I was looking at the primed one on various Mazda forums, and it appears that even the primed ones come painted with the gun metallic, and they are taped off for your color. So, I guess I will just paint mine all black since mine are repops. I am assuming the sides come the same way when you order primer as well, which is good for you if you buy authentic sides and rear diffuser in primer.

 

I just purchased the primer sides & rear and they should ship this Friday. I think I just got the last set of authentic sides in the country (according to MAZDATRIX.) Although, I won't be installing them or getting them painted until the spring. I asked them about the gun metallic for you and he had no idea.

 

I can confirm the primed MS sides come with the lower edge painted gunmetal. You just have to make sure your bodyshop tapes it off if you want to leave it that way. Since my wife's car is Sunlight Silver I liked the contrast so left it. I could do with some touchup though, I scraped the passenger side on a curb a little.

 

Chief who did you use to paint your sides?

 

These guys: http://performancebodyrepair.com/

They are right up the road from me. I've had them do small pieces for the Speed6, the 8 sideskirts and the Miata hardtop. Each time they have done a great job, the color matched great (even without the cars being there, a hard thing to do with the Black Cherry Mica of the Speed) and the pricing was good. I can't recall just how much the sides were without digging into my files to try and find the invoice, but it wasn't more than about $300 or so (IIRC).

 

Performancebodyrepair are the guys that did my front nose and LF fender when my neighbor backed into it. For what you want done they will do a great job. Your work is pretty easy, like Chief said they do good work. My car required a little more than just some paint, but like I said, unless I point out the imperfections, you won't see them. Their rates were reasonable as well if I can remember.

 

Thanks guys, I will definitely give them a ring. I need to start wheel/summer tire shopping soon so I can roll the fenders as well.

 

roll your fenders first, that way you won't have to worry about it later, I would also trim the bumper tab as well while your doing it. Here's what I used.

http://www.nlmotoring.com/Fender-Rol...ler-rental.htm

 

Thanks! How will I know how far to roll them without the wheels?

 

Depends on how aggressive you plan on going with your wheel/tire combo. Of course, this means width and offsets come into play. For reference, mine is folded like an envelope and Tacti's is only folded about half-way because that's all he needed. Just to let you know it's not any more damaging to roll it all the way, it's just what I felt I needed for my application, (in case I want to do spacers or the like in the future). I probably didn't need it, but I wanted to do it anyways.

What are your plans are for wheel and tire arrangement?

 

Enkei Raijin Ti Grey - All four 18 x 9.5 +35

I also plan on a drop. I am just not sure of what, when, or how yet.

 

Given those factors, what about tires? That setup is essentially where my car sits now in terms of offset width. Nice choice on rims. Thought about maybe going wider?

 

That is as wide as those rims come.

Either 265/35-18 or 275/35-18.

I am leaning towards the 265/35-18 based on the costs/availability of tires that I have found. I could be way off though. To me there seems to be a lot more max performance summer tires in that size.

 

They're not too bad. I had my Speed 6 front bumper repainted there. They actually put more paint on it than the factory did. We had our CX-7 worked on there as well after the wife had a guardrail jump out on her. They did a so-so job on it and missed the delivery date by several days due to some mix up on schedules. They probably didn't like that we decided to pay for the damage out of pocket and they couldn't milk the insurance company.

 

That's the wheels I'd like to have on my 8. Good choice.

 

I'd do the 265 as well, with that setup, I would say roll it all the way. If you need some assistance with this, (it is a two-man operation) I can hold the heat gun. Those rims would look nice with that setup. I would do all of it before you install the rear diffuser as well.

 

Sounds great, I appreciate it. Then it will be beer and steaks on me then.

I think the rims will look great although I have been debating with myself on which ones to buy. Hyper silver vs the Ti grey. Once the raijins start shipping and I see them on other cars I will know.

My 8 will definitely be taken care of in 2012, ending with my build starting next fall (hopefully anyway .)

 

It's hard to tell what the Ti Grey will look like in person on your car, it's hit and miss. I personally think the hyper silver ones would look sick, but that's me. Believe me, it hurts everytime I open my garage and look at all of the stuff that should be on my car. All it takes is $$, which I don't have right now, so long term it is.

 

I actually had my 8's front bumper replaced there in 2009 (the one I traded for the MS last month.) Someone backed into me and their insurance (Progressive) handled everything and gave me the option to take it anywhere, so I took it to Kings. It was rather costly for the work but they did an excellent job. I just stopped by there to get a ballpark of what it would cost to finish the kit and since my 8 is getting the engine replaced in the building next door, I figured why not.

 

I'd go with the hyper silver over the Ti Grey. It might end up being too close to body color and the wheels will get lost, or it won't be a close enough match and it will look odd.

I second the 265/35. Might as well roll it as much as you can, but it probably won't need much of one to clear depending on the drop you go with and alignment settings.

I'm off to the airport. Probably won't be on much until after christmas. Not even taking my computer. Eff that, i'm on vacation!!!

 

You lucky SOB, off to the 90 degree weather just as it's about to turn cold here. Have fun in the Southern Hemisphere. I'll be there too in a couple months.

 

Have a safe flight and enjoy being unplugged!

 

I posted some RX7 sides in the for sale section if anyone/know anyone who is interested.

 

Good luck with the sale. I wish I had a need for 7 sides...

 

My post got removed from rx7club.com, apparently I didn't put it in the FS section because I don't have enough posts and got arrested by the RX7 police. Rules, who needs them? I guess I'll have to try craigslist or ebay or something, but I really want to unload these locally though. Oh well

Yes, and BTW I wouldn't mind having a MS A-Spec Anniversary edition FD3S either!