Anyone paint the plastic wheel wells yet?
- Thread starter EricF
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AussieJosh
Member
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- Mazda CX-5 GT Deisel
I agree. Have a look at the Hyundai ix35, it demontsrates this well.
http://www.hyundai.com.au/Vehicles/ix35
To each his own I guess, but it looks more like am afterthought than "carefully done". LOL It reminds me of an Element, Avalanche, Aztek, ect. Oh well, everything else outweighs this item.
Well, that doesn't look as bad, especially in that pic because it blends in with the shadows down low. The fact that it goes up over the wheel wells on the fender on the CX5 is a little distracting. IMO It pulls the eye to the plastic instead of the styling of the car.
The Element (and Avalanche, Aztez) are certainly good examples of how dark trim can be done poorly. It's a stretch for those that understand styling techniques to say CX is done the same way as those ugly vehicles, thankfully. Element's trim carries into upper body making it appear even chunkier, later Honda actually got negative feedback from customers through dealerships on how this was handled poorly.
"Carefully done" is exactly what the stylists at Mazda did with the lower body trim. The lower front done in dark plastic is an area very prone to rock/gravel chips, so the peppering effect is visually minimized as the car ages (conventional painted surfaces get damaged/peppered on lower front). The Mazda front end looks much better than the body-colored underbite front end of many SUVs like the RX350. The side lower sills in dark color make the side view look less tall and therefore overall side profile looks sleeker and slimmer as a result. The lower rear valence with dual exhaust cutouts is a common styling technique to make the rear end look less bulky and more sporty, the styling technique has been used on many stylish vehicles including past Mustang GTs and Mercedes C-class Sport models (picture at top of post shows Roque with minimal treatment next to CX-5).
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The practical reason for black plastic on wheel lip is for ding/scratch prevention. This lip area is especially vulnerable on a SUV, I had a Highlander and Mercedes ML with dings on rear wheel lips (painted steel) after a couple years of ownership..
I have no issues with the front or rear plastic parts, and honestly, the side lower portions don't really bother me THAT much either, just the arches look a little in you're face, especially on white. But they're growing on me. If there was an option to paint them from the factor, i'd probably do it. I can't wait until they start to fade, that'll look awesome! :/
yep, I got a white skuff on the one fender plastic already from a door. It just wiped off but if it hadn't been there I'd bet there would be an indent in the metal.
I like the accent look of it all, that's a big part of the look I liked. To me it adds to the sporty fun look of it. But if we all liked the same thing then everyone would drive the exact same car in the same color etc....
Plenty of off the shelf liquid solutions for treating fading black plastic areas and they don't cost much via local auto parts store, to get back to black as they say...
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and for a couple bucks more there are some really amazing products to bring back or keep the trim black. All the black plastic on my P5 looked close to new after 11 years in the California sun. I never had to use anything with a dye in it either. Check a few detailing message boards and keep it looking good right from the start.
chadreece2001
Member
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- 2011 Mazda CX-9 Grand Touring
Hey guys... I'm new here, so I apologize if this question has been answered 1,000 times. My wife ran over a piece of rubber in our 2011 CX-9 and the passenger rear plastic wheel well piece broke. I haven't been able to find replacements online anywhere.
I was worried about that as well, so I was actually thinking about getting black vinyl wrap for the plastic parts. It will protect and I also think it will look better cause the original parts in certain views and lighting condition looks more grayish then black.
This plastic stuff has been the hardest part of the car's styling for me to accept. What everyone says about its function both as protector of chip-prone areas and for reducing visual height and bulk of the vehicle is true. And the same kind of treatment is very common in the SUV class. Moreover a very very similar treatment was right there on the show car that became the CX-5 and looks amazing.
My conclusion after looking at all of these things is that the problem is mostly with the plastic. It looks cheap. There are other subtle changes in the shape of the trim compared to the show car that are also significant, but it's mostly the toy-like look of the plastic that hurts. Painting or otherwise covering it could help I think.
edit: Oh yeah, as someone else mentioned, I think the kinda greyish cast the color has doesn't help. Blacker may look better, but I would have to see any change to be sure. And ... while I'm on a roll ... the "snap-together" look of some of the individual panels around the windows and other places isn't a winner either ...
My conclusion after looking at all of these things is that the problem is mostly with the plastic. It looks cheap. There are other subtle changes in the shape of the trim compared to the show car that are also significant, but it's mostly the toy-like look of the plastic that hurts. Painting or otherwise covering it could help I think.
edit: Oh yeah, as someone else mentioned, I think the kinda greyish cast the color has doesn't help. Blacker may look better, but I would have to see any change to be sure. And ... while I'm on a roll ... the "snap-together" look of some of the individual panels around the windows and other places isn't a winner either ...
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The black plastic look was a positive for me. I didn't even realize that it makes the side profile look better, but it makes perfect sense. To me the well designed (IMHO) black plastic says "hey c'mon man, take me for a drive, don't worry about those gravel roads or a little mud from a fireroad, let's go have some fun!". I like to think my CX-5 would have a positive attitude like that lol.
I plan on beating this car up a little bit over the years and I understand it'll show a little of that abuse. I think a 7-10 year old SUV with a good amount of chips and dings is the sign of 7-10 well spent years! Having said that, I'll be taking good care of this thing, but I'm not afraid of a scratch or 5.
I plan on beating this car up a little bit over the years and I understand it'll show a little of that abuse. I think a 7-10 year old SUV with a good amount of chips and dings is the sign of 7-10 well spent years! Having said that, I'll be taking good care of this thing, but I'm not afraid of a scratch or 5.
