New Member, need parts (2003 Midnight Navy Protege5)

[03protege5]

Little backstory

Had an 2002 silver p5 for several years and drove it about 100 miles/ day for work. Was hit by someone turning into my lane and insurance totaled it and paid me some Pennies

Fast forward 3 years later, found an 03 midnight navy p5 with 114,000 miles on it. Manual, leather, sunroof. Basically loaded. I want to start doing some mods soon. I’ll list those below and fully welcome recommendations

Yesterday, I made the mistake of thinking my roof bar was loose so I backed out the screw and without thinking pulled off the driver side rack cover and it cracked. I can’t find a replacement anywhere and the crack is driving me nuts since the car is mint

Anyone have one willing to sell or know what I can do? I considered taking the bars off and keeping the channels but buying Yakima bars and using those

Mod list
- yellow vinyl the fog lights
- ceramic tint
- tomei shift knob
- vent visors
- exhaust of some sort —- cheapest but quality way possible

 

[LankyKiwi]

Welcome! And welcome back to the P5 world

Those roof rack covers are very, very rare as they've all gone brittle and basically explode no matter how gentle the removal process is

Keep an eye on the for sale section here, sometimes some good bargins can be found

 

[03protege5]

Welcome! And welcome back to the P5 world

Those roof rack covers are very, very rare as they've all gone brittle and basically explode no matter how gentle the removal process is

Keep an eye on the for sale section here, sometimes some good bargins can be found

Yea I’ve begun to realize that unfortunately. I like the stock racks but I may venture to remove the bars and cap off the openings and use an aftermarket Yakima or similar. I’ll probably wait for the other covers to break or crack before I do that

 

[BenjiHoggi]

Yea I’ve begun to realize that unfortunately. I like the stock racks but I may venture to remove the bars and cap off the openings and use an aftermarket Yakima or similar. I’ll probably wait for the other covers to break or crack before I do that

Yes, they are rare. I have found and grabbed enough of them at junkyards over the last few years to make them work on my car, but both the rears on mine have been epoxied back together and don't look great. I'm sure if I ever go to take them off, they'll immediately break.

I was going to model and 3D print a set but it just became too much of an R&D undertaking. It's definitely possible but would be many many tens of hours of work, for various reasons. May try to work on it at some point though.

Edit: Post pics of your P5!! We love pictures! I, and I'm sure others here would love to see a clean navy blue P5.

 

[03protege5]

Yes, they are rare. I have found and grabbed enough of them at junkyards over the last few years to make them work on my car, but both the rears on mine have been epoxied back together and don't look great. I'm sure if I ever go to take them off, they'll immediately break.

I was going to model and 3D print a set but it just became too much of an R&D undertaking. It's definitely possible but would be many many tens of hours of work, for various reasons. May try to work on it at some point though.

Edit: Post pics of your P5!! We love pictures! I, and I'm sure others here would love to see a clean navy blue P5.

I’ll take you up on that 3d print project haha. Little things bother me unfortunately and the fact that I cracked it, eats at me. I guess until I find that one driver side replacement or until the others crack or break, I won’t remove the bars or worry about aftermarket

I’ll post some pics soon if I can

 

[03protege5]

Here some pics. Day I picked it up, the first mod (air box), then dipped the rear valence. Not sure how much I like the rear valence since the car is navy. Doesn’t stand out like other. Only other mod is I bought some yellow fog light vinyl tint by laminix (I think). Basically pre cut to fit. Cheap and easy to make it look coolish

 

[BenjiHoggi]

I’ll take you up on that 3d print project haha. Little things bother me unfortunately and the fact that I cracked it, eats at me.

That makes two of us, friend
I'm not OCD but probably pretty close, and small stuff drives me up the wall. It absolutely pains me to see the paint on my P5 getting worse and worse over time. Wish I had the ability garage it or wash more often then every 6 months during the winter. But alas the nature of a daily driver.

Here some pics. Day I picked it up, the first mod (air box), then dipped the rear valence. Not sure how much I like the rear valence since the car is navy. Doesn’t stand out like other. Only other mod is I bought some yellow fog light vinyl tint by laminix (I think). Basically pre cut to fit. Cheap and easy to make it look coolish

Man that's clean! I forget how much the stock wheels are sunk into the body. I've got some Mazda 3 16x6.5" wheels with 5mm spacers (total offset of +45) and it's small but really makes a difference for the stance of the car. The stock wheels are 16x6" +50mm.

I have yet to finish my writeup for it, but I replaced my stock lame foglights with yellow LED spotlights. Little more work but so worth it.

 

[nomadicsoul]

good find

 

[03protege5]

For anyone wanting an update. Got the tint done. I’m a construction manager so my car sits in the sun for most the day so I went a little darker to help with some of that

3 % brow
15 % ceramic driver and passenger
3 % all back windows

Why 3%? My shop doesn’t even offer 5%.

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

retrofit the fogs with yellow HIDs if you want them to be bright..........

I scarfed up all rack options before scarcity happened.....have racks and covers, have delete strips & have just the rail covers when removing crossbars. Garage ornament so no UV issues.

welcome aboard and likin the color and clean level of your car....I have blue onyx pearl 2004 xB