New Mazda (2 me)

[JJBroc]

Hey, how is everyone. I just bought a 2003 Mazda Protege5 (hatch). My first automatic in years. Color silver. It has leather and the hole in the roof, it was a blast to drive over the weekend. It has 15,000 original miles, everything is like new with the exception of the small dent over the pass fender (it will be fixed by the end of the month).
So my question is what are some must do's?
And the wind noise I get from the sunroof is horrible, any solutions. It has roof racks on it and the front one could be the problem. Is one of the ugly ass wind visor for the sunroof the only answer??? Hope not.
How do these things go in the snow with the 16" and all seasons? Will I need snows in RI?
Well thats all the questions for now. There will be more I am sure.

Thanks,
JJbroc

 

[5PADZAM]

Hey, how is everyone. I just bought a 2003 Mazda Protege5 (hatch). My first automatic in years. Color silver. It has leather and the hole in the roof, it was a blast to drive over the weekend. It has 15,000 original miles, everything is like new with the exception of the small dent over the pass fender (it will be fixed by the end of the month).
So my question is what are some must do's?
And the wind noise I get from the sunroof is horrible, any solutions. It has roof racks on it and the front one could be the problem. Is one of the ugly ass wind visor for the sunroof the only answer??? Hope not.
How do these things go in the snow with the 16" and all seasons? Will I need snows in RI?
Well thats all the questions for now. There will be more I am sure.

Thanks,
JJbroc

Welcome, and congrats on the P5! Too bad it's an auto, lol, but you did pick the fastest color.

For starters, you should at least do the intake, header and cat-back exhaust. Unless you are planning on installing a turbo setup. Spend a little time searching around the forum, and you will get a good idea of what other members have done.

As far as the sunroof goes, I got tired of the wind noise. I didn't have a roof rack on mine, and all of the noise was coming from the little deflector that pops up when the roof is open. I removed that and no more noise. The sunroof visor will also take care of the noise. But I'm with you in thinking it's too ugly to put on my car.

These cars get around great in the snow. I ran snow tires on 15" steelies though because I didn't want to subject my rims to the de-icer they spray on all the roads around here because it etches aluminum. But you should be fine with the 16" wheels. But you should run snow tires and not all seasons if you get much snow. One other thing to remember, the paint on these cars is very thin, and you will get rock chips if they use gravel for traction on any roads you drive on in the winter.

Good luck with your new car, you are going to love it!

 

[P-Funk!]

X2 on the Welcome!
Swap the OEM tires as as soon as you can! Very poor wet weather performance.

Check the torque on the rear window wiper arm (lift plastic cover).

Check for TSBs and recalls.

X2 on researching the mods as well. many of us have been there/done that - so alot of info is available.