I don't know if this belongs on a different forum, but I figured the firstgen guys might have had to deal with this before, so here's the thing:

When I got my GS, I knew it had a weird discolored area on the passenger side A-pillar:



Has anyone seen this before? Does anyone know a way I can take care of this myself? I don't want to get the car repainted or detailed, really... I was hoping there might be some product I could get my hands on. Thanks guys.

 

Oops! I got disconnected the first time I was trying to post about this, and I just made another about it. Ignore this!

 

Common on older cars...mine had it...the dealer offered to paint it for free when I got some body repair on the front end done, but they didn't guarantee it. It now looks like yours again.

Not sure how to fix it...I guess sand/strip off the old and paint it again....I wonder why Mazda made it chrome underneath?

 

That's a good question... I'll have to find out what kind of paint will look good on that material.

Also... on an old Volvo we had, there was a scratch on a black piece of trim, and it showed BRIGHT white... we grabbed some black nailpolish, did a little touch up, and it looked like new.

For some reason, though, I don't really want nailpolish on my rx

 

semi flat black KRYLON spray paint will fix you !!!

 

Mine had the same problem. Nothing some spray paint can't fix.

 

There is a Dupli-color product made just for painting auto trim like that. Autozone sells it and I'm sure the other parts stores do as well.

 

Sounds like a plan to me. Now I gotta figure out how to get that piece of trim off the car... that or mask up my windows. Hmm.

 

Taking the trim off is best, but you'll need to get a trim removal tool from an automotive paint store to avoid damaging the trim or the clips that hold it in place.
Unfortunately, it's very hard to get any kind of paint to stick to chrome. I am going to need to do the same thing eventually, I'll probably use Dupli-color semi-gloss black lacquer as I've had good results with it in the past and it has a nice OEM appearance. I like to bake painted parts in the oven at about 350 degrees for an hour or so, then let it cool thoroughly and repeat the process a couple of times to make the paint really hard.

 

I used SEM Trim Satin Black on there and on the windshield wipers too. It worked well on a set of wheels also. Sand those down well, mask off the glass and cover up as much as the car as you can.

 

That's the paint you'd want to use.

 

It's less maintenance and cheaper if you just strip the black paint off. It doesn't look bad either. Strip it chemically, you dont want to scratch your new shiney parts.