Alright lets see if I can organize this some lol

Quote from Homeless_Drunk :

You..the tires on your ride are stretched.

Tires are 215/45/17 all around.. what's wrong with stretch?

Quote from Homeless_Drunk :

...and unless your bar is secured w/ sub-frame connectors I really don't see it doing any good in the car. Any moderate sized hit will rip it out or punch it though the floor without them. Seen that several times first hand.

Quote from Matrixi :

Won't a roll bar take out much of the usability of a 4 door family car though? I'd understand installing them on to some 2 door sports cars like an RX-7 or a Skyline even if it was just for the street and occasional track use, but not on to a regular hatchback.

Personally, I've found suspension tower bars (and extra subframe supports) to give plenty of extra body stiffness while still leaving the intended space for the rear seats.

The mazda 3 is a unibody; there is no frame. We have a front and rear subframe, only for suspension. The floor boards on a 3 are about a quarter inch thick maximum. Welding in a rollbar with a box would be actually worse than having a 6 square inch plate; it puts the load over an area; if I boxed the ends like some people thought was the right way to do, I would have to recut the bar, make a box, put the box right back where it would be.. on less than quarter inch thick aluminum.. which .. would do more damage.

As for rear seats; my rear seat has been out of the car for about half a year now and has no intention of ever going back in place.

What would be the purpose of having a rear seat in a car as low as mine, and with fitment / rubbing issues. With my old tires and friend in my car alone it was bad.. having 3 more people on top of that? No way; it would destroy my struts having that much weight in the back.
If no one has noticed it isn't exactly a family wagon for my purpose; I enjoy driving it hard, and typically don't have to take along an entire family either, hence the single seat.

Quote from Klutch :

Then that makes you a hypocrite
How is what you're doing any different to what we're doing?

That doesn't make me a hypocrite at all; what you're doing is illegal and dumb. Which isn't at all what I'm doing, or ever plan to do.

I think this answered everyone's questions

Quote from XCNuse :

what's wrong with stretch?

Looks like you couldn't afford the right tires?

Quote :

The mazda 3 is a unibody; there is no frame. We have a front and rear subframe, only for suspension. The floor boards on a 3 are about a quarter inch thick maximum. Welding in a rollbar with a box would be actually worse than having a 6 square inch plate; it puts the load over an area; if I boxed the ends like some people thought was the right way to do, I would have to recut the bar, make a box, put the box right back where it would be.. on less than quarter inch thick aluminum.. which .. would do more damage.

I'm aware that the mazda 3 is unibody...not only would a weld in be safer in the event that you roll over while driving to a car show...but it would make the lil econobox a lot more rigid...but you don't even need the thing as the scca class you'd fall into doesn't require one...also wasn't aware you're worried about "damage"...I don't really consider welding in a cage damage...

Maybe I'm just a function over form guy...if I were to put a big gaudy bar in my vehicle it's going to be secured to the sub-frames and give as much of a benefit as it possibly can...even then I wouldn't even think about it unless it was required...seems you just wanted one for aesthetic purposes...

Quote from Homeless_Drunk :

Looks like you couldn't afford the right tires?

Stretched rubber is the shiiiitttt

Check out these :

Quote from BlueFlame :

Stretched rubber is the shiiiitttt

Quote from pearcy_2k7 :

racing to checkpoints on public roads in a group of im guessing 30 cars?

Theres usally about 60-100 on your average cruise...on the larger ones there can be well over 500, 4 years of cruising ive seen 2 1000+ events.

Quote from XCNuse :

That doesn't make me a hypocrite at all; what you're doing is illegal and dumb. Which isn't at all what I'm doing, or ever plan to do.

You said you enjoy driving the car hard, just above the paragraph, and you've said you've been to twisties a couple of times?

What do you consider driving hard? Acclerating hard to the speed limit and then stopping?
If you've ever gone over the speedlimit when driving hard, it makes you a hypocrite, because what they're doing is no different to you. They're speeding, You're speeding.

Quote from dadge :

I understand what Klutch is saying but i don't agree. Even if he didn't break the speed limit, it's his money he's worked hard for. So imo, he's entitled to spend it how ever he wants. If everyone agreed on what he's doing then this would be a boring conversation. I like the look of the car. The work he's done on it is sweet. Not too much in the right places. It's probably a wee ripper on the track.

Don't get me wrong, i like his car, i just don't see the point of doing all that if you're not going to track it.
Remember when he had the tow hook...? lol

Quote from XCNuse :

Stiffness? **** yeah I notice it, my car is stiff as crap in the rear; I wish I had a full cage now because I can still feel the front end tucking around corners.

a feeling that is is course not entirely imaginary

Umm.....so why buy a 5 door hatch for your purpose? Sounds like you have every reason to buy a coupe.

Just because you really like the model? (which for a mazda the chance seems rather low )

A coupé is not always the better choice.. In his case i guess it wasn't really a factor for the mods...

Take my car. 4dr E36, they're lighter and stiffer then a coupe, you can also get rid of allot more weight than a coupe. Also very handy for me, i can fit up to 12-15 tyres in my car! Saves me allot of room in the van

Well out of the few options I had.. it came down to either a civic or a mazda 3. And honestly.. I like the looks over a civic any day, and the handling when stock was WAY better than any civic I had ever sat in.

Besides, it was a to and fro for college car.. and if you believe me; I could fit everything in my dorm rooms in that car and go home with no problem. I could actually probably fit a lot more now with all the missing seats etc.


lol my buddy traded me that damn tow hook for some helper springs so I'm glad I had it! Fair trade... nooooooooooooottttt hahahaha; hook was like $40 and I got springs that are like $200 (which .. why the hell do helper springs cost so much anyway?!)

No, going down heavily congested street roads I drive the limit; highway (depending on distance and whatnot) I usually go under the limit just to save on gas.. I usually care less about when I get somewhere if it's a long trip as opposed to how much money I have to spend at the other end.

To me there is a difference between driving hard, fast, and.. just being an ****.
By hard I mean there are turns I take that no one would ever consider on a normal drive.. and.. probably would be dangerous in a mini van or truck or whatever lol. By hard I mean I push the suspension and the engine; not hard as in I go 100 mph EVVVVERYWHERE BLAHHHHHRRRGGGGG I WINNNNN.. no, while I do take turns hard and push the engine every now and again depending on road conditions, I'm not an **** and try not to do to many illegal things; although I'm pretty sure the turn I took heading up to work yesterday was probably illegal; drop into 2nd, floored it, got up to probably 60+ in a 45 zone and took a hard turn across a 2 lane intersection.. no rubbing, that was nice. Still need to stiffen my rear sway bar though.

My limits right now are my stocker's tires. High mileage, pretty sporty looking things though; Riken Raptors. They're junk LOL! But I know what they can handle for the most part, so I stay within my limits.

I'm just not one of those plonks in their brand new BMW they spent $50k on and go blazing up the highways at 90mph swerving in and out being an ****.
I may drive hard at some points; but on streets with traffic I'm usually as polite as possible, but do have fun every once in a while.

@homeless.. no, I could afford them, but I'm happier I spent $100 less than I would have if I went with Falkens over the Proxies. But if I did get the "right" size.. whatever the right size is; I can promise you my rear fenders and front fenders would not be alive anymore.

My rears really don't have that much stretch.

You want to see ugly stretch? Check these out; this guy just bought some rotiforms and got the ugliest stretch ever. I'm all for a little bit of stretch like mine, but.. stretching tires to.. stretch them? .. ew.
The tires don't even FIT!
This is way beyond what stretching should ever be. If you're going to stretch, at least let the sidewall come near the lip. There's like a freaking inch gap between sidewall and wheel lip! WTF!





That is ugly.
lol you wanna talk about buying the right size? I'm only off by a few mm... this guy is off by like a foot.

Watched my mate on the R1 drag two lamborghini's one midly modified one and one stock one.

smashed them both

but then a 600awhp managed to keep up with him to around 250kph

Yamaha R1? Should pull faster than any car with 600whp right?

yeah, yamaha r1
its only a stock 2001 r1..not the more powerful later models

previous owner did a 10.2 at the track, so i dont see why a 600awhp gtr couldn't keep up. (Note how i said keep up, i didnt say beat )

was a pretty good cruise tonight, mate smashed some high powered and luxury cars, did some skids, avoided a police roadblock

fun times =D

Is your real name Colt? Or Tray?

nice http://vimeo.com/29184991

we actually need a topic for all car related stuff, this doesn't suit here

Will people ever stop coming to this thread to talk out of their arses? It's for appreciating cars, not crapping over them. If someone wants to drive a modded Mazda (which I think is awesome looking, even though things like that aren't normally my cup of tea), it's their business.

Anyway, I'm here with a new addition. I'm keeping the BMW, but a new job means commuting, which isn't a good idea in a 36yr old car that gets 30mpg. Needing a very economical car quickly meant I had to go with whatever was in stock at the dealers around me.

I ended up with this. Don't be fooled by the amazing looks, it's a 1.3 diesel (though it has the body kit and suspension of a VXR). Handles like it's on rails, goes like it's dragging an anchor. Brilliant to drive on twisty roads (more fun to drive a slow car fast, and all that)

Quote from Agniz :

nice http://vimeo.com/29184991

we actually need a topic for all car related stuff, this doesn't suit here

racing videos in General Racing Talk

Both Focus'es on right and left side. The old one on the right side is slow but very fun to drive! I really love it.

I also (rarely) drive Benz C180 (1.6L engine)

The stretch battle is on!

Awesome arch

Quote from XCNuse :

To me there is a difference between driving hard, fast, and.. just being an ****.
By hard I mean there are turns I take that no one would ever consider on a normal drive.. and.. probably would be dangerous in a mini van or truck or whatever lol. By hard I mean I push the suspension and the engine; not hard as in I go 100 mph EVVVVERYWHERE BLAHHHHHRRRGGGGG I WINNNNN.. no, while I do take turns hard and push the engine every now and again depending on road conditions, I'm not an **** and try not to do to many illegal things; although I'm pretty sure the turn I took heading up to work yesterday was probably illegal; drop into 2nd, floored it, got up to probably 60+ in a 45 zone and took a hard turn across a 2 lane intersection.. no rubbing, that was nice. Still need to stiffen my rear sway bar though.

My limits right now are my stocker's tires. High mileage, pretty sporty looking things though; Riken Raptors. They're junk LOL! But I know what they can handle for the most part, so I stay within my limits.

I'm just not one of those plonks in their brand new BMW they spent $50k on and go blazing up the highways at 90mph swerving in and out being an ****.
I may drive hard at some points; but on streets with traffic I'm usually as polite as possible, but do have fun every once in a while.

What you do is no different to what i, or the people in those videos do.

Most cruises happen late at night (10pm, and will sometimes go to 3am+) so theres not many cars around at these times.

Quote from Scrabby :

The stretch battle is on!

Old foto is old
Post a pic like that with the borbet wheels

no updates since I posted pics last time.. but I thought a clean car and nice weather make a good combo for new pics

Still having fun with this one... (semi-slicks this season, very niiiiice! )