What have you done to your Mazda5 today?

[petitevan]

Over the weekend I took the car to the Bodie SHP which is at 8375 feet elevation.

On our way back it started snowing on the Sonora Pass Hwy. The kids wanted to get out and play in the snow. This area was somewhere between 7000 and 9000 feet elevation.

Just when I thought there was not another MZ5 out vacationing in the same area as we were, one pulled into the same camp ground and parked across the road. It was a 2008 model in the same color!

 

[macuser1984]

Those LED map lights look brighter than stock, true?

I'm just not a fan of the cool color temp.

They are much brighter than the stock ones for sure. It really lights the car up at night.

 

[speed5]

got rear-ended last week coming back from the body shop. no i didnt just get work done to it. that would be too ironic. was actually coming back from dropping off wife's car which got hit 3 week before in the BJs parking lot. other party at fault. my 5 was a low-speed bump. Honda Accord left an impression of his license plate on my bumper cover. cosmetic damage only. his insurance paid. not gonna fix anytime soon BECAUSE I just found out yesterday I had bent the right rear Mazdaspeed camber link on a nasty pothole in DC which happened a month ago. yeah I finally had some to get it checked out. now I have to buy a whole new kit and pay the $270 retail.

 

[hurschel]

I replaced the wimpy horn, took a little over half an hour. I removed three screws on the bottom of the left front bumper, pulled it down and worked through the opening. I mounted one horn to the original bracket along with a ground and one of the brackets that came with the replacement horns (Harbor Freight, ~$9 and they're CHROME(nana)(breakn)) and made up a jumper to connect the two horns to original horn hot wire. Tested and fastened the panel back up. NOW IT'S LOUD!!

 

[red headz]

I replaced the wimpy horn... NOW IT'S LOUD!!

Yep - one of my first mods. I feel much safer now.

 

[skyhawk]

I replaced the Spark plug. (2006GT

Dealer service advisor says Sparkplugs do not need replacing or checking until 125,000km. So I replaced them myself with iridiums (they are now at Canadian tires and not that expensive). Initial observation is real smooth idling.. I will be driving it in a bit to do the real test.

drove the car. did not feel that much difference. but I kept the original plugs for spare just in case.

made a short timelapse of the process. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOLNGFmBh7A

 

[Foolish]

The bumper cover is FINALLY on the way!! It's been too damned long. We've had our dog for over a month, and she's never gotten to ride in what may turn out to be the best dogmobile ever made!

What took so long was that the first time around, the shop got in a broken cover, and somehow, I had to contact them around the time the bumper should have shipped to get them to get moving on another cover.

Anyway, they've handled it well since I contacted them, and even refunded me about $50 of my purchase price for my trouble. So, I've saved a LOT of money over doing it through insurance, and over doing it locally without insurance, but if we didn't have two other vehicles, we couldn't have waited with the Mazda5 on the injured reserve list for so long.

Hopefully, it will arrive in good shape, and install nicely.

 

[mpvue]

made a short timelapse of the process. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOLNGFmBh7A

great video! loved the jazz soundtrack too! now I know why they put a big honkin' engine cover on there, the engine is none too pretty to look at.

 

[Foolish]

That video is awesome. Please make one of those for everything else you ever do to the 5, also, please! Then buy a Protege5 and an old BMW convertible, and do the same with those, just to help me out, ok? ;-)

 

[wedginator]

Went on a roadtrip from Toronto ON to Deals Gap NC pulling 2 motorcycles and a full load of luggage. The 5 pulled this with no problems.

Screaming through the Dragon. I had 5 adults in the car too. Tires screaming like a banshee:

 

[Rockin03mp5]

Well hello there twin! (besides the wheels)

Noticed you had a shark fin there.

 

[BPboiler3]

I noticed the video camera....any footage to share?

 

[X-Tanker]

Ok, so not necessarily today - but since this past Tuesday I've: brought home a recliner from the furniture store, installed some rain guards, lubed the rear sway bar bushings (no more squeaking!), and replaced the stock radio with a Sony that has built in iPod cable (routed to the glove box so the iPod stays out of sight). I've got a rear bumper guard on order. All that's left to do is tint the windows.

 

[wedginator]

I noticed the video camera....any footage to share?

My buddy has the footage which he should be sharing sometime soon. Don't worry, I'll post it once I get it. =)

 

[Orangutan]

Got 15% tinting on all the windows (save the windshield).

 

[Sounbwoy]

Getting tint done as I type this..35% front, 20% everywhere else
EDIT:

 

[Rockin03mp5]

i miss the tint on my front windows. the sun is just so damn hot.

 

[Sounbwoy]

What happened? Were u forced to take it off?

 

[BPboiler3]

Puuuure Michigan...they frown on that sort of thing

 

[Foolish]

The bumper cover arrived on Saturday morning, I installed it, and it looks great! The paint match is actually VERY good, fit is great, and it was SO nice to get to drive the car this weekend for the first time in 2 months!

We took the kid, the dog, some luggage and the kid's bike down to my parents' house at Lake Anna for the weekend. We laid the third row, and one of the seats in the second row flat, and even with the bike inside, we had plenty of room for the dog. Sunday afternoon, we put all but one of the seats up, and took kid, dog, my parents and my dad's horn to a concert i the park.

All told, we had a great 4th of July weekend, and really enjoyed having the 5 back. I'll get pictures of the new bumper posted soon.