Here's the deal - my grandpa recently passed and left me his RX8. Its a 2004 RX8 with 90k on it and its in my garage as we speak. The battery is dead, but it looks good still. It's a stick shift with a sliding sun roof, two tone leather inside, etc. It looks awesome and I'm so fired up to have it...so I came here right away.

Here's what I want to do.

-Add a couple of performance mods to hopefully help performance and sound
-add black rims and performance tires
-add some type of body kit that makes the car look lower but doesnt look like total trash? open to suggestions on this.

 

Welcome!
Rx8help.com is your friend, please familiarize yourself with the New Owners info there. Before mods, suggest making sure it's healthy and getting preventative maintenance out if the way. There are things to know with these cars.

The best kits IMO are the Mazda ones. Everything else looks played out and fits terribly. Either the optional aero kit (still findable) or a mazdaspeed kit (if you can find one). Matter of taste in the end.

I'd also suggest calibrating expectations on performance mods: you're not going to find much performance from bolt ons. Mazda didn't leave much on the workbench for mod makers to find, this isn't an econobox full of compromises. Sound - sure. But if you want to step up performance you need forced induction.

 

I'm sorry for your loss. Happy to help with your questions.

-Add a couple of performance mods to hopefully help performance and sound

Only thing you really need to really do for sound is to upgrade the exhaust and midpipe. This alone will create the sound you are looking for. Check your local laws and see if running without a catalyst is legal. Performance is difficult as it costs a fortune to boost this car. You kind of have to like it for what it is.

-add black rims and performance tires

If you are changing the rims you'll want it to be +45 to +50 offset. Not a bad idea, but if you have TPSM, you'll need to move the sensors to the new rims.


-add some type of body kit that makes the car look lower but doesnt look like total trash? open to suggestions on this.

I personally like the M1 body kit. Keep in mind, all body kits require heavy modification to fit and may require cutting pieces off the car. Very difficult to revert back to stock look if thats something you want.