My First Mazda - 2012 GS Sky Sport

The wait is finally over and the 2012 manual Skys have finally arrived. In retrospect, it has only been about 1 1/2 months since I've been shopping for a car but it felt like forever!

Many thanks to Jeff from Mazda of Toronto for answering the obscene amount of questions from a new car virgin. He was very upfront with all the pricing and offered a great deal that other dealerships I went to feel uncomfortable even matching (let alone beat). Also got my tints done at Auto Links by John (I think).

Finding it hard to justify paying the crazy amount of money for new rims and the originals are slowly growing on me. Looking for some way to set myself apart from the sea of other Mazda 3s without breaking the bank. Any ideas?

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...53017374_n.jpg

Looks good! Glad you got the manual you wanted. Definitely get some aftermarket rims, and then put winters on the stock ones. Keep an eye on the classifieds here, or Kijiji.

Sent from my phone using 1s, 0s, and radio waves.

:welcome smiley Congrats on the purchase

welcome

Welcome to the boards

Congrats on the purchase & welcome to the forums!

Welcome!

:welcome smiley

Congrats on the nice new ride! +1 for John at Auto-link, their work is amazing.

Just a few mod suggestions:
1. HID
2. LED interior light and license plate lights ( check out Corksport's Interior LED light kit)
3. Rear reflectors tint/overlay ( check: http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.ph...c=157092.0;all)
4. stubby antenna

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Originally Posted by JeremyW

The wait is finally over and the 2012 manual Skys have finally arrived. In retrospect, it has only been about 1 1/2 months since I've been shopping for a car but it felt like forever!

Many thanks to Jeff from Mazda of Toronto for answering the obscene amount of questions from a new car virgin. He was very upfront with all the pricing and offered a great deal that other dealerships I went to feel uncomfortable even matching (let alone beat). Also got my tints done at Auto Links by John (I think).

Finding it hard to justify paying the crazy amount of money for new rims and the originals are slowly growing on me. Looking for some way to set myself apart from the sea of other Mazda 3s without breaking the bank. Any ideas?

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...53017374_n.jpg

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D A M N man!!!! :hawt that is one freakin sexy set o lines :thumbsup GRATS man ;)
I just got 12 3GS sky last week....but I couldn't afford the sport :( so I had to settle for the sedan...here she is;
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ctiv/photo.jpg
nuthin like the smell of a brand new baby huh :cool

oh and ummm don't mind the ugly caps on my rubber...thems my winters....my 16" alloys n rubber are waitin patiently for spring :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JeremyW

The wait is finally over and the 2012 manual Skys have finally arrived. In retrospect, it has only been about 1 1/2 months since I've been shopping for a car but it felt like forever!

Many thanks to Jeff from Mazda of Toronto for answering the obscene amount of questions from a new car virgin. He was very upfront with all the pricing and offered a great deal that other dealerships I went to feel uncomfortable even matching (let alone beat). Also got my tints done at Auto Links by John (I think).

Finding it hard to justify paying the crazy amount of money for new rims and the originals are slowly growing on me. Looking for some way to set myself apart from the sea of other Mazda 3s without breaking the bank. Any ideas?

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My suggestion... repurpose your stock 16" wheels for a winter tire setup and to buy new (or lightly used) 17" alloys of your choice with summer tires. Take the OEM all seasons off and sell them if you can find a buyer for them, there is no substitute for real winter tires. Of course you can get away with it for the time being because of how little snow we've gotten this winter.

If that route is too much money to spend at this time (especially after buying this car), then you should drive your stock all seasons into the ground while you save up cash for my above suggestion. It's all about allocation of your cash, if your heart is set on new 17" wheels (assuming they fit your car, which I think they should) then you should not be wasting money on dressing up these OEM wheels in any way. Plan for them to become your winter setup in a year or two years' time.

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Originally Posted by Elusivellama

My suggestion... repurpose your stock 16" wheels for a winter tire setup and to buy new (or lightly used) 17" alloys of your choice with summer tires. Take the OEM all seasons off and sell them if you can find a buyer for them, there is no substitute for real winter tires. Of course you can get away with it for the time being because of how little snow we've gotten this winter.

If that route is too much money to spend at this time (especially after buying this car), then you should drive your stock all seasons into the ground while you save up cash for my above suggestion. It's all about allocation of your cash, if your heart is set on new 17" wheels (assuming they fit your car, which I think they should) then you should not be wasting money on dressing up these OEM wheels in any way. Plan for them to become your winter setup in a year or two years' time.

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What he said exactly.

Welcome to the boards and congrats on new ride.

Welcome!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Elusivellama

My suggestion... repurpose your stock 16" wheels for a winter tire setup and to buy new (or lightly used) 17" alloys of your choice with summer tires. Take the OEM all seasons off and sell them if you can find a buyer for them, there is no substitute for real winter tires. Of course you can get away with it for the time being because of how little snow we've gotten this winter.

If that route is too much money to spend at this time (especially after buying this car), then you should drive your stock all seasons into the ground while you save up cash for my above suggestion. It's all about allocation of your cash, if your heart is set on new 17" wheels (assuming they fit your car, which I think they should) then you should not be wasting money on dressing up these OEM wheels in any way. Plan for them to become your winter setup in a year or two years' time.

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I've read that going aftermarket rims without a drop looks wrong. Actually from one persons pic you can see a noticeable gap. Wouldn't want to do something that would void my warranty. Thanks for all the suggestions and welcomes everyone!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JeremyW

I've read that going aftermarket rims without a drop looks wrong. Actually from one persons pic you can see a noticeable gap. Wouldn't want to do something that would void my warranty. Thanks for all the suggestions and welcomes everyone!

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I don't think changing the rims on your car would void your warranty, however I agree with you that many aftermarket rims (especially those 18" and up) will look desperate for a drop on stock height. I debate RX8/MS3 rims on my sedan all the time but without a drop I think I'm better off sticking with my OEM 17s.

Make the car look the way YOU want it to look.

Don't base your mods the way others will "accept" it.

You can get a set of rims that are more subtle and clean looking and still set it apart from the rest of the Mazda3's. IMO - look for somebody selling off their Mazdaspeed rims or even go with a subtle (non-aggressive) rim (5-spoke)

Your OEM rims are 16" right? I had just assumed they were 16" because the previous model year's GS were 16" if I remember correctly.

Mine are 16", and I'm always browsing different threads for pics of cars with various rims without the drop. I'm also wondering about the GS/GT is if you had them side by side, both with oem 17 inch rims from the GT, would they look the same? Possibly a silly question but better to get it out now lol.

Welcome!!!

Welcome to the forumn!

Congrats on your purchase

:welcome smiley

you don't have to 'slam' your car if you upgrade wheels. there are always alternatives like racing beat springs, which offer a very mild drop at .5"~ and a firmer ride. i have them on my car; point was to get rid of the 4x4 look (as a result of 18s) but to still retain stock appearance and functionality (since it was my first time lowering a car).

Enjoy that new car smell. *INHALES, ah nvm....I got a 2007.

Congrats on purchase... :welcome smiley

Most cars look like 4x4's as people take the pictures right after changing the wheels. After driving around the block, the car will drop back down some.

Don't worry about what other people say as Default User as mentioned. It's your ride.

:welcome smiley

Welcome!

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Originally Posted by JeremyW

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...53017374_n.jpg

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My White Brotha!!!

http://i44.tinypic.com/15mlkj8.jpg

Congrats! :D

welcome ! :welcome smiley

Welcome!

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Originally Posted by electricf3el

some plastidip is the cheapest way. and a sharkfin!

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Is that what you're selling?