New guy here, just drove a Titanium Gray 6MT off the lot this morning. I do not want to ruin this work of art by sticking an I-Pass to the windshield. Any tips on where to hide it?

Other question is gas. The dealer told me to use 87 octane rather than premium, contrary to user manuals and the dummy tag on the gas cover.

Any truth to this?

(those aren't scratches on the car, but a light snow fall)

 

The dealer is full of crap. The recommended fuel is premium, and I think thats what you should stick with. Many are using lower octane fuel but saving a 1.50 a tank doesnt justify the decreased perfomance (many have experienced with lower octanes) or just the fact that mazda recommends it.
As for the ipass, I have it mounted right next to the mirror. Whenever Im in the drivers seat I cant see it because the mirror is blocking it. At first I thouht it would ruin the appearance but now I dont pay any attention to it. I think I got used to it. And its not very noticible anyways. Hope this helps and congrates on the new machine.

 

Congrats on your new ride.
I just hold my E-pass up to the windshield when going through. Didn't want to attach that ugly thing to my beautiful 8.

 

Thanks Macius8, I figured that was BS but wanted to be sure.

 

haha, i run 89-87 in my car and havent noticed a thing since i switched from premium! and yes, that 1.50 or whatever you save per fillup adds up (to BEER!)

i masked off the barcode and velcro on the ipass and spray painted it black. removed masking, applied black electrical tape to barcode area and mounted it up in the black area of the windshield on the passenger side. it works thru that black stuff and becomes almost invisible. its called my JDM ipass on another site!!!

have radar detector hardwired and mounted on drivers side in the black stuff too.

ok back to changing to my winter wheels ... hey gray, i hear ya cant drive at all in the snow on the stock potenzas. not sure if you lurked here before buying and already know that. this will be my first winter with her, but its what all the group members are sayin (meets are great for learning about this kind of stuff!)

 

My dealer told me that the all seasons on her would work fine in the snow. He must have been a real winner. Then again, I was just explaining to him that having to buy new tires and wheels for the winter was a reason he should knock another grand off the price.

I'll be calling Tire Rack tomorrow.

 

Proud user of 87 octane fuel for a while now, no issues and havent noticed a decrease in performance at my track days or on the street.

 

well some peeps run all seasons i think. ive only heard the potenzas are dogs in the snow.

if it makes you feel better, my keyed lug on the front is stripping itself and i cant get it off. gonna go search and see if anyone has any ideas. im halfway thru changing them and ... this!


grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

the potenzas are a great way to kill yourself in even moderate snowfall. They turn into skis

 

Welcome Gray, I just switched to my all-season tires today (Pirelli PZero Nero M&S). Bought them last winter after trying to use the Bridgestones in a dusting of snow. I couldn't get the car to move. I run performance tires 8 months of the year.
Tire Rack is a good place to get tires. I get mine from Discout Tire locally.
I copied RSD and painted my IPass black also. It is hidden in the black car.

 

^ and he stole my cigar!!!

 

Welcome Gray...
Some all seasons are good in the cold, but most are crap in the winter. The stock rubber is absolutely useless in the snow and ice, and close to useless even when brutally cold and dry. I just had my winter tires mounted today, thankfully... we had some snow showers and ice patches on the road from today's weather that I had to navigate around tonight. This is my 3rd season with the 8 in the winter and it's great with proper tires (also had a Miata before that I ran year-round thanks to good snow tires).

As for the gas- I run 89 in the winter, and 93 in anything above 70 degrees... never 87. You probably won't hurt anything running the low grade stuff, but you will see decreased performance in warmer weather (the ECU pulls back the ignition timing like a bad dog on a leash when it's warm, and really hard if it the knock sensor is triggered from low octane fuel in hot weather... and rotaries run really hot). The way I see it, I paid good money for a peformance sports car- I'm not going to put junk in the tank regardless of the price of fuel.

As for the ipass- I do what tiggerlee does... hold it up when I need it, glove box when I don't : ).

 

Dont mount the IPASS!!! I'll post pics of mine in a bit. mine is mounted on the front license plate. Certain cars have special windshields that are either too thick or something for the iPass to work. Send your iPass to the downers grove office and tell them you have a benz S500. They send one that mounts to the plate. It looks like one of those radar detector things. It looks good with the black, but I don't know bout ti.

 

You gave it to me, after you got through with it.

 

The dealer didn't mount my front licence bracket.

As for gasoline, midgrade is suppose to be a 50/50 mix of regular and premium. Premium dosn't provide any more power than regular grade gasoline. If the car is having a detionation problem, the car will retard the timing and that will reduce preformance. Higher octane gas is formulated to prevent this. I use premium because it has more detergents added to keep fuel injectors clean.

 

8s arent meant to have front license plates just ask all those who show up to a meet, see how nice it looks without and haul out the screwdriver before picture time

thinking i may rethink my octane choice

and al, you get the chair

 

I totally agree- I took my frame off when I took delivery and handed it back to the dealer

 

either way..this is how it looks

 

personally I prefer this look

 

Can anyone recommend a good Chicagoland place to get my windows tinted?

 

midco....corner of 63rd and cicero...my uncle had his 8 done there and i had mine done there as well...20% all around

 

Probably not near you, but Car Boutique in Schaumburg did an awesome job on mine. If you have the Navi system, make sure you explicitly ask for non-metallized tint (the GPS receiver is under the back window).

 

can you tinters post approx how much it cost? id like to do this in the spring if the mod budget allows ....

 

looks like the license plate makers got all crazy with a sharpie (j/k!)

any idea if you can mount it on the back plate? tho that would mean id have to get rid of my illini plate holder ... hmmmmmmmmm

 

Mine was $250...
Here's a thread we had last year about tinting in Chicago:
https://www.rx8club.com/mw-rx-8-forum-31/window-tinting-chicago-area-13760/

And pics of my tint:
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-multimedia-photo-gallery-6/pics-brilliant-black-tinted-windows-26286/