Rescued RX8 from iron contamination. SF Bay Area

DetailedByPrecision

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Background story:




This customer contacted me on a forum about almost 2 months ago to talk about some "rust" looking damage on his trunk lid. We exchanged information briefly and I set up an appointment with him to drop the car off so I can go over the car and his concerns for the car in person.


Upon arrival the car was clean since he mentioned he didn't drive it for a long time and he just garaged it and drove his daily beater. He went over the problematic areas and I noted them down in my mind as we were going over the car. The areas of his concerns were headlights, iron particles all over the car, but mostly concentrated on trunk lid, improving neglected muffler tips, and improving rear diffuser since it's faded.

I explained to him what caused each defect and what my process was to correct each problem. He felt very confident in my approach, knowledge, and expertise. We set up an appointment to drop off the car for me to work on. Before he took off I quoted him a 6-7 hr job. I underestimated the muffler tips, and the design of the headlights which required more time to get it presentable so total time came to 8 hr 30mins.











Car: 05 Mazda RX8









Started off correcting and restoring the headlights first. Taped off ready to go









Ran into a minor circumstance that I did not factor in for the quote. My 3 inch sanding disks were not able to reach the corner of the headlight design. I sanded by hand and polished by hand














Dry sanded 800, wet sanded 1500 and 3000














Before and afters



















Other side





























Moving onto the beat up exhaust tips. Used 0000 steel wool and metal polish. Both the customer and I were extremely happy with the outcome



















Just to show how nasty it was inside the tips














Cleaned up the textured, porous plastic trim with Opti Power Clean to prepare for Carpro DLUX trim coating









Washed









Decontaminated the paintwork using Iron X and clay sponge



















The problematic spot on the trunk lid turned out spotless









Applied Opti Lense Coating on the headlights









After shots. Will add a couple more in the future. Some shots did not turn out good



















The owner was extremely happy with the results during pick up. He was glad to trust me with his baby and have opted for future maintenance washes to upkeep the condition. Thanks for viewing. Any input or comments are welcomed.
 
Looks great man. Now you just have to show up for our next Bay Area meet ups!
 
Great job on the detail Cg6!! Great pictures and write-up as well.
 
Wow Beautiful work!!! The RX-8 the last rotary engine!! You brought it back to life!!
 
I get those orange spots all the time, great job on a cool car


Wow Beautiful work!!! The RX-8 the last rotary engine!! You brought it back to life!!


I wonder why Mazda isn't using that engine anymore
 
I would apply the pre-cut LaminX to those headlights to protect them now! Great work on the rotary =========
 
Looks great man. Now you just have to show up for our next Bay Area meet ups!


Thanks. When is the next one?


What went on the now bare paint?

A wax or a coating?


Applied BFWD afterwards. Should of stated the LSP.


That s smoe great turnaround mate !


Thanks.

Great job on the detail Cg6!! Great pictures and write-up as well.


Thanks Marc.


Very nice work. Great thread/pics/etc!


Thanks.


Wow Beautiful work!!! The RX-8 the last rotary engine!! You brought it back to life!!


Thanks. Owner was happy that's for sure.


I get those orange spots all the time, great job on a cool car
I wonder why Mazda isn't using that engine anymore


What procedure you use to tackle/address it? Thanks.


Looks outstanding buddy!


Thanks


I would apply the pre-cut LaminX to those headlights to protect them now! Great work on the rotary =========


Thanks. Owner never mentioned anything about applying LaminX to it.
 
I get those orange spots all the time, great job on a cool car





I wonder why Mazda isn't using that engine anymore

Because they flood if they don't get up to temp before you turn it off again.
 
I wonder why Mazda isn't using that engine anymore

Very difficult to get them clean enough to pass 2016 SMOG. Plus they don't get a good enough MPG rating to keep from pulling all Mazda products down into the area where a fine for lousy MPG has to be paid.

That's why so many manufacturers are going to smaller and smaller 4 cylinder turbo engines.
And now we will start seeing sub 1000cc three cylinder engines with turbos AND a supercharger. Probably combined with a mild hybrid.
 
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