| 2005 Mazda RX-8 - Polished To Perfection - Project RX-8
OK, so the world’s slowest engine build continues to force us to pay attention to other areas of our RX-8, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Our Mazda is more than seven years old now, and the paint hasn’t received any love from us or from the original owner as far as we can tell. We’ve washed it a few times, but wax or any other type of paint treatment simply hasn’t been in the cards, until now.
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Our 8’s paint rebirth began with a two-bucket wash using Citrus Wash & Clear to strip off any existing wax, a dry using a microfiber waffle-weave cloth (a shammy or water blade can trap or dislodge dirt and drag it across the paint), and a decontamination of the clearcoat using a clay bar and lubricant.
As luck would have it, Make It Shine auto detailing is owned and operated by a racing buddy of ours named Kaval Vilkhu. Having seen the miraculous paint restoration work he did on a tired old Miata, we were more than happy to let him work his polishing magic on the RX-8.
Chances are you’re no stranger to a good old-fashioned wash and wax, but Make It Shine’s paint correction and protection process takes things to a concours level of shine. Achieving this type of optical clarity in the paint requires many hours of prep and polishing, not to mention a high-quality sealant or wax. It’s also important to note that it takes a lot of experience to know how to polish paint to a mirror shine without burning through to the metal. So although there’s no reason you couldn’t do a polishing job like this on your own, there’s no substitute for experience when using polishing compounds. Hiring a professional service like Make It Shine is money well spent if you want your paint to look its absolute best.
You’ll also notice we’ve installed a Mazdaspeed carbon-fiber strut tower bar, primarily for its brake master cylinder brace. This reduces flex and thus provides a firmer and more positive-feeling brake pedal, especially during heavy application of the whoa-pedal. Also, the larger-diameter strut bar provides a more secure mounting location for the Moton reservoirs.
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In the next issue, we’ll have that engine build for you. Really we will! Or the Mazdaspeed body kit and custom rear wing install. Yeah. Definitely one or the other. Totally! For sure!
