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

When backing up the other day, I misjudged my speed and, in between looking over my shoulder and looking at the backup camera's screen, hit a concrete pole at work. Damage was thankfully "minimal," limited to a cracked taillight and a scraped bumper. I'll buff the bumper out and see where that leaves me. The new taillight arrived today at the office, leaving me $256 lighter in the wallet. Brilliant Japanese design means that after 15 pop-screws and three 10mm nuts, my handy 10mm ratcheting wrench and I successfully installed the replacement taillight. Mazda wants $500 for a single taillight, but I got mine off eBay from a junkyard in California. They were stripping the car quickly, it seems, so they cut it from the wiring loom, meaning it came with all the bulbs already installed. I just unplugged the old plugs (with their cut-wires) and plugged the taillight in, and everything worked like a charm. I did slice my finger removing the old taillight, but it's minimal.

New on top, old on bottom:
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Shaping up to be an expensive car month for me. Tires have been a little squirrelly in the rears in the rain, and seeing as we are heading into the rainy summer season here in Florida, I figured it was time for new tires. I've ordered 205/45-17 Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires from Costco, which will run me about $667 installed. I was originally going to go with the higher performance Bridgestone RE-11s, as they're on sale since they've been discontinued, but there's a $70 instant rebate on Michelin tires, which basically covers the installation of the tires. I've also ordered 3 quarts of Motorcraft XT-M5-QS transmission fluid, which all the Miata forums swear is liquid gold, and 1 quart of Mobil 1 75W-90 Synthetic for the rear differential. I should be good for the next 10,000 miles or so, until I have to install new spark plugs. That one I'll do myself; I figure it's just easier to have a shop do the fluids for me at this point.

Oh, and I'm due an oil change. Whee.

EDIT: Comparison between what I'm getting (on the left) and what's on the car currently (on the right):
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I have Pilot SuperSport's on my 1er. Fantastic! Absolutely awesome :-D

Thanks for the endorsement. I was a little bummed I wasn't getting the RE-11s or ZII Star Specs I really wanted, but when I saw the rebate, the price difference, and all the OEM cars that come with Super Sports, couldn't turn the deal down. I'm glad you like them; I'll have them put on as soon as Costco calls me.
 
Thanks for the endorsement. I was a little bummed I wasn't getting the RE-11s or ZII Star Specs I really wanted, but when I saw the rebate, the price difference, and all the OEM cars that come with Super Sports, couldn't turn the deal down. I'm glad you like them; I'll have them put on as soon as Costco calls me.

They have excellent grip and feel, ride very nicely, are quiet, stand up to a lot of abuse in normal driving and seem to last a long time!
 
Tires get delivered on Wednesday to my local Costco, so I imagine they'll get mounted late next week, or next weekend.

Meanwhile, my Chemical Guys leather conditioner and wax arrived, so it was time to bust out the pressure washer and foam cannon!


HEADPHONE USERS TURN DOWN YOUR VOLUME

Apologies for vertical video and phone quality, but it's hard to film and foam at the same time.
 
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Potato quality, but I think the wash and wax came out quite nicely!

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Nothing wrong with silver!

Tires have arrived at Costco, car gets new shoes tomorrow after work.
 
New tires, yay!

Two bent wheels... guess I'm going out this weekend to see if they can be straightened or if I have to buy some new wheels. Thankfully, they all hold air.
 
UPDATE WITH NEWS!

Found a set of four Grand Touring tires for $438 shipped. Going to swap out bent wheels for round ones, see if what's left if more or less curb-rashed than the remainder of the set, and then flip whatever I have left. I might be able to break even.
 
Wheels should arrive on Monday. Because I don't know WHEN (End of Day isn't helpful) and Tuesday is a holiday here in the States, I'm going to call Costco and book an appointment for around noon or 1PM on Wednesday to have the tires swapped onto round, rather than bent, wheels. I purchased a package at a nearby Mazda dealership where I paid them $129 and they'll align my car for free for as long as I own the car... suckers. So I'll have them do a quick oil change, and then align my wheels whilst I'm there. I need to go to that particular dealership anyway, as my friend is looking at getting an ND Miata or Miata RF, so I'm there to play "bad cop" and tell him to walk away from "bad deals" they're offering him.

Should be fun.
 
Wheels are on and aligned. Car is happy.

Car will be even happier after this weekend. I got a couple of Chemical Guys glazes, scratch removers, and waxes during Amazon Prime Day for 20% off, so I foresee a pampering day for my car coming up this weekend if everything arrives on time.


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Whelp, all my new polishes and glazes have arrived, and I've learned how to use them all. For the level of work I want to do to the car, I'll need to invest in a good polisher, so the scratches and such I want to remove will have to wait. As a result, I won't glaze the car either, because I frankly don't want to have to do it twice.

As an additional result, I'll probably end up getting more bits and bobs to add. If I'm going to do hours and hours of clay bar, paint correction, glazing, and waxing, I'll want to get good sealants to lock in as much of the work as I can. Maybe I'll be able to do it next month.
 
...glazing, and waxing, I'll want to get good sealants...

Wait! So Glaze and wax or paint sealant?
You?re not thinking about polishing, glazing, waxing and using a paint sealant are you?

More does not equal better and 90% of sealants won?t even cling on top of a wax - there are exceptions of course but...

If you polish it to perfection either a good quality wax or a paint sealant will do nicely.
 
Wait! So Glaze and wax or paint sealant?
You?re not thinking about polishing, glazing, waxing and using a paint sealant are you?

More does not equal better and 90% of sealants won?t even cling on top of a wax - there are exceptions of course but...

If you polish it to perfection either a good quality wax or a paint sealant will do nicely.

It's a paint sealant that's supposed to help lock in the glaze, and then you put your wax over it. Just helps the glaze last longer. This is the exact product:
http://www.chemicalguys.com/JetSeal_16_oz_p/wac_118_16.htm

Going off of this chart, it goes UNDER the wax. I wrote my post poorly; I apologize.
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Oh, got it...
Nothing wrong with that.

I don?t think it?s really necessary and the benefits of using a wax on top of a sealant are minimal, but it?s totally fine.
If you have the time, just go ahead :thumbup:


...as long as you have a sealant that does sit on top of glaze, because most won?t.
I?m sure the Chemical Guys system works if they recommend doing it.
 
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Wish there was better conditions out for photos, but I got the actual washing done in between two thunderstorms rolling through Central Florida. Clay bar, glaze, and wax were applied in my garage.

This was before the wax was on, still in the garage (iPhone camera quality):
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This is after the wax was on. I'll take more photos when the weather is better, as it was grey and cloudy out.
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She's a daily. The paint isn't perfect, there are chips from stones on the road, and some tree sap that I need a more aggressive clay bar to remove. But she does clean up nicely!
 
Update: Sun came out briefly this morning.

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Looks great with a not unexpected amount of patina. Mileage?
 
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