Cooldude01

all,
I have the base model and wanted the look of the Tech/Advance trunk lid. After research and research, I came up with two possible solutions: Ebay and OEM online part store.
Ebay trunk lid (image below) doesn't look right because there is a small cut off angle at both ends compare to the Tech/Advance one and it wasn't for me.


I contacted acurapartforless and they sell the 2013 Special Edition which looks just like the Tech/Advance model without the camera slot. This is what the final look on my car.



So let get started...
Items needed:

• Special Edition trunk lid (you need to specify your color when ordering)
• Trunk open button (you will need this to cover the slot for the button. Keep in mind this is a NON function button)
• Door panel removal tool (around $10 at any auto part store)
• small drill bit and 9mm drill bit
• Lots and lots of local newspaper (this will help to prevent scratches from metal sleeve when drilling)
• Small vacuum cleaner
• Masking tape

Optional item: Tech/Advance trunk springs (you might need these to open the trunk because of the additional weight of the trunk lid). I haven't installed these yet. I want to use the original trunk springs first to see if they can withstand the weight but one week after the installation, I realize I will need these.

First, wash and clean your car to make sure there isn't any dirt or debris to further delay the installation.


Then open up the trunk and remove all the plastic screws with the door panel removal tool. This is fairly easy, just push the liner down and slide the tool in the slot then remove the plastic screws.



For the two rectangular piece just pop them out straight and they will come out..
Once you removed all the plastic screws, the liner will drop down and the metal will expose like this ...


The trunk lid will come with a template to help with installation .. you will need the masking tape to hold the template...NOTE: VERIFY THAT THE TEMPLATE IS CORRECT. I HAVE BEEN WARNED BY PEOPLE THAT THEY HAD RECEIVED WRONG TEMPLATE BEFORE.
How to verify if you have the right template?? (I know people will ask this question so here it is) To verify if the template is correct, the template should have the exact number of plastic and metal nuts with the trunk lid. IE: if the trunk lid has 6 nuts (4 plastic and 2 metal) the template should have 6 matching locations.
This is the most important step in the installation.

Once you verified the template is correct, go ahead put in on the trunk and use the masking tape to hold it in place...



The instruction stated that I need to use a puncher to mark the hole for drilling process.. who the hell would have the puncher laying around in their house so I used a long screw and it was adequate enough to mark the location for drilling....
Then you start to cover the trunk to prevent scratches, this is where the local newspaper comes in handy..



I started out with the smaller drill bit and went through the metal then use the 9mm drill bit to enlarge the holes. By doing that, the locations are more accurate compare to using the 9mm out of the bat..



Once the drilling is complete, use the vacuum cleaner to clean up the area THEN remove the newspapers. You will have clean holes as below


Now let's take a look at the trunk lid...
Since this is for the Special Edition models, the trunk lid only has one hole for the trunk button, it doesn't have the hole for back up camera. I attach the button by 3 provided screws


The button also has the electrical connector but my car doesn't have the female connector to make it work so I use masking tape to hold the wire. The trunk lid also has small notches to hold the wire in place...



Once the wire was hidden nice and neat inside the trunk lid, go out and install it onto the trunk by matching up all the screws with the pre-drilled locations. There will be 2 metal screws and 6 plastic screws in my case. The plastic screws will snap right on but the metal screws will require the lock nuts.
Just install two lock nuts and you should be done.




The only thing that I couldn't figure out is how to make the button work. Since my car doesn't have the female connector, my guess is I have to run the wires all the way to the front and try to find the way to hook it up to the electrical panel but right now the trunk looks the way I wanted and I'm satisfied.

kcinac

Did you end up installing a backup camera?

If so can you please let me know what type you used?

Thank you