Project: 2008 5 Sport

[Dphillips]

Hey guys,
My name is Daryl, Im in California. Im here cuz my GF just bought her first car. A silver 08 mz5 sport.

Ive been browsing the web for several days seeing what I can do to it to make it look the best it could be.
I really would like to go the VIP route but I dont want to take away the nice worry free drive since it is her DD. And there is prolly NO way I could convince the GF to go that low, lol.

Im looking forward to upgrading this thing and meeting everyone on here and other sites. I see some pretty cool m5s on here.

 

[DKaz]

Congrats and welcome.

 

[Rocket]

Welcome. I have to school you on manners. It is a serious faux pas to introduce your new car without pictures!

 

[x10dude]

Welcome fellow CA resident! I'm beginning to see more and more 5's on the road.

Pics please

 

[Dphillips]

Well since the weekend is here I finally got to do some work on the 5 since the GF is off of work.

First thing I did... remove the ugly door gaurds.

MUCH better!

Removed the front plate holder to find out that there is 2 screw holes in the fascia (lame) But still looks 10x better. Im curious to see how undercover this thing is to cops, so we'll see how long it takes before the front plate needs to be put back on, lol.

I also had some spare carpet so I cut up a piece to fit the cargo area. This is for the time being, since we take our bulldog everywhere and we dont want her messin up the new ride.

Next on the list:
Tint, fogs, Springs?, Window visors? Remove Mazda5 emblem from rear? Try to convince the GF that the chrome stuff looks lame and it should be blacked out.

 

[DKaz]

Tint for sure... everything else is up to your tastes, or your GF's. lol.

 

[mpvue]

it's funny you removed the door guards, because people have been complaining they aren't standard on the 2010's anymore.
I kind of like them on my '09, FWIW. I hardly notice them. and coming from a plastic saturn, I'm paranoid w/ driving a steel skinned car

 

[Dphillips]

it's funny you removed the door guards, because people have been complaining they aren't standard on the 2010's anymore.
I kind of like them on my '09, FWIW. I hardly notice them. and coming from a plastic saturn, I'm paranoid w/ driving a steel skinned car

Hmm.... I wonder if anyine wants them?



Anyway, its time to find out how the warranty works. We carried our first 3rd passenger the other day and we decided to demonstrate the rear climate controls only to find out that it spit water out of the vents and it sounds like water is splashing around in the center console!?!?!?

Also there is a wet spot underneath the Pass. floormat. Anyone hear of a problem like this before?

 

[mazdadude]

sounds like there is some water drainage problems. Take it to the dealer ASAP before the mold sets in.(attn)

 

[Dphillips]

Well, Im going to the dealer on monday to get some use out of the warranty.

Ill have them check the rear climate system to figure out why its spraying some kind of liquid out of it and sounds like there is a pool of it in the center console sloshing around.

Also the under side of the pass. floor mat was wet( maybe this is related to the first problem.)

Id like to see if I can get them to do an alinment since it pulls slighty to the left at highway speeds.

Also try to talk them into a New key fob since the current one icons are all worn away and it looks like the key is about to break off at anytime.

This is the first time I have ever done this warranty thing. Im really curious to see how it all works.

 

[Dphillips]

Well here it goes....

I took it in for the leaky A/C in the rear. The guy said the drain tube was clogged with leaves and other debris. He cleaned it out and said give it a few days to blow the rest of the water out and it will be fine. I say ok great!

What he didnt address wasthe carpet on the pass side and the entire middle row was SOAKED with water. And now starting to smell a little mildewy.

The thing that bothers me is when I took it in he seemed like I was wasting his time, Kinda like, ya ya, ill fix it, get out of here, type of attitude.

Since this car is under warranty for 30 days from the toyota dealer we bought it from, then it will transfer over to Mazda for the remainder. Ill just wait for anymore fixes.

 

[thaxman]

Makes sense, tho - what Toyota svc dept wants to work on another brand? Hope you have better luck @ the Mazda dealer. Make a list of items, and find out the original sale date so you know how long you can go before work begins to cost you. I've done bulk warranty work, but my service rep is pretty awesome. Considering all I bring is freebie work, I can't understand why he's so chipper!?

 

[Dphillips]

Well If I can ever get the GF home during the day time Ill take some pics of the Freshly tinted windows.

And there is some HIDs under the tree for her right now, so you know what ill be doing on christmas day.

 

[Dphillips]

Here they are. Night and day difference. 18% on the front doors, 5% everywhere else (even the little strip on the windshield.)

Now waiting for christmas to hook up those HIDs(alright)

 

[mothernature]

Sweet.....what is the best HID kind for the 5 that people are getting?

Here is our 2009 5 GT with a few mods


http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123737847

 

[Dphillips]

HID kit update....

Well the kit was defective. Bad ballasts.

I contacted the company and before I could even finish my sentence they said we will send you 2 more ballasts. Lets hope that works.

Oh and heres what the symptom was. I had them wired up and ready to go ( a ROYAL PITA with those h7 wire clips.)
I went to turn them on.......They both flashed once and turned off. I did this several times before I decided to hook them up to the Batt. directly.
Once I did this I had the same problem, one flash.

So I contacted the company.

 

[DKaz]

Did you disable DRL?

 

[Dphillips]

Our 5 has no DRL. Isnt that a canadian mz5 thing only?

 

[petitevan]

So how did the HID installation go? Did you manage to get it work? I'm about to do the same on my 5, well as soon as I figure out which bulb type to order.

 

[Dphillips]

So how did the HID installation go? Did you manage to get it work? I'm about to do the same on my 5, well as soon as I figure out which bulb type to order.

Well.... Im a bit disappointed. I borrowed the ballasts from my other car that is not mobile at the moment. Installed the HIDs and they where Super bright. Everything works great now. Until....

I took it out tonight to see how well they lit up the road and I couldnt be more bummed. They lit up the road no better than the halogens I had in there before.
The passenger bulb pattern is really awkward looking and dimer than the driver side. I read about this somewhere, if the bulb isnt seated properly in the projector housing it will cause the beam to look funky. So tomorrow I will check it out and hopefully find out that IS the problem.

But if these HIDs dont look a hell of alot better tomorrow night ill be going back to halogens. Maybe some silverstar ultras.

I choose 6000k diamond white as I do for all of my vehicles and they have never let me down. This is the first car I have installed the kit into a Projector and not a regular headlamp, Maybe this is the problem? I dont know, Ill update again tomorrow with some pics.

I will say this though, The car looks bitchin with the HIDs!

UPDATE:
Screw it! I went out and took pics tonight.

And I found something interesting that I couldnt see in the day time.
Ill let the pics do the talking.

So right after the shoot I decided to try and wiggle the Pass bulb and boy did it make a difference! It wasnt seated properly like I had thought.
So as I was fooling around with it the bulb died. I hope I didnt fugg it up.
Ill check it out tomorrow.