FS: [ebay] sp20 steering wheel

[chicaboo]

Well I actually just looked at the damn link finally, it's not an SP20 wheel afterall, and even though the guy calls it a 323 Protege 2001 wheel, I'd say it's an MX5 wheel or something he's got from the US that he's found won't work on our local cars...
Sending the guy a Q about it's origin...

[twilightprotege]

yeah good idea (to email the guy that is)

[chicaboo]

FMD! That was a fast reply:

"Hi. This is a whell genuine come from Mazda Protege import from Japan.I have no idea they suit to Astina but i use to sell the lot of them till last year (sell wrecker).Nobody make complain as they all use to fit on Australian delivery Protege.This one is last one i have anyway."

OK, beautiful Engrish he has... Anyhow, he reckons they work on the cars here, and since it came from Japan where our cars were built it's a safe bet it's compatible.
Hmmm, fighting the temptation to spend, grrrr, hard to resist...

Anyone know how hard it is to change/fit these?

[chicaboo]

Damn, another quick reply:

"Steering wheel belongs to BJ Protege 2001.I guess the best idea is to contact Mazda spare parts dealer.They can tell you if any different between Asina nad 323 Protege."

It looks like it's a safe bet that it'll fit my car. Not sure this guy will win any grammer comps though...

[platypus]

hmm interesting to look at the other auctions... grammer looks very good, and person looks like they'd have a clue...

whats with the colour difference on the wheel???

[chicaboo]

Colour difference? It's Gnardi black I assume, same as the other black tones? No unusual accents on it that I can tell...

[platypus]

i can, the wheel is shiny, the centre is dull

[chicaboo]

oh, it's not been cleaned by the looks, I've asked for some big photos of it to see if it's shagged or not. The grip is a different texture, so maybe in the sun it comes up different. I suspect some Armorall would fix it...

[platypus]

armorall not good for leather, it dries it out

[arden]

Armorall is like poison for ur interior

[platypus]

meh, its ok on plastic, just don't get it on your windows, carpets, or leather...
was a get out of jail free card for my guitar case, and my old civic, they looked terrible, and you could see the surface drying out, so used the amorall, and it gets vinyl/plastics coming back up... all the hairline cracks disappeared...

[TStar]

hey chicaboo, still looking for a steering wheel conversion .) ?

[mrpayner]

Originally Posted by ahb11m

meh, its ok on plastic, just don't get it on your windows, carpets, or leather...

Unfortunately it's crap on plastic too.. The problem with Armorall is that it magnifies the suns harmful rays. So if you're putting it on your dash, after a few years [or maybe many] it's going to crack worse than a crackhead on withdrawl!

I found that out when i had my Corolla, and stopped using it after that.. I didn't like the idea of my dash prematurely aging.. Oil of Olay might be a better option, or at the very lease some other moisturiser to keep it looking youthful, healthy and vibrant!..

AP

[chicaboo]

I dunno, I just got my first bumper scrape ever this morning so I'm not in a good mood about anything at the moment...

The car might aswell be a ****ter now,
Grumpy Gav!

[woofy]

I used amorall for years....it was fine in my old car...but I've since moved to the touchseal inside stuff cause its not greasy and you can use it on the silver seat inserts on the SP20 without it ending up all over your clothes as a greasy stain. Its also water soluble (whatever it is) so you can just clean over it with a damp cloth and not have to reapply it all the time when dust gets on it.

[skippy]

I thought the problem with armoral was it was good while using it as it is designed to soak into the material, thus adding moisture and shine. But then when U stopusing it dries out the inside of the material as it has replaced the natural oils in there,

Or something like that,

(Please no comments about the natural oils found in plastic)

[skippy]

Gav sorry to hear dude,
Beyond a buff???

Thought the tenant who parks next to me had done something like that to me this morn, dirty big blue mark along my side of her white car, blue like my blue, farkkkken BITTCCH where’s my rifle,

no sign it was from my car but.

[chicaboo]

Ta dude,

I can rub out most of the rash, but there will be a black racing stripe where it's gone through to the plastic, but I'm lucky it didn't punch the plastic inwards as I've seen on a few other similar incidents already.
The problem is that the clip on the headlight snapped as the top part got pushed out by the bottom going inwards, I picked up some replacement clips this afternoon so I will see how salvageable it all is tonight...
It doesn't look like the loop on the bumper that hooks onto the clip has torn, but I think it might be pretty well shagged by now, since it was a bit dodgy from so many operations before this unfortunate event.

While I was at Mazda I asked about the wheel fitting, and in typical fashion they had no farken idea... Same way noone knew if the SP bodykit would fit on the 1.8 before I did it, tisk tisk!

[woofy]

hey chicaboo does the SP bumper lower black grille just clip in and out...or is it likely if its done too many times that the clip or the slot they go into (the slot being part of the bumper)....will break. We got the new lower grille put in last week and for some reason they glued the corner that kept coming loose (which was why they replaced the grille). I'm wondering if they broke the slot on the new bumper when it was fixed last year and thats why it kept coming loose before. ie both the tab and the slot were broken..so they put a new grille in that had an intact tab but still glued it in, cause the slot was wrecked as well.

[chicaboo]

Hey Woofsta,

The lower grill should be removed with care, but then it should also simply press in from the outside of the car while the bumper is secured. If you just yank it off something will break, usually it's just the lugs on the grill itself...
The person who originally owned my bumper (and the whole kit for that matter) was a bit careless, the lower grill that came with it had lugs missing. Add to that it had been spray painted, so I just got a replacement grill 2nd hand.