I was wondering if anyone else has done this? It should have been done by mazda on the black i think. It totally makes the car. They did a great job with designing this little piece but it just didnt show up before. Now its cool. What do you guys think?

and cant see it too clearly from here but...

also if you guys dont mind here's my 220HP turbocharged miata thats in the garage in the first pic above:)

That miata looks like a BEAST!! It must outperform your 8 in all aspects...i even think it looks just as good.

i like the silver vents. what about on a red 8? leave them black or paint them silver?

Ok, I LOVE your Miata! That's a beautiful car! I'll bet its a hell of a lot of fun on the track too...

Wow! thanks for all the great response! ya the miata is faster than the 8 and handling is as responsive but the 8 can do it and make it feel like you're riding in an audi a4 somehow I prefer that perfect balance of not beating you up and still ripping you around turns. I'm also not sure that the miata is actually faster. I think the acceleration just feels harder but that speedo on the 8 is scary after 9k in 2nd gear I'm goin how fast??!? As far as other colors in the rx-8 GO FOR IT. Paint the trim piece. Its easy to access and worst case scenario you just paint it black again. Thats how I saw it. I'm still debating on the front grill...

what kind of paint did you use?

That looks really nice on the black. I bet it would on the red, green and blue, not sure about the tit and silver though. I think it makes the black look more classy.

wouldn't do it on my yellow , but it looks good with black

agreed with the yellow there is enough contrast.

Man that looks good on the black. Nice job! I think it would look good on the green as well. The bright colors I think look best in black. On the Ti and silver not sure, it's a judgment call. Either way good idea!

What sort of paint did you use? Just some standard silver spray-can type?

Also I wonder if it would still look good without the strakes... have you taken them off and given it a good lookover without them?

the guy from anaheim did this too
looks great
I dont think it would look good on my red though

nice miata

Originally posted by mikeb
the guy from anaheim did this too
looks great
I dont think it would look good on my red though

nice miata

Not on red no. I'm still toying with the idea of red for the strakes. I've also considered black strakes, but black would almost make them invisible at some angles - they'd need to be bigger in black.

Greg,

The silver vent covers look great, I have a couple of questions.

Were the covers easy to remove and reinstall?

Also what type of paint did you use?

I think I will definitely be doing this on my Black 8, I wonder if the front vent covers, over the oil coolers, would look as good?

Chris

Looks Great!

Actually, that detail was my biggest hangup about the black color, and I wasn't even considering it. It's such a nice detail on the car, but it gets lost on black. Dangit! Now I will have to reconsider black :). Ah, decisions...decisions...

Wahoo!

Nice job. I like the silver on black.

I have my vents painted titanium to match the car.:)

Looks Great!

Please answer questions re ease of removal/reinstatement & type of paint.

Will definitely consider doing same to my black 8. (whenever/if ever it arrives:( )

Originally posted by ninedeep
Nice job. I like the silver on black.

I have my vents painted titanium to match the car.:)

Pics?

Originally posted by timbck2
Pics?

Yes I would like to see these.

me three

heh, I just used some leftover silver paint in the garage called "wheel paint" and it should be available from pep boys. As for removal of the vents, I learned that by installing the strakes. If you look inside the wheel wells youll see plastic screws. They only turn a half turn and then you pop them out and you simply stick your hand between the plastic shield and the body and squeeze the clips holding the vent on. Its super simple you canc do it in 3 minutes. Be careful that you are gentle when unscrewing them though they are slightly delicate. I did it the quick way and painted them while the strakes were on so I just taped them off. I didnt want to worry about re-aligning so I havent seen them without the strakes. This is a huge improvement over the looks though and I recommend it for ALL colors. Don't be afraid you cant ruin it just paint it back! -greg

thanks greg for info

a better view...

oops here

last one I promise

Here are the pics of my fenders that D&V Autobody painted. The picture quality is poor and my car is dirty....:eek: Sorry about that.

One more...

Here is the badges that where also done too...

Last one...

ninedeep you didn't lower the 8 yet did you


the car looks awesome

I have a JIC suspension coming in very soon!!! The suspension will be released after SEMA and then a set will be shipped to us. ETA is mid Nov.

The silver really is a great contrast on the black. Especially with the strakes, it's a nice touch. The opposite is true for my titanium. The black vents are more noticeable against the gray, so I'm going to leave mine as is.


c170673: the vent covers are literally a snap to remove.
Just pop off a couple of the fasteners inside the wheel well. (use a philips to rotate the pin out, the just pull out the clip). pull the wheel well back a little (it's very flexible so don't worry about breaking it) reach in behind the fender and just pop the vent out. No sweat.

ninedeep - like the car badges. Cool.

Just one more thing 9deep...STRAKES! maybe? maybe not well I think they look awesome and draw attention to that area. I love the wheels too nice job.

Rice, why would you ruin your car with spray paint, you might as well paint your windshield wipers silver too.

Originally posted by LightEmUp
Rice, why would you ruin your car with spray paint, you might as well paint your windshield wipers silver too.

I dunno, I think gold for the windshied wipers. ooohh, and gold on the badges too ... and something really classy to hang from the mirror. No fluffy dice on this baby!

hmmm... after spending quite a bit of time looking at those pics, have to say I don't like it... I like the black the way it is, or with a MS bodykit :)

Top marks for mods on a budget though :)

Anyone painted the VENTS on Winning Blue and have Pics? Please post if you do, Thanks

on a budget???????

this guy had spent like 10k on this rx8

ricey---your nuts

Lightemup: At what point did I use spray paint? D&V used the exact paint code as what is on the car. They had to call MNAO to get the color code. My vents and badges are Titanium w/ clearcoat. How does painting my vents give me a rice look?



Pepe: Budget???? What does that supposed mean?

ninedeep

these people are haters

your 8 is off the hook

Originally posted by RX-GR8
i like the silver vents. what about on a red 8? leave them black or paint them silver?
Neither, use your imagination:

Originally posted by mikeb
ninedeep

these people are haters

your 8 is off the hook

Thanks!

This is for everyone here that is trying to set themselves appart from the rest of the group with minor mods such as (painted vents) that are not ricey...keep it up! It looks good. All that matters in the end is wether or not you like what you have done to the car.

I hope no one does rainbow vents OMG thats ugly

Well, the original thread, before it was hijacked, was about painted vents on Greg's black 8... hence the budget comment, unless you mean it was a $10k can of spray paint :)

I can't paint my vents, already have the fender strakes installed! =(

Originally posted by mikeb
I hope no one does rainbow vents OMG thats ugly
I'm glad somebody said it.

Right up there with the red and black seats? (Which you are perfectly entitled to like, it's your choice, before anyone retaliates)

I honestly can't believe the radical turn this post took in a couple of days. I suppose you have to see it in person but my vents look great on my car and it compliments the color. Red leather has been done on many high end cars (ferrari, bmw to name 2) and it certainly is not bad looking. If you don't have something nice to say...

Originally posted by Greg
I honestly can't believe the radical turn this post took in a couple of days. I suppose you have to see it in person but my vents look great on my car and it compliments the color. Red leather has been done on many high end cars (ferrari, bmw to name 2) and it certainly is not bad looking. If you don't have something nice to say...

I do believe that the pics that both you and i took of our cars do no justice for the mods that we did. Everyone does have to see it in person to understand.;)

Oh yeah and I in no way intended to hijack your thread as PEPE said. Sorry if I did.

If I had a black car I would go for the painted vents. However with a titanium gray, silver vents dont match. I have been thinking about matching the vents like ninedeep did, but it looks a bit too plain to me. Probably just end up leaving those like they are, although I am painting the rotary symbols in the front and back, and have started to cut out the diamond mesh pattern on the rear bumper underside.

What a PITA, but once I am done I think it will look pretty nice. Also considered getting some diamondplate custom cut and mounting it there, but I couldnt find a good enough way to atach it.

Also painted on the front grill a set of cartoon vampire teeth. I promise to get a pic soon, but damn, it makes me laugh whenever I see the car. Water based paint though so I can change my mind on that one.

Originally posted by Greg
. Red leather has been done on many high end cars (ferrari, bmw to name 2) and it certainly is not bad looking. If you don't have something nice to say... [/B]


I agree

mine is silver and the black stands out, but it looks great on a black car, would look good on titanium and green as well, red silver, & yellow, the black really stands out. Never was able to drive a Miata, being 6'4"', that would be about 190 cm for our metric friends

Originally posted by JohnnyCumLately
Neither, use your imagination:

Hey, I really like the yellow vent on the red car. A few other yellow accents would make a sharp appearance, imho. As far as the silver on black, I think it's excellent - very sharp. Now I think I need to come up with a color for the yellow car... I'm not happy with black anymore

hey bro what up you guys all know kelrx8 my buddy from jersey i just moved with my rx8 from jersey i have a blue mazda rx8 i custom painted at my dads shop the ugly black plastic on the bottom of the bumper blue and the grill it looks great in the back but the front grill started chipping you cant we used adhesion promototers for plastic the grill has these deep holes cant get in there with sand paper i wouldn't do the front

^^^Whoa, there isn't one period in that whole sentence!

And this thread is from the year 2003. You just brought it back to the future. Or back to the past. Or forward to the future. Or forward past the past.

hey bro what up you guys all know kelrx8 my buddy from jersey i just moved with my rx8 from jersey i have a blue mazda rx8 i custom painted at my dads shop the ugly black plastic on the bottom of the bumper blue and the grill it looks great in the back but the front grill started chipping you cant we used adhesion promototers for plastic the grill has these deep holes cant get in there with sand paper i wouldn't do the front

before you start 'representin' with your ugly blingin' car, perhaps you should try learn THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, ace.

the grill has these deep holes cant get in there with sand paper i wouldn't do the front
there is a product called plastic primer....
ask your dad to look up in his parts book

Sorry for the bump, but sometimes a thread will lose pictures and the way to bring them back is to add a new post with attachment. Cheers!

miata looks beast.
vents look good on black and silver theme. i wouldnt do it on VR tho, nice job

i think the tints are a little off... perhaps a smoke covering (clear coat with a tiny bit of black mixed in)


that said... yeah the in person v. photo .. u never know