NYDesi80

I got the 03 White Diamond Pearl and just had my body kit installed, and Im not happy at all!!! The body kit is a different shade white compared to my original WDP paint. The body kit is a brighter white, its not that bad from a far, but up close you can tell. Atleast I can tell. I bought the kit from Ray Laks, and asked for the WDP kit, but Im worried that he might have sent the Tafetta White instead. But to my knowledge I think they stopped making Taffeta white cars back in 01, and I dont think the 01 body kit would fit my car, but I am not sure of this. I dont have pics yet, but will post.. .Need help please guys. N e one else with WDP TLS w/ this problem? People told me that this color would be hard to match, but daam didnt know it was this off in color. Not to mention, if the part is from Acura direct, shouldn't their be no difference in paint color shade??

hzm82

WDP is a hard color to match, They didn't send you the wrong color, There is no Taffeta White 02+ TL. Some dealers require you to sign a paper saying that it might not be a perfect match before they would sell you the kit. Sorry you didn't like it bro.

yield2s

does the kit match the front bumper? differant materials show the same color paint differantly,so if the diff in color is like the diff between the bumpers to fenders then thats normal but if its more than that you very well have the wrong color kit.
I think an eazy way to tell would be to determine if your kit has that "pearl" shimmer to it. the Taffeta one isnt pearl

hzm82

I'm 100% sure that they didn't send you a Taffeta White kit, they have never made a 02+ kit in that color and Tim only deals with OEM stuff so these are how they came out from Honda Assembly lines.

hzm82

http://www.acura-tl.com/forum/showth...ht=WDP+Bodykit

nym31mp

yea wdp is acually a 3 step paint process thats y it cost more to piant things when body work is done it take more time and energy to match it like i said its 3 steps sorry to hear it that

VTEChump

Well.. I just installed the rear skirt, and your right it doesn't match. I've had my car only 3 months. I was hoping it was just because my car was dirty, but after washing it, it still doesn't match. This sucks!!!!!!!!

Diamond Type-S

NYDESI is NOT alone, i also recently installed the same color kit from the same dealer he bought it from and got the same result. I immediately noticed that the color of the kit was a brighter white. Yesterday i contacted Tim via e-mail and he had me match the part #'s on the box with the ones on the invoice and such,

"those part numbers end in 220, not 220A (220A is correct for White Diamond Pearl)."

and he did confirm it is in fact WDP. It is obvious that it is a different shade of white, but Tim did say that because it is brand new kit.

"Don't forget as well that your car's been out in the weather for a couple of years, which may account for a slight shade difference."

(actual quotes from the e-mail i received)

mlrook

I have basically the same car, but one year older - '02, Pearl white, Type S w/ Nav. I had the ground effects and rear spoiler installed by the Acura dealer before I took delivery of the car that way it was all covered by the 4 year "bumper to bumper" warranty. The car looks so much better with this option.

Upon delivery, I made it known to dealer that I was not happy with the mismatch in paint. You are right that it is painfully obvious up close.

Ultimately,I pressed the dealer to have the regional Acura rep. look at it. He agreed with me and said that it is fairly a common problem with the lighter colors - white, silver, etc. I told him that they (ACURA) should let people know before they spend the cash and/or fix the problem.

In the end, the regional rep. agreed to pay to have the ground effects painted, along with the front and rear bumpers to assure a match. (If you look close, you will probably notice that the bumbers are the darkest of all of the body panels - mine were anyway.) I was not happy about having to paint a perfectly new car, but he assured me of a color match and my satisfaction. The paint job required that my car be in the shop for one full week and Acura supplied a complimentary TL for me at absolutely no cost. Not a bad deal, but it was a pain in the tail. Good luck and be persistent with the dealer.

Diamond Type-S

wow - you really had to go through all that. It is obvious up close. First thing i noticed when i looked at my car. And mlrook is right, the rear piece is the darkest...the sides are just bright white. I thought i was the only one...but what can ya do-

AcuraTLFan

It's normal for WDP not to match. My car is 4 Different colors. The body is one shade, the front and rear bumpers are a different shade, and my body kit is another shade.

When painting on polyurethane rather than metal, the process and paint used are different. And different equipment used to apply the paint will also affect the color.

You have to remember, the TL is made in the US. While the body kit is made in Japan.

THe colors don't match, but nevertheless, it looks HOT!

FLAcuraTLS

I also have a WDP TLS, and all i have to say is that everything we hear from acura dealers, acura, or parts departments as to why the kits don't match is B.S. I don't understand why Acura/Honda can't just admit they SUCK at painting cars. I live in florida, so there are a lot of pearl white cars on the road from Lexus, Cadillac, Mazda, Lincoln, infiniti, and NONE of those cars have these problems. When I get the chance to see a pearl white car in a parking lot, i damn near stare at the car, looking at every panel and how they match. NO car i have seen has the problem acura/honda has. I had my local body shop repaint my bumpers without blending onto other panels and they did a better job than the factory did. Acura/honda just simply sucks royal c_ _ _ at painting. We're talking about 30K and up cars, not daewoo's or kia's, there's simply no excuse for the paint problem with the WDP color.

CJITTY

My kit was slightly off color wise, but I expected that since its urethane and the kit was freshly painted. Plus, it is a different surface than most of the car. My kit actually now matches really close after driving through a few rainstorms and hand car washes. I got my kit from Ray Laks also and couldn't be happier. Sorry that you were disappointed

fsttyms1

it shouldnt matter if its urathane or metal! if its preped right and painted right it should match! when you look at the cars the bumpers, mirrors and the seam strip on the roof all match, there is no reason that they cant make the ground efects match. ive painted urathane many times with out any color matching problems. and FLAcuraTLS the best way to match is to blend, unless you spend alot of time mixing and matching the exact way the paint was laid to begin with. blending just helps get rid of that all of asudden color transition!

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

My bumper is a slightly darker shade of white (a little yellow in it) than the rest of my WDP TL-S ... Both the front and rear bumper are like this .. i see this on all WDP TL-S's .. i don't know why this is.

Bxscig

How about for the NBP??? 2003 body kit. Planning on ordering it from Ray Leks too. Anyone have problems?

REV-01

mine is off too, you can tell the difference at the gallery page under hawaii cruise

WideBodyAccord

same thing happend to my gf's 03 TL-S the paint on the kit doesn't match the car pefectly

NYDesi80

Thank You guys, and Im sorry that you all are going through the same problem, for guys like us who are really particular about their car, it doesn't let us be calm everytime we are reminded by washing our car and what not. The car is only 2 weeks old and do not want to get it painted again!! Acura should really take care of this, not good at all !! Well I guess this is it then, this is what I will be seeing on my car... for the next few years.

GREAT I GOT A MULTI COLORED CAR!! ALWAYS WANTED ONE OF THOSE!

bloo_tls02

Why not just wax and polish the car like hell until it does match the kit gandoo?

FidizzyTypeS

gandoo

Type S Lady

Man, I hate that is a problem. I hope I don't run into the same problem with the ABP, anyone with ABP run into this problem?

vandy786

Just wax the car like crazy every month and that will make your bumpers match the body color. Either that or just wait a while for the paint on the non-metallic parts to really soak in. I remember it used to me more noticeable (according to friends) when the car was new.

ABLUETYPES78

i also got my kit from ray laks...abp...its slightly off but only because ive had the car for two years...but you barely notice it....i mean barely...maybe because its abp...same should be the case with black.

Type S Lady

CJITTY, your ride is very hot!

fahoumh

It's a common problem with all WDP TL's....I honestly don't care too much.

ncbuckeye

Paint on plastic vs. paint on metal, not always the same. I know from an accident and the body shop told me that first thing because I had silver.

RACINGHART03

iTrader: (2)

I have heard of a batch of Anthracite and WDP underbody not being painted the right color. Judging by the pic I way of a white one it looks like one of you guys got one. You might try calling CR and asking them about it. Thats all I can tell you about this.

Tom Blasing

I had the dealer repaint my front bumper because the noce mask started pealing the paint off that the factory put on way too thin. The first time I went to pick it up it was one of the worst paint jobs I've seen. Black specs, paint splatter, a small dent where some body knocked it with something before it was dry and even a finger print. Must have been done by people that were fired by Earl Shibe. I left the car there and that night I went back up to the dealer with a Sharpie and a pad of Post-Its. I put no fewr than 17 Post-Its on the bumper cover with arrows depicting every flaw that it had. I logged each flaw, went home to type them all out nice and formal and faxed to the dealer and Acura Customer Service in Torrence. That got a lot of attention by both people.

The reagional rep got involved and approved the replacing of the whole bumper cover. I went back to pick it up again (going over it with a fine-tooth folicle organizer) and immediately saw the color difference. Yes, the bumper was lighter than the fenders and hood. I raised cain about that with Acura Customer Support (Thanks Lee) and with the dealership. After numerous phone calls I pretty much settled with it that way. Still not liking it though. I even went to the only other dealer in town and he schmooozed it over with me too.

The amount of color difference on mine really matters by how much light is shining on it. A lot of light siines on it and I can hardly tell. BUt get it in my garage and it looks like one of those "Predator" kits that was put on and just not painted yet.

I wondered if the dealer is just trying to guess how much of what coating to put on in which step or is it specific formula.

AcuraTLFan

plastic vs. metal is different. On polymer which can flex/bend, contract and expand at a higher rate needs an additional paint agent that will allow it not to crack. IF you notice, if you bumped into a pole, the paint on ur bumper will not crack, it might get scratched, but not crack. Try the same thing on metal, and the paint will crack.

I see this problem with all WDP cars, not just Acura

CJITTY

I'm with TL Fan. Also, having the pearl in the paint really makes matching tough. I've had a few places tell me that on one of my older cars that needed a panel repainted. And all of them made reference to the differences with metal vs urethane or plastic that is painted and it will look different from certain viewing angles.

To be honest, I was concerned about ordering a pre-painted body kit because of the matching, but mine turned out ok. The folks at Ray Laks seem pretty cool. Maybe they could work with you on it. Or, take it back to a local dealer and see if they can help. Anyway can you send some pics so we can see just how different the color is? I'd be curious and perhaps others here too. I know that if I ordered mine and my color was off, I'd be just as pissed as you are.