Garage Vary Front Bumper

Darius · Postby **Darius** » Mon May 10, 2010 10:49 am

Hey Guys,

Recently had a new garage vary front bumper added to the 98NB. I had a hard time finding pics of one of these actually attached to an NB when I was first looking at getting this bumper installed, so for those of you out there considering the same change, he's a few pics of how mine turned out. I've very happy with the look of it, really gives the car a bit of attitude and adds a totally new look to it when you see it coming down the road.

Front

Front Angle

Side

The car also has OEM sports side skirts and rear spoiler. The number plate was added to the front using one of the number plate brackets that Richard from MX-5 Plus sells (its upside down). The actual bumper was sourced from Mx5 Mania. Thanks also goes to Ajay for answering all my Q's and helping everything go smoothly.

Next up is to add some new wheels, looking at adding some 16"Buddy Club P1 RACING SF in Gun Metal, but they are proving difficult to get in that colour. Don't really want any wheels heavier than 7kg so that the unsprung weight doesn't change the handling of the car too much and that's really limiting my choices!

Cheers,
Dave.

16bit · Postby **16bit** » Mon May 10, 2010 11:07 am

nice work dave!

hope you new cat doesn't scratch it

RawSouth · Postby **RawSouth** » Mon May 10, 2010 11:10 am

Looking great!

I like the red calipers too

sliq · Postby **sliq** » Mon May 10, 2010 11:15 am

you've got the smaller rear mud flaps too. nice one.

BadBong · Postby **BadBong** » Mon May 10, 2010 12:34 pm

Nice work.

Did you have to take anything off to fit that front bumper?

RG.net · Postby **RG.net** » Mon May 10, 2010 12:40 pm

Looks good, the only thing I don't like is that the front bumper hangs lower then the sides, but that's just me being picky.

I don't think I've seen a GV bumper on a red NB before either. :wink:

RaYmO · Postby **RaYmO** » Mon May 10, 2010 1:12 pm

Looks great... the rims now look too small against the larger kit IMO

You'd need to upgrade the size of the rims to pull this look off.

I've seen a silver one around the Gladesville area... Looks aggressive as hell with the right stance

Darius · Postby **Darius** » Mon May 10, 2010 2:25 pm

16bit wrote:nice work dave!

hope you new cat doesn't scratch it

Hah news travels fast, only told J that this morning. I've designed a cat proof system that involves a thick car cover and several empty boxes stacked on the car to prevent kitty attacks.

RawSouth wrote:Looking great!

I like the red calipers too

Thanks RawSouth! I was 50/50 on painting the calipers, but am really glad I did now.

sliq wrote:you've got the smaller rear mud flaps too. nice one.

I wasn't even aware they came in different sizes, thanks for the heads up on that one

BadBong wrote:Nice work.

Did you have to take anything off to fit that front bumper?

There was some molded hardened plastic behind the original bumper that wouldn't fit behind this one that got taken off. The bad side is this reduces safety for fender benders, but on the good side it weighs less now. Some reflectors were also taken off, as well as the mazda badge.

RG.net wrote:Looks good, the only thing I don't like is that the front bumper hangs lower then the sides, but that's just me being picky.

Hah I knew someone would pick that up! It's not lower by much, but if its sitting still and you look at it side on and are paying attention, you can notice it. The only solution is to add the Garage Vary skirts which imo, look a little too aggressive. I much prefer the original skirts, even if they sit just a smidgen higher

RaYmO wrote:Looks great... the rims now look too small against the larger kit IMO

You'd need to upgrade the size of the rims to pull this look off.

Totally agree! I'm currently look at getting some 16" wheels at around 7kg each, don't really want to get anything heavier as the mx5 is really sensitive to unsprung weight and the extra kg or two could effect the handling a lot. This unfortunately is limiting my choices... i'm a little too picky when it comes to rims

Any suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks for all the comments guys!

16bit · Postby **16bit** » Mon May 10, 2010 2:57 pm

http://perfectrun.jp/src/detail.php?pid ... t_mode=pmk

get those.

or these.

http://perfectrun.jp/src/detail.php?pid ... t_mode=pmk

Hammer · Postby **Hammer** » Mon May 10, 2010 4:55 pm

Nice!! The size kit matches the front GV bumper beautifully.

I've seen the same GV bumper fitted without the size skirts and it looks like a shovel at the front when viewed from the side.

I'm loving the red in the NB also. Never used to but looks good.

silvermiata · Postby **silvermiata** » Mon May 10, 2010 5:39 pm

nice looking nb Dave.

I also recently fitted a gv bumper on my nb. Did you have any space or fitment issues between the bonnet and the bumper? it looks like my bumper needs some spacers where it meets the bonnet so it could sit a little higher or more flush to bonnet... i am just curious to find out if i did something wrong while fitting it, or missing some spacers..

Darius · Postby **Darius** » Mon May 10, 2010 5:51 pm

Hammer wrote:I've seen the same GV bumper fitted without the size skirts and it looks like a shovel at the front when viewed from the side.

Hah agreed, i've seen another red NB with the same bumper and no other body kit parts. It look like some kind of giant scoop used for kids on the road.

silvermiata wrote:I also recently fitted a gv bumper on my nb. Did you have any space or fitment issues between the bonnet and the bumper? it looks like my bumper needs some spacers where it meets the bonnet so it could sit a little higher or more flush to bonnet... i am just curious to find out if i did something wrong while fitting it, or missing some spacers..

I had exactly the same issue so don't worry. The bumper doesn't sit quite flush with the bonnet, probably a few mm lower than it should. It's not extremely noticeable unless your side on and looking very closely. It's something I can forgive though since the overall bumper looks really good, if you do come up with a solution though, let me know :idea:

Got any pics of yours?