HID advice and other Qs

[Joe Cool]

Good morning, everyone!
I am now part of the Mazda camp, since I married into one; my wife has a plain Jane 2002 Mazda Protg. Im just coming out of the worst Thanksgiving weekend I ever had - or probably will ever have. Part of the reason was a high-speed wreck on the highway we had in the Pro on the way across country to visit a friend whos in the hospital from, you guessed it, a car wreck. (He was a pedestrian, when a F150 ran him over - damn!) Since the Pro has bad front end damage, I would like to take this opportunity to do some upgrades like HIDs, custom grille, foglights, etc. Since Im normally from the Honda and BMW camps, Im pretty clueless on moding Zoom-Zoom (but have always been a big fan!). I am doing the research, but Im kind of in a hurry to purchase these items, because I need to get them sent to the bodyshop in Ohio where the car is currently. I am not looking for a complete front end, since its my wifes ride, but I would like something that looks slick and not overly done. I like the look of this grille where theres no logo, for example:
http://mazda3online.web.aplus.net/images/graphics_p5-grille-cf-2.jpg

Can you offer suggestions where to get this type of grille (not the carbon fiber part), please? Or some other grille that looks good? Which HIDs work best for this Protg? (Im not looking for which looks the best from outside, but which lights up the road the best.) Any more suggestions? Anyone have anything for sale for this car?
And also, I apologize for all the newbie questions, but what kind of a Pro do I have? I know its not an MP3, MazdaSpeed, or anything like that. Is it considered an MSP?
Thanks for all the info!
Joe
here_is_joe@yahoo.com

 

[sevsev]

You just have a basic protege, no funky abbreviations. I don't think that grill fits the sedan bumper unless you get the p5/msp/mp3 front bumper, or there might be a version for the sedan ??? Not sure, I'm sure the sedan guys will jump in

 

[Blake]

Talk to Xenon-Shop just ordered mine

 

[chuyler1]

Hi Joe! Welcome to the Mazda community. If you are looking for specific Mazda parts I suggest you check out some of the authorized vendors that frequent this site. Anything you need for your Mazda will be found on their online stores.
Authorized Vendor Directory *Updated Nov 27th '06*

There is a fiberglass version of the grill you posted. There is also the Mazda MP3/Protege5/MazdaSpeed front bumper assembly which has larger fog lights if you are interested. The price of the bumper is probably not much more than the stock 2002 Protege bumper but you will also need the foglight assembly. The 2003.5 Mazdaspeed has a similar bumper but with no foglights.

As for HIDs, there was no HID option for the Protege so any kit would be aftermarket. They utilize the same lens/housing as stock so you can add it after you have all your repairs done. However, all HID kits of this type are not road legal. Since the factory lens assumes a non HID bulb it's spread pattern is different than that of an HID lens. Basically this means you'll be blinding people. In most states, you can get a ticket for having aftermarket HID kits. Believe it or not, the Protege has one of the best stock headlamps I've seen. If you upgrade your bulbs to slvania silverstars and make sure the shop properly aligns the new lenses, you'll be more than happy with their output.

 

[Joe Cool]

front end conversion

Hello again, everyone.

The complete conversion seems to be too much for my wife, but the front end only could be convincing. Can anyone send some links on this procedure alone, please? I searched "msp conversion," and got 17 pages of stuff, so it was hard to narrow it down.

Thanks again for the advice. Bi-xenon seems like the way to go. I'll prolly get a set for my other vehicle as well!

This forum is killer. (headbang)

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[chuyler1]

For the front end, the bumper just bolts into place. There isn't much to it. The threads that will come up under "MSP conversion" probably discuss installing the MSP turbo kit into a standard Protege/Protege5.

 

[Revs]

As for HIDs, there was no HID option for the Protege so any kit would be aftermarket. They utilize the same lens/housing as stock so you can add it after you have all your repairs done. However, all HID kits of this type are not road legal. Since the factory lens assumes a non HID bulb it's spread pattern is different than that of an HID lens. Basically this means you'll be blinding people. In most states, you can get a ticket for having aftermarket HID kits. Believe it or not, the Protege has one of the best stock headlamps I've seen. If you upgrade your bulbs to slvania silverstars and make sure the shop properly aligns the new lenses, you'll be more than happy with their output.

well said, but unfortunately most people never listen to this, they are all convinced HID bulbs are better when in fact they are not. You get more foreground lighting, but thats it, distance lighting will suffer, but because of the brighter light right in front of the car (where is doesn't count) people think they are brighter,but they are just being fooled.

A true HID projector retrofit is the ONLY way to go.

 

[FunkyBuddha]

Get the Mazda MP3 front bumper, and the necessary supports to go with it. Make sure Mp3 so you don't get the stupid sidemarkers/reflectors.

Then you get the factory foglights from Mazda as well, including all the assemblies and hardware. OR get the 2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege front lip.

Then get the Protege5 headlights, so you have a separate high/low beams with black housings


Then get the DGM fiberglass grill like in the pic shown in your first post.