Car Modifications
July 2nd, 2007 by Ed Lau |Now that I’ve built myself a new computer and purchased a new bike, I turn my focus to upgrading certain things about my car. In about two months, all my financing will be done and I will own it 100%. I’m sure I mentioned this before but I drive a loaded (well, sans leather…I hate leather seats) black Mazda 3 that I’ve had for three years now and save for a few things, it’s mostly stock. I would like to remain as close to road legal as possible. The insurance company already gives me crap for my tinted front windows and I don’t need the police coming after me for putting flamethrowers in the undercarriage.
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First thing on the list is lowering. I’m not going for a huge drop since I want to stay road legal. The most common set is from Eibach, which will drop the car about 1.3″ from the stock ride height, which is already rather low. The second thing will be a HID kit of some sort. I’m not too sure about what to look for in this department, really although those ultra blue lights on the road are annoying as hell so I’ll try to stay away from that sort of thing.
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Now new wheel is the part that I’m undecided on. There are plenty of great choices out there but I’m going more for looks than speed. I drive fast enough…I don’t need anything else encouraging me to exceed speed limits. I’d like to stay within the boundaries of about $1000 for this part, which already eliminates the BBS, Volks and OZ rims I was looking at. For a long time, I’ve been wanting to get a set of black or hyper-black rims since I think black wheels on a black car looks awesome. I think for my size car and in black, I should go for something in a five or six spoke wheel and I was considering several sets, including these Enkei Evo 5’s, Evo 6’s and these Motegi’s. I’m leaning toward those Evo 5 wheels since I have seen those on a black Mazda 3 before and it looks fantastic.
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I’ll work on other stuff after these three things but for now, trying to find and buy the parts here is enough work.
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If you upgrade your springs, be sure to get new shocks as well. Yes, it’s way more expensive, but without shocks, the springs will make your ride FUCKED. It will fuck up your OEM shocks, and your ride will suck. Yes, it will look ‘cool’ but it will still drive like shit and ruin your shocks. Trust me on this, I made the mistake. Don’t make the same mistake.
very nice … good pick!
Darin
Don’t the Motegis weigh a ton?
Save your money and buy some real assets.
Man, you don’t realize how much money you save by not owning a car. I sold my car before coming to Seoul. No gas, insurance, maintenance, tempting car mods…it’s been nice.
Although it was fun modifying my car, the next vehicle I get will be bone stock. It’s less of a headache in the long run.
Man, please don’t supe up a Mazda3. It’s just as bad as those guys who supe up their Cavaliers, Neons and Saturns. You only supe up cars that are already fast or high-end.
Are you nuts? You should never mod cars that are fast or high-end already. Would you mod a Ferrari? Do you think you know better than Pininfarina? Those cars are fine the way they are. It’s the entry-level stuff that can be improved upon.
You are venturing into a completely different echelon with the Ferrari, but yes, there are lots of mods (i.e., paint, body kit, rims, stereo, etc.) just not in the mechanics.
My point being that since you drive an entry level car, you would not want to “rice” it up and bring undue attention to it.
Oh never mind, I forgot you live in Richmond. Have fun with your rice car
You should add some Mazdaspeed stickers, I heard from a ricer that they’re good for at least 25 horses. Don’t forget the coffee can exhaust, if you can’t fit your foot in it it’s not big enough.
And what does Leo drive?
*hides my mod’d SI*
I think wheels and some HIDs is hardly called rice. But if you do decide to “rice-out” your Mazda, I’ll dis-blog you.
There will be absolutely no fart pipes, spoilers or neons.
You gotta put up a bunch of bobble heads on your dash too. And a box of tissues with a cute tissue box cover in the back
Don’t forget the NOS sticker1
As Vin Diesel said in F&F, “It’s not NOS, it’s NAAWS!”
I need two…and I need them by tonight.
Seems to be a lot of hates! Don’t worry Ed, I support you!
I love mod’d cars because you can personalize your car - yes, many people have done many ridiculous things to their cars, but a few have done some sick-as-hell things too!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/kingbenny/Enkei%20Evo5/Enkei6.jpg
This isn’t mine but with the rims and springs, it will look almost exactly like this…although I won’t paint my calipers a lame yellow.
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buddy, your money, so no one can tell you what you can or can’t do. It’s whatever makes you happy! I’ve had both positive and negative opinions around my Mazda 5 mods, but I don’t care! I’m not out to impress anyone but me! Life is short, enjoy it while you can…within legal limits of course.
Wow did the car turn out? Have you done all these modification and are you happy with them? Any pictures?