Stance Is Everything.... It's all about how it sits » lowered mazda 3

In the fog

DaveT — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:04:40 +0000

Almost any car that I choose to post after an intense two weeks of SEMA coverage is bound to look pretty tame so instead of putting someone’s ride directly up against all those high dollar, very sick, builds I figured I might as well put mine up first.

These pics were taken by my girlfriend about two weeks ago, the night before I converted my ride to winter mode, and now looking back at them I have realized just how long of a winter it is going to be

Axe murder scene right here

I have yellow fog overlays which I guess do nothing for the output

'Twas the night before wintermode

and now….

Lip off, rims off, steelies on, height same

Our first accumulation here in Mississauga, melted soon after

Next season the only change aesthetically will be new wheels at 18×8 and around 38 to 32 offset. I want something a bit more aggressive but nothing I have to be too worried about driving on a daily basis around here.

My current wheels would stick around for track days/ auto-x if I can finally get my sorry self out to one.

Photo Credits: Elle Marie Photography (new site!)

Victoria Day Mazda 3 Photoshoot

DaveT — Mon, 31 May 2010 17:36:00 +0000

Last week my friend Chris, from Toronto Mazda 3 gave me a shout asking if I wanted to take part in a little photo shoot/meet on the May 24 holiday Monday.

Having nothing better to do I cleaned my car, grabbed my girlfriend and headed out, here are some of the resulting photos my girlfriend took of the day.

Group shot of all the cars, notice I am the only hatch...

The man who organized it all

I still think one day I am going to end up with a set of rx-8 rims

When Joe first got this car I was skeptical of the color but it looks great now

Can not wait until my correct size spacers arrive

This is Lyndsey's favorite shot of the day

The reflective building was her idea

Angry Monkey!

Ryan's car is still changing weekly

Ryan and I hung around after everyone left to discuss BC coilovers as he is on them

Do not worry I have more low coming soon

TM3 guys if you want high res versions of this shoot just send me an email.

Inspiration

DaveT — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:08:39 +0000

I saw this car in the Mazda3Forums aggressive fitment thread and immediately realized that this is the look that I am after for my car, a reasonable daily drivable amount of flush mixed with a nice stance.

I have quite a few of these same mods already so I just need to get my fitment a bit more on point and I should be looking pretty legit…

Our cars are near dead ringers here, I guess my wheels are gram light reps... oops

New paint, new wheels, new fitment

I am on a fence about that hatch wing...

I am however not on the fence about a shaved hatch, love it!

The vitals on this set up are:
Wheels: Enkei RPF1 17×9 ET45 (+5mm spacers in the rear)
Tires: Federal 595 SS 215/45-17
Suspension: Bilstein B8 shocks, Eibach Sportline springs (1 ring cut F & and 1.25 ring cut R)
Bodywork: Rolled fenders

For me this means that my 7 inch wheels are way too narrow and my next set (which I have been passively looking for) needs to be wider or have a lower offset (my current will be ET38 Monday which is an improvement but still.)

I could also probably get by with 45 profile tires as oppose to 40s with my next set as well. Finally though I am on the same springs as this 3 owner I have not and will not cut my springs as I would rather, eventually, put on some coil overs and really dial in my setup from both a performance and aesthetic perspective (I am on Sportlines and Yellows now for those keeping track).

Either way it was great to see this.

Event Coverage: TM3/NextMod season opener

DaveT — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:22:17 +0000

On Thursday April 15th the Toronto Mazda 3 Club kicked off their weekly ‘AA Thursdays’ meets at Next Mod in Markham.

The last time I had been to Next Mod was the grand opening and I figured that the turnout to that event couldn’t be rivaled by this one but boy was I wrong.

Not only did members from the Toronto Mazda 3 club come out in large numbers but so did people from the 6 club, and jdmrides.ca. It’s a good thing Next Mod has lots of parking.

Store shots

Since it was a little cold the store was packed most of the time but I did manage to get a shot of Next Mods new signage and a shipment of Rays wheels.

Nothing must be more satisfying than having the name of your company on a building like this

Genuine Rays wheels in the showroom

Non Mazda 3′s

Even though this meet was most heavily advertised on the Mazda 3 forums, whenever there is a car meet in our area it’s expected and welcomed that other people come crash it.

Nice looking EK hatch

Spenser aka KnightX came out in his clean orange EG

I love is300s and this one on VIP wheels was no different

The Next Mod IS350 is super clean

Green rims have been gaining a lot of popularity around here lately

Yellow FD crashing that party

Perfect stance on this TL

This Voltex 350z attracted a lot of attention

The Amuse GT1 kit is a bit much for me but it was nice to see it in person

Mazda 5′s and 6′s

There were quite a few of these guys out but since I forgot my tripod and where they were parked was kind of dark I wasn’t able to get too many shots of these guys, sorry dudes.

Marlon at OMGPancakes will love this one

Nice oem styled dropped six

Row of sixes

The Ladies of Toronto Mazda3

Unlike most other car clubs I have been a part of the Mazda 3 women are just as active on the boards and at the meets

Crystal just got her new wheels on and a lip and drop are coming soon

RX-8s are a great looking oem rim, this car also has purple angel eyes

One of two girls in the club rocking oem BBS wheels from another manufacturer

These STI BBS wheels look downright amazing on the 3

Mazda3 Sedans

This sedan was rocking black on red...

...while this car was doing red on black

While hard to see this car was wearing a set of wheels I had never seen on a 3 before

Clean sedan on smoked chrome wheels

Quite a few tm3 members have picked up cf hoods this year

Along with the side skirt extensions

The first two cars in this lineup are ever changing

Ryan had an interesting set of decals, silverish white at first glance

But then reflective silver under the right light

This member moved from a first gen to a second and is already knee deep in mods

He's actually using two sets of springs to achieve this stance

Hatches

White is probably the most popular color on the board.

Black on white

White on black

White on white

It's really hard to expose the color of these rims but they are a nice gloss brown

This is a beautiful color

This speed3 owner is all about the track days and rocks custom powder coated Rays wheels

The polished lips look great on these RPF-1 reps

This second gen his happy to be dropped

Girlfriend shot my car

DaveT — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:40:00 +0000

I’m not a really big self hype kind of guy I would rather toss over the accolades to someone else and let my work continue to be the platform to showcase the work of others. So that being said here is a collection of exceptional photos of my girlfriends first foray into automotive photography using my ride as the test mule.

Lyndsey did an excellent job of choosing great locations for all of these photos all I had to do was wash my car, show up, and park.

For those of you viewing from out of town (or even out of country) all of these shots were taken at Exhibition Place in Toronto with the backdrops spied out by Lyndsey’s creative eye.

If you want to head out and use this venue for photos of your own security is really light on days when there are no events.

What looked like an average wall to me turns into an artistic backdrop

Glad I washed my car

The architecture around the Ex is pretty rad

What's ground clearance

Sunday is a bike company if you were wondering

Not a cloud in the sky

The chairs seen in earlier shots were used for these angles

I would have never thought of this

I like the green trim on the roofs

Just noticed the area is surprisingly litter free

This is one of my personal favorites

We were worried security would be all over us but no issue

Thank god I can reverse straight

Lyndsey's personal fav

This photo is a facebook fan favorite

Her photography site at ellemariephotograpy.com is not fully up yet but her email is up and running at ellemariephotography@gmail.com