Is there a Pelican-Equivalent for Mazdas?
 

Hi all:
As someone recently-married, I inherited the duty of maintaining and repairing my wife's Mazda 3 from her father and brother. Since she has kept no service records and has no idea whether the maintenance schedule has been followed (except for oil changes), I'd like to get the usual stuff (filters, probably plugs -- the car has 90K and I'm pretty sure they haven't been changed) done before the snow starts to fly.

Now, for Porsches, there's Pelican and Suncoast; for Volvo, there's IPD; is there an equivalent for Mazdas? I'm just looking for good, high-quality parts from a distributor that specializes in the brand. So far, all my Internet searches have turned up cheap and flashy "tuner" companies, as well as all-makes distributors like JC Whitney (which I'd have no problem using, but want to see if there are any make-specific companies out there).

Anyone know of anything like this?

Thanks!

As near as I can figure, there's no place like Pelican.

A ton of internet exspurts out there tho. you may have better luck, tho. My latest search was for my new (to me) Miata...not as bad as the Mustang crew, but pretty hopeless.

Maybe some help at

miata.net

MOSS does Miata, maybe others?

Plugs and oil are straight forward.

The other two maintenance items are motor mounts and struts.

Upper motor mount is on the passenger side. Shine a light under the visible rubber puck. If there are dark / black streaks running down the mount is torn and the fluid has leaked out.

If you are replacing it may as well do all three, upper, lower and tranny mount although I've never seen the tranny mount fail.

Struts go around 75k. Typically the passenger side first. You should be able to feel that when driving over bumps, feels like being out of sync while dribbling a ball close to the ground if that makes sense.

******** has all parts reasonably cheap. I get all of my Mazda stuff from them.

For struts / shocks the Sensen units are a great value and valved a bit stiffer than OEM, nicer ride IMHO.

That's about all you need to know.

Oh yeah, rear brake calipers are turn and push to compress the piston. Needle nose will work if you don't have the tool.

I was on Mazda247 when I had my Protege 5. As with most things Internet you'll find some douches but mostly it's just regular guys trying to get the most out of their cars.

I found out that many Ford parts are interchangeable with Mazda. Front stabilizer links on the Protege are too small but Escape versions are beefier and are a bolt-on.

Thanks for the tips -- I'll check out those sites!

While we are here... Anyone know a good site for Toyota Sienna's? I inherited one of those...

CJ welcome to life with a SWMBO. Hope it's going swimmingly. How's the new house?

I've bought a lot of oem Mazda parts from Med Center Mazda: Med Center Mazda Parts and Mazda Accessories

Just a Mazda dealer in Alabama, but they seem to have figured out that if they discount the oem stuff over the typical dealer prices, folks will buy.

They currently have free shipping through the 30th.