An uncommon platform, but not in like a cool way - Mazda6

[Junya]

it looks good! blue with silver rims is always a winning combo. the only thing i would lose are the stickers and roof rack but everything else is on the right track!

[guanl23]

Nice job man, I drive a Camry and I always get second looks. People be like "is that a camry"?!

[keenan]

its funny because ive been thinking about this the other day. i wanted to know how this would look properly stanced

[rightfullrudder]

i like it!! how bad is maintenance on the s60R I was really thinking about getting one

It's a bit of a bear but if you DIY it's not terrible, just bad. Major problem areas are the Four-C struts and the angle gear, which is prone to fail. Big $$$ if that happens.

The Swedespeed R forum is a great resource.

[Zacne_4]

NIce and clean motor, good effort. Well done mate!

[LaMaR-]

I like it a lot, clean and simple.

[RU5TANG]

i like it!! how bad is maintenance on the s60R I was really thinking about getting one

[rightfullrudder]

Thanks everyone!

Latest pictures look really nice! I worked at a Mazda dealership for a few months(I rotate to different dealerships around the state for my work) and these actually seemed pretty nice to me.

Yeah, I didn't mean to come off as unhappy with the car as a whole. The 3.7 has a lot of power for midsize family sedan, and it handles pretty well especially now that the body roll is eliminated. Like 273hp stock and I added an Injen CAI and some Borla Pro XS with a custom Y-pipe a resonator delete. So I guess you could call it 275 now. No interior options though and the V6 only came with a slushbox!

[FunfGang]

Latest pictures look really nice! I worked at a Mazda dealership for a few months(I rotate to different dealerships around the state for my work) and these actually seemed pretty nice to me.

[Skraight.]

I like it

[Thom]

That actually looks quite nice man. well done!

[rightfullrudder]

Hey everyone, my name's Ben. I'm 19 and this is the progress thus far of my 2009 Mazda 6. Pretty much getting y'all caught up on the last year or so of the car's progress. I told myself I wouldn't start a thread and then never do anything, so I opted to do many things and then start a thread. As the thread title says, pretty much no one mods these cars, but it isn't uncommon in a cool, quirky Saturn or Civic wagon type of way. The second gen 6 was a bit of a sales flop and it gets overlooked for the 1st and 3rd gens. Or Camries. Or passing clouds.

Was looking at a Cobalt SS/SC but the dealer basically threw the car at me for a great deal and I could no longer afford to maintain my Volvo S60 R. The car had absolutely retarded wheel gap when I bought it. (It's a V6 with absolutely no options, so it has the 17s off of the 4cyl model.) Anyway, here's stock.





The first thing I did after I finished my spring semester was buy a set of B&G lowering springs to at least get rid of the wheel gap. Lesson learned; just save up for what you actually want. Also, there was still around three fingers of wheel gap front and rear.

Note: This was during my brief plastidip phase. We've all been there. Also smoked the ugly orange side markers!





For about the same price as XXRs alone, I found a deal on a set of Ray's/Volk/etc OEM G35 coupe wheels.
Specs: 19x8 +30, 19x8.5 +33; 225/40/19 and 225/45/19.

A lot better than the 17x7 +55 all around I had before. Yakima rack, for scene points! Actually, for holding my downhill bike. It was stolen so I guess I'm a poser now because I have no bike lol.





Retarded camber for being that high up. Note vanity plate; it was an impulse decision.





Now, this brings us to roughly today. There are very few coilover options for this car; the most popular of which is Ksport. (By popular, I mean like 4 people have bought them.) D2 Racing's headquarters is actually in Durham, NC so I decided to give them a call. Actually got a really good deal provided I picked them up and paid cash.

Installing them was a HUGE BITCH. I have little to no mechanical ability but I was not gonna pay $500 to get them installed by a shop. D2 didn't include M10 1.25 pitch nuts for the strut mounts, and we had to drill the OEM mounting holes out to 11mm to fit the studs on the front coilovers. All in all, we were working until 2:00 this morning. Drove it home, passed out, woke up, and took pics. This is my first lowered car so it's taken some getting used to! Let me know what y'all think as far as future improvements. I know it's not that low and I know it's not done.