Radio and Nav are all you need, the dealer should be able to help you if you give them the VIN... ask Tim.

The headlights are easy once the front bumper is off, some think the bumper removal is the hardest part... I wont mention any names.

 

Jerk!

I thought we had covered that pulling the bumper for removing the headlights doesn't get you anywhere. Or are we talking about the actual assembly and not the bulbs?

 

hahaha... I believe OP wants to pull the entire housing out.

 

I was mulling around pulling the exterior apart as far as I could to address any rust issue. But after spending more time under the car I have deemed this excessive. I do still plan to pull the rockers and tail lights out and clean and treat behind those. I looked under all the weatherstripping on the door bottoms and they are all pristine. I also just found the trims on the rear wheel fender arches. There is dirt and salt under there I saw and tiny bit of very minor( for now) corrosion so I'll rip those off and clean and treat. I ordered new trims for those along with the new floor mats from Tim. Unfortunately, Tim could not ship out OEM touch up paint (hazmat red tape) so I ordered some custom made paint from an ebay seller, along with the DRcolorchip.com system that I'll post about when I get it. Can anyone help me with some touch up paint for the wheels? I see some on ebay, custom made as well. Also, had some more thought about the rust bubble. Body shop was puzzled as well being that it is aluminum, they even brought a magnet out to check. But with paintwork, a patch is a patch, and then there is a tiny bubble under the Acura logo as well on the trunklid. I figure, the corrosion is already there and NOT going away. It will either get worse or stabilize. I am going to touch up the chip on the underside of the trunklid that allowed this to happen to hopefully keep any additional moisture from entering. I think that paintwork is likely to look worse than the bubble itself. I was considering buying some plastic chrome trim (5/8" wide) and try to trim a clean smooth curve at the ends to match the shape of the trunk and just apply a horizontal chrome trip to cover the rust so I don't see it, it bugs me. Any thoughts on that? I figure if it ever creeps past the trim (plus, I can see the underside), then I know I have to get the whole trunklid repaired and sprayed. What do you guys think?

On another note, I am enjoying this car so much, and I can't keep the wife from making excuses to take it to the store of wherever on unnecessary trips. It drives great, like a heavy luxury car should. Fuel economy is not bad, but my commute is mostly highway and I drive pretty smooth and don't speed much at all. I am still freaking out about how cool all the tech is, I love talking to the car and the bluetooth phone, how did I ever do without that?!?!? The stereo is phenomenal. I have a few DVD-Audio and several DTS-CD as well. PM me if you guys want to know how to find a nice selection of DTS-CD's. They are all so expensive since they are unavailable now. I just need to add that USA spec iPod adaptor. Can I do that myself? How hard is it to install? I have a pdf of the shop manual. I wish it had a built in USB or SD card reader. I had a SD card reader in my last car and that was great. It is tedious using itunes to put podcasts onto the iPod if they are not on itunes. I listen to a lot of alternative media and that's not available on the XM (one of the things I will use to knock them down when I call to "cancel"). and I used to just load them on an SD and plug it into my radio. Might add a subwoofer later, not that the stock system is not powerful enough, but adding a sub will not only improve the low end (at high volume, it's perfect at moderate volumes), but will reduce strain on the other expensive components.

 

Glad you are making progress and happy over all.

 

I'm pretty OCD about my car's paint. If I were in your shoes, I would definitely repaint the trunk. It seems like repainting it might be something down the line if the corrosion doesn't stop, why not just save the time and money of trying temporary trying to address the problem, and just get it fixed 100% the first time?

 

I noticed some bubbling near rear license plate and almost not visible (behind the plate) - for the last 10 months it did not move at all - not getting bigger just sits there... I think many car makers decided to go with aluminum and this is one of the reasons... I am not touching it until it is 10 times bigger

 

Is this on the 'outside' door handle ? Mine has those too. I don't believe fingernails are the culprit. Going to try to compound them out.

 

No it's on the door behind the handle. I would not try to compound any plastic parts, the paint is usually thinner or more delicate there for some reason, just use a regular polish.

A mis-matched painted trunk is going to bug me much worse I think. i put some clear touch up on the chip yesterday that caused this so no more morning moisture would feed the corrosion. So we'll see what happens.

The car is really nice overall, perfect mechanically except for the slight whine in the driveline that some here say is the driveshaft. I'm not even sure that's a real problem more than just a noise. If it get's louder, have a 3 year 45K mile extended warranty.

 

ah, your scratches must be on the door's inside panel - the one you might touch when you are inside the car and need to get out of the car

my problem is on the outside of the car, behind the horizontal electro door handle, the one with the dimple to lock it,

don't know how it could have been scratched

congrats on the good mechanicals, most important

 

No, it's outside, on the painted metal door skin. The door recess behind the door handle, one the outside. It is scratched by fingernails. Use polishing compound (not rubbing compound), then go over that with car polish.

 

steel fingernails !
really long ones !

same place on my car too ! that lady gets around

I'm thinking there is another root cause, maybe paint related ?

 

I would guess the door handle scratches to be from someone wearing a ring. I've never scratched my own car just from my fingernails. It would take something much tougher to scratch the paint.

 

The scratches in the door cups are very normal. Pretty much every car will have it unless the owner (and passengers) are super careful and make sure that their fingers only touch the handle and not overshoot it and hit the door cups. They make paint protection film for the door cups, I have it on my car

 

Yeah - they are on my cr. No ring, no long nails

 

you are clearly correct
I just never noticed