How many people r going to buy the new model ND

89red_OZ · Postby **89red_OZ** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 2:37 am

markwid wrote:Not sure if this has been shared here or not.

Here is the Canadian version of the ND owners manual.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B76IGanV9f4IVmRtTFF2N0pxc2M/view?usp=sharing

Excellent !!

Thanks for the link. It will give me something to read while I wait patiently for the next 3 to 4 months ;)

Cheers!

tennyson · Postby **tennyson** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 7:34 pm

Finished pic (this side only). I still have the right front wheel to do

And the original pic from Mazda that I photoshopped before doing the job.

Frank

Novice1 · Postby **Novice1** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 7:44 pm

Any links Frank on how to paint wheels like that.

Novice1

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 7:51 pm

What Mazda has done on every second spoke is use the "flow" of the spoke's twist to balance the silver and break up the red ...

Would like to see your's photographed outside in different light prior to judgment. Whatever - fantastic effort and bravery on your part on a brand new car & wheels!! Doubt I would ever be that brave!!

edit ... the wine's having an effect ... just noticed you said you photoshop'd that image DOH!! You didn't follow your design though ... the wider effect on that image following the twist suits the wheel better .... (3rd time edit lucky!!)

Hammer · Postby **Hammer** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 8:02 pm

I'm extremely tempted, as I like the ND. It'll be a 2.0 GT in Soul Red for me.

But I do not have any room left. The only way I can get one is if I get rid of either my Clubman or SP. And for now I love those two even more.

So sadly no ND for me, for now.

JBT · Postby **JBT** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 8:29 pm

Interesting how the Mazda photo shows a much smaller wheel/guard gap than reality.

tennyson · Postby **tennyson** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 9:26 pm

I think you'll find, John, that's the 17" wheels, cos the rotors are bigger than mine.

Novice, all the links are in my head. many years of painting things, houses, cars, etc.

Not a difficult job, tho.

Take the wheels off, mask them up with good quality masking tape. I cut my tape to 5mm strip widths, to get the strips even on the spokes and to get the curve on the fillets top and bottom.

I taped the back of the rim as well to prevent overspray. I also masked the tyres, right to the edge.

Then rubbed back the silver wheel coating with 1000 grit wet'n'dry. Wiped down with prepsol.
Two coats of undercoat. Another wipedown with prepsol.

Two coats of the base colour, which is a silver. Another rub, when dry, with prepsol.
Three coats of top coat (Red). Wipe down again with prepsol.

Three good coats of clear gloss with adequate drying time in between coats.

I then let them bake in the sun for about 4 hours and removed the masking tape, always pulling away from the painted surface.
There is an edge on all the spokes, but will let the paint harden for a week before, running the polish over them and removing the edge.

The colour is an exact match for the soul red, it would want to be.

I don't think there is anything brave about painting the wheels. At the very worst, if they hadn't met my expectations, I would have stripped them and re-painted the rims silver.
I did that to my NC, when I had a bit of gravel rash on the rims.

And Kev, I think you are confused with the American rims. We did not get the twisted spokes on our rims. All of the spokes are straight. In the original photo that I photoshopped, the rims were the twisted one's, so I fudged, and made all the spokes look straight.

Frank

JBT · Postby **JBT** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 10:24 pm

tennyson wrote:I think you'll find, John, that's the 17" wheels, cos the rotors are bigger than mine.Frank

Not sure about that Frank. The 17' wheel/tyre combination is only about 7mm bigger radius than the 16".

The brochure also shows the 1.5 having a smaller (and more eye pleasing) gap than reality.

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 10:27 pm

tennyson wrote:And Kev, I think you are confused with the American rims. We did not get the twisted spokes on our rims. All of the spokes are straight. In the original photo that I photoshopped, the rims were the twisted one's, so I fudged, and made all the spokes look straight.

Actually we will get the twisted spokes. :wink:

16" = straight spokes
17" = twisted spokes
17" BBS = expensive spokes! :shock:

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 10:55 pm

That explains why, when looking at your rims, I couldn't work out the different line you could have masked, to get the same effect. Wasn't just the wine

Yours still look really good.

tennyson · Postby **tennyson** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 11:57 pm

Hahaha....it's never the wine, mate.

And Nevyn, I should have qualified that statement and said the 1.5litre cars with the 16" wheels aren't getting the twisted spokes.

John, they probably did my trick and photoshopped the pic, or just lowered the car. They are air struts, so probably just let some air out of the strut....

Frank

JBT · Postby **JBT** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 6:43 am

I'll believe photoshopped or lowering springs Frank, more likely the former, as the car does not have struts. It has dampers (shocks) and they don't control ride height. The publicity photos of the NC were done similarly in that the car was magically lowered from the 4WD look by about 20mm to a far more aesthetically appealing ride height.

tennyson · Postby **tennyson** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 9:57 am

John, There are plastic caps on the struts in the engine bay. I took the cap off and it looks to be an air valve....must break out the book and have a look.

Frank

Novice1 · Postby **Novice1** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 11:22 am

Thanks Frank dor info on painting wheels.

Novice1

tennyson · Postby **tennyson** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 11:51 am

My pleasure, mate.

I'm just finishing off the last wheel now, so I'll take a few snaps of them up on the Coast in the coming days, in the beautiful sunshine.

I got exactly 4 wheels out of those pressure pack cans. They were 36 bucks each, but together with the undercoat, 2 cans of paint and a can of clear gloss, I think it came to about 100 dollars.
That's 25 bucks a wheel. I can live with that!

John, I checked out the struts, the caps are just nice little caps on the ends of the threaded section, not valves, as I thought...

Frank