cogsNsprockets

I see them on ebay all the time.. Some are polished aluminum and others are stainless steel.. I am sure there are others as well...

Which are the best/ authentic ones?

easy to put on?

robrecht

I think the real metal strakes look the best. But beware of the original metal ones sold by Mazda that were applied with tape. The later generation Mazda ones have a pin that anchors the strakes in the fender vents without the need of tape. These newer Mazda ones also have a rubber seat to protect the finish of your fender, which is very important.

Mazda offers these in two different finishes:

F151-V4-300G (polished aluminum)
F152-V4-300G (brushed aluminum)

But you have to pay for this kind of quality--cheapest I've seen these on-line are $195 at MazdaParts.org or MazdaGear.com

There are a couple of problems with the cheapo plastic fender vents.

1) Most importantly, there's no rubber seat to protect the finish on your fender.

2) Secondly, they use a metal screw into the plastic strakes to mount these. If you tighten the screw a little too tight or if you take them off and re-install them, the metal screw can strip the plastic and the strake will flop around and not stay straight. That's why you'll see so many strakes that are not straight. When this happens, they'll reommend that you use larger screws or double-sided tape to mount the strakes.

3) The paint on the plastic strakes can chip off very easily. This doesn't happen very often after they're installed but is more likely to happen if you drop them while installing them.

There are also metal after-market strakes that are available but I don't have any direct experience with them.

cogsNsprockets

Thanks! What about the ones on ebay? I see them in either stainless steel or aluminum?

05rex8

iTrader: (7)

the ones sold by rx8strakes.com should be fine for you

they are on ebay as well...I believe the name of the store is nsfx or something like that

if you have any problems with their products, I'm sure rx8strakes will take care of you...they are a vendor here btw

cogsNsprockets

Excellent, Thanks alot..

robrecht

They now have some polished stainless steel strakes that are real metal I think (don't know if they have the rubber seats), but their others are the cheapo plastic ones that don't have the rubber seats to protect your fenders. Definitely much lesser quality than the Mazda ones. They will NOT exchange them or allow you to return them or trade up if you have already installed them and there's a problem. They also sell the Mazda OEM ones for $210.

05rex8

iTrader: (7)

didn't know theirs were plastic

05rex8

iTrader: (7)

http://www.rx8strakes.com/index.asp?...ROD&ProdID=259

here ya go....more than half the price of oem ones