How to replace a front wing Mk2

Replaced my front wing at the weekend and thought I’d write a brief guide to help other people out. 

What you’ll need:  10mm socket, some decent socket extenders, phillips screwdriver, some decent dismantling fluid - I used Plusgas, which worked a treat. An extra pair of hands. 10mm ratchet spanner (optional). 

Locate your bolts.

You’ll find six along the top of the wing, with one only visible when you open the door (it’s at the base of the windscreen pillar). Two can be found under the door on the base of the wing and two more are hidden at the front behind the bumper. One is inside the wing past the side repeater and near the middle of the door - you can see the flat end of the bolt when you open the door. 

Give all the bolts a good soaking in the Plusgas/WD40 and leave it for a while. Repeat. Loosen all the bolts you can reach.

Jack up the car and remove the front wheel. 

Begin to remove the wheel arch liner, this is held by those fiddly mazda fixings - two concentric discs with a phillips socket in the centre. The easiest way to remove these is to hold the outer disc with your fingers and gently give the inner disc a quarter turn with your screwdriver. The centre part will pop up and you can pull the fixing out by gripping it. Once you’ve done a couple they’re simple. 

Loosen the bolt in the middle of the wing. You’ll need a VERY long socket to reach this - I actually had three extenders linked together. 

Unscrew the bumper at the front of the wheel arch. Here’s where having a spare pair of hands comes in handy. By gently pulling back the bumper you can expose the two bolts at the front of the wing and loosen them either using your socket - or ratchet spanner as the space is tight. 

Disconnect your side repeater and remove. 

That’s it you’re ready to remove your wing. 

To replace you’ve got a few larger bolt holes - fit these bolts first as it allows you to finesse the wing so it lines up properly. When you’re happy with the alignment tighten these bolts and then fit and tighten the rest. Reattach your side repeater and refit your wheel arch liner. 

 

A good one for the FAQs I’ll stickey it for the moment—