Joey32

It happened again. This is it, I will be selling my Acura TL 99 in the black market, I am still repairing the damages. It's been fun but not worth the aggravation, the cost involved, and the increased in my insurance. I will leave my goodbyes once I get rid of the car.

Thanks
Joey

NYZGREATST

ouchhhh. that sucks man! reall sorry this happend to you again

Shift_it

Sorry to hear that. I promise it was not me.

But maybe its time to purchase a 9mm and replace the part. Park it in the same area where it got jacked and wait.

There is this black cat that always loved to jump on my car. after a nice wax on the black paint of my TL. A Kitty cat was having a slip and slide party on the hood. Make some good scratches with its damn claws. Anyways got my BB gun pumped and ready. Kitty came, I popped one in its ass. Kitty not around any more.
Waxing my TL is a enjoy to do now.

Bareback

Man that really sucks - the sad part is you'll see them on Ebay in the next few days...

Those bastards!

Joey32

I Know. Too bad, believe or not it's one of the rare 99tl without any tranny problems and figure I'm was lucky. F**k that. It sucks to own anything halfway nice in nyc. The cop that took my report even got his headlights stolen on his 02 maxima. Well, live and learn. Can't wait to buy a house in long island.

SilverIce2000

just curious, where in NY was this if you dont mind answering?

Joey32

queens

bkzjimmy

mine were stolen twice so far i keep it in a fenced in driveway with barbed wire now
last week i took out my aftermarket headunit (7" flipout tv) and gave it to my cousin....last night they broke his window and ripped it out .....brooklyn SUX!!!!

03CoupeV6

So you'll give up HID technology and benefits because of thieves? I can't see myself being intimidated out of having a nice car because of worthless people.

bkzjimmy

were ur ever stolen????

S power

I mean, how would you steal "headlights?" You would have to pop the hood, take off the plastic piece on top of the radiator support, then take off the front bumper , then the brackets. My point is that its very time consuming, not like breaking a window and jump in and pry off a stereo and go. These thieves must have been very patience. But why TL's? Better off getting a bmw w/ the projectors , I dont get these thieves.

I would stash a razor blade where a person would grab that part(side bumper) in order to pull off that part. Thats what I did to my piaa foglights (popular when it 1st came out back in the days, got stolen 3 times) I glue a nice cutting blade behind the fogs and guess what happen one morning I came out? you guessed it, i see drips of blood all over the ground. F*ckers !!

Joey32

Its not about being intimidated. The reason that I had it with the car is:
1- The inconvenience of not having a car for atleast a week
2- Constantly worried about my headlights getting stolen
3-Increased in my insurance and the cost of my deductible.
4-People constantly fucking up your bumper


Unless, you live in NYC you will not understand the constant grief us NYC Acura TL owners have to endured. I'm pretty sure other nice car owners have the same issues but fuck it I don't need the headache. Therefore, get a less attractive car without the grief of owning a nice one.

Vanos

On an Acura or the older Maxima, you only need a screw driver to pop out the headlight or you can just stomp on the bumper and pull the headlights out. everything is all attached together, ballasts, igniters, etc. so it's a 2-5 minute job.

Elegant TYPE S

iTrader: (2)

Well.. no matter if you have HID or not, thieves will not know that at the time of stealing it. So therefore even if you decide to have Halogen Headlamps they will target it jsut because it is a TL and tear your shit out... and then will realize it is Halogen at which point the damage is already done. So even that isn't fool proof.

Your best bet is to invest into an alarm and mount a shock sensor in the bumper where the headlights are so that a slight tap in that area the alarm gets triggered and the theieves will just run off to some other car which is easier. Of course they can disable your alarm if they want to, but from what I've seen its not worth the risk and trouble so they'll just move onto another car.

With this method you'll only be left with minor bumper damage and your car won't be out of commision for a week, and you can just get that repaired at a body shop within a day at your leisure. Sucks that you have low lifes like this out there.

big mike 13

where in queens?
i worry every other night..

BlackShadow

IMO, set up a camera and just wait for those fockers to come around again and film them. Then send it to your insurance company and the cops!

etxxz

drive your car into a light post and have insurance cover everything + get a new paint job.

sucks though...fucken thieves!

Joey32

[QUOTE=BlackShadow]IMO, set up a camera and just wait for those fockers to come around again and film them. Then send it to your insurance company and the cops![/QUOTE

I hear you but there won't be an again. My mind is set on getting rid of the car. It sucks big time cause i love how the car rides. Astoria

Malayalee King

iTrader: (1)

ouch.

what are you going to get? something less susceptible?

Cosna

My Headlights Were Almost Stolen In Queens, Springfield Gardens..these Were Not Pros And Bent My Hood, Dented My Fender, Damaged The Bumper And Get This Didnt Even Take The Lights. They Just Broke The Plastic Casing. I Guess Either They Got Frustrated Or Somebody Came. This Is The Second Time It Happened To Me. Thie First Was In My Lexus Jeep. That Was Pro Work Because The Lights Were Gone But No Wires Cut And Barely Any Damage Done To The Body

Marlboro27s

how the hell are they doing this?? i had to take off the whole front bumper and remove those hard ass screws.......how they hell do they just "pop" these headlights out...thats crazy

NFLblitze1

LOL!!!! THATS HORRIBLE

Marlboro27s

how the hell can these people sell broken busted up headlights??? im pretty sure the brackets and everything would be broken and cracked. stock 4300k HIDs arent worth shit either

bkzjimmy

they dont want the housing, just bulbs and ballast.

they are much brighter in other housings.....plus if they steal them, so its free for them!

MikePA

The next time you guys hear of someone getting a 'deal that was too good to be true' on bulbs or ballast on eBay, remember this...You might be buying something stolen from another AZer.

zibadun

I feel your pain. I wish there were no HID lamps on my TL. Yes they are brighter, but $160 to replace, and they atract thieves, cause more glare to other drivers and they just scream "look I've got an expensive car". The best headlights I ever had was on my Integra. I'm not sure how they worked, but they had a regular halogen lamp combined with some kind of lens which provided great even illumination.

t0ast

They just jam crowbars into the cracks between the headlights and hood/bumper/fenders. They break the plastic tabs off that hold the headlights in place.

My suggestion has always been to have a meet of the 2nd-gen TLers. Park a decoy car outside, and have a few beers and wait. When those lights get jacked, all the owners come out and beat the shit outta 'em. Word spreads that TLers are pissed off mofos, and all the HID thieves will think twice about ever stealing from TLs.

03TLIN NYC

Im from NYC and still see people selling Maxima and TL ballast on the street. Seems though that headlight theft has gone down a bit in Brooklyn. However, theives are also hitting Lexus and BMW now. I also have a 530, so Im on the nervous side every now and then

fsttyms1

Hids have far less glare than halogens,(atleast in cars and trucks that are supposed to have them) Spend enough time on the road driving and i much rather stare at hid's coming at me than halogens. HID iluminate the road much better than halogens due to the color temp they can achieve also!

oleglev

I have the same story with headlight. Anyone knows or have any idea how to protect headlights. I had my airbags also stolen. A lot fun when you don’t have insurance for it. I am putting warless video camera in to my car to monitor and sine their no HID system present in this car. I am not installing it.

Marlboro27s

it just doesnt make sense....if a theif jacks some stock HIDs, they can only sell them for like 30 or 40 bucks tops.....why go through all that pain for 40 dollar stock 4300k bulbs???

stupid fucking theives....

03CoupeV6

They're not just after the bulb - they want the ballast, too. Sometimes they aren't out to sell them, they want the system for their riced out Civics.

TL83s

Are they just breaking the headlight assembly and pulling the bulb & ballast from the front??? Suppose I had an alarm system with the shock sensor on really sensitive will this theft be detected?

03CoupeV6

With a really sensitive shock sensor,

oleglev

If the ballast was screwed in to the body it would happen since it just under headlight screwed in plastic headlight it is much easier to still it. I was trying to find some hardware solution to stop it happen but their no one doing. If sow or know anything about such solution let me know. In main time I am not putting any HID system or D2R lights. I hope if they decide to take one and hot find what they looking for the other they will live alone. It cost me about $600 to fix the body and buy headlights but experience I would never forget. I am looking for airbags for 2000 TL, if some knows good junk yard where you can buy it cheap or have blown airbags let me know