SO many ideas so little time/funds :) List of things I want to do.

[belleth]

This has been boiling in my head for some time now. Just wanted to put a list of things I want to do with my 5.

Things already done:
-Pioneer 920BT DVD/GPS/BT HU (with steering controls)
-Front component speakers Infinity 6809cs
-Low beam HID, made by Kensun on Amazon, got the slim ballast version, VERY HAPPY with it, and great customer service (has one bulb a slightly different color, they sent me 2 new bulbs with no questions asked)
-20% tint all over

Things I would like to do
-Rear speakers (one of my posts is asking whether I should do components in the back or not)
-Sound damping and deadning (will do the back with second row seats while replacing speakers)
-Back-up camera (not really a priority, but figured if I have everything out in the back, might as well wire it, just not sure about price/quality on cameras)
-Alarm/remote start (waiting for twintrbo to do a DIY, I've found a lot of info regarding how-to's and wire locations, but would love to have a guide from someone who actually did it with our cars, and twintrbo has been very responsive and active with updating his thougths and progress THANK YOU!!!)
-Suspension: this one I actually kind of dread... it's pricey. I've decided to go with coilovers, down to 2 choices, BC and Yellow speed, found great reviews for both, but more so for the BC. phunky.buddha was/is great help with suspension advice, GREATLY APPRECIATE IT!!! that's why I joined the forums
Anyhow, back to the suspension, so I'll go with coilovers, will do RSB (might just go with MS3 instead of true aftermarket), I will replace sway bar bushings in front and rear, but will not replace the front sway bar. While doing the suspension, I'll most likely replace all links in front and rear, maybe top mounts if needed. If I missed anything that you would recommend or that I should pay atention to, let me know. One thing I'm undecided on is rear Camber kit, I'm not really planning on dropping the car, maybe 0.5", so not sure if I should go ahead and get the camber kits as well.

So this is what I got so far.

Any questions/thoughts/advice, let me know will greatly appreciate it.

 

[Heat]

Did you have any issues installing your front speakers? Your post reminded me that I still have mine in a box in my garage (Infinity 6820cs). As for the rear speakers, those I did change. Be sure to remove the third row of seats, will make the job much easier (just remove five bolts to remove the third row of seats).

On your suspension - are you having issues with the OEM suspension? And how is your tire wear, some people with '07s have tire wear issues - if so, that may be something to look at before looking at the other things.

 

[belleth]

Front speaker:

It was pretty straight forward, not really an issue, one thing I would highly recomment, buy some plastic fastner replacements http://www.clipsandfasteners.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=A20983&Search.x=10&Search.y=9

I broke 2 (1 in each door) didn't have any to replace, so will have to address that later. Other than that it's pretty easy to remove the door trim. Once inside, decide how you want to run the speakers. It looks like you have component speakers, if your system doesn't have the tweeters, it's pretty easy to run the wires. One thing to look at, my car was actually wired for the tweeters, just not installed, I ran my own wires from the split though. I've attached to cross over to the door, so if you do that, make sure you leave enough wire hanging so that when window is all the way down, it's not pushing on the wires. That's pretty much it.

Rear speakers:
I was planning to remove the seats and carpet, I think I will "Dynamat" and dampen the back end while I'm there. I've been researching products all this week. It's a pain... but I think I'll end up with Fatmat for deadning and a combination of neoprene and "ensolite" like material for dampning. (link for both http://www.thefoamfactory.com/acousticfoam/soundbarriers.html )

Suspension:
well... it's a good question. I put 26k on my car,haven't really noticed any odd tire wear. However, when I put winter tires on, right before Christmas, my mechanic told me that my rear left is wearing funny. I'm not sure if it's camber or toe. I plan to take it back to him and put it on the allignment machine this upcoming week. I'm highly considering doing the camber kit, it might also be a good idea since i'll be replacing the stock suspension.

Issues with OEM, kind off, it rides very rough in the back so i'm under the impression that the rear shocks are shot, it also sqeaks from the back (sounds like RSB bushings). Also front left started to "knock" over bumps a bit. I might wait till spring to do the suspension, I want to do most of it myself, but it's getting cold here. My decisoin to go with coilovers comes down to price. Good struts will be around $600-$700, but the labor to replace just the struts is a beast, even though my friend owns his own shop. So I figured, invest a few hundred more, get everything replaced, and the car will spend less time on the lift. In my mind it makes sense (let me know if my thinking is erroneous).

 

[phunky.buddha]

You're welcome on the BC info- just remember though, I haven't put them on yet. There's a chance I might this weekend, but it's slim right now...

On the rear speakers, play with your stock radio's fader function. You'll find that the rears don't really do much for you, especially since the car is so long. Honestly, if I run the fader all the way to the front so the rears are off, I don't notice any difference between that and having the fader at zero so the rears are playing at the same level. Most of the time I'm traveling with the kids and a ton of stuff in the back, so the rear speakers are covered up anyway. I don't plan to even have the rears hooked up unless I find one of my spare amps that I think I have in the garage.

Most audiophiles will tell you that the stereo imaging is better with just a set of front speakers (it is, trust me) and a well placed subwoofer. Rear speakers just muddy up the sound stage. Plus if you just run one set of mains and one sub, you can get away with a 4-channel amp for everything.

As far as suspension, if your alignment is ok but your shocks are on the way out, you'll have funny tire wear since the damper isn't controlling your wheel motion anymore. My alignment is fine but the crap OEM shocks are the reason why my tires are all out of round now. Go peek in your wheel wells and see if your shocks are leaking or not. If they are, you need to replace them. If they're not, they could still be bad- leaking is just a sure indicator that there's something wrong.

 

[Silentnoise713]

That list is not too bad. Standard stuff for any car owner who likes to tinker/upgrade OEM stuff. Wouldn’t it be nice if Mazda or some luxury brand offered this car b/c more than likely it would come packaged with all of the upgrades and save you time/money in the long haul...

Some thoughts.
-You don’t need components in the rear, unless you have passenger who like to ride backwards with their ears facing them. It will require unnecessary work –measuring/cutting hole for the tweeters and wiring. I do not recommend omitting rear speakers altogether. I would assume you do have passengers in the 2nd and possibly 3rd row; they will appreciate it.
-I’m not so sure a coilover type setup is the best option for those who endure NE winters. The once new and nice looking setup will get beat up quickly and salt will corrode things and the high adjustable feature less attractive (not saying you can’t b/c I know you can but it still sucked, had coildover kit –yes, I was young once ). Different if this was a summer toy car or if you live in the West/South. Also, I think the spring rate (Front 8K and Rear 7K) for the BC setup is VERY stiff for a daily driver. You can prob swap the springs for something softer but since these are kit springs, anything else will cost you more money. Also not sure how often/many passengers ride with you. On the other hand, this is the only option for .5” drop. If you don’t mind a little sag in the rear, MS3 springs lower the car a little (not sure exactly how much) and are a little stiffer but obviously the rears are not matched for the Mz5’s weight, akin to always have an extra few hundred lbs preloaded on the rear springs.
-New sway bar bushings all around sound like a good idea and from what I’ve read of 06-07 owners, it would be wise to get new camber kit.


Btw, when I saw the heading of you post I was thinking of something else. I also have a lot of ideas on stuff but in a different direction.

 

[phunky.buddha]

I guess I'll see how the spring rate is once I get my BCs on the car, but 8k/7k really isn't that stiff. You can run high spring rates as long as the shocks can control them properly. I ran 9k/6k on my Civic, and the motion ratio is higher than the MacPherson Strut and twist beam setup on the 5, and with a lot less weight; same on my S2k- running 14.3k/11.6k on it, also with steeper motion ratios and less weight. Both had/have dampers very well matched to the springs, and ride better/smoother than the factory suspension.