What have you done to your CX-5 today?
- Thread starter Kayger12
- Start date
Removed a bunch of bugs and a strange looking spikey plant(?) from my grill guards. Imagine the damage to the condenser and radiator fins would have taken without my set up. But, @ 15,500 miles, they are still pristine! Are yours?
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Removed a bunch of bugs and a strange looking spikey plant(?) from my grill guards. Imagine the damage to the condenser and radiator fins would have taken without my set up. But, @ 15,500 miles, they are still pristine! Are yours?
Yessir............
boandlkramer
US Specs in Europe
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- '17 CX-5 GT AWD; '18 BMW X3
What a great idea! My '14 was damaged by road debris after about 2 weeks. Fortunately the Dealership counted it as warranty work, and made repairs for free.
Good question. Before I answer it keep in mind the stock bottom grill's openings are so big that large objects can pass through. I bet you can probably reach right through and touch the radiator/AC parts with your hands. Not good.
When I installed the lower screen it was an easier project. The top screen not so much so I did not do it. The results 3 years later? The protected areas on the bottom are in really good condition. No attention needed there. The top part has bugs galore lol!!. I probably need to gently hose the bugs and debris carefully behind the honeycomb grill area. The top honeycomb grill provides much more protection than the large openings found on the bottom. The screen on the bottom would often have twigs, rocks, large bugs, broken plastic car parts, leaves, ect. caught in it.
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Lucky for you! [emoji106] The huge openings in the front grills are horrendous at keeping the front mechanical parts clean and efficient at doing their jobs, I just had to it and I did it at about 150 miles new. Bumper off @ 150 miles?[emoji33]
Warning: my way of doing it isn't the easiest way, but it's hardly visible and no extra holes or parts of the car was affected, and it was put back together better than new. The material used was: a roll of fine mesh "dryer lint" guard from hardware store, existing push pins and bolts, and "300 mile tape" in few key areas. This allows it to be removed and/or replace if necessary without a trace. I doubled the mesh on the lower section so very little can get through, especially a spikey demon seed! [emoji6]
Notice: While the bumper was off I took off the Mazda emblem and blacked it out to my custom "evil M" logo.
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Chris_Top_Her
Contributor
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- San Antonio, Texas
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- '15 CX-5 Miata AWD
You should add a horn next time it's off. You could even add an oem horn as the 2016 has two.
Had a BlendMount and MirrorTap installed for my radar detector. So much nicer than a suction cup mount, and there was really no other way to do it without having a cable stretching from the center console's 12v outlet. Very pleased with the end result, it almost looks factory installed.
Yeah, I thought about that. Maybe next time.
Woodys2718
Member
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- 2016 CX 5 GT AWD, Tech & IActivesense
Do you know which wires (color) were used with the mirrortap? I'm thinking of doing the same.
Thanks
Chris_Top_Her
Contributor
- :
- San Antonio, Texas
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- '15 CX-5 Miata AWD
Anyone with a 2013-15 cx having bt issues since the latest android update? (Galaxy edge here) my Bluetooth stops every 3p sec or so causing the bt to drop.
Just took a look, it's black to black and then red from the MirrorTap to blue on the mirror (the blue next to the green, NOT the blue and black that's next to the black). If you were standing in front of the car looking at the mirror, black goes to pin 2 and red to pin 4.
Woodys2718
Member
- :
- 2016 CX 5 GT AWD, Tech & IActivesense
Thanks
I finally got around to installing the Curt Class III hitch, like some people warned, even though the hitch is only about 43lbs, it can be quite the handful to wrestle into place. The only tip I have for someone planning to install it is to make sure you lower the exhaust as far as it will go before trying to get the hitch in place. I lowered the exhaust, but not to it's lowest possible point, and could not figure out why I could not get the hitch into place. Duh...(headshake Anyway, got it mounted eventually. 
Next step was getting the wiring into place. I bought the kit from etrailers.com, and it's really solid. The plug+play connectors for the lighting made things super simple to hook up. The ground was easy as well, just connected it to the existing ground that was right there. Getting power, well...another story. So I read the instructions for both this harness and the OEM harness.
Next step was getting the wiring into place. I bought the kit from etrailers.com, and it's really solid. The plug+play connectors for the lighting made things super simple to hook up. The ground was easy as well, just connected it to the existing ground that was right there. Getting power, well...another story. So I read the instructions for both this harness and the OEM harness.
- This one wanted me to run power underneath the vehicle to the battery. I figured that was dumb since the OEM instructions say there is power already in the harness for this purpose.
- Since I'm so smart, I decide to splice the etrailer harness into the OEM harness. As soon as I start to soldier on the pin I notice the etrailer wire seems to be too thick for the pin. Looking at the OEM wiring that the pin will connect to shows me that the etrailer wire gauge is +/- 3x that of the OEM harness. (pissed) I decide that going from heavy gauge wire (battery connection) to thin gauge wire (OEM harness) back to heavy gauge wire (power to etrailer harness) may be a recipe for char broiled CX5. So out goes that idea.
- Next option is to run the wire inside the car and through the firewall. Which is a really good option by all accounts. Except I should have looked at the entire path first. The firewall penetration is massive, and stuffed with wiring already (really stuffed), and on the engine bay side it is completely sealed to a point under the battery. I just did not feel good about piercing that just to add this power wire. So out goes that idea.
- Firewall penetration inside the car
- Firewall penetration inside the engine bay (hard to see but it's back there)
- So I did all that to come right back around to running the wire under the car like the instructions said...'doh. (crazy)
- Of course by the time I did all that I was too tired to run the wires under the car, so that'll get done sometime this week...or next weekend...
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Chris_Top_Her
Contributor
- :
- San Antonio, Texas
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- '15 CX-5 Miata AWD
It's the middle of the month and I'm looking out for Hardrace to release the camber arm. I noticed they released one for the Mazda Tribute recently; I'm wondering if the webmaster mistakenly confused that with the CX-5 camber arm lol. We'll see I suppose.
Finally was able to register my car in WV after waiting awhile for the Virginia DMV to generate a title (they only keep electronic records until necessary to print, apparently..).
After replacing the back license plate, I put these little bumper plugs that I painted with touch-up paint into the holes in my front bumper. I think they at least look better than having holes there. Although, having only ever really spent time in states that require front plates, I think the car looks naked!
After replacing the back license plate, I put these little bumper plugs that I painted with touch-up paint into the holes in my front bumper. I think they at least look better than having holes there. Although, having only ever really spent time in states that require front plates, I think the car looks naked!
