hafids

My first post! Glad to be part of this great group. I've been reading many threads and have found many questions answered. But of course there's always more.

I have a std TL 01, silver w/Navi. Black int. Love it, I've already got 50 K miles on the thing and took delivery in Jan of 01....navi is useful when you're driving across country and I'm glad I have a 100K warranty.

My dealer recently resprayed my front bumper for me because the paint was literally peeling off!! I was wondering if anyone else had run into this issue...they seemed a little upset too that it was happening so I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it.

Although it's nice having a freshly-painted-brand-new-looking bumper, I was wondering if anyone had tried or considered converting the front of the car to look like the Type S from a std TL. Looks like a new hood, bumper, lights, grill, and possibly front side fenders would be required....I'm just curious.

Also, I have the Navi but don't want to convert it to accept rgb. Rather, I'd be interested in putting a DVD player in the dash to replace the stock stereo. That way, I can use the navi and keep the girlfriend happy with watching a flick on those long drives we seem to take a lot! Questions:

Anyone done this already? I've seen some great swap outs for the stock stereo on cars w/out navi systems.

Will I lose the muting for the front speakers when the directions come on?

Any recomendations on dvd systems? I'm in no rush.

Finally, this is my car but also my company's company car I suppose. I'm thinking of doing a custom vehicle wrap (or extensive graphics) through digitally printed and cut adhesive vinyl. I'm wondering if anyone has gone through this process and might point out some things to watch for. I've heard from one wrap installer not to go with covering the windows with the perforated wraps because dirt can get in the holes requiring an reapplication every year. Not sure of what else I may need to watch out for. These are removable but I wonder if it'll do any harm to the paint over the long -term....it's not too big of a deal. It will become a company car I suppose but I've taken great care of the car and would like to keep it that way.

I'll setup a site with pics soon.

Thanks!
Hafid

baggsTLS

Congrats on your first post. Don't be afraid to speak up.

As for your ?s, you should do a search on this site, you'll find many of your answers.

Let me just say this though, and everyone here will probably agree...Don't be fooled into thinking "Extensive Graphics" will make your car faster, or even look faster. Unless you're building a show car there is no reason to clutter up a TL w/stickers. It probably won't hurt your paint, but it will hurt your ego when everyone is pointing and "Lauging" at you. No matter how good the graphix are, they don't look right on these cars. My advice is to come up with a plan to be subtle, clean and awesome looking w/o becoming "tacky".

Anyway.....good luck having fun w/the car..... happy Modding!

sssick

My thoughts exactly, unless they are going to pay you for advertising I would never put any stickers on my car. As for the 2002 conversion it would be way too much money to make a 2001 look like a 2002. Acura pretty much only redesigned the front end of the car so youre looking at new hood, fenders, grill, bumper, fog lights, headlights as well as things not lining up correctly. Plus no one would even know that it was a 2001 they would just think its a regular 2002. Not worth it.

bigman

Welcome to the board.
For your first question, it is possible to convert and you will need the front fenders, grill, hood, bumper and all the mounting hardware. Save your money, it will get expensive and wont be worth it. you might as well trade it in for a new one and pay a few thousand more than the upgraded front.
As for upgrading the stock head unit, i would go with the newest clarion touch screen. It is a bit on the pricey side but includes everything you need. When changing the reciever i believe you either loose the mute feature or the navi voice altogether. you have to do a search on it as i am not sure.
As far as the graphics are concerned, save them for the $15,000 civic, not the $30 plus thousand dollar Acura TL.
Word of advise. Being a "newbie," you will most likely have many questions to ask. Use the search tool, it is great and will answer many of your questions. Glad to have a new member and hope to see you reply.

mrgreen000

Hey, does anyone know how much it would cost to have the front bumper repainted? My bumper has some litle scraps and wierd rub marks on it and I would like to get it repainted...

If anyone has done it or knows by chance, let me know and that would be great!

Thanks,
Eric

kaih

Somebody ran into mine and it cost a little over $500.

hafids

Thanks for the heads up! Glad to see most are in agreement that graphics will generally not do what is intended. I will say though I wasn't planning on putting sporty graphics on the car...rather, I was looking to put company logo, contact infomation and things like that in as tasteful as a manner as I could try. W/out turning this post into a business discussion, I'll say that it's a great advertising investment since the car is now a moving billboard. But I'll certainly keep your thoughts in mind, I really don't want to get too crazy.

$400-500 for a respray sounds about right. My dealer fronted the $476.34 for me!