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Haha yea the temperature seems to play a key role. Wasn't all that warm when I did it. Many cycles of hair dryer heating and finger picking. Pulling the mouldings off took 10 mins. Pulling the residue off, about an hour.Quote:
Originally Posted by schmat66
More pics of the whole car when you're done! I found a microfiber cloth helps when rubbing away residue after using the blow dryer or heat gun.
Oh, there'll be lots, don't ya worry ;) hahaQuote:
Originally Posted by r4mi5awi
Yes, a microfiber did also help after doing the finger work. Just to smooth things out a bit with the leftover residue around the area.
lol my mouldings were a pain. First side was in the sun all morning, came off just by pulling the moulding. Second side took me 4 hours, and a page of curse words. Turns out I just didn't know how Goo Gone worked :/
and of course the day after there was a nice ding in my door.
Looks good. Much cleaner.
Second picture broken link. I want to see it!
This is exactly what I'm afraid of lolQuote:
Originally Posted by The Wolf
Thank you sir!Quote:
Originally Posted by turtle
Woops :SQuote:
Originally Posted by Reddie1337
Here you gooo
http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/...psec73d65c.jpg
Just make sure you never wash it so everyone can see that you took them off.
i feel your pain! i just took off the skyactiv badge and that was a bitch, i couldn't imagine me doing that side moulding.Quote:
Originally Posted by FD22
ha, yea can be a real pain. Just gotta suck it up and do it though, cause in my opinion, it's worth the effort. Whether its mouldings or badges, I love that cleannn lookQuote:
Originally Posted by maxewell12
I think this is due for a nice, long, detailed update! Some of you saw the car at BubbaQ, so I might as well go into some detail about exactly what was changed on the car, for those that care enough about it (probably not many, but meh lol). The car is still not done; there's some minor finishing touches that need to be made that I just didn't have time to do before BubbaQ. I wrote this up a few days ago, but decided not to post it yet, and to just show up to the BubbaQ with the new look to see first-hand what peoples' initial reactions/thoughts were lol I love me a good surprise, and I'm sure others do too! Some of the reactions I got were priceless haha best part of my day by far. @trulankan and @m3rk were my favorite haha
Well, it had been a long Winter, and an even longer Spring. Long story short...mod bug hit hard again, and decided to just get it all out of my system. Apparently I love going broke. Thought up some plans over the winter and started implementing them slowly towards the end of Winter into Spring. Lot's and lot's of frustration and stress was invovled, trying to source different parts, get things installed, and all that jazz. Had a couple "defects" to the car that were driving my OCD wild, so I decided to take care of those things as well. I can safely say that I am definitely "done" with this car now, lol for real! Accomplished much more than I had initially invisioned I'd do. I'm pretty happy with it, and although I'm sure I'll get a ton of hate (can't avoid it, right?) I hope you guys enjoy the little journey I shall now take you on :) haha wayyy too much time on my hands to write all this... (I apologize in advance for the oncoming explosion of words)
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Wheels:
Rims: XXR 522's - 18x9.5, +25 - powdercoated Candy Teal
Tires: 215/35/18 Venezia Crusade HP
Lugs: Black, short, close-ended Topline lug nuts
Over the winter I decided I was tired of my "plain old" black BBS reps, and decided I wanted something more aggressive and bold. The candy teal on orange was something I visioned in my head looking awesome, and was a bit of a reach, but I think it turned out pretty good. The aggressive size of the 522's I chose seemed potentially a bit more than I could handle after I really started looking into it, but I think it still came out pretty decent. The whole "stretch and poke" thing was definitely something I was nervous about, but so far it has turned out okay. Was never a fan of huge stretches and massive poke, but the way these fit on my car (after some modifications of course) I was definitely pleased with the outcome. Definitely loving the look of the aggressive setup, even though that means I can't do my usual spirited driving; a sacrifice that I'll have to get used to. Shout-out to Keith at Exclusive Wheel & Tire
for
bearing through the tire sourcing issues we had, and being able to mount this stretched setup as well.
Fender Modifications: Shout-out to @Hyperion here for taking care of this for me. Very knowledgeable and comfortable making these wheels fit on my car. The fronts were hammered down a bit from the inside and then pulled. The rears were rolled as much as possible (damn you rusty fenders!) and pulled as well. They don't look like any horrible amature job, and I was very pleased with the way it came out.
Suspension: Carrying out these plans of mine definitely required moar low! So, after swapping from Yellows/Prokits to BC coils, some further adjustments were made. I'm currently running the fronts all the way down with one collar removed, and the rears all the way down with everything still in. Max stiffness all around. (wish the BC's were stiffer...I still rub way too often/easy in the rear lol)
Body Parts:
Front Bumper - some of us are familiar with the bad design of the OEM lisence plate frame in the front, with the little u-shaped dent being able to indent itself on the front bumper much to easily. This, along with the holes from the plate frame itself, were not cool to see once I relocated the plate to the side. Thus, must be fixed! Picked up a used OEM front bumper that had the holes professionally filled, and swapped that onto the car. Shout-out to @JrCanuck for the front bumper. While I had the bumper off, I also decided to paint the fog light housings black. The silver ring didn't quite flow with anything else on the car in my opinion.
Rear Bumper - late for a dentist appointment + people behind me in a hurry + extremely cramped underground parking + backing into parking spot = dented rear bumper. Wasn't horrible, but definitely a significant size that was very noticeable. Once again, this drove me crazy everytime I saw my car. So I took the opportunity to upgrade to the Speed3 rear end I always wanted. Picked up a used OEM 07-09 style bumper (as opposed to the 04-06 style on my car) and picked up a Speed3 rear valence from the dealership. Fitment of this was definitely a huge pain in the ass, but in the end got it on all well and good.
Front Grille - Figured since I'm trying to be all aggressive and whatnot, that the front end could use a slight change as well. So I swapped the OEM front grille for an AE grille.
Weight Reduction/Ass Cleanup: Wanted a cleaner, more simple rear end. So decided to do the wiper delete, and emblem delete as well. No budget to have the hatch profressionally debaged, so right now the holes are just exposed, but hoping to find some plugs to use (recommendations anyone?) and if not, stickers shall be used. Worthy note is also that side mouldings have been removed, in order to play into the whole "cleaner look" thing and whatnot.
Full Car Dip: Now here's where I'll probably lose a few fans ;) haha yes, I had my entire car dipped, by a local professional shop.
Color Choice - Orange of course! - A custom mixture of orange pearls over a Koi Orange dip as the base color. Orange on orange on orange!
Reasoning Behind Dipping - Two reasons. First was that, although I always loved this stock orange color from Mazda, my car is old, and the paint defects were starting to show, with chips here and there, and just overall age from the previous owner not taking care of the exterior of the car as much as I do/did (which is fully undestandable of course haha). Second reason was that, from earlier you can see that I swapped a few body parts on, and obviously none of these were in my paint code due to it being pretty rare, specially in the used parts department/scrapyards/etc. Ideally would've had it painted, but let's face it, money is the issue here. So I said to myself, why not take this opportunity to get these body parts to match the car, and just redo the exterior of the whole car in the process. This way I can protect the paint for the future, shield any imperfections, and get a slightly brighter/more "pop"ing orange to the car that I always wanted. Turned out a little lighter than I expected, but this thing is super pearly and just has so many different shades of orange to it depending on the weather conditions. It's in no way a mint job, of course. First of all the little dent I had on my rear drivers side shows more now with a brighter color. And just my luck, the first drive home from picking up the car after it was "done curing" I got a significant stone chip on the drivers door that ripped some dip off. The next day, found a couple more chips as well. Dip was supposed to have fully cured by then, so even the shop is confused at how it could happen. But these are just minor things I'm going to have to live with. Still managed to get the "is that wrapped/painted" comments from randoms on the street, and members as well, so it's not too bad :)
Worthy note: shout-out to @schmat66 for putting up with my noob questions about wheel fitment and dip and other miscalleaneous things, specially when I was still in the planning stages. An inspiration for sure...though I (and most importantly my bank account) now officially hate him for making all this low/big wheels/dip thing looks so easy! haha
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
TLDR version: over the past couple months, I've been working slowly and steadily to absolutely ruin my daily driver haha and it is now complete. Now to drive it to the ground! I'm very happy with how everything has come together, and I am once again in love with my car haha definitely feels good to finally be "done" per-say. And of course, dem haterzz are welcome to voice their concerns as well :)
Like I said, the car still isn't done, so here's a short list of things still left to do::
- put in rear reflectors
- contemplate whether it's a good idea to put the lip-on-lip back on in the front
- install Hella horns (had these for a few months now...)
- paint calipers
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Now for some pics! Right? Wrong :P
Since it was just very recently all put together, I don't have too many good cell-phone pics of it. Plus celly's probably won't do it justice. Hoping some of our fine photographers were able to snap a shot or two of it from the BubbaQ today :)
That's a lot of words for no pictures...
Orange looked awesome. Can't wait to see what next. What kind of fitment issues did you have with the bumper. I figured it'd be a straight swap. I'm probably ordering a speed bumper this week
His words dipped ;) a picture in my mindQuote:
Originally Posted by Hyperion
I have a bunch. Will take a long time to upload them all though.
EDIT:
@FD22 actually I uploaded yours first as I think its best I don't edit them so I don't mess with the colouring.
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2896/...a82163f1_b.jpg
DSC_0019 by FarquharMitchell, on Flickr
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3795/...dca79762_b.jpg
DSC_0027 by FarquharMitchell, on Flickr
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3739/...c3d7e5e8_b.jpg
DSC_0031 by FarquharMitchell, on Flickr
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5319/...dc95c90e_b.jpg
DSC_0032 by FarquharMitchell, on Flickr
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3831/...581a8020_b.jpg
DSC_0067 by FarquharMitchell, on Flickr
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5031/...c42aa53f_b.jpg
DSC_0068 by FarquharMitchell, on Flickr
People get things too easy these days. Gotta make you work for it! ie read a lot of words and wait LOLQuote:
Originally Posted by Hyperion
Thanks! Was a pleasure chatting with you today. Hope the wife wasn't too mad for the delay haha. As for what next...ABSOLUTELY NOTHING haha jeez, went over my head will all this already. Gas shall be my only mod from now on...I swear!!Quote:
Originally Posted by ryan2.3
As for bumper issues...it might have been specific to the one I got, but holes just didn't line up as they should've haha. Then there's the fact that you need a new foam absorber piece, which is different for the post-face lift style bumpers. I got that piece off an 08, but apparently that wasn't enough. Needed to be heavily trimmed, to the point where in the end, I only had about 50% of it left haha
ba-dum-dishhhQuote:
Originally Posted by Genpu_Mz3
You da man!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mitchell3
She was fine, we were entertaining friends tonight. We got home with like an hour to spare haha.
So the foam on an 04 is too small? I need another. Might be time to wander out to the junk yard
haha goodQuote:
Originally Posted by ryan2.3
The foam piece is actually too large; get's in the way of allowing the bumper to fit properly. Once you test-fit the bumper though, you'll see what the issue is, and you can just trim it there and then. You'll need to essentially cut it vertically in three pieces, scrapping the ends and only leaving the middle piece. You'll then need to cut that piece in half, as it is too thick and will interfere with the bumper. Shoot me a PM once you get your bumper and/or if this still isn't clear lol
looks good! who did the candy teal powder?
A++++++ so niceeee. Can't wait to see it in person! Candy teal reppin', haha.
Thanks! JP at Stripping Technologies. This was done during that big GB in winter.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Wolf
Thanks man! haha months later, finally reppin the candy teal I had planned since god knows how long hahaQuote:
Originally Posted by hex
Thanks for the shots Phil! Except that last one...wtf wheel gap :( haha
.... :worship!
^ that was my reaction LOL. Friggin guy really surprised me since he said he was done in December and then BAM! Comes out like a baus. I really have to hand it to you, this looks incredibly amazing!!!
Looks AMAZING dude good stuff
Glad this came out the way you wanted! sorry i couldn't dip it in time :( really wish i could have! we need that shoot soon!!
you running a spacer on the rear? yours pokes more then me
LOL I swear I still thought I was done at that time. For real now...FOR REALQuote:
Originally Posted by m3rk
Thanks so much for the kind words man!
Coming from you, means a lot ;) hahaQuote:
Originally Posted by schmat66
No worries man. But yes, we dooo
I definitely have a ton more poke than you unfortunately haha slightly less camber (I'm guessing) and the fact that mine are +25 all around (no spacers)
this is why i thought they were same size mine are +38
makes sense now. i do want to swap rims one day ahha
Car looks superb man...nice surprise for everyone lol I have to say u did it up biggg time and hit a home run or rather a grand slam! I look forward to your next mod :p
Im just going to say that I was really suprised when i found out that "plastidipped orange hatch" was yours.... cant believe i didnt notice the ducklip....
really looks good though.
You know you did it proper when people are shocked it's your car and slowly recognize it enjoy the ride and from here on in you'll be breaking necks a shoot with Ry is definitely a must! Great job bud!Quote:
Originally Posted by asyed
Man just following you that car sits so awesome. Guess ya can't keep up on the highway anymore though :P. The plastidip paint works so well with that big ass she has now! Love it bro! You like though. It won't be your last mod and you know it haha.
car is looking good man! i like how you just did everything at once and then surprised everyone, if you didn't tell me that was your car i would have been still guessing which member owned that lol
I had no idea it was your car, and that was AFTER you told me to watch for big changes. I love it man! Now you can just sit back, enjoy the car, and take the compliments :) cause theyll be coming!
I got a few shots ill upload off my phone, lets hope they come out well
Aw shucks, haha thank you so much! Love how you still didn't think it was my car when I asked you for the final decision hahaQuote:
Originally Posted by trulankan
Haha yea most people did not realize it was mine. Thanks buddy!Quote:
Originally Posted by asyed
Thanks :)Quote:
Originally Posted by -RJ3-
It feels weird man, I'm not used to getting this many compliments! Haha I'm so glad that people liked it though. Was quite nervous about the reveal but turned out well.
Haha yeaaa no speeding for me anymore. Which I guess is a good thing? :P I'm glad you like the big ass though, if only it didn't jiggle so much ;) hahaQuote:
Originally Posted by jaimie08mazda3
Shhh! I'm trying to go clean here. No more mods!
Haha best part of the day by far was watching peoples reactions when they eventually realized, or were told, it was mine. Thanks for the kind words!Quote:
Originally Posted by maxewell12
Haha I guess my hints weren't enough. Yes, definitely time to sit back and just enjoy it now.Quote:
Originally Posted by greyseason
Lmao now i see why you needed those reflectors :P
Love it though.
haha gotta get those in asap. Thanks again man!Quote:
Originally Posted by Thrizzl3
Also, shout out to @Twhite71 for unknowingly/unintentionally being my decoy LOL made for some very interesting reactions. Everyone thought your car was mine..."looks a little different from last time" haha
So what changed about the car?
dude...congrats! car looks amazing! definitely worth all the headaches you had to deal with lol
Not too much, really. Cleaned the interior, added an air freshener, emblem delete. You know, the usual hardcore stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by loki
haha definitely. Feels good now that it's all done. Thanks so much!Quote:
Originally Posted by greffer31
:thumbsupQuote:
Originally Posted by FD22
Yeah the foam piece is a pain in the dick. I'm actually just going to find an 07 version.Quote:
Originally Posted by FD22