I did a zaino job on my TL this weekend and saw rust specs around my trunk emblems, so I decided to break out the hair dryer and floss to debadge to really clean it out...A little dawn soap and clay bard did the trick. Now I'm thinking of converting the "A- C- U- R- A" and the "TL 3.2" to Inpire. Do you guys think I should change the acura emblem and the front grill too? I just like the idea of having something different. I live in an area where its just flooded with old farts driving TL's. Let me know what you think.

xkazman

 

well, since you asked for opinions, i think its gay that you would put the word "INSPIRE" on your car. not only is it not an inspire, but its just plain stupid. if your car was an inspire, then you would have all the little gadgets that the ACTUAL inspire has, for example, the rear-view camera on the spoiler, the turning lights on the front bumper, and button that folds the side view mirrors inwards, etc. if your car doesnt have those, then it is NOT AN INSPIRE! just take off all your emblems and keep it clean...that way, its different.

 

Did you know all that you list are all OPTIONS? They are not STANDARD on the Inspire, except for the folding mirrors, cause it's standard on all cars in Japan. And how can you call it gay? Inspire/TL..same car. Never realized that? Some people might like doing the JDM conversion; some don't.

 

well i believe the bumper turning light is also standard.

well imho i don't see any reason to make an acura into a honda. i mean, it's like downgrading your car?

 

I dont think its downgrading....In Japan Honda is Honda here in the states Acura is Honda. So its all in thes same family. The only reason they break Honda out to Acura is to meet the needs of compititon i.e. Lexus. It's all the same. I even had family visit from Holland and when they saw my Integra they refferred it to Honda Integra they didnt even know what Acura was. They said it was the same exact car. Honda Inspire is the Same as Acura TL...only difference is the name and a few options. Blast me please if I'm wrong.

 

go for it. nothing wrong with making your car stand out.

now, if you put NSX on the back, that's a different story...

 

The bumper lights are not standard. It's an option. If you look at pictures from the Honda website, You'll notice there is no bumper lights on any pic.

You should know better Henry! Sure some people might think it's "downgrading" But how can you "downgrade" your Acura when it's already a Honda to begin with??

I'm still surprised there are people out there that still doesn't know that Acura is by Honda. Lexus is still by Toyota, Infiniti/Nissan...etc

 

well, say all you want, but still to me that's the case. of course i know acura is honda dude but in the US, acura is higher class of honda that's for sure, and i am driving the car here. at least there is no accord that is more luxury than my tls. one thing i guess is that honda still hasn't been able to pull the acura name up there with lexus. you don't get to hear as many people say lexus is toyota (not that there is none, but much less)

it's all about brand name i guess. i sure am glad that people call my car lexus gs400 rather than toyota aristo.

 

It would be nice.. but beware of the damn jackers. Id hate to be worrying about emblems when I goto the movies, grocery stores etc etc... I personally wouldnt do it for that reason.

 

downgrading? it IS a damn Honda... and don't buy Lexus either, cuz they ARE Toyotas... ooo, and don't forget about Infinitis...

 

try to find a toyota that has as luxury as the ls430. try to find a toyota sedan that's as powerful as the gs430. try to find a toyota sedan that's as good to handle as the is300.

yes acura cars are from honda, lexus are from toyota, and infiniti are from nissan, so? there is a reason for these japanese companies to make another brand besides marketing with european imports. they ARE making their "brother" brands more luxury, more powerful, more expensive, more values.

if you really don't think taking off all acura badges and replace them with honda is downgrading here in the US (i don't care about other countries), by all means go ahead. i think so and that's me. i still stand by my point that here in the US all honda are not as luxury and powerful as their corresponding acura models, no toyota cars are as luxury and powerful as their corresponding lexus, and also the same case for infiniti. if that's not enough proof, ok. if you don't agree, prove it

 

Personally I'm gonna have to agree with TLover........I just really don't see the point in it. It might be the same car, basically, but it's still not a true inspire!!! It's just not! If it makes you feel better to put "JDM" emblems on the car...go for it, but it still doesn't make the car a true Inspire.........another thing too, the workd INSPIRE is kinda stupid in itself......99.99% of the people on the road aren't gonna know what it means. I've seen it done, it looks okay, but personally I think the car looks better debadged. Plus, the car is gonna say "ACURA" (or have the symbol) on the steering wheel, engine covers, etc. still........just seems like a conflict of interest.....

 

To me Honda in the car world is in a class of its own. Reputation has been fantastic as long as I can remember. I dont mind refferring my car to a Honda...really thats what it is...right? Honda just seems to be the car to own if you want mods. I would feel differently if I owned a es300 and put Toyota Emblems on it...Its hard to explain but to me it's just different. Anybody agree?

Accordv6: In all respect if I changed my steering wheel to Honda what is the difference then? It will then be infact identical less a few options. And the whole thing is having a unique car and I think Inspire is great! I like the name. To each his own... but hey thats what forums are for right? I think its great to have everyones opinions.

 

It's cool if you are gonna change the steering wheel, but are you honestly going to? What about the engine cover? If you are gonna do it, cool, but make sure it doesn't say acura anywhere on the car after you stick on the H emblems, cause that would be pretty stupid looking if it did.

P.S.-I think it's cool to hear everyone's opinion too..........if everyone agreed, all of our cars would look exactly the same!

 

You should do what your choice is, by asking other's here, you will get mixed feedbacks. If you like it because it's different, do it.

 

but that is exactly my point...they are available options for the INSPIRE but not for the TL. thus, the TL cannot be an INSPIRE at all!


put it this way, if you had a lexus, would you debadge it and put a big Toyota badge on it? or with an infinity, would you put a big nissan badge on it? i sure as hell wouldnt..

 

Dude,

It's your car you driving.. Who cares what people say.. :smokin: :toothless

 

well uhhh, if you read his first post, he did ask us what we thought so obviously he does care to know what people think

 

Call the car whatever you want but only the manufacturer can legitimately name it. The VIN will always decode it to be an Acura 3.2TL which is what the car is.

There are BMW people who are badging their 323i cars as 325i because the 323i actually has a 2.5L engine and it seems as if BMW named the 323i wrong. Fine, but the car is still a 323i no matter how you slice it.

You could put Cadillac DeVille emblems on a Chevy Caprice or Tahoe emblems on a Caddy Escalade but that don't change the vehicle underneath.

If you want an Inspire you're gonna have to move to Japan.

 

My vote is if you can change ALL the Acura symbols to Honda then go ahead. Personally I wouldnt do it (mostly because that this project wouldn't be cheap if done correctly), but also the whole reason why you want to debadge in the first place is because you dont want your paint job getting jacked with. For the same amount of money, you can get interior trim pieces like door sills that WONT be stolen.

 

Maybe for you, other people debadge because they prefer a cleaner look and/or don't want to advertise for free.

 

Um no. I like the cleaner look too. Look at my car in the Thermal R&D exhaust area....how's that for debadge I went fully naked for a couple of days and changed my mind. I dont even like dealer license plate holders.

 

LOL, I remember the day I picked my TL up - I took the dealer plate frames off in the parking lot before I drove away. Also took off the &%@#$ dealer badge off the trunk.

Some sales lady came out and said something like "most people like to display with pride that they bought their cars here, why are you doing this" and I told her I was in sales myself and if she'd be willing to hand all their customers my wireless LAN presentations I'd reconsider.

 

lol....before I picked up my car I MADE them take off their pathetic attempt at free advertising, and then I went home and took the "accord" and v6 emblems off. I just think it makes for a cleaner look. On the TL, I don't like the spelling out of ACURA on the trunk, it looks much better without it........like nobody knows its an acura, especially when it has a big A right above it........

 

if you had the inspire conversion, and you get pulled over, the cop will see honda on ur car and acura on ur registration. wouldn't this conflict?

 

there is no law saying that you can't change the badge on a car

 

but i think this might go along the lines of changing color without registering that color. if ur registration says ur car is silver, and you painted it red, there would be a problem. if they were looking for an acura, and you had a honda, i would assume there would be a problem...
just a thought, i dunno