# My new ride: 2002 Mazda MX-5 Phoenix



## Jochen (May 21, 2007)

Beeing a bit bored so I thought I'd start a little thread of my car I bought back in november 
It's a 2002 MX-5 with the little 1.6 110bhp engine.The car only has 60.000 km on the clock and I'm the 4th owner I think.

When I bought it it looked ok and was 'detailed' by the garage I bought it from. 'Detailed' as in: let's spray silicone dressing all over the place! Tires, roof, dash, seats, engine, ... everthing was absolutely cover in it.

First thing I did was removef the fugly chrome:










This is what I removed:










Can't believe how anybody would think it would look nice and actualy spend time and money on this stuff... 

Next was the interior. Although it was pretty clean, I removed the seats to give me better acces for a good vacuum and to treat the leather.










On the right you can see thelovely dressing they used 










I gave the whole interiour a scrub down with APC 1:10 on a AG Hi-Tech Hand Pad. After that, I treated all the plastics with PB Natural Look Dressing :thumb:

Next was the exterior. I thought it would be a quick job. Some 203S on a polishing pad and that should handle the swirls in this soft Mazda paint.
Boy was I wrong :lol: The paint turned out to be pretty damn hard and I ended up using a orange gloss-it cutting pad and Menz FG500 on the bonnet. It needed a few good hits too :buffer:
After the bonnet was done I used Menz 3.02RD on the same pad for the rest of the car but the trunk lid needed some FG500 because of the deeper swirls. I then finished the whole car with FF85RD on a blue 3M pad for some nice gloss. I think I achieved 98% correction :argie:

After that: IPA -> Carlack AIO -> Collinite 845 (2x)

50/50 after 1 hit on the right back wing:










boot lid before:










After










It was a real PITA to correct this solid black paint, moslty because I thought it would be a quicky. Just didn't acpected that much defects and such hard paint. But in the end it's was all worth it and it looks a 1000x better 




































































































Thanks for watching :wave:


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## TopSport+ (Jul 22, 2012)

top work mate


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## msb (Dec 20, 2009)

Lovely little car there:thumb: need lose some space in those arches tho


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## Jochen (May 21, 2007)

Thanks 

Yeah I know, it won't pass the shoe test now would it? 
But this is not a keeper, just an 'in between car'. I'm planning on selling it after the summer. I just always wanted to have an mx-5 so I bought one now I still can.
It's small size and petrol costs doesn't make it a keeper. I just want to enjoy it for a summer and then sell it on for not much less I hope. So I'm not gonna invest in it too much


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## Soul Hudson (Jul 5, 2011)

Nice work my man. Brought some much needed gloss back.


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## Wout_RS (Jun 13, 2012)

great job! and nice interior color combo to!

nice to see another belgian here 

grtz


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## Jochen (May 21, 2007)

Wout_RS said:


> great job! and nice interior color combo to!
> 
> nice to see another belgian here
> 
> grtz


:wave:


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## Jochen (May 21, 2007)

Here's a beading pic i took a few weeks after the detail:










Really love the Colinite 845


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Very nice..


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## absolute (Jan 19, 2010)

Great little car there, with the shape, it will always fire fantastic varied reflections at you. 
Good work


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## Dift (May 22, 2011)

I found the same thing with my old MX5, the paint was so hard.

Looks lovely though. They are good looking and fun cars, albeit a bit juicy for what they are.


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## Chrissyronald (Jan 15, 2012)

Stunning little car mate. That dressing was horrific


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## Barchettaman (Dec 16, 2007)

Lovely job, Jochen. Your patience with the paint really paid off.

Happy memories of that Mazda, we had one as one of our 2 wedding cars*. The other was a 1966 MGB roadster. 

*free upgrade from Sixt when they heard I was flying back to the UK for my wedding!


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## CleanYourCar (Jan 23, 2006)

Awesome transformation, looks much better now.


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## bazz (May 15, 2007)

looks a nice little ride that dude and good job on the clean up


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## Z4-35i (Jun 12, 2012)

Looks great now and a nice colour combination. Roll on summer for some warm open top motoring ...


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## Wout_RS (Jun 13, 2012)

Hi Jochen,

how do you know when they used silicone spray for the plastics?
because when i use AG vinyl & rubber care it looks almost the same when not whipping of.


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## Jochen (May 21, 2007)

Thanks guys! Can't wait for the summer for some evening cruisn' :car:



Wout_RS said:


> Hi Jochen,
> 
> how do you know when they used silicone spray for the plastics?
> because when i use AG vinyl & rubber care it looks almost the same when not whipping of.


I was just guessing that because is was shiny, sticky and difficult to remove.


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## Jochen (May 21, 2007)

Dift said:


> I found the same thing with my old MX5, the paint was so hard.
> 
> Looks lovely though. They are good looking and fun cars, albeit a bit juicy for what they are.


The front bumper and hood are resprayed on this MX5 so I thought that would be the reason for the hard paint but the rest was just the same.
I prefer hard paint over soft paint anytime though. 
Solid black soft paint: imagine the horror!!! :lol:


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## sohail (Jan 23, 2013)

great job there


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## james vti-s (Aug 9, 2011)

I really do love the mx5 mx1/2 
I have a mk2 in red only mods are to help me fit in it 
Bucket seat and a small steering wheel being 6 ft 4 i had to do it 

Black suits the mx5 imo but not a 911 
Cheap fun and people that say othet wise with out sitting in one are w...ers


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## Jochen (May 21, 2007)

james vti-s said:


> I really do love the mx5 mx1/2
> I have a mk2 in red only mods are to help me fit in it
> Bucket seat and a small steering wheel being 6 ft 4 i had to do it
> 
> ...


Love it too, just a basic roadsterfor real fun on a budget. Always wanted one, so bought one when it still makes sence :thumb:


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## james vti-s (Aug 9, 2011)

Here is my baby, love this car










Machine Polished with fixers (2 stage) 
Waxed with valuguard carnauba cream wax


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## Jochen (May 21, 2007)

Paint looks great, nice wheels too :thumb:


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## james vti-s (Aug 9, 2011)

Thanks your wheels are ace too
Every one say bigger wheels and lower the ride hight how about no


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## deni2 (May 4, 2011)

Lovely work on Mazda, :thumb:.


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## colarado red (Jun 5, 2008)

Top work.


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## james vti-s (Aug 9, 2011)

thanks fellas


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## Jochen (May 21, 2007)

*Update: Cleaned the engine bay today!*

Me and my brother changed the timing belt last week and we spilled some coolant which I could smell in the interiour and the engine bay needed some tidying up anyway so here we go.

Whilst the valve cover was removed I gave it a good clean last week. Couldn't get it any cleaner...



















The engine bay, not to bad 'cause it was cleaned by the garage when I bought the car:




























First I removed the air inlet system to give me better access:










Took apart the airbox to give it a good clean:










After a lot of Surfex HD and elbow grease:














































Happy with the result


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## james vti-s (Aug 9, 2011)

have you got it undersealed


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## Jochen (May 21, 2007)

james vti-s said:


> have you got it undersealed


Nope, but as far as I can see it's rust free. If I was planning on keeing this one I would concider it though


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