Big Rubber

This may seem long-winded, or just plain ignorant at times, so please bear with me:

Well, I have a nice new 2003 black on black TL-S/navi, and in order to stay better informed, I decided to join this forum. I Don't know diddley about Acuras. That is, I haven't been pining for one such that I know every spec, read every magazine article, big VTEC fan, etc. None of that. I have general automotive knowledge, and was tossed between the A4, IS300, 3-series, G35, and the TL-S. I wanted a 4-door, I wanted to move, and I wanted a reasonable price. I settled here.

So I'm driving down the road, feeling all kinds of sexy, and in front of me appears another Acura, but a regular TL(don't know the year, but it looks just like mine, or mostly, as like I said, I'm not an Acura afficionado such that I have every nuance of the car etched into memory...yet). Only problem is, as I check out the rear-end of the car, I think to myself, "this car looks like crap from the back". I don't remember my car looking quite so bad, but perhaps it's because this car is white, and mine is black. Nope, that ain't it. So I start to panic, thinking "damn, perhaps I should have stuck with the IS300". Not as nice an interior(by far IMHO), but at least the butt looks good.

Then I remember all this nonsense I keep reading about on these forums, about clearing the headlights, or perhaps also taillights, whatever. I've seen the pics you guys have posted here, and frankly, in my ignorance, I can't see how the before-pic looks any worse than the after-pic. It all looks good to me on this forum. But I see that the white TL has taillights that are red and amber, with a little goofy white cutout in each taillight(reverse I suppose). Man, it looks bad.

Since I haven't memorized my car yet, I'm worried that the crappy lights were overlooked by me, so with a little uncertainty I pull into my parking spot at work(which has now been relocated to the extreme back of the lot, natch), and get out to check the lights. Fear turns to joy as I see that my tails are not crappy amber on red, but clear and red, and damn, it looks sweet.

I suppose whatever year it was didn't have the clear yet, and I'm sorry if I insulted some members here who may prefer the amber and red, but I now see exactly what all the fuss is here on the board about clearing the lights. Big friggin' difference(is the light a different shape too? Don't know, but it looks worlds better).

Now if I can only chance upon a TL that has the cleared headlights, so I can be positive that I want to do that too.

Thanks for reading. Good job, guys.

vancityguy01

99-01 had the amber tails, 02-03 has the red ones, the nicer ones i think, anyhow i dont think the old tails r ugly, but both sets r interchangeable so the 99-01 guys can put our tails on if they wanted, some do and some don't, i think the back of a TL looks sexy, 99-03, i love it, nice dual pipes, i like both tails, debadge ur car and it'll look even better, i did mine, and i see other TL's on the road always lookin at my ass now lol

Big Rubber

Maybe they're wondering when you're gonna replace the badge that some ricer obviously jacked from you

vancityguy01

not really, because without the logo's it looks alot diff, they dont know if it's tl-p or tl-s, it looks more smooth and clean, the rear looks totally different, i think it's more ricer to have all these stupid badges on, plus it makes washing ur rear much easier as well, alot of guys on here remove the rear badges.

Big Rubber

What is it, just glued on, or is it through the metal? How does one take it off?

vancityguy01

the "A" on the back has holes going thru the trunk so dont take that off less u wanna cover it up and paint, however the "3.2TL" and " A C U R A " is just glued on, heat up the logo's with a heat gun/blow drier for about a minute each grab some dental floss and pull it off slowly, it will most likely leave some stick glue crap on ur paint, dont freak out, it'll come off, buy some "goo gone" and put some on the glue wait 2min and wipe off, brand new look to ur car seriously, i than put my "3.2TL" emblem on my tray over the head unit, fits perfectly just used some double sided tape, looks nice.

Big Rubber

I'm not quite sure where you are referring to for it's new location. I've seen it placed on the passenger side, right between the air vents.

Tray - do you mean ashtray?
Head unit - Do you mean the Navi?

Anyway, you have a TL, so perhaps the desire to nix the badge would be greater than if you had the TL-S? Would you still have debadged if it was the type S? I mean, if you have the TL, debadging introduces doubt. But if you have the type-S, and debadge, wouldn't people just look and say "he must have the TL-P. That's why he debadged"?

Not trying to say anything. Like I said earlier, I'm not an Acura fan, so perhaps I'm not aware of the subtleties of the culture. All I know is, right now I look at a TL and think "ahh, but I have a TL-S!" I know, it ain't no big thing. I'm just wondering.

Hey, and thanks for all your help, dude. I appreciate your responses.

vancityguy01

ya the tray above the head unit, the pop out one, i put the "3.2TL" on there looks nice, ya i have a regular TL by choice i didnt want the TL-S, the big diff is tl-p is 225hp, tl-s is 260hp, i didnt buy my TL for speed, i have a vette so thats enough sports car for me, i got my tl as a nice classy daily driver, the 225hp is more than enough for my daily needs as well, i didnt remove the badges to put doubt in2 ppl's minds, although it does it was not my intent, it looks more clean/sleek without them, even if i had the tl-s i would remove the badges, i mean hey if u dont like the look u can always put them back on down the road rite, sometimes ppl just get sick of the same look, oh and i aint a acura guy either, or a import guy even, i love my domestics, strong beleive in the v8 but nonetheless i enojy my TL

maxx96

I have a TL-S and I rather keep the TL-S badge because it says you are warn if you mess with me plus the ACURA letters on the back look sweet.

kevin cody

You have the red ans clear taillights which look 100x's better then the 99-01 tails. Get a rear body kit and some tips or an exhaust and it will look great. The kit makes all the difference

RACINGHART03

iTrader: (2)

I popped my S badge off along with all the emblems except for the A. I stuck the s on my dash and chucked the rest. They like to steal those s emblems around here...among other things. Believe it or not I was following an Acura RL type S the other day.hmmmmmmmm Never heard of one of those and I am sure the guy really went out and spent the 30 bucks for a Type S emblem.

Big Rubber

That's cool. I was wondering about the body kit also, but I had a chance to see one up close and frankly, it wasn't for me. I was thinking that the last thing I wanted to do was add more plastic to the outside of the car. Plus, I may be a bit older than the young studs here. I'm 40. So, in looking at it, I said "yeah, that's too young for me". Sorry.

With that uncomfortable info out of the way, How would a different exhaust/tips/whatever look on a car without the lower body work? I mean, I may be old by you-guys' standards, but that doesn't mean I don't want it to look nice. Not radical. Just respectable nice, if you catch me.

I do plan on the Comptech springs and sways, perhaps some 18's and summer tires...keep the crappy Michelin 17's for the winter(or do they blow then too?), but I prefer a classy ride. Not trick.

Thanks all.

vancityguy01

RL is a very nice upscale car, odds are if it has a type s logo on it some young punk kid is driving it(only a punk kid would stick a type s logo on a rl!!!!) and i 2 doubt he would buy it, thats another reason to remove the logo's, some kid mite pry em off ya flat head messin up ur paint, plus it looks better lol, i for one actually like the stock type-s wheels, but 18's are better, and the stock tires are not as bad as everyone says.

TL-GIXXER

of all the cars that are debadged- i ALWAYS look at them as having been in an accident OR the owner bought it used.

ill leave mine stock.

vancityguy01

well i guess everybody has a diff perspective on it, from a young persons point of view they would view it as a mod, intentionally done, someone older may laugh and assume somebody had stolen the emblems off or somethin, when i had my grand cherokee ltd repainted i told them no pin stripe and no emblems, it honestly ruins the body lines, well my opinion of course, i dont have to agree with all you again debaging ppl, but i respect ur opinions nonetheless

Big Rubber

When I was a little tyke, I remember a commercial about drunk driving, and it had the drunk driving a car that had a busted front headlight. To this day, if I see a car with only one headlight, that image flashes through my mind, and I think "drunk driver".

Anyway, just thought I'd share

vancityguy01

ya it's just little associations we make as ppl, but anyhow back to you wanting to improve ur car, if your like me i wanna modify my car but keep it simple, nice clean lines, small mods, drop it, rim it, do some sound work, and thats it, i dont care for the mufflers i like my car quiet.

Big Rubber

Thanks for all the replies, guys. Yes, Van, most of the changes I think will be stealth. Except the rims and the drop, of course

yield2s

hears both debadged and "3A" exhaust tips

**look at my next post. thanx**

vancityguy01

i've never seen that green color b4, thats the first time i ever seen a green tl, looks good

yield2s

sorry im playin w/ the size and thax for the props on the color, honestly wasn't my 1st choice but now i wound'nt want any other.

yield2s

#2

JaDia4

Nice ext color, nice chromies.

yield2s

thanx

ferizzo

personally I like the debadged look! I want to do mine but the fiancee likes the emblems!

yield2s

STICK THEM ON HER AS$

is300eater

When you do get the wheels, and the "drop" you"ll ask yourself: "...why didn't I do this earlier?" . I can't tell you how many times I get other TL-ers checkin' my car out. One time... I took my car in (at the dealership) for an oil change, and when they were done, they pulled it out front. Well, there people lookin' at my car, asking the salespeople if it was for sale, or if it was some kind of... "limited edition"

F.Y.I. I don't have a body kit, but I have 19" wheels and a drop. I painted the brake calipers red which really stands out in a subtle way. However, I don't recommend 19" wheels, go with the 18"s. Get a nice tint, if you haven't. Trust me, the wheels and the drop "make the car" IMO.

Raheel

If you want to smoke:

goldendragon576

2004TL, is that your car?? I don't think I've seen at red TL before. Your location says KC area but the plates are in Georgia. I'm just curious what year this car is and what the color is called.

The Acclude

Those smoked lights = tits.

But Im a bit biased

LiQiCE

Here's a pic of my cleared/smoked headlights on a '03 NBP TL-S:



Click Here for the rest of the pics.

ResidualFreedom

some people on here have mentioned in a post prior to this one, that their "type-s" logo is a big target for civic and integra owners and if someone is going to steal something from your car they are not going to worry about saving your paint. I have a TL and I have pulle the 3.2TL badge off but I have left the "ACURA" across the back and the Acura logo, it seems to ballance out the look of the car in the back.

What do you guy think about adding a " T E" to the end of the "A C U R A" across the back of the the car. I know you would have to take off the badge and put it back on centering it.

I am looking to find out if you guys think it is rice or nice?

" A C U R A T E " across the back would be definetly origional, but is it rice?

and no I don't know where I to get the letters it would have to be a interesting search, worst case scenario would be order another badge from acura and alter the letters, it would have to look professional I know.

CatchaWave

Exactly. You PAID for the better model. Let people know it. I not only like the "Type-S" badge, but I think that the back of the car looks MUCH better with the A C U R A across it. It looks classic, the way they used to do on cars on the 60's. Without it, the car looks plain IMO.
Debadge a Chrysler, debadge a cheesey looking car, but you are driving an ACURA. Why wouldn't you want people to know what it is?

Tom Blasing

The colors of red (Fire Pepper Red and Redondo Red) were only available on NON- Type-S optioned cars (at least in the U.S. anyway).

r10apple

I'm not big on the smoked tails, but the headlights look good as does yield2s' pipes...