Painted vents
 

I was wondering if anyone else has done this? It should have been done by mazda on the black i think. It totally makes the car. They did a great job with designing this little piece but it just didnt show up before. Now its cool. What do you guys think?

and
 

and cant see it too clearly from here but...

and if you dont mind
 

also if you guys dont mind here's my 220HP turbocharged miata thats in the garage in the first pic above:)

That miata looks like a BEAST!! It must outperform your 8 in all aspects...i even think it looks just as good.

i like the silver vents. what about on a red 8? leave them black or paint them silver?

Ok, I LOVE your Miata! That's a beautiful car! I'll bet its a hell of a lot of fun on the track too...

Thanks rx8'ers
 

Wow! thanks for all the great response! ya the miata is faster than the 8 and handling is as responsive but the 8 can do it and make it feel like you're riding in an audi a4 somehow I prefer that perfect balance of not beating you up and still ripping you around turns. I'm also not sure that the miata is actually faster. I think the acceleration just feels harder but that speedo on the 8 is scary after 9k in 2nd gear I'm goin how fast??!? As far as other colors in the rx-8 GO FOR IT. Paint the trim piece. Its easy to access and worst case scenario you just paint it black again. Thats how I saw it. I'm still debating on the front grill...

what kind of paint did you use?

That looks really nice on the black. I bet it would on the red, green and blue, not sure about the tit and silver though. I think it makes the black look more classy.

wouldn't do it on my yellow , but it looks good with black

agreed with the yellow there is enough contrast.

Man that looks good on the black. Nice job! I think it would look good on the green as well. The bright colors I think look best in black. On the Ti and silver not sure, it's a judgment call. Either way good idea!

What sort of paint did you use? Just some standard silver spray-can type?

Also I wonder if it would still look good without the strakes... have you taken them off and given it a good lookover without them?

the guy from anaheim did this too
looks great
I dont think it would look good on my red though

nice miata

Not on red no. I'm still toying with the idea of red for the strakes. I've also considered black strakes, but black would almost make them invisible at some angles - they'd need to be bigger in black.

Greg,

The silver vent covers look great, I have a couple of questions.

Were the covers easy to remove and reinstall?

Also what type of paint did you use?

I think I will definitely be doing this on my Black 8, I wonder if the front vent covers, over the oil coolers, would look as good?

Chris

Looks Great!

Actually, that detail was my biggest hangup about the black color, and I wasn't even considering it. It's such a nice detail on the car, but it gets lost on black. Dangit! Now I will have to reconsider black :). Ah, decisions...decisions...

Wahoo!

Nice job. I like the silver on black.

I have my vents painted titanium to match the car.:)

Looks Great!

Please answer questions re ease of removal/reinstatement & type of paint.

Will definitely consider doing same to my black 8. (whenever/if ever it arrives:( )

Pics?

Yes I would like to see these.

me three

heh, I just used some leftover silver paint in the garage called "wheel paint" and it should be available from pep boys. As for removal of the vents, I learned that by installing the strakes. If you look inside the wheel wells youll see plastic screws. They only turn a half turn and then you pop them out and you simply stick your hand between the plastic shield and the body and squeeze the clips holding the vent on. Its super simple you canc do it in 3 minutes. Be careful that you are gentle when unscrewing them though they are slightly delicate. I did it the quick way and painted them while the strakes were on so I just taped them off. I didnt want to worry about re-aligning so I havent seen them without the strakes. This is a huge improvement over the looks though and I recommend it for ALL colors. Don't be afraid you cant ruin it just paint it back! -greg

thanks greg for info

a better view...