LSMKB1

Hey everyone, long time lurker and I finally made an account.

I purchased my '05 RL this past November and I love it. I've been looking around at local buy and sell ads for the past 1-2 years and this was one that came within budget.

I just want to say, this site is wicked for information and I look forward to learning more.

I'll post up some pics to show my progression since November.

Thanks!

LSMKB1

Here's the first night I test drove it and put a deposit down. It was the night before I left for SEMA in Vegas. It was a rough week knowing this was waiting for me at home lol.


Here's a week later, picking it up and driving her home.


First car wash!

LSMKB1

Picked up some new fog light bulbs.


Also got new Michelin XICE XI3 snow tires just in time for winter. Don't mind my buddy lol.


Driving around hehe


Putting the snow tires to good use in our "snow".

coopcoop30

Nice car. I'm not going to lie though. In the picture with you and your buddy driving in the car I though you guys were holding hands. Welcome

LSMKB1

Did some other small things like OEM all weather floor mats and OEM cargo net. Too bad I don't have any pics of those. The OEM all weather cargo tray came with that car, so that was cool.

Amongst some small stuff were trunk LED lights, LED reverse lights and LED license plate lights.

LSMKB1

Hey thanks! Hahaha oh man I didn't even realize that until you brought it up.

LSMKB1

More winter tire testing hehe. I went up to our of our local ski hills and played around in the parking lot.


After waiting close to two months, my back ordered OEM window visors finally came in.




Now I had plans on keeping the car stock this year, I really did. But then a friend of a friend was selling his BMW and he had some wheels he wanted to sell. These wheels started the "snowball" effect. Hahaha...

LSMKB1

Got some new Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires for the "new" wheels.


A-Spec kit finally came in as well.


I honestly think the previous owner "parked by feel" so I decided to paint the front and rear bumpers before putting the kit on.




A little tease, hehe.

coopcoop30

Get those rims on there what are you waiting for. Side note......I have the A-spec kit installed on my car and I am going back and forth on if I should install the spoiler. Can't decide but your car is pushing me towards installing it.

GGENOVESE

iTrader: (1)

Congrats and welcome. What is the finish on your stock wheels?

neuronbob

Congrats and welcome. I saw that Mugen-type S2000 top in the paint booth with your bumpers.

You had A-Spec wheels on your ride when you picked it up, but the new wheels are OK too.

GoHawks

Congrats and welcome!

oo7spy

Welcome.
Good catch bob!

tla11384

Welcome! nice color!

LSMKB1

Thanks for the comments! More to come, stay tuned.

LSMKB1

Hehe the wheels are on, amongst other things. I just haven't posted the pics, I had to leave the house earlier.

LSMKB1

On the A-Spec wheels? I'm not 100% sure, maybe someone else here knows?

LSMKB1

After 2 1/2 days at the body shop, it took a 1 block trip to my friend's performance shop. There, my wheels/tires and suspension were waiting to be installed.

LSMKB1

Almost done, just in time for a car meet the following morning.


Late night bath after completion.

LSMKB1

The morning after....






Before and after, sorry for the Instagram pic.

LSMKB1

Rolling shot in the rain from the other night.


Just this past week, my OEM moonroof visor came in (no pic and not yet installed) along with my '09 front and rear sway bars.

coopcoop30

Great progress. I'm staying tuned.

oo7spy

The first two pics posted have different wheels. Those are Aspec wheels. What happened to them?

Great progress indeed. I must say I like the wheels on the car more than I thought I would.

LSMKB1

The car came with the 18" ASpec wheels and factory 17" wheels, which was an added selling factor for me. The 17s now have winter tires on them and the 18s are sitting in storage. I had plans of getting new all season tires for the 18s and driving to California for a road trip this summer. But that road trip has now been cancelled. I love the idea of keeping the ASpec wheels (just because they're ASpec wheels), but that would mean a total of 3 sets of wheels. It gets to be a bit of a pain to store everything. They're not in 100% perfect condition either but that's no big deal.

LSMKB1

Thanks, I'm quite happy on how it turned out. The wheels I really lucked out on as they were sizing for a BMW 3 series. I had to change the tires to something more suitable for the RL but that was a given. The guy selling them didn't want too much for them either and considering they're limited edition Volk RE30s, I couldn't pass it up. I've had 2 other sets of Volks for my other car and I really love their wheels.

LSMKB1

Here's a quick rolling video from last night, as my wife drives it home. Sorry for the shaky hand, my other car has stiff suspension hehe.

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player...ps0c6ad6c6.mp4">

LSMKB1

^^ Whoops, sorry about that lol

M T L T L

I see you're a fellow canuck, nice progress. What are those suspensions ?

LSMKB1

Yes sir, good 'ol Vancouver, BC.

Those would be the Tein Comfort Sport suspension.

coopcoop30

I didn't think those rims would look nice either but they look awesome on your car.

LSMKB1

Thanks!

LSMKB1

After waiting a month for the suspension to settle, I finally got around to doing my alignment.


Specs were't that bad from what I can tell, but we straightened out the toe to help with excessive tire wear. It drives better now as well and doesn't pull to the right as it did before. Obviously I have quite a bit of camber in the rear but I didn't know it was that much. The fronts are at -1ish and the rears are -3ish hahaha.

Also took a look around under there and found some battle scars hahaha. Not too bad, pretty mild considering what my other car looks like underneath.

LSMKB1

I'm going to try and install my moonroof visor later today. For now, here's the "unboxing" pics.

M T L T L

Car is coming up really nice, what you say about this roof spoiler too ?

MrKev

great progress

LSMKB1

Not bad, pretty simple. I was trying to search for it but I couldn't find it. Is there a link I can look at?

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

we need to work on your interweb detective skills:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Acura-RL-2005-2008-05-06-07-08-4dr-4d-Rear-Window-Roof-Spoiler-POLYURETHANE-WING-/360568748391?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3ARL&hash=item53f3927967

LSMKB1

Well, the moonroof visor is finally on. It was a lot harder than we expected haha. Definitely not as easy as the one on my Civic.

I'm still kind of on the fence about how it looks. Let me know what you guys think.

LSMKB1

Hahaha d'oh! Thank you!

oo7spy

Moonroof visors: Never liked em. Don't like it now. RL looks great without one.

Then again, I've never been a big fan of any window visors.