When my father and I visited our Mazda dealer this morning, I introduced my father to the side fender strakes (shown on one of their showroom display cars). Like me, he thought they really enhanced the look of the 8. Like most of us here, however, he was completely turned off from getting them when the service department quoted him $211 just for the parts ($300, including labor). WHAT A RIPOFF!

That being said, my dad is a nuclear/mechanical engineer, and with the equipment he has at work, he believes he can replicate the design of the side strakes, manufacture them, and, in turn, sell them for substantially cheaper than Mazda.

The problem is we don't have a strake in front of us that we can work from, and we weren't interested in getting it from Mazda because of their no-return policy (we would only have used it to make a blue print and then return it). SO, the question is, is there anyone out there who could provide me with the specs, curvatures, dimensions, etc. of their strakes or, as odd a request as it sounds, have ONE spare strake laying around that we could borrow in order to make a stencil? I am in the Atlanta area, so ideally if there's anyone close by who could help, that would be amazingly awesome. Thanks.

Mark

 

D Menac 7 has already started making replica side strakes....see a few threads down in this forum.

 

One strake will not do the job, each is individual - left & right, top & bottom.

If you believe you can do better for cheaper, the $211 for a prototype should be no problem, just another development cost.

Two separate forum members have just gone into 'mass production', so you will have to be VERY good, and VERY cheap to make any money.

S

 

I had no idea that others were producing replica Mazda items. I will have to look into them. I saw D Menac's thread. Who is the other?

 

markd ... see you are in Atlanta .. me too ...here is a link to my sub-forum ... where I sell reproduction parts like strakes

https://www.rx8club.com/dls-customs-closed-89/rx8fun-products-pricing-37845/

Let me know if I can help you ...

 

try to PM dmenac , he has some nice reproduction ones , or do a search

 

D Menac is not only offering strake replicas, but he is making versions that are color matched to the car rather than the aluminum. Those that have received his strakes rave on the quality of the strakes....and his cost a fraction of Mazda's price.