Hello all from NY.
Just bought a new 2003 3.2TL type-S (anthracite metallic) with NAVI, moonroof visor (no charge) and dealer installed rear spoiler(picking up the car end of this month, May'02).
After checking out the picture gallery and the car dealer, I have to admit that this vehicle looks ALOT better with the body / "ground" kits installed along.
My question is, if I buy the genuine Acura body kits from acura-tl.com, how difficult would it be for to install these parts myself (with my 2 brothers) or is it a job that body shops and car dealers should handle. I presume that the kits will come along with installation instruction, but my concern is how much drilling, screws, additional parts and parts removal am I looking at (I wasn't too crazy about the price quote the car dealer gave me for the body kit installed).
Any bit of information and comments thru this post or via e-mail would be much appreciate it. Thanx!... alfielum

 

I don't think its that hard, here are the instructions........INSTRUCTIONS

 

OMG, mine was a pain in the a$$ to install...................first of all, my car was lowered with eibach pro-kit so it was slammed......the only way i could put the front on was to take off the front bumper, and then drill it in

the sides are a pain to take off......i got my fireplace cleaning shovel because it was made of all metal (and not hollow)....i took off the screws and wedged the shovel between the side skirt and rear wheel....it popped off and i was happy =)

the rear sucked to install cuz its so long on the sides and its so wobbly.......i just taped it to my bumper so it would hold it somewhat in place.............another thing that sucked is that i only had the factory jack......and so i had to jack up each side and take off the wheel to drill the nail in............it sucked having to do it on both sides......another thing was getting the rear kit aligned properly......took a while & got really hot ........but.......

now that i have my kit on, everyone just stares at my car

 

It is not hard to do. I did it all by myself! Took me 3 hours, and that's because I didn't quite understand how to mount the rear skirt!!

I see you live in Bklyn, if you want I can show you my setup and tell you how to do it. REAL EASY!!!

-Rich

 

Hey ssick... you da man! Thanx for the instruction link on how to install the body kit.

numbaonextunna, thumbs up to you on posting your experience with intricate details.

rmarin2, you r one cool dude... "gracias" to your offer on how to set it up. By the way, saw your 3.2tl type-S picture gallery... nice details / set-up you got going on the car - wow!

I don't know the condition of the roads / streets are where all you guys live at, but here in Brooklyn, NY, there are plenty of pot holes, high sidewalks and other non-sense to watch out for. How much of a "beating" has your body kits taken where you all live at?

Still, after reading the instructions on the "linked" site, it seems reasonable and doable enough that I'm really tempted to go ahead and do it / get the body kits (and "disregard" the poor road conditions here in Brooklyn). Opinions, anyone?...

 

Go ahead and try it, if it's too much for you to handle worst comes to worse a body shop should only charge like 100-150 to install it. It might save you a lot of time and headaches. Otherwise good luck!!

 

Oh, and I live in Staten Island and I am definately gettin the body kit you just gotta watch out for large potholes, and you just cant lower your car like 3 inches......youll be fine.

 

sssick... great thoughts from a great individual... and thanx for the encouraging words! alfielum

 

:wow:
I gotta admit... these forums can be quite "addicting" once one starts reading topics of interest in regards to this "awesome" car...

 

Oh, by the way, the dealer where I bought my car at quoted me close to / over 2 grand for the body kit parts / installation...

 

Order the kit from this sight and install it yourself. It's easy and you'll save lots of $$$$$. I bought mine here and had all parts w/in a week. Took a few hours to install. If you have someone who has already installed it to show you some tricks/give you some tips, it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours.

 

I see that you finally put your body kit on! Looks real good man! How much was the kit & where did you get'em from? Thanks.

John

 

The bodykit install is real easy since you have another two guys helping you. I also order the kit from this site and it took me a little over 3 hrs to do it ALONE!!

 

I was going to buy it used from someone in MA but things fell through and he decided not to sell it at the last minute. So since I had already taken off my OEM skirts and was driving around naked, I called Park Ave and they had 1 kit left in my color. So I ran over there and picked it up. I got it for $900.

 

I've only had the kit on for about a week but so far so good. I have taken it into the city and haven't had any problems. I am careful though. I slow down around potholes and those weird dips in the road. I've also been on the BQE and well, u know what that's like with all the construction going on!!!

I say go for it! You will love the look, especially if the car is lowered!!! Good luck!!

 

it took me about 4 hours to install the kit. i couldn't get all the clips on the sideskirts to clip so it took me awhile. i think you should buy the kit from this site, and install it yourself...it's pretty simple

 

I have had my kit for over 2yrs now on my 2000TL.
The front lip of my spoiler has some scrapes on each side.
I finally found out how I did it backing up into my back yard.
I have to make a sharpe turn at an angle when backing into the yard. I scraped the left side on the curb of the property behind my house in the alley. I did the right side hitting a regular parking hump. I did this all the first few months of having the car. When I get some extra money I will get a new front lip. Its not that bad but I did not lower my car becase we got potholes & bad D.C streets. The body kit is a must for this car I would not get it without one.

 

Yea, I figured that I'm gonna have to be more careful with the road conditions once the body kit's are installed (I've pretty much decided (95% that I will) go for it once I finally get the car in my hands... CAN'T FREAKIN' WAIT ANYMORE!!!). Once the body kits are installed, I guess I'll contemplate in changing the headlights to the Phillips 6000K D2R everyone seems to be "gushing" about at the forums...

 

I've read a bunch of posts about the color match on the White Diamond Pearl body kit. Has anyone had a problem lately with and OEM kit not matching?

I thought I would install the sides and rear myself and have the dealership put on the front since it requires drilling. I just have a problem with drilling into my brand new TL myself.

 

jofunk, read the instruction link that was attached by sssick (click on the underlined "instructions" word), as it states that drilling will also be required to properly mount the rear skirt... I don't blame you about not wanting to do the drilling yourself, as I myself have some concerns too, but as I read the instructions, sounds like there'll be a need to do about 4 to 6 drill holes (max., I hope!). That doesn't sound so bad, huh?

 

IT'S INSTALLED!

Yep! It was a good amount of work, sweat and brain "cracking", but it was worth it. The car definatelly looks really good with the body kits installed on it.
I think the rear kit is the trickiest of them all, as one really have to figure out that the big metal clips are to be inserted thru the hole, attached to the bottom of the rear bumper. These clips "squareish" end had to end up on the inner portion of the rear bumper. Another thing, the aligning of this this is a PAIN in the *ss, as I did my best, but still ended up with a little bit of space (the kit not being side to side to the rear bumper) here and there, as for some reason, just could get the perfect alignment.
Bottom line, I saved myself ALOT of money!