in control, and put some thought into it and don't go over the top it wont be an issue. That is to say, if you put on your own CAI, and maybe a tuned exhaust they will probably be ok with it. Use quality parts, quality workmanship on the install etc etc. If you are just throwing any old part on or shooting for 400 hp.... your on your own.

 

[Moultese]

When you stalled your car while parking, did you make sure to press in the clutch pedal as well as the brake pedal? I know it sounds silly, but sometimes our minds are on other things and we forget to do mundane stuff like this.

 

[bigdaddy]

i liked this post...a change for once, but yes the stock blow dick for brake dust. My mom has a BMW 335, and those suckers get dirty so fast its not even funny. The back brakes even get filthy.

 

[pcpower]

I have 2 admit I am kind of confused about the brake pads issue,, so you're saying they are high performance and FWD so everything gets dirty quick.

I guess what I should be asking though is aren't there any sort of splash guards / mud flaps which can be installed right in front of the wheels?

thx

 

[Sphincter]

I have 2 admit I am kind of confused about the brake pads issue,, so you're saying they are high performance and FWD so everything gets dirty quick.

I guess what I should be asking though is aren't there any sort of splash guards / mud flaps which can be installed right in front of the wheels?

thx

When brakes are applied, there's a lot of friction between the brake pads and the rotors. The reason the front wheels get dirtier then the rear ones (regardless of FWD or RWD), is because front brakes do close to 75% of braking where the rear brakes only do around 25%. If you ever rode on a motorcycle you would know. Try to slow down using just the rear brakes on a bike, you won't slow down much at all, and you'll most likely lock up the rear wheel. The front brakes is where most of the braking is done, which is why front brake pads are always bigger then the rear ones. That results in more brake dust on front tires.