Dudewithoutapet

I want to mod my car ride and looks wise. I have come to terms I am not driving a ricerocket and speeding is overrated anyways. I want my car to look good, but I am new to this and I'm not very good when it comes to knowing what looks good (you should look at my wardrobe ) So here are some pics and tell me what you guys think. I know usually pics of cars go in the "Photograph Gallery" But since my car is completely stock, it'd be like looking at any 1G Pearl White 3.2 TL . Once I've done all the mods to my car, then it will go there

I want:
-Tint - I don't know what % is good and if it will look silly on a white car, anyone with PhotoShopping skills can help or maybe you guys have seen a white car w/ tint. I guess I would get 5 year (I want to drive this for as long as I can, but 5 years should be good, right?) tint. I read about the antenna problems and such.
-Drop or larger rims that fill up the "deadspace" or both
-Spoiler or lip. I heard about the ones from that japanese website everyone recomends, I think those look pretty good. A friend of mine recommended going with those that look like the M3 ones (really small and thin)

Thats about it. Any other recommendations are greatly appreciated. And maybe how much this should all cost so I don't get ripped off when I get quotes from people.

Here's my car (and yes, I've scratched it, sorry it is my first car and I'm still new to driving. I've been reading about how to apply small amounts of paint and plan to fix all the dings myself)-





Oh yeah, I live in San Diego and Los Angeles, CA if that helps.

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

is this a CND car??? just wondering since your mileage is in km... looking clean.. just need some rims, some tint and you are good...

oh yeah and you should be able to get out most of you scratchs with polish and a PC (porter cable) buffer...

KrayzieDxC

OOOo nice same color as mine..well heres a glanse of my ride..so you can see its simple..n not goin over rated

96teeluxury

if you want tints i just got 20% tints put on the 4 side windows and rear window on my car for 175 bucks

as far as other mods a cheap but clean mod is buying clear front turning signal lights to replace the ugly orange ones and inspire tail lights that have clear turning covers as well

Ken1997TL

Paint the black trim underneath your doors and your mudflaps

982.5TL

krazie what kind of flag is that hanging from your mirror?
i agree with Ken too. paint the "side skirts" and mud flaps. it'll look lower and cleaner.

KrayzieDxC

cambodia

daemonicus

shave the 'acura' and '3.2tl' off of the back.

Dudewithoutapet

Kamlung - Yes it is a Canadian car, lol. It freaks my friends out whenever they ride in it for the first time and see me doing 60km (<40mph) on local. My cousin bought it new there and shipped it down (I think) when she moved to San Francisco.

Ken and 982.5TL - I thought about that, but didn't someone just post about how their paint guys said that it will get a lot of nicks and stuff from the road and then have to be repainted?
How often will I have to repaint or buy new sills?

Daemonicus - When you mean shave, you mean take em off?

Thanks a lot guys, keep'em coming!!!!!

daemonicus

yep, shave means take them off. the acura logo in the center comes off but it leaves holes but the other 2 just peel right off. it'll take a couple minutes to take them off and then clean the glue off but it looks nice when it's done.

Dudewithoutapet

Will there be anyway to mount them back on? Just in case.

Edit- i mean I'm sure I'll be able to put it back on, but I mean how much will the material (glue?) cost.

daemonicus

couldn't tell you, i've never planned on putting them back on haha. i'm sure you could just use a hot glue gun b/c the glue should be rubbery enough to not mess with the paint.

alphason'sac

Krayzie, those Type-S wheels look great on your car. I wish that they would fit on the 2.5. I wouldn't mind having those as my "winter wheels".
Dudewithoutapet- Your car looks great. I would just tint it as dark as you can get legally, rims, and a drop. Of course, you HAVE to get the clear bumper lights. I was the one whose paint shop said that they wouldn't recommend painting the sideskirts because it would start chipping once rocks and other road debris started hitting it. I would have to then replace the side skirts. Does anyone have any testimony about their experience with painted sideskirts? I would love some insight.

MyAcuraCLS

Reminds me of my TL. I'd get rid of the goldplating. Tint it 15%, drop it, get an OEM or lip spoiler, throw some 18's on, and your good. You can actually do a lot to the TL.

daemonicus

just b/c the paint gets chipped in places doesn't mean you need to replace the entire skirt. it's just a scratch.

KrayzieDxC

actually they do have them ,them type-s wheels..in 4 lugs..i seen it in person..hard to get and hard to find..where ,may b in PR..its a clone wheels..

ELA.TL

ive had mine done from the moment i got my car 99, and the sideskirts are still ok. both are peeling but thats due to some heavy metal scratching it on the freeway. (dont know how but it did) you just need to make sure they add the additive to the paint for the rubber areas in the car

alphason'sac

Krayzie, that sounds like an idea. I guess that I will get on the hunt for them then, because I really want a set. Thanks for the tip.

ELA.TL, I was thinking about doing it anyway, in spite of the warning. I think that I will try it and see what happens. Thanks for the insight. Did you do your mud flaps as well?

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

yeah its called a flexing agent... for painting rubber parts... they also add these to the paint when they do the bumpers...

alphason'sac

Sweet! I will keep that in mind!

Capricho

Let me chime in on a couple of comments. You have a very clean and unabused looking car. Keep it understrated and you'll be fine.

First, I personally would not recommend painting the under sills and mud flaps. The material used is somewhat elastic and pretty smooth. This was done to absorb debris from the road as well as to 'slip' from the mold from which it was formed with ease. It will not hold paint very well and it will chip and drive you nuts, especially on a white colored car. I considered doing the very same thing to my green machine and after talking to some reputable body shop guys they all convinced me out of this folly.

Second, when I tried to 'shave' or debadge the rear emblems two weeks ago I discovered much to my chagrin that because the car is 9 years old, the glue holding the emblems on had basically eaten away thru the paint in many small spots under the badges. It looked horrible and it was not something that buffing could eradicate. I ended up ruining the existing badges and then having to order new ones from Acura to cover it all up. I think that debadging an old car like the first generations does carry this risk these days with the cars being as old as they are.

Your car would definately benefit from some larger rims (not chrome!), clear bumper lights, wood shifter, chrome shift gate, and a HD lower front grille.

Anyway, good luck!

Capricho

Dudewithoutapet

Here's a noobie question. I have looked around and looked at a lot of wheels. My cousin lost the manual and while people are trying to find a pdf, etc. I have searched to no avail what size wheels (lug pattern?) we use. After some research, I believe we have 5 X 114's basically? And what about width and stuff? I know that 3G TLs wheels are the same, but I vaguely remember someone saying we cannot use them because they will rub. I honestly dont know too much about this business and any help would be appreciated.

Well after it was recommended, I really want to debadge it, lol. I'm a lil lost on what to think now, I'll think about it a lil more first I guess.

As far as non chrome rims go....
I like
I also like
In case of any bashing, I do think it will match the gold emblems pretty well and I have a plan to add more gold.

I am a lil lost on the HD grille thingy, whats that? Are you talking about adding a grill to the space inbetween the front blinkers?

Dudewithoutapet

Oh yes and thanks a lot guys, pls keep them coming if you can. I'm gonna try to summarize everyone's opinions soon in one post and then see who supports what and what are the more recommended mods.

daemonicus

Our rims are a 4-lug, btw, not 5. The pattern should be on this site somewhere if you search but i think it's 4-100/114.3. If you're thinking about lowering, dont go more than a 225 tire but i think TLxRacer has 235 on his, or at least did at one point. As far as the debadging goes, i dont doubt that the paint damage happened to Capricho but it didn't happen for me. It just took a long time and a lot of Goo Gone to get all the excess glue off but the paint doesn't have a scratch on it where the old emblems were. Just dont rip them off, take your time and slowly pry them off. It wont take you more than 45 minutes to do both, start to finish. I think what he meant by HD grille is a Home Depot Grille. It's basically chicken wire that you can cut to the shape of your grille. I had it for awhile but personally I think it's cheap looking (what do you expect for $6?). I later on found out about GrilleGuy and I ordered the top and bottom combo from them and I love it. Real thick stuff and shiny too. It's already pre-cut too so you jus have to put it in the car. The link to their site is www.grilleguy.com and here's a picture of the upper and lower combo I got.

hope some of that helps you out.

Dudewithoutapet

I drive a 3.2, its 5 lug, I'm pretty sure. The 2.5s are 4 lug. This is from what I've read here, I could be wrong.

Yeah that helps man. I was hoping to keep my gold premium A but that does look pretty good too though.



On a side note, I would also like to say if the gold rims look too flashy I really like the gunmetal with polished lip rims (as those on the thread below mine)

daemonicus

oops! i just realized you had a 3.2. That grille setup is for the 2.5 only but you can order the top and bottom grilles seperately. I'm sure you could have the bottom grille installed but it would look like crap since the 3.2 has that extra lip running through the bottom. The upper grille though would work, as long as you can take off the chrome border on the grille (on the 2.5's it's like 8 screws and it comes right off). I'd be surprised if the 3.2 grille didn't have those same screws under the hood.

And yes, the 3.2 is a 5 lug, sorry about that!

Dudewithoutapet

Realized my links suck so here they are again:

I like
I also like

Probably 17's as they are the most common

Sorry for all the confusion and mix up guys

Go90go

We're 5 x 114.3mm, and I believe the absolute lowest offset we can use is +40mm (correct me if I'm wrong), and up to +55mm works fine. Gunmetal with a polished lip FTW!

~Cheers~

KrayzieDxC

correct

Dudewithoutapet

Krayzie are you stock except for the wheels?

KrayzieDxC

yup

TLBaller

3.2 who goes lower than +42 will rub if dropped. 2.5 can have a lower offset.

Dudewithoutapet

The offset is determined by your rim or wheel, correct?

Dudewithoutapet

Justin Timberlake is bringing sexy back, but I have a sexy back





It took me about 1.5 - 2 hours to do, but then there were no problems with the paint at all.

Oh yeah an update to my car -
My parents don't want me getting rims till the old tires run out of thread Asian parent cheapness FTL, haha. And they are afraid tint will come off after a year or two, so I'll have to convince them first. Basically my car is gonna stay pretty much stock for now. I might get the clear bumper lights and Inspire tails if they are cheap though (I figured they wouldn't notice if I switched them out )

6spMike

Check out the laws in CA regarding tint. I think they have some laws about how dark you can go, especially on the fronts.