CorkSport Performance would like to announce the addition of the 20 piece Extended Lightweight Lug Nut Set to its line of high performance Mazda accessories.
Crafted from 7075T6 aluminum, aerospace quality alloy that boasts an impressive ultimate tensile strength of 74,000 – 78,000 psi and minimum yield strength of 63,000 – 69,000 psi., the CorkSport Extended Lightweight Lug Nuts are guaranteed to hold up even under the most demanding driving conditions and weigh-in at a mere .8 ounces each, 29% lighter than the Mazda OEM lug nuts, making this an easy way to enhance the look of your car while losing unsprung weight.
Each lug nut is meticulously crafted from an extruded aluminum billet and CorkSport utilizes CNC machinery to ensure the highest grade of precision quality during production. The CorkSport Extended Lug Nuts come in black with CS laser etched logo for a long lasting, durable finish.
“Many of CorkSport’s customers spend good money on their wheels and want a good looking lug nut to compliment them”, said Rich Harris, President of CorkSport, “The CorkSport lug nuts are not only lighter-weight than traditional lug nuts but help to enhance the overall look of the vehicle, making this a styling upgrade that possesses performance benefits as well.”
The CorkSport Extended Lug Nuts have been developed specifically for Mazda and Mazdaspeed vehicles with 12mm x 1.5 pitch thread for exacting fitment and require a standard 19mm socket for installation. They are available for purchase at https://www.corksport.com/corksport-lightweight-lug-nut-set.html for $99.00.
I attended my first research and development meeting at CorkSport a couple weeks ago and spent the morning and well into the afternoon reviewing product submissions and discussing the viability and potential demand for each of the ideas that were submitted to us.
We reviewed over forty-five product submissions and ranked them on feasibility, development time, demand, and the value it would provide to our customers. Coming out of that meeting, I think customers will be pleased with some of the fantastic products coming to market over the next six months and though we are keeping our cards close to our chest on some of the exciting products we have in store for all you Mazda performance enthusiasts, I will divulge some the new products you can expect to see released in the coming weeks.
Lug Nuts – As early as next week, you can expect to see new CorkSport Extended Lightweight Lug Nuts added to our list of performance accessories. Thanks to the feedback from our Facebook Fans, we will be offering them in black as the overwhelming color of choice. More to come on this product soon!
Shifter Bushings – Coming up before months end will be the CorkSport Shifter Bushings. Removing unwanted play in your car’s shifter mechanism, our bushing kit will greatly improve the feel of shifting in your vehicle.
Gen 1 Mazdaspeed 3 FMIC kit for SRI – Expanding on the success of our recent Gen 2 Mazdaspeed 3 release of a FMIC kit for SRI, CorkSport will be releasing a version for Gen 1 Mazdaspeed 3 drivers by the end of the month! Like our Gen 2 version, the FMIC kit for SRI will provide solid power gains without the lag commonly seen in larger FMIC kit’s that require removal of the crash bar.
Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Sway Bar – Currently on a fall release schedule, the CorkSport Mazdaspeed 6 Rear Sway Bar will greatly improve handling by tightening up the rear suspension. The Rear Sway bar can be purchased stand alone or can be used to compliment the CorkSport Mazdaspeed 6 Front Strut Bar.
CorkSport LED Under Hood Lights – Also on the fall release schedule is a kit that will illuminate your entire engine compartment. The CorkSport LED Under Hood Lights are a low power draw kit that will attach to your battery, includes an automatic on/off switch and will cast a cool blue/white luminescence on your engine bay.
These represent just some of the products you can expect to see in CorkSport’s fall line-up. More will be introduced as the development and testing process winds-up.
It’s not often that you come across women that take the modified car scene seriously, but if you’re a female and know your way around your car, from installing a performance exhaust system to spending your weekend’s auto-crossing, there’s a place for you in the performance world too.
Domenique first became interested in Mazda performance when she went to the NEPOC meet in 2009 with her boyfriend Jordan in his RX8. She was immediately attracted to the great cars at the Spring Clean Meet and met some great people that turned her on to a whole new world of modding and performance. By June of 2009 she was hooked and knew that she needed a Mazda of her own to mod.
Initially Domenique wanted a Mazdaspeed 3, but when she saw the 2011 Mazda 2 Sport, she fell in love. “The car was the perfect size. I loved how light and small it was and how well it handled” said Domenique, “This was my first manual, but the Mazda 2 was so easy drive, it was cake to learn.”
Wheels and lowering springs were the first priorities on Domenique’s list when she began her new project car. After talking with one of our CorkSport experts, she settled on the H&R springs and also decided to purchase a CorkSport Rear Torsion Bar to add much needed roll resistance to the rear of the Mazda 2.
“What an improvement in handling!” said Domenique, “The car not only looked much better, but the handling got much tighter and the turn response improved greatly.”
She decided to go with 15’s on the wheels to keep the weight of the car down and went with powder coated Kosei K1’s 15×7 with a +27 offset.
As her first power upgrade, Domenique installed a CorkSport Short Ram Intake which gave the car a noticeable gain in power and a nice grunt to the engine and has since added a Power Pulse Muffler Exhaust.
Domenique’s new love for car modding has translated into another new love for autocrossing. On August 20th, she took the MZ2 out for the first time Auto-crossing at Renegade Miata and learned just what the car was capable of.
“I never really thought I would have been so interested in customizing a car. I guess I can blame it on my boyfriend, in a good way of course,” says Domenique, when asked about becoming a car enthusiast, “I love to go to shows and now my goal is to get better at Auto-Crossing.”
If you want to keep up with Domenique’s new and upcoming Mazda 2 projects, you can follow her progress on her blog, https://piinkdem.blogspot.com
Gwynne-
Featured Car of the Month September 2011 – Domii’s Mazda 2 September 13th, 2018CorkSport
Adding to the success of our Mazdaspeed 3 and Mazda 3 Mud Flaps, CorkSport would like to announce an extension of the CorkSport Mazdaspeed Styling product line with the launch of the all new CorkSport Mazdaspeed 6 urethane mud flaps.
Designed specifically for the Mazdaspeed 6, the CorkSport Mud Flaps offer superior protection against the elements, road debris and high impact rocks that are kicked-up by your tires while also providing your vehicle a streamlined sport look.
The popular CorkSport Mud Flap line is constructed from 80A durometer 1/8” thick urethane and includes a CorkSport logo laser-etched directly into the mud-flap that will never fade or wear off in even the most extreme elements. The adjustable design allows customers to install the rears to match the height of the vehicle and includes a template giving you the option to trim them to your liking.
Unlike rally style mud flaps, these mud flaps are a sleek 10” at the widest point on the backs and 8 ½” on the fronts providing your vehicle the optimum level of protection while maintaining a sport style design.
Demonstrating CorkSport’s mission to offer unparalleled service to the Mazda enthusiasts and support every make and model of the Mazda line, this is yet another product offering CorkSport has designed with the Mazdaspeed 6 in mind. The CorkSport Mud Flaps represent just one of the many products that are set to release in the coming months to support the Mazdaspeed 6.
The CorkSport Mazdaspeed 6 Mud Flaps will be offered competitively at $119.00 and include full color installation instructions, all of the needed installation hardware, and a template for customized trimming of the rear’s to accommodate the ride height of each individual vehicle.
In my last year of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah, I was able to participate in the Formula SAE program. The concept behind Formula SAE is that a fictional manufacturing company has contracted a student design team to develop a small Formula-style race car. Then the prototype race car is to be evaluated for its potential as a production item. When deciding what team I wanted to be on I chose suspension because I knew the real trick in making a fast car is designing a great performing suspension and tuning it to perfection.
In the formula SAE program, the suspension is unrestricted except for safety regulations. Most teams opt for four-wheel independent suspension and almost universally a double-wishbone. Active suspension is legal. Unfortunately, most of us can’t design a one-off suspension for our everyday cars, but we have the ability to upgrade and tune our suspensions to achieve handling nirvana.
The Mazdaspeed3 is a great platform to tune on for power and handling, however, it is a heavier front-wheel drive (FWD) vehicle and some measures need to be taken to minimize understeering. If you are not familiar with understeering, it is when the car doesn’t want to turn as much as you are telling it too. Many of you may have experienced this in other FWD vehicles over the years and know that this tends to be a universal problem. Actually, most production cars are designed to understeer from the factory for safety reasons, but it is especially prevalent in FWD cars. With a few tricks, you can make your car handle much better and minimize unwanted understeer.
The first step to achieving a great performing suspension is upgrading the rear sway bar. The CorkSport Rear Sway Bar is adjustable to help you tune your car to your driving style. By installing a stiffer rear sway bar, the car will want to lose traction in the rear first instead of the front, reducing understeer. If you go stiff enough, the car will begin to oversteer in hard corners, so we recommend starting in the outer-most position with our Rear Sway Bar. If the car feels like it’s still understeering, move the end link to a stiffer setting. If you feel like the car is oversteering too easily, move the end link to a softer position.
For the next step, the CorkSport Front Sway Bar would be a good path. Anti-Sway Bars do more than just keep the car from rolling side-to-side when cornering; they help with the weight transfer of the vehicle during a turn. Normally most of the vehicle weight wants to transfer to the outside tires, but a stiffer sway bar helps weight transfer more evenly, which means the outside tires won’t lose traction as easily. The reduced roll of the vehicle can also help increase driver confidence by improving the cornering potential of the vehicle.
With stiffer sway bars, more of the suspension load is transferred into the chassis. To combat this, extra bracing is helpful to keep the chassis rigid. CorkSport produces a great 1-Piece Front Strut Tower Bar that helps transfer the loads from the struts onto the car more evenly between the strut towers.
The CorkSport Rear Chassis Brace Set also reduces rear chassis flex by 15% which can help the stiffer sway bar in the rear by putting more force on the chassis. If you don’t want the full set you can also just get the Rear Chassis Brace that ties together the rear shock towers which will still help out greatly or you can get a CorkSport Chassis Brace to replace the stock chassis brace underneath the car which will increase the stiffness of the chassis between the Mazdaspeed 3 front and rear suspensions.
Once you have gotten to this point your chassis is well braced and your sway bars have reduced the weight transfer during cornering, but there are still a couple more things you can do. CorkSport’s newly released Lowering Springs will lower your car’s center of gravity and increase the spring rate over your stock springs. This provides a stiffer ride that will increase the handling performance of your car while still being great for the street. Not only do they add to the handling of the car, but they will also improve the look by giving your car a more aggressive stance and decreasing the gap between your wheels and fenders. Be careful not to over-lower your vehicle. While it looks good, it can negatively affect the suspension geometry by throwing off the roll center of the vehicle. The CorkSport Lowering Springs decreases the ride of your vehicle to achieve a great look while maintaining the geometry of the suspension.
After springs, upgrading the dampers would be the next suspension improvement I would recommend. CorkSport sells Coilovers for the Mazdaspeed3. These will replace your factory front struts and rear shocks and give you an adjustable rebound to help dial in your Mazda’s ride.
In this post, I have laid out a great path to making your Speed3 handle even more brilliantly than it already does, but remember, for those of you who autocross, check your rule book to see if any of these upgrades will force you to change to a faster class.
If you have any questions about these products please feel free to gives us a call or shoot us an email, we are more than happy to talk to you. Thank you for supporting CorkSport.
CorkSport LED Under Hood Lights – Also on the fall release schedule is a kit that will illuminate your entire engine compartment. The CorkSport LED Under Hood Lights are a low power draw kit that will attach to your battery, includes an automatic on/off switch and will cast a cool blue/white luminescence on your engine bay. 
Be careful not to over-lower your vehicle. While it looks good, it can negatively affect the suspension geometry by throwing off the roll center of the vehicle. The