Paulie's MG5 upgrades blog, Wheels, Suspension, Foot rest, & much more!

[Muffler]

Nice one! Placed the order for mine yesterday, in black…

 

[Paulie68]

Let's get started with some actual work then on this miserable, wet day.

Just a small job for today, removing the rear badging. This just looks terrible to my eye. All bunched up together, different sized letters, not even properly straight or aligned, it just looks nasty.

Here's how I remove badging without risking paintwork damage.

Start by washing around the badge area thoroughly with lots of soapy water and rinsing off. The idea here is to ensure there are no trapped particles of grit anywhere around the badging, as this could damage the paint during the removal operation.

I use a plastic card, credit card sized, as shown below, which I shave along the edge with a Stanley blade to create a very thin, sharper edge. I collect a few of these, whenever I go to our local hostelry for a carvery, they're on the bar advertising local businesses! They come in very useful for all sorts of scraping or filler spreading/smoothing jobs and don't damage paintwork!

Using the edge of the card with the area doused with soapy water regularly as I go, I slide the sharpened edge under the side of the badging, then saw it up and down whilst applying gentle pressure, until it cuts through the adhesive. It's important to keep the edge flat along behind the lettering and not to try levering the lettering off at all, if you do this, the chromed edges can be sharp and mark the paint, just cut all the way through and gently lift off the letters, one at a time. If you prefer, you can saw the letters off in a similar fashion with dental floss, or thin nylon fishing twine. Just ensure whichever way you do it, go slowly and lubricate with lots of soapy water.

Once the lettering is off, you'll be left with the remainder of the foam adhesive, well attached to the car. The next phase is to clean this off. I use white spirit. Start by soaking paper kitchen towel with it, then place it over the area and leave it to soften the adhesive residue for 10 minutes. Remove and carefully scrape as much of the residue off as possible with the edge of the card, or fingernails. It won't all come off at once. wipe the area clean and soak it again with more white spirit for another 10 minutes. Once it's nearly all gone, just polish off any residue left with a clean cloth damped with white spirit, until it's all clean. Finish by washing the area down with soapy water, rinse and dry off the area. Job done.

Lettering is undamaged and can be re-applied if desired by applying appropriate badge tape.

For now, I'm inclined to leave the car cleanly unbadged, but may consider re-applying some of the badging in a more appropriate place. The SW won't be going back on at all, but I might reuse the MG5 & EV badges as in the mock-up below.

What do we think, yes or no?

Or maybe just this, as does it really need a second MG as we already have the roundel?

We'll see, it's going to remain naked for now anyway.

 

[salty]

Like it. Much better, totally de-badged.

 

[Muffler]

Like what you've done in the first option!

 

[Paulie68]

I've done another bad thing...

Having been lead astray by those of you on here who are a very bad influence, I've bought a set of Zebedee's!

No, not that Zebedee, these...

Eibach E10-444-004-02-22

Current best place to buy these is https://www.autodoc.co.uk/eibach/21904505

Just under £238 delivered, but if you download their app. and buy on there, they're only £216.

Think that's a Cyber Monday sale deal though, so better be quick if you want a set...

The fun never stops.

 

[Paulie68]

Santa keeps turning up early with more and more parcels. I better get cracked on soon, as my better half is starting to get tetchy about "all the junk sat in the hall"! (The garage is already full with 3 cars and lots more junk!)

And now for some more mission creep...

I remembered by chance, that I had tucked away in the recesses of my garage, from back in the day, a new (now old stock!) Webasto Hollandia 300 Classic large, electric tilt and slide sunroof kit from 2007! (Yes, I'm both weird and old!(ish)) I was a bit of a sunroof enthusiast back in the day and have fitted a few Webasto roofs over the years, including a couple of these to previous cars I owned back in 1996 & 2006. They're a really high quality product. Sadly these are no longer available to buy due to a lack of demand, as cars mainly now come with sunroofs if desired and/or most people no longer modifying cars due to Leasing/PCP non ownership models being the norm in todays world.

So I dug it out and had a look at it for size. (Assuring my better half it's going back in the garage after I've finished taking measurements!)

It's still a big "maybe" at this point, but I've done some preliminary measurements on the car and studied pictures of it's sister, the Roewe iE5, that does have a sunroof and it's looking like a feasible proposition. so watch this space.

 

[salty]

I remembered by chance, that I had tucked away in the recesses of my garage, from back in the day, a new (now old stock!) Webasto Hollandia 300 Classic large, electric tilt and slide sunroof kit from 2007! (Yes, I'm both weird and old!(ish)) I was a bit of a sunroof enthusiast back in the day and have fitted a few Webasto roofs over the years, including a couple of these to previous cars I owned back in 1996 & 2006. They're a really high quality product. Sadly these are no longer available to buy due to a lack of demand, as cars mainly now come with sunroofs if desired and/or most people no longer modifying cars due to Leasing/PCP non ownership models being the norm in todays world.

View attachment 33105

So I dug it out and had a look at it for size. (Assuring my better half it's going back in the garage after I've finished taking measurements!)

View attachment 33106

It's still a big "maybe" at this point, but I've done some preliminary measurements on the car and studied pictures of it's sister, the Roewe iE5, that does have a sunroof and it's looking like a feasible proposition. so watch this space.

Like that! Tin opener at the ready?

 

[Paulie68]

Almost no progress on project "Pimp My 5" so far. Life and chores keep getting in the way. I'm hoping to get the wheels off and over to a tyre fitting place later in the week to swap over the tyres and sensors to the new set.

One small, but important detail is done though. The badges for the wheel centres finally got done. (Second time lucky, the first lot were no good and I'm still not 100% on these, as the logo isn't quite right, but they're close enough for wheel caps). So I mounted them on the clip in blanks and test fitted. Wasn't sure how good a match the silver was going to be, but it's spot on.

 

[Paulie68]

Actually drove the 5 for the first time today, since driving it home a couple of weeks back. Total of 60 miles, seems nice, not sure I love it yet though, but then my last car was a Model S, so it's not fair to compare it to that at 4 times the price! In comparison with my wife's LEAF, it's not quite as polished regarding the soundproofing stopping all the road noise as the LEAF does, and there's some A pillar wind noise, but it's pretty good, think it'll grow on me.

What absolutely won't grow on me and is now prioritised to job number one, is the removal or significant reduction in height of the drivers footrest, who in their right mind would sign off on how that's been placed?!

 

[Paulie68]

I've had an initial look at what can be done with the foot rest this afternoon and discovered it's actually easy to get out the foam block that makes it up. You just need to remove the panel to the right of the centre tunnel by removing a snap in plastic rivet and unclipping it. Then you unscrew a plastic carpet retaining nut under the pedals and the carpet can be pulled back from the corner with the foot rest to expose said block. It's bonded to the carpet with a thin layer of foam, but is easily teased loose and removed.

That's all I got done as it's got dark already, before 4pm! I now need to work out how best to rework the carpet neatly and fit a suitable, much lower, foot rest pad.

I'll photograph everything for reference once I've worked out what I'm doing and actioned it. For now, here's the block in case you were wondering what it looks like:

The 5 rest really is crazy high. I had a look at our LEAF for comparison, (which I find very comfortable for resting my left foot) and for comparison, the raised rest in that sits just above the carpet, about where I've drawn the green line!

 

[M44LCY]

Anybody knows what effect such modifications have on MG’s 7 year warranty?

I had my 2 year old in for a service last month. When I collected it, I was told that the gas struts for the bonnet were “an unauthorised modification” and that my warranty could be affected. Quite ridiculous - they don't adversely affect the car in any way. In any case, the car is owned not leased, so why do I need permission to modify my own property? I said that I had also changed the floor mats for others - do I need authorisation to do that? And where does the warranty T&C say authorisation is needed?

It's things like this which take the shine off the ownership experience!

 

[Paulie68]

I had my 2 year old in for a service last month. When I collected it, I was told that the gas struts for the bonnet were “an unauthorised modification” and that my warranty could be affected. Quite ridiculous - they don't adversely affect the car in any way. In any case, the car is owned not leased, so why do I need permission to modify my own property? I said that I had also changed the floor mats for others - do I need authorisation to do that? And where does the warranty T&C say authorisation is needed?

It's things like this which take the shine off the ownership experience!

Utter crap and I'd have told them so as well. You can do as you like with your own car!

The only thing they could possibly effect is if they caused any issue with the bonnet metalwork, ie, if they caused any damage to hinges or the bonnet itself, or rusting at the point they're mounted then the warranty wouldn't cover that of course.

I absolutely can't stand dealers, it really irks me having to have them even touch my car once a year for servicing. Nothing but BS and overcharging for mediocre service.

 

[M44LCY]

Utter crap and I'd have told them so as well. You can do as you like with your own car!

The only thing they could possibly effect is if they caused any issue with the bonnet metalwork, ie, if they caused any damage to hinges or the bonnet itself, or rusting at the point they're mounted then the warranty wouldn't cover that of course.

I absolutely can't stand dealers, it really irks me having to have them even touch my car once a year for servicing. Nothing but BS and overcharging for mediocre service.

It was a simple case of remove one of the hinge nuts, fit bracket 1 & refit the nut. Remove the rear bolt for the headlight, fit bracket 2 & refit the bolt. Clip the strut to the two brackets. No modifications to the car.

 

[Paulie68]

It was a simple case of remove one of the hinge nuts, fit bracket 1 & refit the nut. Remove the rear bolt for the headlight, fit bracket 2 & refit the bolt. Clip the strut to the two brackets. No modifications to the car.

Even if you were to make extensive modifications, they can only effect your warranty if a given modification can be shown to have caused the issue in the event of a claim. For example lowering springs will give them an excuse to refuse suspension related issues, which would be perfectly acceptable, but it wouldn't give them the ability to refuse a battery or paintwork fault.

 

[Eddie99]

All the info here is great - thanks.
I was going to debadge as well - I might even put '1.6D Turbo' or similar instead - just to confuse !

 

[Peterj2019]

I've had an initial look at what can be done with the foot rest this afternoon and discovered it's actually easy to get out the foam block that makes it up. You just need to remove the panel to the right of the centre tunnel by removing a snap in plastic rivet and unclipping it. Then you unscrew a plastic carpet retaining nut under the pedals and the carpet can be pulled back from the corner with the foot rest to expose said block. It's bonded to the carpet with a thin layer of foam, but is easily teased loose and removed.

That's all I got done as it's got dark already, before 4pm! I now need to work out how best to rework the carpet neatly and fit a suitable, much lower, foot rest pad.

I'll photograph everything for reference once I've worked out what I'm doing and actioned it. For now, here's the block in case you were wondering what it looks like:

View attachment 33269

The 5 rest really is crazy high. I had a look at our LEAF for comparison, (which I find very comfortable for resting my left foot) and for comparison, the raised rest in that sits just above the carpet, about where I've drawn the green line!

Would really appreciate if you could upload a few more pics as reference/guide. I'm terrible at DIY but really tempted to have a go reshaping the foot rest, which is the size of mount Everest.

 

[Paulie68]

Would really appreciate if you could upload a few more pics as reference/guide. I'm terrible at DIY but really tempted to have a go reshaping the foot rest, which is the size of mount Everest.

I'll report fully with pictures as soon as I've done it. Had no time as yet to continue beyond the initial removal!

 

[Paulie68]

More slow progress!

Frustratingly slow progress due to life and terrible whether continuing to hamper me. My garage is currently full of other half finished projects at the minute waiting for paint when it gets warmer, so I'm stuck working outside for now.

Anyway, let's have a talk about number plates first. (Then we can get on to the foot rest. )

(This is my solution, there are of course others, but none are perfect as that front plinth is just a carbuncle!)

So we're stuck with the Chinese format mountings for number plates on the 5. This means four holes at the rear in the wrong place to suit our standard plates and that great big, incorrectly sized plinth, moulded into the front bumper. They even added two sizeable holes in it, just to ensure maximum difficultly when trying to make a standard UK plate fit and look anything like reasonable. (Which you just can't!)

So the answer is to make plates that are closer to the Chinese plate standard.

The ideal depth is 140mm, this fits the front plinth perfectly as well as allowing the use of all four bolt holes to the rear, if mounting this way, or covering them adequately if mounting with self adhesive pads.

As for width, the standard UK 520mm length leaves the front plate sides flapping about way over each end of the plinth and looks terrible. At the rear, when using a 140mm depth, it will also hit the badging if you're keeping it, unless you were to fit off centre. So we need the plates to be shorter. The good news is UK plates don't have to be 520mm, they can be shortened to 457mm whilst accommodating our 7 full sized digits and legal borders. This fits the front plinth really nicely with only a slight overhang to the sides and clears the rear badging. (If you're keeping it)

So 457mm x 140mm it is, let's get some ordered. Well... no... Because nobody will make you this size. Some providers will make you a 520mm x 140mm, and some will make you a 457mm x 111mm, but no one will make a 457mm x 140mm!

So here is my own answer to that one. I bought 520mm x 140mm plates from Proplates, to include the UK identifier to the left and what they call an internal border.

So this is what you get:

Obviously not actually that, there's a couple more letters, but internet and security, you know how it is.

And after a quick session with this little lot:

20 minutes later, we have both front and rear plates looking more like this:

Because I've gone with the border, the end result is actually 470mm wide in my case, which I'm just fine with as I like borders.

And here's the front plate fitted:

I've used adhesive pads for the smooth look, as I don't personally like bolts much. A tip for when you're using pads. Clean both the rear of the plate and the plinth with alcohol. (The medical stuff, not Vodka or Gin!) Only fit when it's totally dry, never in damp conditions, and warm both the rear of the plate and plinth thoroughly with a hot air gun until the surfaces are nice and warm. This will guarantee perfect adhesion every time.

So, the plate is now the right depth, matching the plinth, with an overhang of only 25mm each side. Much better. I still don't like it much, but it makes the most of a bad job with that big, ugly, plinth and now doesn't look like a total Heath Robinson!

Finally for comparison. Standard plate vs 570mm x 140mm.

I can't show you the rear plate yet, as when getting ready to fit it, I noticed a nasty flaw in one of the letters, so it's getting replaced. I'll edit this and add a rear pic in due course.

 

[Paulie68]

Now, lets have a look at a solution to the foot rest.

Removing the foam block was the easy part, but what do we do once it's out? Having looked at the carpet carefully, it's moulded a specific shape and won't invert, or allow itself to be reshaped easily whilst still looking OK or allowing the fitting of a different. lower, rest.

So after scratching my head for quite some time, measuring, measuring again, then spending literally hours trawling the net for alternative footrest ideas, a solution has come to me!

Sadly, the carpet does have to be cut carefully to allow the planned surgery. I've done half the job now. Removing the foam block, cutting the carpet, researching for a suitable alternative part and ordering said parts to finish the job. We'll have a look at that lot, then it's going to be a week or so before we can come back to finish off.

Before starting slide back the drivers seat as far as it goes. Remove any floor mats and vacuum the area clean. Get yourself a kneepad to kneel on as you'll be working through the open wide drivers door with knees on the ground! You might want to get a torch/light as well if it's not a bright and sunny day, as it's a bit dull down in the footwell.

To generally access the area of the foot rest and allow the carpet to be pulled back to remove the foam block that makes up the original rest, then to cut the carpet safely, we need to remove the side panel above the rest along with a plastic retaining nut behind the pedals. This is dead easy. You just unscrew the retaining nut, (circled in red) then gently pop out the centre of the plastic rivet fitting at the front top of the panel with a small screwdriver. This allows the rivet to disengage from the panel. You then just gently slide your fingers under the carpet at the base of the front of the panel and wiggle and pull it forward carefully to disengage two spring clips. The panel can then be carefully removed. See pictures below for reference.

Once you've done this, put everything safely out of the way

You can then fold back the carpet from the corner and wrestle it under the pedals. You'll now see the block of foam, or rather you won't, as it's cocooned in a thin layer of white foam, carefully cut/tear at this to expose the block and slide it out. You can then carefully cut back any remaining loose foam as needed and slide the carpet back in to place. Keep the block safe, we're going to need this later. It's going to be cut down to suit as support for the new lower rest.

The block removed:

Next, I cut the carpet out that made up the rest shape around the foam block, leaving a lip of around 10mm. You'll see I carefully cut around and retained the heel pad bonded to the carpet. This can then fold flat against the central tunnel area leaving no holes after the new pedal is fitted.

So this is what the area now looks like:

So that's all for now, but here's the plan. Shown below is what I propose to do:

As you can see, the side panel needs extending to fill the hole left by the removal of the old foot rest area. I intend to use 2mm grained black plastic sheet, cut to size and bonded (or plastic riveted, not sure yet) to the inside of the existing panel at the hatched area shown. This new section will also engage with the new rest, which is going to be a LHD VW group part, which has the right dimensions to fit perfectly (I think/hope!) with a little modification. The new rest will in turn be bonded to the existing foam block, trimmed to suit and the block will in turn be bonded (or maybe Velcroed for serviceability) to the floor section.

So, the parts currently en route, plastic sheet:

And the new foot rest itself:

Stay tuned...

 

[Gomev]

More slow progress!
...
Anyway, let's have a talk about number plates first.

When I did mine I used DemonPlates (Google ) and they can do any size you want. Ig it's not on the size dropdown list you need to call. See the FAQ on the website.