What have you done to your CX-9 today?

hw4ng3r said:
At least they came to their senses and dropped their horrible CVT or was that just their hybrid?
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I'm not sure if it was just on the hybrid. The transmission on this one is an 8-speed, clearly tuned for optimal fuel economy. You really have to lean into the throttle to get it going from a stop.

Forgot to mention the ASS. Aptly named. I freakin hate it! Lol. It feels very primitive, a bit slow to restart the engine, which sometimes results in a jerky takeoff if the engine isn't done starting up by the time I move from the brake to the accelerator. Definitely takes some getting used to. This particular vehicle has about 62k kms (38.5k mi) on it.
 
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Doin something running alot faster then expected
 

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604Mazda said:
Finally got around to cleaning the engine bay after a couple of interior BC winters.

Thanks to @sm1ke and his post here: Thread 'CX-9 Cleaning and dressing the engine bay'
https://mazdas247.com/forum/t/cx-9-cleaning-and-dressing-the-engine-bay.123875594/

Didn’t do the post clean 303 treatment, and was maybe a bit less invasive with the brush. But overall, what a difference! Before & after pics

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Well done. That looks awesome!
 
604Mazda said:
Finally got around to cleaning the engine bay after a couple of interior BC winters.

Thanks to @sm1ke and his post here: Thread 'CX-9 Cleaning and dressing the engine bay'
https://mazdas247.com/forum/t/cx-9-cleaning-and-dressing-the-engine-bay.123875594/

Didn’t do the post clean 303 treatment, and was maybe a bit less invasive with the brush. But overall, what a difference! Before & after pics

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Nice job!

Yeah the 303/dressing treatment really isn't necessary, and there are better products for engine bay dressing anyway.
 
Replaced front brake pads yesterday. No more annoying scraping sound! Inner pads seemed to be wearing faster, and the inner pad on the front right only had about 2mm remaining. These pads have about 100k kms or 62k mi on them. Replaced with some cheap Max Advanced Brakes ceramic pads, they were only $55 CDN after taxes, available locally, and they feel just like the OEM pads from Advics, at least so far.

I had a hard time getting the caliper slide pins out by hand due to the rust. They came right out with some PB Blaster and my mid torque impact wrench though. This was my first time doing any brake work. Pretty easy with the right tools and enough research.

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Got a lot done this weekend.

On Sunday, I mounted my front plate properly. I previously had it bent and ziptied to the lower front grille area, seen here:

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The rear plate started to peel and flake, so I got some new vanity plates. The front plate mount is actually for a motorcycle. I did have to drill a couple of holes for the mount, but they aren't visible unless you're down on your knees looking for them inside the bumper.

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Then yesterday, I changed the spark plugs. The old ones looked good. Replaced the old set (NGK 90288 - DILKAR7M8) with the same plugs.

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I also gave the car a good wash, then applied some Ceramic Trim Coat from Cerakote. It did a pretty good job masking the plastic fender liner deterioration on the wheel arches. Not perfect, but quite a bit better. I did all the black plastic trim on the lower half of the car. Here are some before and after pics.

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I have no idea what caused the discolouration in the first place. It isn't wax residue, that's for sure. I did try the heat gun trick, but it barely did anything. Decided to order these wipes based on a Project Farm video.
 
njaremka said:
I started using that stuff on my Mini. Right after application, it looks great. I'm anxious to see how long it lasts. I'm hoping with another application, it will last through the winter.
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I took a look at the trim just now, and the finish looks a bit uneven. I think this is just because I over applied it in some areas. I'm going to clean the trim and apply an additional coat to try and even out the finish. Maybe this will also hide the discolouration even more.
 
sm1ke,

You did nothing wrong. Cerakote Trim is a sketchy product , as others have said online. I've made the mistake of using it on my other vehicle a while back and although it seemed okay - though not perfectly even despite meticulously applying it - the worst part came afterwards.

Having applied the stuff to the textured exterior trim pieces of a 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe, the coating began to exhibit light colored spots. Closer inspection revealed them to be tiny bubbles in small valleys found between raised areas in the trim.

Re-application made it worse.

Removal is either through time after the claimed 200+ washes, nail polish remover, wet sanding, pure acetone or Magic Eraser. Nearly all of which will ruin the trim even more.

Occasional application of whatever protectant (303, Meguiar's, etc.) hides the imperfections but they're still there.

I hope this isn't disheartening news but I thought I'd put it out here to warn others.

VA
 
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virgilaunt said:
sm1ke,

You did nothing wrong. Cerakote Trim is a sketchy product , as others have said online. I've made the mistake of using it on my other vehicle a while back and although it seemed okay - though not perfectly even despite meticulously applying it - the worst part came afterwards.

Having applied the stuff to the textured exterior trim pieces of a 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe, the coating began to exhibit light colored spots. Closer inspection revealed them to be tiny bubbles in small valleys found between raised areas in the trim.

Re-application made it worse.

Removal is either through time after the claimed 200+ washes, nail polish remover, wet sanding, pure acetone or Magic Eraser. Nearly all of which will ruin the trim even more.

Occasional application of whatever protectant (303, Meguiar's, etc.) hides the imperfections but they're still there.

I hope this isn't disheartening news but I thought I'd put it out here to warn others.

VA
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Thanks for the insight. I did notice those tiny bubbles during my application as well, but I think that was just due to my technique as I was rubbing the wipe fairly quickly and in short strokes at first. When I noticed the bubbles, I switched to longer, smoother strokes and slowed down a bit, and it helped a lot. No visible bubbles on my trim.

I did try a second application with one wipe, but it's not much better. I think the problem I created is that I didn't "level" the coating. The fresh wipe is saturated with product, and goes on the trim fairly thick initially, no matter how much you wipe on the same area, so it's easy to miss the high spots and level them down. I remember doing the wheel arches on my CX-9 first, then the rear bumper, and the lower door trim last. I used one wipe for all of those areas, and the lower door trim looks the best, while the wheel arches have more noticeable high spots. I might remove the coating from the arches and try again before the end of summer.
 
If/when you decide to remove it and do so successfully, kindly post your method. I would like to strip the stuff clean off my car's trim. Thanks! 👍
 
Busy weekend.

2023 CX-9 Signature recently purchased.

Since it has the parchment interior I wanted to leather ceramic coat it all. Which is a process, Dawn Dish Soap with soft bristle brush, alcohol the leather ceramic coat. Came out incredible.

Exterior, I wanted to do a paint correction which is a bunch of steps: Wash, Claybar, Polish, Alcohol & Ceramic Coat.

The front windows weren't tinted so my tint guy took care of that.

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Just had my oil changed and spark plugs at the Mazda stealership lol. Was time to change the plugs because even though I’m not at 40k miles as of yet, I felt the car running slightly sluggish in the 1-2 days a week I drive her. Purchased the oem spark plugs from another Mazda vendor w an eBay gift card I had so it wasn’t to bad and this Mazda owed me a free oil service so I just went there. Definitely feel the difference on the highway driving back home just now. Included a pic of the removed spark plugs. Tech said they were not to bad but they had to be removed.
Please let me know your opinion on the spark plugs condition. Again my cx9 is not at 40k yet at all and hardly drive it.
Otherwise car got clean bill of health and they really want to buy it from me which I said no thanks cause my cx9 is paid for lol.
Got a complementary car wash from them also which is included with their service.
 

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Hhova29 said:
Just had my oil changed and spark plugs at the Mazda stealership lol. Was time to change the plugs because even though I’m not at 40k miles as of yet, I felt the car running slightly sluggish in the 1-2 days a week I drive her. Purchased the oem spark plugs from another Mazda vendor w an eBay gift card I had so it wasn’t to bad and this Mazda owed me a free oil service so I just went there. Definitely feel the difference on the highway driving back home just now. Included a pic of the removed spark plugs. Tech said they were not to bad but they had to be removed.
Please let me know your opinion on the spark plugs condition. Again my cx9 is not at 40k yet at all and hardly drive it.
Otherwise car got clean bill of health and they really want to buy it from me which I said no thanks cause my cx9 is paid for lol.
Got a complementary car wash from them also which is included with their service.
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What sort of fuel economy are you getting?
mostly city or highway driving?
do you burn oil?
 
Lazy2.5 said:
What sort of fuel economy are you getting?
mostly city or highway driving?
do you burn oil?
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I only drive -1-2 times per week mostly and economy is decent. Couldn’t give an exact percentage. When I do it’s both city/ highway driving. I have 2 alternate cars I use as commuters and take mass transit on occasion so this car is a family car mainly.
No never burned oil and always had my oil changes done on time.

why do assume I have? Mazda gave all a green light with no issues other than 1-3 scratches I put on the hood from rock debris from highway driving 🤦‍♂️.
 
Hhova29 said:
I only drive -1-2 times per week mostly and economy is decent. Couldn’t give an exact percentage. When I do it’s both city/ highway driving. I have 2 alternate cars I use as commuters and take mass transit on occasion so this car is a family car mainly.
No never burned oil and always had my oil changes done on time.

why do assume I have? Mazda gave all a green light with no issues other than 1-3 scratches I put on the hood from rock debris from highway driving 🤦‍♂️.
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No, I'm just trying to assess the conditions which these plugs were subjected to. What RPM's do you usually rev at?
 
Lazy2.5 said:
No, I'm just trying to assess the conditions which these plugs were subjected to. What RPM's do you usually rev at?
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Oh ok. I did fear once that I may have leaked oil during my first year owning it and what it turned out to be was that the tech didn’t place the washer on the oil filter and when they diagnose that was the oils that seeped out. That was in 2001.
I tend to have a heavy foot but I usually rev at 2 rpm to 3 rpm. Since the change today it rev’ed easily at 2.5 while I was coasting.
Live in the north east and despite the mild winter it has sat at times and I left her in driveway this past winter for about a month when my battery died as a result last year lol.
 
Hhova29 said:
Oh ok. I did fear once that I may have leaked oil during my first year owning it and what it turned out to be was that the tech didn’t place the washer on the oil filter and when they diagnose that was the oils that seeped out. That was in 2001.
I tend to have a heavy foot but I usually rev at 2 rpm to 3 rpm. Since the change today it rev’ed easily at 2.5 while I was coasting.
Live in the north east and despite the mild winter it has sat at times and I left her in driveway this past winter for about a month when my battery died as a result last year lol.
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The tops of your spark plugs have oil residue on them. Either overfilled oil at some point or a valve cover leak , possibly.
 
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