FirstSpin

Traded in the 01 Mustang this afternoon for a titanium six-speed with the black/chaparral GT package. It's being delivered to Houston from Bastrop on Monday. Driving a Mazda 6 till then. Bought it at Jeff Haas and I feel like they treated me right on the car and on the trade as well. (Can't wait till Monday!)

I'm looking for a local (Houston area) company that's skilled in applying clear car bras (braws, whatever). I want to get some protection on the bumper and the nose as quickly as possible. Someone said that they had a clear bra put on by a company off Westheimer. Please email me if it's not acceptable to post company-names on the forum. Thanks!!!

spdspappy

Congrats! Post pics when you get it.

Try http://www.xpel.com and there is an installer search. I'd get it done ASAP so you don't get any chips.

panda

congrats on your car, i got my car from haas back in august.
we have to try and get some rx8 meets happening on houston, hopefully some will start soon!



andrew

DrKillJoY

you guys are always welcome at the Houston RX- meetings.. we usually have 2-4 RX-8's at each meeting.

MrWigggles

Yep,

Chips are killing me too. I am going to have to get a clear bra as well.

I average about 1 tiny chip per day with the 60 minutes I spend on 45 each day.

pssst, perhaps some sort of group buy is in order for Houston area customers. The RX-8's kit is complicated so maybe a group buy is in order.

Unfortuneately I have the appearance package and they don't have a kit for me yet. I will have to keep doing touch-up paint.

-Mr. Wigggles

spdspappy

They can't put the standard bumper kit like I have on and then add the other piece on later? Isn't the a.p. just the one thin piece that runs along the bottom to replace the black plastic I have on mine?

HIX8

I wonder how many Lexus owners are showing up at those...

"RX-" meetings. Ha!


I tried shaking the trees down here in the Clear Lake area for the last one. I'll try again next month to see if we can get a good sized group to make a showing.

FirstSpin

Took delivery on the Titanium 8 with the MT 6-speed, Grand Touring Package, black/chaparral interior, Bose Audio, not much else extra, yesterday. I am new to driving a stick and other than a few embarassing stalls, it ROCKS!!!! I love how responsive and how tight the car is. The ride is much smoother than my old (2001) Mustang as well, not to mention quieter. The stereo is sweet as well. I'm glad I went MT. I've called around for clear-bra quotes and I'm trying to work in a combo clear-bra/tint quote between two 'low' bidders. We'll see how that works out. I want to get the bra done this week for sure.

Sin

Its nice that you have meetings there....oh, welcome to the club...I rid of my 03 Cobra to get mine, I had so many issues with it that if my 8 had issues it could never compare.

DrKillJoY

I wouldn't worry about stalling it too much.. the first time i drove the RX-8 I stalled it twice.. and I have been driving standards for years!


of course it was a pre-prod model.

FirstSpin

Found a guy on the north side of town who will do X-Pel clear bra on my bumper, fenders, mirrors and hood for $445. Will probably have that done tomorrow. I priced the StoneGard online and their "at-home" kit is going for $500 (obviously with no labor figured in.) Since they're both 3-M products, I'm a bit lost as to why the difference.

I want to get tint done and the clear-bra guy knows a guy etc... any way he's talking about doing a 20% tint. My question is, given that this is probably too dark to be legal in Texas, am I going to have hell when: a) I get stopped for failing to signal or some other who-cares cause or b) when I go to have the machine inspected in 2003?

While we're talking tint, I've seen some that looks "bubbly" after a fairly short time. That is, it has lines of oval shapes in the tint that are lighter color than the tint itself; making it look like the tint has pulled away from the glass and blistered. Anyone know if this is just due to poor tint, poor application skills? More importantly, does anyone know for sure how NOT to have this happen in a few years?

My wife drives a TransAm and we had it tinted two years ago. So far, no bubbles. It's stored in the garage when it's not on the road and maybe some of these "bubbled" cars are not. (Probably too much information...)

spdspappy

This was my first MT as well, but you get used to it. I've been told that the longer you've been driving, the harder it is to get used to... I haven't been driving that long compared to others (10 years), but I didn't have too much of a problem.

Get it tinted somewhere reliable that has a guarantee. Sometimes it's worth a few extra bucks for the piece of mind.