Little touches to my AWD GT Tech CX-5 in Black Mica.

SayNoToPistons

Wheels, not rims...
:
CX-5 GT AWD w/ Tech, RX-8 GT 6spd w/ 'goodies'
It's been almost two months and about 2000 miles since I took delivery of my beautiful CX-5 GT AWD with tech in Black Mica with Sand/White interior.





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A run of the mill CX-5 (and it still is). Since I put my RX-8 in hibernation for winter, I figured I'd throw a bit of my attention into the CX-5.


I first got rid of the stupid dealer license plate frame and swapped in a gloss black frame. Then debadged it the rear as I thought it looked like a rolling billboard. No big deal.

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I then swapped the incandescent P13W day time running lights out for 68 surface mount LED (each) units. A nice white light that is equal total lumen if not more than the incandescent bulbs. Also, more even spread of light as well. Much better looking color temperature for a premium look. Please excuse the low quality cellphone pictures. It may look too blue in the pics, but that is due to the cellphone camera.

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Today I redid the front 5-point chrome accent in black. So far I am undecided on it, but good thing it is reversible. Looks cleaner, yes, but it is lacking something. With that said, I have an idea to add a bit of flare to it without it looking tacky. Like I said, it is reversible if all fails :) . Once again, excuse the low quality cell pics and the dirty car (haven't washed after snow storm). The turd camera sensor added a bit of green and yellow hue to the LED DRL's also.



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I still have a few more things in mind along with adding more to the (now black) 5 point grill accent if I decide not to reverse it back to chrome. Plans include matching 20% tint for front windows, HID H11 fog lights, and dual color switchback (white/amber) LED unit front turn signals to match white frontal lights while being legal when turn signals are used. Looking into matching Black Mica eyelids too. As far as I know, only Ducks Garden and Odula produces eyelids for the CX-5 at an insane price when shipping is taken into consideration from Japan.


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The slightly more complicated plans include firmware upgrade from the 2013 tech pack navi to the 2014 with the included Pandora and other apps. I use Pandora quite often and would like to have the media tech features of the 2014. Next is modifying the rear reflector housings to be full LED foglight units. Making my own LED unit is the easy part as I have done it with my RX-8. Hard part is running wiring and finding a switch/button, as the euro/japanese CX-5's foglight switch is integrated into the turn signal stalk.

I would also like to add at least .5* of negative camber to the front and experiment with ~ 1/16" of toe out. Reason being I take my twisties quite fast and I predict the outter edges of the tires to wear at a higher rate than the inner. The added handling advantages and steering response with the slight toe out is a win also :) . Unfortunately caster cannot be adjusted for the CX-5's MacPherson front. That will perhaps come later when I take my RX-8 to update its alignment settings for this coming race season at a renown AutoX alignment shop in Jersey. I'll bring the CX-5 too for s**** and giggles.
 
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I have my badges sitting in a box. All it takes is a trip to AutoZone and $6 to buy a giant roll of 3M automotive double sided tape to reinstall them if the other half does complain about it :) .
 
It's been almost two months and about 2000 miles since I took delivery of my beautiful CX-5 GT AWD with tech in Black Mica with Sand/White interior.





8320022918_9f0989088c_b.jpg









A run of the mill CX-5 (and it still is). Since I put my RX-8 in hibernation for winter, I figured I'd throw a bit of my attention into the CX-5.


I first got rid of the stupid dealer license plate frame and swapped in a gloss black frame. Then debadged it the rear as I thought it looked like a rolling billboard. No big deal.

attachment.php





I then swapped the incandescent P13W day time running lights out for 68 surface mount LED (each) units. A nice white light that is equal total lumen if not more than the incandescent bulbs. Also, more even spread of light as well. Much better looking color temperature for a premium look. Please excuse the low quality cellphone pictures. It may look too blue in the pics, but that is due to the cellphone camera.

485275_10151478638846551_1365408329_n.jpg


attachment.php

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Today I redid the front 5-point chrome accent in black. So far I am undecided on it, but good thing it is reversible. Looks cleaner, yes, but it is lacking something. With that said, I have an idea to add a bit of flare to it without it looking tacky. Like I said, it is reversible if all fails :) . Once again, excuse the low quality cell pics and the dirty car (haven't washed after snow storm). The turd camera sensor added a bit of green and yellow hue to the LED DRL's also.



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Could you please provide a link for the LED DRL you used ? Thanks in advance
 
CX-5 is coming along nicely.

Might want to consider something closer to 25% tint for fronts, 20% might be slightly darker than rear factory tint. One of our posters had a light meter check done on factory rears and it was around 25% if I remember correctly. In California I've got 35% on fronts, no problems with cops.


Note: Just noticed you recently did a 2013 to 2014 CX-5 trade. Looking forward to hearing from you on key driving differences. Your experienced perspective will be appreciated.
 
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They are typical 5000k 60smd P13W LED replacements for the DRL's. Granted they produce almost equal amount of light compared to the factory incandescent, I can't recommend them as there are other options which provide much more light (e.g. CREE units).


I went with 20% tints and from inside, there is a slight difference in hue compared to the factory rear tint. From outside, they match perfectly in hue and darkness. I plan on going 15% front with 20% rear (on top of factory tint). May not be the best for suburbs, but NYC streets provide enough lighting (if not too much) for me to see fine with dark tints. I also have a slight condition with my eyes that causes fatigue and light scattering when assholes leave their high beams on, and that happens too often in NYC. I got a prescription for tints from my optometrist :) .


I've added a few misc. things to the CX-5 since I started this thread. Nokyo H9 2500k fog light bulbs (converted for H11 use), 3000k Dual color switchback 1157 front signals, full conversion to 5000k LED's inside, 20 SMD LED 194 license plate bulbs, and 7440 and 7443 LED rear signals and brake lights. Haven't bothered to post pictures. Typical GT CX-5 with dark windows, debadged, flashy lights, etc. Nothing special.
 
N00b question: How did you get the badges on the back off without doing any damage? I really, really like the way it looks without. Going to take mine off as soon as someone can tell me how to do it without messing up the paint job.
 
N00b question: How did you get the badges on the back off without doing any damage? I really, really like the way it looks without. Going to take mine off as soon as someone can tell me how to do it without messing up the paint job.
It's pretty easy. Usually just wedging some dental floss between the badge and the paint will separate the two. For more difficult situations, apply gentle heat with a blowdryer (softens the adhesive.) Once it is off, any residual adhesive can usually just be rolled off with your fingers.
 
Had the time to do a few things this weekend. Stopped by Home Depot the other day and they were having a sale on black PlastiDip. I've always hated how it looked on almost all factory wheels and have always bashed them. I decided to try it on the CX-5 before opening my mouth again. While the CX-5 was on jackstands, I took the opportunity to fully cleanse the undercarriage from this rough winter season's salt. Detailed the interior as well. Only had time to wash, reseal, and 303 the exterior trim. No claying or polishing (yet).

GT 19" wheels Plastidipped in original matte black? I hate it. Looks cheap and tacky as I presumed. I was tempted to tear it off, but decided to keep it as a base coat. I'm going to try their "Glossifer" and/or "Metalizers". Undecided about the overplayed "black on black" (granted I have sand/white leather), so I might go with a thin layer of silver Metalizer or a few coats of gold Metalizer. I kept the Mazda emblems and grill trim in chrome. I tried them in PlastiDip black in the past and it looked cheap. Oh well, it only cost $12 and at least the PlastiDip is evenly applied and not patchy like most I've seen.

Pics show the front signal's switchback LED's, yellow 2500k H9 (convert to H11 socket) foglight bulbs, 20% front tints, debadging, and of course the matte black PlastDipped wheels. Definitely looking forward to darker tints in the future. 20% front and factory rear still isn't dark enough for me. The rear and interior LED's not shown. Nothing much to see anyways. Also excuse the half-assed cellphone pics.



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BTW, this forum's picture management ******* blows.

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GT 19" wheels Plastidipped in original matte black? I hate it. Looks cheap and tacky as I presumed. I was tempted to tear it off, but decided to keep it as a base coat. I'm going to try their "Glossifer" and/or "Metalizers". Undecided about the overplayed "black on black" (granted I have sand/white leather), so I might go with a thin layer of silver Metalizer or a few coats of gold Metalizer. I kept the Mazda emblems and grill trim in chrome. I tried them in PlastiDip black in the past and it looked cheap. Oh well, it only cost $12 and at least the PlastiDip is evenly applied and not patchy like most I've seen.

Just as a point of reference, I did a 'racing stripe' on another car using black, silver metallizer and glossifier. I just ghosted the metallizer and immediately (before it dried) coated with one coat of glossifier. The more metallizer you apply, the more grey (silver) it becomes, so I ghosted it to the level of dark grey that I wanted. I've heard that multiple coast of glossifier will make it more and more glossy, but nave not tried that (due to the tedious re-taping that would be necessary). Anyway, this was the result, FYI...

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The wheels are just a tad too dark. I agree add some layering to get it to match the trim and you're there...I like the debadge. I will probably do that as well.
 
I still have a few more things in mind along with adding more to the (now black) 5 point grill accent if I decide not to reverse it back to chrome. Plans include matching 20% tint for front windows, HID H11 fog lights, and dual color switchback (white/amber) LED unit front turn signals to match white frontal lights while being legal when turn signals are used. Looking into matching Black Mica eyelids too. As far as I know, only Ducks Garden and Odula produces eyelids for the CX-5 at an insane price when shipping is taken into consideration from Japan.




The slightly more complicated plans include firmware upgrade from the 2013 tech pack navi to the 2014 with the included Pandora and other apps. I use Pandora quite often and would like to have the media tech features of the 2014. Next is modifying the rear reflector housings to be full LED foglight units. Making my own LED unit is the easy part as I have done it with my RX-8. Hard part is running wiring and finding a switch/button, as the euro/japanese CX-5's foglight switch is integrated into the turn signal stalk.

I would also like to add at least .5* of negative camber to the front and experiment with ~ 1/16" of toe out. Reason being I take my twisties quite fast and I predict the outter edges of the tires to wear at a higher rate than the inner. The added handling advantages and steering response with the slight toe out is a win also :) . Unfortunately caster cannot be adjusted for the CX-5's MacPherson front. That will perhaps come later when I take my RX-8 to update its alignment settings for this coming race season at a renown AutoX alignment shop in Jersey. I'll bring the CX-5 too for s**** and giggles.

Nice ride! Didin't you have a CX-5 before?
 
i never understood doing black wheels on a black car. You lose all sense of detail. Different strokes for different folks though. . .
 
I agree with you. Almost everybody does this blacked out theme. It's getting boring.
It's nice, don't get me wrong, but it has been done already, to many times.
I like to be different then others, that is why I'm thinking red wheels, or some other color.
I already know, that I will buy the Mustang Brembo 19" wheels. I just need to figure out, how to customize it.
 

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