welcome. look into Diablo tuners instead of the overkill tune. much easier to get a custom tune....if you ever have trouble with your overkill tune you will have to send your pcm to canada

 

Diablo hasnt come out with a tuner for the 07's yet have they??

 

These are direct quotes from 06MonteSS on another forum. Shoot him an email to see what that means: 06MonteSS @ diablewtune.com

 

Well, the weekend that I bought the car I brought it to the Firestone here in town and bought lifetime alignment coverage for the car. It was $150 bucks and I can have my alignment checked however frequently that I want for no charge for the lifetime ownership of the vehicle. Considering how the infrastructure is crumbling and there's grand canyon sized pot holes around here, it'll pay off.
Anywhoo, I brought it in for the alignment and they were the ones that told me of it. I can also tell while driving because even though the alignment is in speck, it still pulls to the right just a tad because of the wheel play. You can check yourself manually by jacking up your car, grabbing your tire and try wiggling it back and forth and up/down. It shouldn't move at all. If it moves, then your wheel bearings are wearing out.
As for my tie rod, whenever I take my first right hand turn of a trip, there's a very quiet/slight pop noise that comes from the front end. I think that's what it means. Also, to have the car drive straight, the steering wheel has to be slightly to the left. The bad wheel bearing attributes to that as well though I believe.
Question for you...Did you do a full trans fluid flush? or just a fluid change? I've heard that sometimes fluid flushes for these trannies can sometime kill em. How has your trans been since you did your work? Did you do it yourself or did you have it done, and if you had it done, what did it cost you? Guess that's more then one question lol. Thanks for the info!
Also, if I got any of the information wrong and someone here can correct me, please do so. It won't hurt my feelings =p

 

I did the change myself with my brother - who is a lot more mechanically inclined and has a hoist.
Just changed the fluids, from what i've read, flushing is bad.
The oil was normal priced, but the gasket is where i "screwed up".
I originally bought a cheap ($10) aftermarket one from a local parts store and it leaked. Turns out it didnt have the metal frame inside like the factory ones have. I chucked it and bought a gasket from a GM dealer and that cost $70. I don't know if i should have used my old one or if i paid way to much for the new one, but it has the metal frame in it, and there is no leaks. I'm still settling up the bills but with the loss of oil from the original change and the bad gasket I'm in for $200. But like i said, it's casue i screwed up and got the wrong brand gasket.
Everything seems good, i really just changed it becasue i had no records of the car so i didnt know if it had ever been changed.

 

First, congratulations on your upcoming wedding. That's awesome, man!

Now on to car things. I'm surprised you gave up a Mazdaspeed3 for a domestic V8 - that switch is one that one doesn't usually hear about. I was looking at the Mazdaspeed3 along with the MCSS I now own (2007, Laser Blue, 29k mi., had it for 2 weeks now). I'd heard good things about the Mazdaspeed. Very quick. Good power-to-weight ratio. Sleeper. But I bought American V8. Well Canadian, but whatever, lol.

Nice review, I posted one myself the other day, for 2 weeks of ownership. What did you own before the Mazda? Have you always been an import guy?

 

good write up. glad you are liking your car

 

Awesome that you are liking it!

 

Sorry for the late reply, last week was hectic.
Yea the mazdaspeed was a great car when it wasn't having problems. It was a really good sleeper and is the fastest car I've ever owned. My first car when I was 16 years old was an 85 SS. I sold it for a thousand dollars when I left for basic training with 280k miles on it and it still ran great. Before the mazda I owned a PT cruiser and before that a ford taurus. I always have liked imports but couldn't ever get my ducks in a row to afford one. I absolutely love the sound of a turbo spooling up. When I finally could afford one, i settled on the mazdaspeed. I had it for a little over two years and put nearly 50k miles on it. It was really fun to drive. Mine wasn't reliable though. A lot of people have really good luck with them while others just have horid luck. I felt bad every time I drove the car hard because I was waiting for something to break. I decided to sell it before something major went wrong with it and bought my second MCSS.
To the Mazda, I had window tinting done, a CPE intake, and a daylight demon eye kit that I installed myself. Not a whole lot. Mine was in the crystal white pearl.
In the two years i owned it I had several check engine lights(cylinder misfires/egr valve malfuntions/emissions control issues etc) a left rear shock that blew out on me, timing chain tick/vvt problems, two broken windshields from catching rocks(I know, not the cars fault but still a PITA and adds to the dislike for the car). I kept extremely good care of it also. synthetic oil changed every 5k miles, always high quality premium fuel. Washed and waxed every weekend. Anytime there was a problem i fixed it right away. So there wasn't any reason for it to have all the problems it had and it was agrivating that it did.
Right, so theres my rant on my last car lol. Hope i answered your questions

 

Thanks for the detailed reply. It helps everyone when things are put in perspective (for those of us who care to inquire, that is). Plus I learned something about the Mazdaspeeds. Thanks!