Ownership Verified: wdwben's 2012 MX-5 PRHT (yup, another one)

I have my car back now. The clutch is... very grabby, which isn't surprising for a Stage 1 clutch. I also have to relearn the bite point of the clutch, as I didn't own the car from new.

They also drained and filled the transmission fluid, so the car is shifting butter-smooth right now.
 
A new clutch might be in the future for my NC, as well. The bite point has been weird from the beginning, some forum peeps who drove it on last year's roadtrip can confirm :) Also I might be imagining things, but I believe to feel some slight slippage when accelerating hard from a standstill in low gears.

New trans fluid is awesome. I've had my trans and diff fluids done soon after getting the car, since the previous owners pretty certainly didn't bother. Do check when your diff needs attention, too - trans and diff oil replacement intervals are similar, as far as I remember the manual.
 
A new clutch might be in the future for my NC, as well. The bite point has been weird from the beginning, some forum peeps who drove it on last year's roadtrip can confirm :) Also I might be imagining things, but I believe to feel some slight slippage when accelerating hard from a standstill in low gears.

New trans fluid is awesome. I've had my trans and diff fluids done soon after getting the car, since the previous owners pretty certainly didn't bother. Do check when your diff needs attention, too - trans and diff oil replacement intervals are similar, as far as I remember the manual.

Yeah, I think I'm due quite soon. I think I even bought the right stuff a few months back and just haven't had a chance to get it done yet. I'm a bit tapped out right now because of that stupid bearing >_<
 

That wasn't fun to see. Four new tires have been ordered and will hopefully be mounted on Tuesday. I went with Bridgestone S-04 PP this go-around. Needless to say, the car is parked for now. I e-mailed my local Mazda dealership saying that their multi-point inspection should probably start inspecting more than just tread depth, since they said things were hunky-dory with my tires when I had my clutch installed. It's a good thing I had a slow-leak in my rear left tire that I brought to get plugged, or I'd have not noticed until I had a blow-out.

I'm also going to start doing my own bloody tire rotations, rather than trusting the dealership to do it for me. Also, they haven't been able to get me a new shift knob yet because apparently the one place that ships to the US doesn't have the knob, and the dealership wants to replace EVERYTHING. I told them just to buy a friggin' harness and ship it to my house, because at this point, I just want it to work again, and if I installed it in the first place, I think I can splice a harness together.
 
New shoes have arrived at Costco, and will be put on the car tomorrow.
 
New shoes are on the car. Since I have a couple of spare wheels, I asked to keep the nicer of the two front tires. I'll mount it on a wheel, and keep it at home as a spare tire, since the MX-5 doesn't have one or a space-saver.
 
Update!

The dealership didn't ask before taking off my gear-knob and broke the wiring the made it light up. I'm less than thrilled, and got less than somewhere with them having them source a replacement. I think I'm just going to order a replacement wire from England and do the install myself. Not looking to make that international phone call, though. Bollocks.

In other news, brakes were done over the weekend, by me. Only two small hiccups: I lost a brake pad retainer clip so I had to drive without one (out of four on the front driver's setup) while I bought a kit at a local auto-parts store. That was resolved quickly and easily. I also forgot to continuously check the brake fluid reservoir as I was resetting the brake pistons and there was a minor overflow. I cleaned it all up with shop towels, checked the level once I reset the calipers to a "working brakes" setting. Thankfully, the level is fine. I can't tell if the brakes feel a bit spongy or if I'm paranoid; I feel like I'm leaning towards the latter. However, I may ask to have the brakes bled next time I take the car in for an oil change, which will be soon.

I also rotated the tires while I had them off the car. And I need to swap over the wiper blades. But it's so nice to no longer have warped rotors. I was dealing with those for... 30,000 miles because I just couldn't be bothered.
 
So, I still haven’t remembered to order the wiring kit for my car. I should do that soon.

In happier news, today was my last payment on the car. Title will come in the mail shortly and the car is wholly owned by me.
 
Battery is very dead. Won't even take a jump, or my girlfriend's Camry doesn't have the oomph to boost my Miata. That doesn't feel likely. I have a feeling it's just dead; the Florida weather is pretty hard on batteries. Luckily, I buy a battery with a three year warranty and they always seem to fail two years in or so. Off to Costco over the weekend with the battery in the trunk for a warranty replacement. I think I only have to pay the disposal fee.

EDIT: Not that the disposal fee is too much money, but I like having the ability to drive. Does anybody have a recommendation for a trickle charger that's not silly expensive and preferably available on Amazon? I work from home full time (even pre-COVID) and so the car gets driven less and less now; it's probably a good investment.
 
I'd suggest ctek or defa trickle chargers, both have models with detachable cords from the unit, so you could keep the battery leads conencted to battery.
But neither is cheap when i looked at amazon prices :/

edit. i use Defa 4A one to keep my "scooter" topped up (and used to charge father car's battery).
 
BatteryTender is decent for the 'merican market. Also with detachable leads that you can clip or bolt on to the terminals.
 
In the interim, I cannot recommend enough Costco for car batteries. I bought my original 51R there in 2016, and it about 24 to 28 months into its 36 month warranty. I brought it into Costco in 2018 and they replaced it without question. As I mentioned previously, it cost me about $3.50 in disposal fees. When I went into Costco on Saturday with my replacement battery and receipt, they once again replaced it under warranty without question, costing me about $4 in disposal fees. For $75ish in 2016, I'm on my third battery and I have barely paid $80 total. What a good experience, and deal, when Florida eats batteries like crazy.
 
Big update time. After a health scare, my dad has asked if he can take over ownership of the Miata a bit sooner than I was anticipating, but nothing I can’t handle. Next month I will start my search in earnest for a replacement for the Miata. What will it be? Well, I’ll be going back to my roots a bit.

Frankly, now isn’t the worst time to be looking for a new car as the Miata is selling for double what it was last year for similar miles and lesser trim levels and the car I want is coming off lease for 2019 and 2020 models, which is when they added some features I cannot live without anymore.

Stay tuned.
 
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