Yeah for the overall look there are just only so many options. 99% of the body kits available just fit poorly, even some legitimate kits that I have seen from KS, Autobahn, RE Anemiya, etc. so your options are limited when you consider the price of getting them here and then the price of getting them fitted, painted, etc. That is what has always impressed me about the builds I think are great, the attention to detail and the cohesion of the sum of parts. Usually it is the smaller details rather than the overall look that impresses me.

When it comes down to it, finding a properly sorted (on all levels) RX-8 is tough.

^^^ agreed :grouphug:

Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

Oh, and the painter did exactly what you guys suggested, clear coated the crap out of it with very high quality UV protection clear coat. He did a fantastic job, these cellphone pics just don't do it justice.

Also please note that the last picture was taken just minutes after the last clear coat was applied, there's still quite a bit of work to do, so it's not quite perfect yet :)

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I love it. Ever since i first saw when people paint the hood like this and still keep the CF accent, i love it, just got to order my Varis hood and do the same!

hope they take that orange peel out

Yeah that might be caused by the hood itself, not sure.

Do most shops take out orange peel? Lots of labor and sure you would have to pay extra for it.

That was taken right after the last clear coat was sprayed (I don't know if that was the reason for the distortion), they said that would be fixed. I went to look at it yesterday and it looked pretty good, but it was hard to tell in the sunlight if the orange peel was still there or not, it looked fantastic to me.

The owner of the place has been really nice. I have his personal cell phone number, and he even invited me over to his house for Christmas since I'm in the military and I can't go home. He's kept me updated during the whole process, and had his best guys working on it. They started it last Monday, and today they were putting everything back together. I'm supposed to pick it up tomorrow.

There were a couple spots on the body kit I asked them to fix, specifically the rear bumper's upper "lip" for lack of better term was wavy, so they smoothed it out and made it purdy.

In other news, I'm talking to Charles from BHR about getting their brand new headers as well as their midpipe and catback.

nice, watching...

Definitely second this.

Most important aspects of body kits is the kit itself and the fitter.

You will be very hard pressed to get a front bar that fits 100%, Japanese ones included, it will then be up to your fitter to get it fit right, and obviously how much you want to spend.

My body shop specializes in fiberglass and makes his own kits and 100% custom once off kits.

He charges more, but he doesnt let the car leave half arsed, due to his experience with fiberglass, if something does fit exactly, he will retouch that part of the fiberglass. We are not talking about bogging it either, he will redo portions of the fiberglassing, and get this... even make sure the weight is correct. Most body shops will just keep layering on fiberglass to fix problems, you end up with one side being heavier then the other.

As a example, one of his customer had a WRX wanting to fit the geniune cusco front bar on, when the bar was test fitted it was found there were minor cracks on the inside at stress points, presumably happened during shipping. (90% of body kits will get damaged at some point through shipping)

Because the customer wanted to get a absolute OEM fitment, the bar was then completely remade and in the end a perfect fit.

Weight was 0.5kg heavier, due to additional fiberglass layers on the weak points (namely the points that were previously cracked)

So next time you get a kit, dont order a japanese authentic kit and sit there sucking your fingers expecting to get a perfect fit, there are too many factors, if your other panels has ever been touched/moved dont expect it to fit, you will most likely receive some form of shipping damage.

Do your research and find the correct fitter...

Ooops abit of thread hijack

Just a few quick teaser shots.

Been a while since I've been here, mainly because I've bee deployed since May But we're coming back in early February so I'm starting to plan what I want to do/need to fix when I get home.

First and foremost, I want to fix my stance which has been a thorn in my side for as long as I can remember. The wheels will be the #1 thing getting replaced. I just put the deposit on a set of 18x9.5 +22, black Volk G25s. I was told 245/40 tires would be the way to go with these. Only thing I'm not sure about are the type of tire. I looked on TireRack.com and found these, but I wanted to see what you guys thought before I coughed up 700 dollars for tires. They've got good reviews. Also, I'll be going on a road trip when I get back, Home to North Carolina and back, then I want to go all the way up the Pacific Coast Highway and back, make a couple detours along the way, so gotta make sure I'm ready for that as well. So far here's my list. If there's an easy fix for any of these please let me know.

-Fix door locks
-Fix Temperature Control
-Full Service (Oil, etc)
-Replace wheels with Volk G25s
-Hubcentric rings 67->73 for Volk G25s
-Tires (Michelin Pilot Supers Sport?)
-Figure out what's wrong with the (rear?) coilover springs
-Fix stance
-B Pillars (http://www.rotaryfx.com/product_p/ext1042.htm)
-New gaskets for tail lights

I'm probably going to go down the list of one of these posts: https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-f...ot-8-a-202548/ As well.

Tires are one of those things, you will get a million opinions and basically it comes down what your use is and what is important to you. You really can't go wrong with the more popular brands and models though. But there is no point in buying a track oriented tire if you don't track. I run Federal 595's but only because I get them super cheap from a buddy who owns a tire shop. But really they have been great tires for me. But keep in mind, my car is a garage queen.

And for that wheel selection I would go with a 265/35-18.

Expect some cutting and hammering to fit the 265s. Edit: 265s is the route I would go too fwiw

That doesn't sound good.... How invasive are we talking?

I have 265/35 on 18x9.5+23 with minimal camber at 12.5" ride height and i had to cut the rear bumper/fender tabs and secure the bumper further back, had to roll all fenders and had to do major trimming to the front corner lights and bumper, also had to trim fender liner alot, still rubs a bit when full lock but its manageable

Had the same wheel setup with 255/35 and fitted like a glove with no mods

Thanks for the info Max, that's almost exactly the same as mine, good to know. Yeah that's what I was thinking, a happy medium between 245 and 265. I've had so many problems with my wheels, I'm really not interested in pushing the envelope. Maybe when I get more experience and know what it looks like as-is I can push it further, but I wanna play it safe for now.

You need to look at the specific tire specs, for example a 255/35-18 and a 265/35-18 are pretty close in size under most specs but you want to check the specific spec between brands, the numbers on the tires can vary between brands.

But check the Federal 595 for example, look at the specs on the 255/35-18 and 265/35-18 and then go down and look at the 245/40-18/.

http://www.federaltire.com/download/spec595.pdf

Check this out, I made it for another thread few years back. I did not list the brands but just an example of how different the specs can be between tire that are listed as the same size if you go strictly by the numbers. Weight is a big concern and something many don't pay attention too.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5135/...461ba716_b.jpg

So once you narrow it down to a brand, lok at the specs for that brand and model and compare it to another popular one.

J8 edited his post, he runs a 265/35-18 already. Whether you rub much or not will depend on ride height. I would stick with like a +25 on the wheels if you can though.

Wow, that's a crazy amount of variance. So even if I bought a 245 tire, it could be the same width as someone else's 265 of a different brand? Is it that there's no industry standard, or is it just that difficult to make a tire to exact specifications?

According to that chart your wheel width is 10.8", so I'm looking for something more along the lines of the 255, which is about 10.3" wide. I'll keep that in mind when I'm looking for tires.

I'm also thinking about getting a set of these, as my headlights are greatly in need of being replaced.

http://garage-evergreen.com/main/wp-...nki-ikaLED.jpg

EDIT: So I went on Tire Rack, these seem to be the best by far. There's probably some off brand specialty tire that's better, but for my uses, this one should be more than acceptable.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....um=535YR8PSSXL

Can't go wrong Pilot Sports. No on the headlights, complete ricer.

Well you know I value your opinion 9k, but that doesn't mean I agree with it all the time :) I will not however, be buying the blinged out chrome headlights that they also make.

In other news, EricB will be happy to know that I will be getting Face 3 wheels, because I know how much he loves concavity.

http://pptac.http.internapcdn.net/pp...cts2/21070.jpg

Oh snaps that looks just like my hood scheme in red. Looks like they did a good job.

subbed to see how this turns out in february. loos awesome though, and you've changed my mind on that front fender. it looks good. as does the paint.

Did they shoot a sealer coat over your hood? Or did they just straight basecoat it? I know VR is a 3 stage paint so it needs a groundcoat first, just wondering if its ok to not seal the carbon fiber from bleed thru or is it ok to just paint right over.

Honestly couldn't tell ya. Still learning a lot myself. I know they said it was high quality paint and high quality clear coat.

Getting excited about coming back to the states and working on my baby. I expect I'll need to replace the battery. Hopefully the old tires will be driveable till I get them replaced.