Come on Spring, come on!

[NicholasJay]

Even though the snow and the below average temperatures are more than enough, I have another reason for wanting spring to get here in a hurry. I went on a shopping spree

I decided months ago that I wanted new tires for this season. My OEM tires only are worn to 5/32nd's, but they are about 5 years old. Reason enough to get new tires for me. In the search for tires, I also decided to get another set of wheels, and I decided on 17" wheels to replace my OEM 16 inch-ers. The wheels are 17x7.5 Enkei RPF-1's and the tires are 215/45/17 Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs. Both the wheels and tires are highly rated, and if I get 2 seasons out of the tires, I'll be happy. (And seeing the amount I drove it last year, that shouldn't be a problem). Bought from Tire Rack. They were at my door 17 hours after my order was placed.

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After getting the wheels and test fitting them, I realized that the lug nuts would cause my socket to rub on the wheel, so I ordered a set of McGard spline drive lug nuts from Goodwin Racing. If I come across a thin wall 21mm socket in a store, I'll buy it to try on the supplied lug nuts.

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Well, while I was ordering from Goodwin anyway, I decided to order his 7 lb Roadstersport Race muffler to replace my Roadstersport II Duals muffler I've had for a couple of years. I was originally going to wait until after MAMB to get another muffler, but I decided to 'save' on shipping costs. Nothing's wrong with my current muffler, I just wanted a change. I also decided to get the optional glass packed baffle for road trips.

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Since I was on a spending spree, I decided to get the color matched roll hoop bars. I don't know why, but I've always liked them. They should go well with my color matched dash insert. This also means that I've abandoned plans for the Goodwin roll bar (at least for a long while).

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And lastly, something I bought last year from WBR. I have a set of 2" matte black vinyl chevrons/hashes for my fender. Last year I had on a set of 1" hashes for a while. These will be temporary, but they should be neat nonetheless.

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Now the question comes: When do I put this stuff on? I have half a mind to throw everything on before MAMB, but I don't think I want to do that. This stuff was expensive, so I don't want to put it all on now and be done. I want to savor the upgrades. So here's my plan: I'll put the wheels/tires/lugs on 'now', and put the other stuff after MAMB. This way I'll be able to enjoy incremental changes. (But I really do want to try out the new muffler.)

Comments/questions/wisecracks welcome.

[skeeler]

Nick,

Hurray for your upgrades.

The wheels and tires look nice. As I said, I'm thinking of getting something very similar for the street sometime in the summer, though I'm leaning toward 17x8. I'm also planning to buy some 17x9 RFP1s with 255 tires, possibly Star Specs, for autocross. Please let me know what you think of the wheels and tires when you put them on.

The exhaust is beautiful. I look forward to seeing it. I'm considering getting the larger Street Single exhaust, so I'm quite interested in this part.

I'm a big fan of the fender stripes on the NC. Will you be putting them on both sides?

[ChristianL]

And lastly, something I bought last year from WBR. I have a set of 2" matte black vinyl chevrons/hashes for my fender. Last year I had on a set of 1" hashes for a while. These will be temporary, but they should be neat nonetheless.

Talk to me before you do these. Not long after the NC came out, a local owner asked me to put a set of 2" wide ones on his fender. I found that one went on pretty nicely, but that matching the second to it was pretty much impossible since the vinyl won't stretch enough to do so. If you painted them, there'd be no problem. But the multiple comcave/convex curves and angles on on the fenders don't work well for vinyl.

In the end, we did 1" next to a 2", and that worked out pretty well. However, I have a few other ideas for chevrons that I think would look great on a NC.

[Sam Powell]

What Fun! I need you to come over and clean up my work bench. That looks sanitary enough to get local health food inspectors to pass you for food service.

Sam

[NicholasJay]

I'm a big fan of the fender stripes on the NC. Will you be putting them on both sides?

I only have one set of two stripes, so unless they are long enough to be cut in half, I'm only going to be able to do one side. I checked out WBRgraphics.com, and they don't have their sales page up anymore (at least that I could find). It seems that they are hard to get in touch with any more to get another set.

I do have a roll of black 1" vinyl, so I thought about doing a 2" and 1" stripe per side. But I don't think the blacks match up properly.

Talk to me before you do these. Not long after the NC came out, a local owner asked me to put a set of 2" wide ones on his fender. I found that one went on pretty nicely, but that matching the second to it was pretty much impossible since the vinyl won't stretch enough to do so. If you painted them, there'd be no problem. But the multiple comcave/convex curves and angles on on the fenders don't work well for vinyl.

In the end, we did 1" next to a 2", and that worked out pretty well. However, I have a few other ideas for chevrons that I think would look great on a NC.

Thanks for the information. Maybe I'll bring the stripes out to the tech day at Wayne's. Are you planning on being there?

I put two 1" stripes on the car last year, and with some practice it wasn't too bad, but I can see how the wider stripes would make it more difficult. What I did for the 1" stripes was this: I put down the first stripe where I wanted it. Then, right next to it, I put down a strip of masking tape, being sure to connect the edges of the tape to the vinyl. Then, repeat with the second vinyl stripe. After it was down, I just removed the masking tape, and I had two stripes with a set distance between them. That method didn't account for the stretch on the outside edge of the second stripe, but it'd hard to notice compared to the 'internal' gap.

What Fun! I need you to come over and clean up my work bench. That looks sanitary enough to get local health food inspectors to pass you for food service.

Thanks! I always keep my play areas clean, like my mommy taught me . That, and I just built that workbench last July when I finished off my garage.

[skeeler]

I managed to get in touch with Darrel after calling him. He whipped up some CAR-style number plates for me, and I had them about 24 hours after I heard back from him. (They look really good.) I can get you his number if you want. But, for something like stripes, you can probably just by 2" vinyl and DIY. Are the ones you have together on the same backing, so that you don't have to do your masking-tape trick to get the spacing right?

[NicholasJay]

Skeeler,

I wouldn't mind just buying 2" vinyl from somewhere, but I can't find any place that sells it (which is why I ended up with the 1" stuff last year. I'm thinking about calling some local sign shops, but I haven't done anything with it yet.

The stripes I got from WBR were on the same backing, but I haven't tried to install them yet. I don't know if it would work out very well because of the stretching involved. The 1" stripes that I had came on a roll (bought from West Marine), so I had to do the tape trick to get them aligned.

[ChristianL]

All the chevrons I've ever put on (I think I'm up to 4 or 5 by now) used the masking tape trick, so I'm glad you already know about that. The trick with the 2" wide ones is that they don't stretch enough (like the 1" ones do). If you could hide a cut, I think you could do some pie cuts in the vinyl and make it lay down correctly. Otherwise, I think some careful placement and edge trimming could get a really nice look. The owner of the NC that I striped wanted the chevrons to start from the hood edge, so that made things a bit more tricky.
As you can imagine, the rounded curves of the NA/NB are much easier to stripe.

In the past, I've found the vinyl at Signs By Tomorrow, and they even trimmed them to the width I need. Just figure out what width tape you want in between, along with a sharp Xacto knife (not a utility knife), and you'll be good to go.

Anyway, if I make it to the Tech Day, I'll be happy to help put them on. Or at least make suggestions for you.

[NicholasJay]

In the past, I've found the vinyl at Signs By Tomorrow, and they even trimmed them to the width I need. Just figure out what width tape you want in between, along with a sharp Xacto knife (not a utility knife), and you'll be good to go.

Thanks Christian. Can a person just stop by a Signs by Tomorrow store, or does one have to call ahead first?

[ChristianL]

I usually just strolled in, picked out a vinyl from off their wall, and waited while they cut it. I haven't bought any for myself in a few years, but it used to be something like $7/foot unless it was something exotic (reflective, metallic, etc.). I found that usually 2' was enough, and they'd cut it so I ended up with four, 2' stripes on a single sheet. I think I used to get the stripes cut to 2 or 3 inches wide.

Just bring something to read for the few minutes that they're working on it for you.

[skeeler]

And get enough to do both sides in vinyl from one vendor.

How would you guys feel about black stripes on Liquid Silver? It might be a little too contrast-y for me. (Black on Galaxy Gray will be quite attractive, I'm sure.)

[NicholasJay]

And get enough to do both sides in vinyl from one vendor.

How would you guys feel about black stripes on Liquid Silver? It might be a little too contrast-y for me. (Black on Galaxy Gray will be quite attractive, I'm sure.)

Always copying my style. I see how it is.

Your liquid silver is a tough color to accent. Judging by what I saw of your car last night, your car is lighter than Galaxy Gray, and it is darker than the silver of my Golf. black wouldn't look bad, I think. Especially with the black roof.

I think one of three colors would look OK: black, white (maybe a little too bold), and True silver (especially if you could find a metallic-ish vinyl. If you would get a silver that would match your wheels (I'm thinking RPF-1's, I don't think your stockers are that bright), I think that color would work.

Here's a picture of what my car looked like with the black 1" stripes. They definitely need to be bigger (and possibly more vertical) next time.

[ChristianL]

That's the brighter silver, right? Black looks okay, but dark grey looks even better. Traditionally, though, chevrons are only on the driver's side fender.

[Claff]

How would you guys feel about black stripes on Liquid Silver? It might be a little too contrast-y for me. (Black on Galaxy Gray will be quite attractive, I'm sure.)

Well with stripes you're kinda going for the contrast, so that's not a bad thing. I'd match the stripes to the interior/soft top, unless you've got a theme thing going like I fluked into with Slow.

PS get enough so you can do chevrons on the new 3 as well. You know you want to.

[NicholasJay]

PS get enough so you can do chevrons on the new 3 as well. You know you want to.

Since I had a roll of the 1" vinyl, and I had gotten good at applying it, I did a couple of stripes on my wife's GTI's fenders. She was none too happy with it, let me tell you.

So, anyhoo, my recommendation to Skeeler: Do it! I'm sure she'll like it.

[skeeler]

That's the brighter silver, right?

Not exactly. I believe you are thinking of Sunlight Silver, which was the lighter silver/gray color in '06-'08. For '09, Mazda more-or-less split the difference between that color and Glaxy Gray with Liquid Silver, and it's the only silver or gray offered in the US. (Other countries have Metropolitan Gray, too.) There are a couple of photos here:

http://www.miata.net/gallery/

The other idea I had was to wrap/vinyl the windshield surround in black. I've seen this done on a few True Red cars, and I really like it:

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I think doing both the header and the stripes might be a bit much.

[skeeler]

Perhaps, if I don't want to do stripes and the windshield header on the NC, I can put the fender stripes on Alison's 3, as suggested. I think they'd look rather sharp against the Celestial Blue.

[NicholasJay]

Skeeler, I found this website that sells all kinds of vinyl on a roll. Here is a link to his 2" wide rolls, and all of the available colors that would go along with it.

http://www.stripeman.com/mm5/merchant.m ... ripe+Rolls

There's definitely a lot of available colors, including metallics. The dark gray metallics in the top middle set would look nice on your ca, I would think.

[prostwest]

Wow, I'd like to see more of that blacked-out header and pillar treatment. I'm not a fan of the NC styling (sorry, owners) but minimizing the windshield transforms it into more of a Barchetta, which seems to really work.

[ChristianL]

Very good comparison, Steve, and I think you hit it right on the mark. I, too, never warmed up to the NC's styling, but was looking at the red one and thought that it really looks a lot better than most I've seen.

[prostwest]

The Archetype:

[bill_keksz]

Just break out the rattle can & do it.

[NicholasJay]

I just got myself some more vinyl stripes. Flat black, like my other ones. But I bought four 2"x48" stripes and four 1"x 48" stripes.

I have enough to do both fenders with two 2" stripes, two 1" stripes, or one of each. Hell, with 48" of length, I can do stripes like the old Z cars:




Right now I'm leaning toward doing one 1" and one 2" stripe on each side. At least the 1" stripe will be easier to match to the 2" stripe.

Stripe stripe stripe.

[skeeler]

Hey Nick,

Are you planning to sell the RS II exhaust or keep it?.

[NicholasJay]

Hey Nick,

Are you planning to sell the RS II exhaust or keep it?.

If all goes well with the Race, I'm going to try to sell the RSII. I was trying to line up a buyer in the fall for the RSII so I could justify buying the Race, but then I said 'to hell with it' and just bought the Race without any regard for the RSII.

[NicholasJay]

The wheels made it on the car this weekend.

[skeeler]

The new wheels look nice. How do they feel?

[ChristianL]

They look great - will look even better when I put the chevrons on in a few weeks.