Returning to us this week is previous guest blogger Kelly:
I thought I had squelched the discussion but apparently installing the CorkSport front strut bar on my Mazda 3 wasn’t enough to get the boys off my back. My point of view: “Why install a part when I have the boys to do it for me?” has failed. I’ve spent my entire driving career successfully avoiding getting involved. My tried and true method has carried me far, why would I want to rock the boat? I can take the grief; it’s only talk, right? Yeah right. You boys, once you get your meat hooks in, there is no stopping the you. Now it’s personal.
I first thought CorkSport Cooling Panel, easy enough, but I don’t have sedan. (Jake, product engineer god, I need a panel please.)
CorkSport Motor Mount Inserts? No… I have an automatic and a small child, and don’t want the car to vibrate that much.
Install the CorkSport SRI? Fortunately it’s on the car already. Plus, I read the instructions, way out of my league.
I finally settled on the CorkSport LED Kit– now there is something I can get behind and I don’t even have to open the engine bay, hurrah!
Step one: read the instructions. They look pretty straightforward. I briefly thought about taking the part home and giving it a try, but opted to stay here at CS. My reasoning was two fold- one, it’s the rainy season in the great Northwest and two, if I get in to trouble, someone can save my bacon.
The install: Per the instructions it should only take me 20-30 minutes in boy time. In girl time it took 45 minutes and I successfully installed every bulb backwards. Great.
I was totally stressed about pulling the map light out at the start of the project, come to find out that is the easy part. When I had to climb in my trunk for the trunk light and the license plates bulbs it got interesting, but I got it done without help. Then came the glove box light, lets just say things got a little hairy. I got the trim off easy enough and headed back inside to get a Philips screwdriver when Chris, aka Boy Wonder intervened. First just to get the correct screw driver, then he opted to follow me out to the parking lot to see how everything was going, knowing full well what was coming next…pulling the glove box out. I think he decided to help before I was having him order new clips and possibly fix the mess. Thank the manufacturer above, because I had no clue and it was quite a bit harder than I expected. Chris points me in the right direction and gave a helping hand, then took pictures that I’m sure he’ll hold against me in the future.
Overall the majority of the installation was easy. The glove box was a little harder than expected, but I’m glad I did it, the bulb was burnt out anyway. If you’re new to the performance part game this is an easy part to start with and it looks fabulous when you’re done.
– Kelly