When you want to customize the exterior of your car do not forget about one of the most visible pieces. Door pillars are great to replace your factory pillars or replace the old scratched, faded pillars.

One of the key factors allowing this vehicle look is what Katabuchi calls the "Door Pillars," which is perhaps a better term than what might be otherwise be used: "suicide doors." There are rear-hinged doors but no door pillars, which result in a huge side opening that provides an easy access to the rear seats not normally associated with sports cars. In other words, the excellent ingress/egress characteristics of the freestyle door system helped Katabuchi and his team meet their passenger comfort requirements while maintaining "a silhouette that unmistakably says sports car." In fact, when viewed from the side with the doors closed, one would be forgiven for thinking that there actually are door pillars.

This is because Mazda has surrounded the small glass area on the rear doors with thick frames that are blacked out in the front, mimicking the non-existent door pillars. The thick curve of the rear portion of the door frame fits almost seamlessly into the rear pillar giving the impression of one solid unit, and harkens back to the original RX-7. Each rear door swings out and away from the rear quarter panel on one massive hinge and latches with pins into the frame when closed. Given the sturdy construction of the freestyle doors, the RX-8 may have been structurally sound even without its B-pillars, but Mazda's engineers chose to provide an alternate source of body strength. They did this by giving the RX-8 a little backbone

Benefits of custom door pillars:

• Easy to install
• Requires no tools
• Uses automotive grade adhesive
• Guaranteed not to fade or crack