I traded in my 350Z for the RX-8... I had the Z for 11 months. At first, I really enjoyed the car, but after a while, I could see the obvious flaws in it's design/materials.

The heat from the summer sun started curling out the plastic peice underneath the passenger side's dashboard. I had the Lemans Sunset orange; my front bumper looked like a connect the dots book. The smallest pebble or road debris would chip the bumper. The sewing on the driver's seat started unraveling... I had the car for 11 months! There's no reason why it should be doing that already...

Believe me, there is no competition between the RX-8 and the 350Z...

PS The paint on the Cobra was awesome! I had to take a couple pictures of that. I loved it!

I finally broke down, I went and purchased the strakes yesterday. :( I'm so weak. Paid $200 from Murray (there seem to be cheaper prices, but after shipping this is about what the cost equates to).

--Landon

Landon,
sorry for the break down. give me a month and i bet im right there with ya.

They just look SOOOOO cool. :)

Canz sells the exhaust finishers for 152....so that'll be where I get those.

--L

im from utah. i ended up buying from freeway in ogden (even though i live in west jordan) as they gave me no hassle and the best deal.

unfortunately my car is in the shop at bountiful mazda. last weekend i went to vegas and when i came back on sunday night it was snowing. i hit some ice getting off the bangerter i15 exit doing about 15 mph and slid right into the island. im sure any sailor within earshot of my car during the slide would have been a nice shade of red. i ended up cracking both the drivers side wheels and bending one wheel hub. im just really glad i didnt mess up the suspension.

sorry i know this is kindof a derail from the current topic of conversation but i wanted to pop in and say hello.

-project

edit: doccable i just noticed your avatar. i bought a yoyodyne propulsion systems parking pass sticker but im too weak to put it on my car. blue blaze irregular represent! hehe

Project
No worries on the topic change. Welcome to the forum. im really sorry to hear about your 8. hope if comes back alive and well

I second that. It's terrible to hear such horror stories. Good luck in getting it fixed. Plan on replacing the stock wheels, or going with aftermarket???

I'm optimistic beyond normal levels.....something broken is an opportunity to upgrade to me!!

Good luck & welcome to the forum!

--Landon

yeah i was so close to just going with the ms-01's but i just couldnt convince myself that i could afford them. bountiful mazda quoted me a price of 2675 for the set. if it had happened say this coming winter i would have definately bought them.

landon, where did you get your tint done? what level is it and how much did it run you?

project,
Where on earth, (or maybe another dimension), did you find a parking pass for yoyodyne? I've got to replace a few of my yoyodyne items, but have never seen one of those. I know - I'm off-topic, sorry!
-doccable

got it at a local gaming shop here called hastur hobbies. i saw it half buried underneath a ton of other stickers. the quality is poor but ill try to scan it and show you (if i can remember where i put it).

I got my tinting done at Utah Window Tinting (I go nowhere else ). They do an awesome job. As long as you pay cash, no questions about tint %. =) Ooops, did I say that out loud?

Mine are 20% all around. I paid $150, but I've done all my cars (6 or so..?) there, and I've gotten to know the owners pretty well, they might give me a discount. If they do, tell them you know the guy with the red 8, and tell them I said they'd give you the same deal. :D They're pretty easy to work with.

--Landon

Utah Mini-Meet?
 

So who else would be interested in setting up a mini-meet in UT prior to the big one? I know our new member project suggested it again in another thread.

Jiven, Dragon? Interested? If nothing else, we could coordinate the trip up to CO, and get a Utah RX-8 caravan rolling East. :)

Since the weather seems to be quite the drag when owning a RWD vehicle, how about something like the weekend of March 27th, 28th?

I'll be able to provide some information on some of the local performance shops, etc. I'm currently working with a local performance shop to have my car entered in the Autorama, March 18th - 21st, so I'll be able to provide you guys some info. from there.

Let me know if you're interested--

--Landon


P.S. I installed my strakes on Monday, and the directions that came with them were wrong. Make sure you read the DIY strake install thread prior to installing, saves quite the headache. :D

i just called them before i noticed your edit and they quoted me $129. an added bonus for me is they are about 3 minutes from my house. the guy on the phone seemed pretty nice and i think im going to end up getting it done there. thanks for the tip.

as a side note, bountiful mazda gave me their dealer mazdaspeed brochure. ill try to have scans up later. but for now i can give you the prices they quoted me.

front tower brace- 345
rear tower brace - 235
mag wheels - 7000
ms-01 aluminum wheels - 2675
front roll bar - 418
rear roll bar - 388
shocks/springs combo - 1204
brake pad set - 308
front bumper w/ fog light- 1715
front bumper w/o foglight - 1600
side skirts - 945
rear bumper - 945
spoiler - 1110
flywheel - 900
muffler - 788
cf inner handle bezel - 147
cf door switch panel - 127
cf console kit - 522
shift knob - 118

all items plus tax.

personally i think these prices range from slightly more than average to ridiculously high. the funny thing is the service guy told me that i should wait and soon people would be making fiberglass copies of the body kit for less money.

Maybe I pissed them off. :D

--Landon

Mazdaspeed...
 

Trussville is still consistently cheaper than your dealer quotes. Check em out if you get a minute.

www.trussvillemazda.com/partsstore/index.cfm/results

--Landon

There are already fiberglass copies, but who really wants fiberglass if there's an ABS plastic/polyurethane option? I destroyed 2 fiberglass bumpers on my accord coupe a couple of years ago, I'm not interested in going down that avenue again. :)

It seems that Bountiful is charging more than what Trussville claims is RETAIL. I think I got even more expensive quotes from Murray. <shrug> The internet & globalization is a wonderful thing. :D

--Landon

new sighting. I saw a yellow 8 in bountiful that had the xmen wing (or something really similar) on Saturday.

That's cool....I'd really like to see one in person, I think I've decided on the Mazdaspeed spoiler, but X-men is pretty unique....I may consider it if it looks awesome in person...

P.S. Dragonstar, were you interested in cruising up to colorado for the rocky mountain group meet???

--Landon

Possibly, thats pretty far out to make solid plans with the way my schedule works. Think it might be cool though.

Hey, a maybe's better than nothin'. :) I'll hit ya up a little closer to the date, if you end up coming, we should cruise up together, only thing better than a road trip in an 8 is a road trip with 2(possibly more..?). Also, Dragon, if you're interested in parts, etc., let me know. I'm currently working with a Utah based performance shop on getting some dyno figures on a combination of different mods (exhaust, etc.). It will be nice to see how the mods perform at our altitude.

Anyone else in the Utah area interested in the Rocky Mountain club meet in June? Let me know, we can try to organize a group drive up there. PM me or post here.

--Landon

Sounds good. as soon as i get some money pulled to gether i want to get exhaust and CZ1. until then im gunna get the clear corners. ya know cant run %100 stock.

Hey, Landon!

When is the meet going on?

June 5th for the Colorado meet. :D

I'm trying to talk the performance shop into purchasing CZ mods (10+ for the discount). They seem to take an R&D approach to modifications, and take pride in their own tuning (they may lead more towards an PEMS-type solution) but I'm trying to convince them into saving some R&D expense & using existing research/maps, plus that will open time up to do R&D on other things. :D

I want to purchase the CZstage 2, got an e-mail from Maurice saying they're looking to start producing the end of this month.

Nice thing is, we can get the 10+ discount even if we order 5 stage 2's & 5 stage 1's. I'll be running some dyno times stock, with the K&N filter replacement, & the GREDDY SP2 within the next month.

Keep me posted Dragon, when you want to order Stage 1. Let me know if you're interested, too, Jiven...

--Landon