Flav's Mazda Protege5

Looks good. I decided I'm not going to lower mine. I like the height and having it more me a subaru style for the snow and rain. PLUs I like taking it on dirt roads.
 
Thanks. And I agree about the lowering. I love it's height.
I'm really pushing for the rally look, and rally cars aren't low :)
Plus with the lip on now, it gives it that lowered look.
 
Small update:

Since my last post (just before winter) there hasn't been too much that has happened due to the weather obv.
but recently things have started to clear up here, so in the past 2 weeks I've:

- Cleaned the car (you know when winter is over when you clean your car out for the first time in months)
- Re arranged my trunk set up (hid wires, made a much better ground connection: this is a must..)
- Removed my heat shield (it was rotted and making an annoying rattle
- DDM 6000k HID's
- 17inch MSR rim's
- New rubber, 205/45/17
- Tinted my altezza lights (i hated the look on my car, so i tinted it just a bit to get rid of that stupid white/clear line that goes around the housing if anyone know's what i mean by that)

So the car is coming along.. it's always so weird when I look back to what it looked like a year ago and what it looks like now.

So in the next few weeks or so i'll be:
- replacing the rear calipers (driver side caliper is seized)
- Painting calipers again, different color this time now that I have the new rims.. the calipers look stupid.. so i'm thinking Blue or black (i'll follow up with some pics for oppinions)
- Getting my DG lip painted...properly, not just rattle can black
- adding a CF hood (I don't remember which one exactly, but I have a new friend that i recently met and he's willing to part with his)


I've looked into lowering the car and have a rough estimate in my head of what I'd be spending.. but the problems I face are that

1. pricey, I'd say
2. it's not always practical, especially in my city
3. this car is my daily driver all year round... so come winter, I'd have to raise it or just pray I don't get stuck or mess up my bumper.

Does anyone know if it's a pain in the ass to switch out springs if i were to say; lower my car in the summer and bring it back up to stock height in the winter?

I'm going to post up some pictures within this week to show my progress so far.
 
Small update:

Since my last post (just before winter) there hasn't been too much that has happened due to the weather obv.
but recently things have started to clear up here, so in the past 2 weeks I've:

- Cleaned the car (you know when winter is over when you clean your car out for the first time in months)
- Re arranged my trunk set up (hid wires, made a much better ground connection: this is a must..)
- Removed my heat shield (it was rotted and making an annoying rattle
- DDM 6000k HID's
- 17inch MSR rim's
- New rubber, 205/45/17
- Tinted my altezza lights (i hated the look on my car, so i tinted it just a bit to get rid of that stupid white/clear line that goes around the housing if anyone know's what i mean by that)

So the car is coming along.. it's always so weird when I look back to what it looked like a year ago and what it looks like now.

So in the next few weeks or so i'll be:
- replacing the rear calipers (driver side caliper is seized)
- Painting calipers again, different color this time now that I have the new rims.. the calipers look stupid.. so i'm thinking Blue or black (i'll follow up with some pics for oppinions)
- Getting my DG lip painted...properly, not just rattle can black
- adding a CF hood (I don't remember which one exactly, but I have a new friend that i recently met and he's willing to part with his)


I've looked into lowering the car and have a rough estimate in my head of what I'd be spending.. but the problems I face are that

1. pricey, I'd say
2. it's not always practical, especially in my city
3. this car is my daily driver all year round... so come winter, I'd have to raise it or just pray I don't get stuck or mess up my bumper.

Does anyone know if it's a pain in the ass to switch out springs if i were to say; lower my car in the summer and bring it back up to stock height in the winter?

I'm going to post up some pictures within this week to show my progress so far.
 
If you're gonna be adjusting ride height seasonally, I would save up and get coilovers. It would definitely make things easier.
 
Updated Pic:

new rubber rims and tails!
lemmeknowhatuthink!(2thumbs)

IMG_7629.JPG
 
There is a guy around where I live that has rims that look almost the same as those. I never used to like the blacked out look, but seeing these pics I'm starting to come around I think.
 
^ hehe welcome to the dark side (laugh)



I need some opinions, This past week i removed my heat shield around the cat. and while i was under the car I decided Its about time I put a new exhaust or cat back only on the car.
I've been looking at getting an HKS cat back. But one of my friends suggested I look into gettin a dual exhaust set up. (there is an amazing shop in my city where the do custom set up's @ a fair price)

so my question is, would a dual cat back look stupid? would it be a waste of money?
or should I just stick to one muffler?

(also open to cat back suggestions w/ youtube videos if possible)
 
car looks good.. lowering it would make it look less 4x4.. as far as exhaust, id stick with single muffler(dual mufflers would look rice), try the racing beat catback. not too loud and loud enough when you want it to be. good luck :)
 
Maybe I'm a bit late to the parade on this but I've noticed a few things about Canadian P5's. I have a '03 and my headlights have black around them where yours and some others I've seen are chrome around theirs. Why is that and do you want to trade?
 
^ Canadian headlights came in black, only 03 I believe. All US models came with chrome.
 
@ mudgts

If you have black ones, then I'd love to trade.
It saves me an afternoon of blacking mine out (which i've put off for about a year now lol)
send me a PM and we'll see if we can work something out.


Also, I think it would be wise if i just went with a single instead of a dual.... I don't wanna look like one of those ricey neons i see buzzing around from time to time (lol)
 
Update:

I've posted in other threads before complaining about really stiff shifting.
Finally decided to take apart the shifter..

So I replaced the bushings with OEM ones for now, cleaned up the bolt that holds the linkage to the shifter rod (it was pretty rusty) and added a whole lot of lube to everything (thats what she said) and now...... the car shifts like new!
I've had this car for a year now, and I can't believe I only NOW decided to fix my shifting problem, Driving the car is so much more enjoyable now without having to muscle every gear (especially in traffic...)

So with that being crossed off the list I'm going to move onto the next 3 projects.

1. Replacing my rear calipers
2. Aftermarket exhaust
3. Customizing my center dash to add some flip toggle switches

Now for the exhaust, what's my best bang for my buck?
I'm not looking for brand names or kits (i'm going to a local exhaust shop and having it made custom)
but what I am looking for is what should be replaced and why.

my initial thought for this is just to do the cat back (and if im not mistaken, the cat back consists of the: Tip, muffler, piping to the cat [the cat sits just below shifter correct?])

Hope that made some sense to some people...
What i'm looking for in the end result is something...."throaty" "rally-ish" I just dont wanna sound like a farty honda...
 
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