Mazda Hatch head lights and tail lights

SC_Mazda3

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2008 Mazda 3s Hatch 5 spd.
Hey everyone!! New to the Mazda world, work at a Mazda dealership and just got me a 08 Mazda 3s hatch and would like to do a aftermarket headlight and led tail light switch. But all I can find are ones for the sedan. Anyone have any clue as to why there isn't anything out for the hatch?? I know the sizes are different
 
Taillights are out there, don't be fooled by the '04-'06 description, they fit all 1st gen hatches '04-'09. The headlights I can't find either, must be more expensive to make so the aftermarket community is sticking to sedans atm. I believe MattV on here will retrofit your stock headlights, give him a pm.
 
Or just get a new lens, tied with a decent HID kit from (Whatever that site is called that everyone goes to [Not eBay]).
A new lens is supposed to be one of the best headlight mods to do. Seeing as how all 3s have projectors, there's no need to retrofit.
Well... You can retrofit a flawless lens.
 
Thanks for all the info.. will definitely take it into consideration. Lovin the mazda 3, Also work at a Mazda dealership so if anyone needs some help let me know!!
 
Welcome to the site! Imho, on the tails unless you're thinking of swapping to the OEM led tails I'd keep the originals, maybe throw some tint film on them and switch to led bulbs with resistors. Just my experience so far, the aftermarket tails are pretty cheap, almost a "ricer" feel to them:)
 
thanks again for the help. just gonna leave well enough alone and not do anything with headlights and tail lights. Another question is exhaust. will an exhaust for 04-06 hatch fit on my 08?
 
Verify this yourself, but I believe the exhaust is the same. I changed out to Magnaflow catback and the part no. was for 04-05 I think, my muffler guy said it was a perfect fit on my '08.
 
Clear Lens
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pr...d=150&osCsid=genvchvcp8tmq5tl7slf0io066aapstq

HID kit.
Lots of different choices. DDM seems to be ok but i have known people who have gotten sets that last forever and sets that dont last for s***. Or you can get a quaility one for a bit more
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/Apexcone-Raptor-HID-Kit
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/product_info.php?cPath=32&products_id=242

As for headlights,
Blacked out projector and angel eyes (the are off)
Picture003Copy.jpg

Angel eyes on
2176474697_4ae4490a20_z.jpg

Stock Mazda 3 tails with tint
3567477396_aed386e96f.jpg
 
Clear Lens
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pr...d=150&osCsid=genvchvcp8tmq5tl7slf0io066aapstq

HID kit.
Lots of different choices. DDM seems to be ok but i have known people who have gotten sets that last forever and sets that dont last for s***. Or you can get a quaility one for a bit more
http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/Apexcone-Raptor-HID-Kit
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/product_info.php?cPath=32&products_id=242

As for headlights,
Blacked out projector and angel eyes (the are off)
*IMG*
Angel eyes on
*IMG*
Stock Mazda 3 tails with tint
*IMG*

Lol. Those are the sites I was trying to mention, but I forgot the URLs/names.
 

For the record and after searching for a few years for OE LED tails that didn't cost $4-$600, I finally settled on the AM LED tails and like them.
After trying them with and w/o I decided to keep the factory reverse light housing which is where the rice factor of them comes into play IMO, added LED bulbs for the turns and they look just fine. Easier for others to see than the factory sport tails.
I was initially turned off by the chrome inside the housing, but if you look at the OE's, they are FULL of chrome plated plastic pieces too... even more chrome looking than the AM tails.
And for around $150/set shipped, they are hard to beat cost-wise too.

As far as smoke tinting is concerend... please don't do it. It only makes your car harder for others to see, and driving is not getting any safer out there.
A local member here used to have his smoked until he got hit from behind by an F150 that claimed they couldn't see his brake lights. The cops sided with the F150 driver after looking at the broken, tinted tail lights on my friend's 3 HB.
Bad move, unless you are only going to trailer/show the car.

 
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headlights

i swapped out my stockers for an oem hid setup for my 3.
took some doing , but finally found left and right headlights, each was under 200.

whole oem hid swap (used wiring adapters rather than swap a whole harness) cost me about 1k - reselling of old headlights = ~750.
 
K well, as of yesterday, the Apexcone HID's were taken off the site.
It may be because there is no longer a deal on them, or they're out of them so they don't want to be piled up with back orders.
 

I had heard that the Apexcones were having trouble since the price dropped. There were two price drops that I am aware of. I bought both my kits, the 55w for the low beams and a 35w for the fogs, from DDM during the first, when they were in the $70/kit range and so far have not had any trouble.
But I checked back a few months later and the cost had gone down even more. I suspect cheaper made components and that's when the trouble began.
I'm sure DDM wants to maintain their rep as a quality parts reseller and therefore dropped the line because of the quality issues.
Sometimes too much competition, or the wrong kind of competition can do more harm than good, and w/all the cheap eBay/Wal-Mart kits out there for $25/set, something was bound to give.
Too bad really, that many people go for cheap rather than well made.
 
Yeah. Actually, buying the ones off eBay weren't the best way to go.
They work pretty well, but my passenger side bulb shudders. Like flickering, but doesn't go completely off.
 
I have been wanting to replace my headlight and tail lights as well. Does anyone have any opinions on this site? They seem to have a lot of cool stuff.

http://www.carid.com/

The prices seem kind of high though.
 

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