Winter "mods" to the Mazda3

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Toni
Posts: 278
Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:12 pm
Location: Binghamton, NY

Winter "mods" to the Mazda3

Post by Toni »

I got the car a year ago now and due to the surgery and cold, I didn't get a chance to add some winter protection to the body. Not much of an issue last year as I couldn't drive it during anyway.

I wanted to do some protection for the factory lower ground kit, specifically, the front lip, sides, and rear bumper/effects.

For the front lip, my detailer who applied the ceramic coating mentioned it has extremely soft paint but the body has a nice hard clear on it. He couldn't even correct out the initial set of blemishes already on the lip without winter driving.

I figured clear vinyl was the way to go. Unfortunately, nobody makes a pre-cut vinyl for the factory ground effects kit. So, arts and crafts time. Got myself a roll of 6" 3m vinyl and went at it. Came out decent enough for what it is. I opted for applying it in sections because if I applied one long 6" strip across the front, there would be an extreme amount of "slack" to take up in the curves. I think if it were to be cut from one piece, it would end up being a curve. This is my first time doing vinyl of any kind so I'm learning... I missed a few air bubbles because I didn't have great lighting to see them.

Arts and crafts :lol:

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I messed up right off the bat and forgot to use my "slightly soapy" spray underneath to help get rid of air bubbles. You can see where I started using it on the left side compared to the right. I think it also fills in rock chips with water to hide it better too. We'll see what happens when that trapped water freezes lol.

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Outside pictures, you can see the vertical seems where the pieces are separate. I saved the paper templates I made so I can put them together to make a single cut vinyl from it. I may do that when or if this gets yucky looking after a couple winters. I used the camera angle/lighting in a way to highlight them. You don't typically see them easily.

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Up next is are mud flaps. I could do more vinyl but it's time consuming. There are factory mudflaps that I bought and thought I could make work with the factory ground effects kit, but no dice. Even after trying to cut one up. So I picked up some flat universal flaps and adapted them. I think they turned out pretty good. A mix between factory and rally boi flaps.

Install wasn't too bad because there are "provisions" for mud flaps already. The factory ground effects also tie into the same holes and luckily, the effects are "flat" so applying a flat flap worked well.

It's hard to photograph black flaps...so I put some white paper down for contrast. I should have found some fresh concrete road...

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Here is the front/rear without flap to give you an idea.

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ChargerX3
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Re: Winter "mods" to the Mazda3

Post by ChargerX3 »

Looks better. Glad to see the flaps stay a normal color.
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Toni
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Re: Winter "mods" to the Mazda3

Post by Toni »

[quote=""ChargerX3""]Looks better. Glad to see the flaps stay a normal color.[/quote]

lol yup. There were so many "rally boi" body colored flaps out there when I was searching. I ended up finding some $12 flat truck flaps at a local parts store that were much better. Even some of the universal ones had the audacity to stamp their brand in red, like wtf nobody cares about the brand of your aftermarket, universal, mudflaps :lol:
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DCIV
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Re: Winter "mods" to the Mazda3

Post by DCIV »

Nice. I’ve thought about the clear stuff. Would you rank it on easy to hard 1-10?


Coop
[quote=""Melis""]The cop asked Coop "Are you really a firefighter?" Coop was like "yeah" then the cop said "ok your in charge" then the cop left :lol:
[/quote]

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Toni
Posts: 278
Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:12 pm
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Re: Winter "mods" to the Mazda3

Post by Toni »

[quote=""DCIV""]Nice. I’ve thought about the clear stuff. Would you rank it on easy to hard 1-10?


Coop[/quote]

How would you classify easy and hard? Have some examples?
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alienviking
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Re: Winter "mods" to the Mazda3

Post by alienviking »

It looks like a PITA haha. I don't have the patience for that stuff. Car looks good though. I like the mud flaps on it. And actually really like the car in general.
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DCIV
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Re: Winter "mods" to the Mazda3

Post by DCIV »

[quote=""Toni""]How would you classify easy and hard? Have some examples?[/quote]

Can someone whose never done it before and have little patience have decent results? Lol


Coop
[quote=""Melis""]The cop asked Coop "Are you really a firefighter?" Coop was like "yeah" then the cop said "ok your in charge" then the cop left :lol:
[/quote]

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Toni
Posts: 278
Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:12 pm
Location: Binghamton, NY

Re: Winter "mods" to the Mazda3

Post by Toni »

It depends on the shape you are applying it to as the clear protection vinyl doesn't shrink. Generally, on a scale from 1-washing the car to 2-painting a car I'd say it's a 4. Assuming you want decent results.
Toni
Posts: 278
Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:12 pm
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Re: Winter "mods" to the Mazda3

Post by Toni »

Salt added for better mudflap visibility :lol:

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