rock0ut

what kind of upgrades do you need to get for the P5 to set it up for light autocrossing? are there tires that would be good for normal driving and light autocrossing? should anything outside of the suspension be added?

David

You don't have to "do" anything other than clean out you car. You might want to get another set of rims (cheap ones work fine) and some Kumho VictoRacer V700 but you don't have to do that. the car is nice right from the dealer.

rock0ut

The reason I ask is because my buddy (who is an experienced autoX driver) took my car out on a track last weekend. He said it drived alright but needed some upgrades to drive better. He was talking about upgrading the tires and he also said something about a non slip differential (not sure if that is the exact term he used. but it was something to do with the differential).

carguycw

Your question is kinda hard to answer because I'm not sure how much you intend to modify your car. Autocross rules can be very complicated, and you really need to look at a rule book and/or attend some more events and figure out what you want to do before you start modifying things.

However, if you intend to keep the car more-or-less stock (which I assume is the case for "light" autocrossing), here's what I would recommend, in order:

1) Set your tire pressures. Based on my experience with my 99, 40 psi cold front and 30 psi cold rear will get you started.
2) Get it aligned. Max out the negative camber and positive caster in the front. Set the toe to zero, front and rear.
3) Get tires. However, what kind of tires depends on what class you intend to run in (see above). However, I HIGHLY recommend against buying race tires until you have at least 10-15 events under your belt. Yeah, you will lose on stock tires, but if the local competition is any good and you aren't an unusually gifted driver (be realistic, most newbies aren't), race tires you will just cost a bunch of money and you will lose anyway, just not as badly
4) Get shocks. Adjustable Mazdaspeeds are probably the best low-buck choice.

I'm suprised your friend talked about getting a limited-slip differential (I assume that's what you meant). LSD's will eliminate inside-front wheelspin exiting tight corners. This is one of the Protege's main problems in an autox, but installing an LSD is (a) expensive, and (b) will probably put your car into a class where you don't want to be. I don't know what your local rules look like, but under SCCA rules (which the majority of clubs in the U.S. follow) this will kick you into Street Prepared, which (despite the name) is not a good class for a street-driven car.

This should get you started. Good luck!