I'm thinking about dumping my GSR (which, thanks to K&N may need a ring job) and buying the Mazda3, even if the performance won't be as good. I looked at the TSB links here and am wondering what else there is to worry about and how expensive parts are to buy for wear items like brake rotors and performance pads.
What issues does the Mazda3 have for a potential buyer?
- Thread starter CZ-75
- Start date
goldwing2000
OG Mazda Mafia
- :
- 2004 Mazda3s Hatch; 346,000 mi (sold)
2024 CX-5 CE; 7,500 mi (so far)
Have a look at this thread:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86325
And these for brakes:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106645
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109303
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86325
And these for brakes:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106645
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109303
Mazda3Zoomer
Member
- :
- Mazda 3s - 5 door.
All the other compact cars in the price range will not be good enough.
feature\performance\and beauty wise nothign else compares to it in its pricerange. Problems are squeaky brakes in reverse, rear brakes making 3x the dust they should, crappy environment friendly paint and driver door rattles. Other than those minor dinky things its an awesome new car. .87G on stock suspension thats pretty close to .9! Great car for the money, i sold a 2000 mustang to get one but then again i needed 4 doors.
RonH said:
Let in a ton of silicates to score the cylinder wall:
http://tl.acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101710&page=2&pp=25
We did controlled tests using lab dirt (yes, there is a lab standard dirt, available from large chemical supply houses like Sigma, a supplier of our research labs), a controlled flow pump, and then examined the media for amount of dirt that bypassed the filter. We used extremely expensive optical lab microscopes, and even a scanning electron microscope in one case. All the gauze filters did poorly compared to quality paper filters - there is no magic to it - they get more flow by allowing more air in, and the gaps in their filter media provide that. I saw enough to never use one in any car that I drive regularly - I use a gauze filter (made by AFE www.afefilters.com) in the S2000, but it gets two oil changes a year, which is 2k miles of driving.
This guy used a similar idea, but much less controlled than our tests:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/airfilter/airtest1.htm
Plus, after they are cleaned, the little cotton "fingers" tend to squash down, making them even less effective. And just because some relatively small companies use them proves nothing - in racing, good filtering is irrelevant, since the engines are rebuilt a lot.
K&N specs ridiculous HP claims - you may see a handful up at the top of the RPM range, but it is a tradeoff against more dirt in the oil. Plus, the quality of the cotton they uise has fallen off - it used to be the best, now it is cheap imported stuff. The best gauze filters I have seen are from AFE - they have a better quality of gauze, and more pleats. They use quality silicone rubber to ensure there are no gaps, while K&N uses cheezy plastisol. Poor fitment will allow a lot of dirt to get into the engine. When we see high silicon levels in an engine that is broken in, we can almost predict with 100% certainty that an aftermarket filter is being used. It is kinda funny - when we call the guy back and ay "how long have you had that *^&^&* filter, they think we can read minds - we can't, but we can read UOA's.
K&M talks about an "oil curtain", but there is no such thing - at least none of my profs had ever seen such a term in their many years of study. Unlike a depth filter (like foam), if the dirt is not caught initially, it is not caught later.
We had high hopes for the foam filters - they look good in theory - they are dept filters, with no straight through passdages. But the lack of straight through passages makes for less airflow, and surprisingly, they did not do much better than the gauze filters in efficacy - we had several theories, including deformation of the foam under the dynamics of high airflow and pressurization, causing the filter to block itself - imagine taking a sink sponge and folding it in the middle a bit - that center piece is not letting much of anything through.
One last tip - Honda makes high quality paper filters. But do not over change them - the holes in paper are somewhat large in the bginning, and until they get plugged, they allow almost as much dirt to pass as does a gauze filter - but after a few thousand miles, they filter much better.
We have found that most of the restriction in Honda intakes is downstream of the filter anyway - you could just leave off the filter, and not see a jump in anything but silicon in the oil.
Yes, many people use the K&N - but without controlling variables, it is hard to deduce anything. One guy may use a K&N and change his oil AND oil filter every 2k miles (like me) - the extra dirt is filtered and does not have much of a chance to accumulate. But if you go "by the book", your oil, oil filter, and air filter are in there a long time. Honda designs for its filtration systems, and adding an uncontrolled variable may have unsatisfactory outcomes, esp in daily drivers.
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Considering my car is a daily driver and has nothing but I/H/C/E and has regular oil changes every 3500 miles and a K&N filter since 10000 miles, I'd sure say that, depending on the results of the leakdown test I'm getting next month, I don't trust K&N very much. There's simply no reason other than a PCV system clog (PCV valve is 8K miles old), or bad valve guide seals (possible, but it doesn't smoke on startup), for my car to be using oil and obviously burning it than worn rings. Worn rings are pretty much a result of abrasive wear, which can only come from unclean air, AFAIK.
