My beloved 2006 Mazda3 MPS is approaching ten years old (December).

So I've finally done some modifications … and I'm loving driving it all over again.

This is probably as much as I'll do - I'd like to upgrade the fuel pump as well but I can't really justify it as we are being forced to emigrate and so I'll need to sell my car

[1] Painted the exhaust tip black
I used a ceramic high-heat spray paint to change the colour from chrome as it's always being coated in carbon build-up. I'm supposed to cure it in an oven at 200 degrees afterwards but that's not really practical. It seems to be okay so far, although it does get a little soft after driving - let's see.

Here is before (cleaned) and after



[2] Painted my wheels black too!
For these I used acrylic paints.



I took each wheel off and gave them a good wash. I then used some sandpaper to smooth out any scuffs on the alloys and to also 'rough' them up a bit so the paint will stick better (I guess).



Obviously I taped them up to prevent any paint getting on the tyres … slipped some masking tape in between the alloy and the tyre and then used some newspaper to properly cover the rest of the tyre. And, obviously, I also taped over the valve stem.



I then gave them three coats of primer filler



I followed this with five coats of black …



And then finished off with 3-4 coats of clear



And the final result!



The paint took a while to harden completely (even after drying overnight, my fingernail could still make an indentation). But after several weeks of driving they are still looking great (IMHO)!



I did also consider painting the brake callipers black but couldn't be bothered - might've looked cool too … ?

In part 2 I'll show the engine upgrades I've done.