Out of the 8 cars I've owned in my life this is definitely the worst in terms of body quality. The paint just chips and scratches so easily it is ridiculous, and the car is very easily dinged.

Just a touch to the body will dent it or chip it, what is this body made of - tin foil?? This is unacceptable

 

I agree! And commuting along the same route as the giant rock-moving trucks from the local quarry doesn't help either! I've got very deep chips and dings on my month-old TLS already, and I haven't even made my first month's payment!

I wonder if the dealer will fix it. I'm seriously considering getting the X-Pel transparent bras (3M Scotchcal film), but I can't find a dealer in the Kansas City area.

 

I agree. This car dings way too easily. I just got my third in less than a month and it just doesn't make sense. I got 3 in 3 YEARS in my last car...

 

i feel the same way... i got 2 ding in the first two weeks i got my TLs... it bug the hell out of me so i went out and got it fixed... now every time i park next to cars i make sure there is enough room for the doors to open without banging on mine if not i look for open spots just to be safe.... its a b--ch to do that evey time...

 

These cars are "ding magnets"! I actually had someone sitting in their car with the rear door opened and pressed against mine... OH YES I WAS XTREME PISSED!!! Are people trying to ding my car?? It sure seems that way...I have 3 since getting the car in April....I will be making a trip to "Mr. X-A-dent" SOON, It is
Impossible to keep a daily driver perfect, that is why I have a Porsche in the garage as my car I try to keep perfect....
*******s in parking lots could care less about my car!

 

I have a 1994 Integra which also dings VERY easily. For those of you that used to have or still have an integra and now have a TL-S, can you make any comparisons on easily the two cars get dings?

 

I had a 93 Integra and it wasn't bad. I had a few cosmetic imperfections but nothing major. My TL-S had no dents, just a couple of scratches and... oh, the whole front end is torn apart.

 

I've had my Ford Explorer for six years and it doesn't have a single ding. My new TL-S has no dings, and I don't expect any for a long time, if ever. The key is parking in spaces at the end of a row, or in the back of the parking lot. I don't mind walking further to the mall or grocery store or whatever if it means avoinding the a$$holes who seem to deliberately open their car doors until stopped by an inanimate object.

And woe to the jerk who parks too close to me. When I first got my Explorer I had to park it on the street outside of my apartment on the north side of Chicago. One morning I find this beater Chevy Blazer parked so close to me that his front bumper was pinned to my rear bumper. I jumped on its hood and did a tap dance. Trashed it. (I had a slight anger-management problem back then. I'm much better now, thanks.)

Another time, still in Chicago, I had just parked my car legally next to a loading zone. While I'm sitting in my car, fumbling with change for the parking meter, some guy in a mini van starts backing into the loading zone. He keeps backing and backing, I lay on my horn, and he backs right into me at about 3 MPH. Luckily my brush guard saved me from any damage. "sor-ry" was all he had to say.

Another time in Chicago I'm sitting on my front stoop waiting for my ride to pick me up to go out on a Saturday night. I see a very nice Grand Prix trying to park across the street, but there's not enough room between the car in front of him and the alley next to him. So what does he do? He noses up to the car in front of him and guns his engine, pushing the car forward about three or four feet to make a parking spot for himself.

Another time in Chicago I'm walking to work after parking my car in a surface lot. I see a cab laying on his horn because a Ford Escort is double parked outside of a Dunkin Donuts. A cop is standing right there, but the cab floors his gas peddle and rams the Escort from behind. I say to the cop, "I've never seen that before." The cop says "I have."

I don't live in Chicago anymore.

 

I've only had my baby since July 2nd, but myne came with a couple of hail dings on the hood anyway. No other dings or scratches yet (keeping those fingers crossed). I too have a "strategy", in hopes of keeping my car dingless. I always look for the end of a row, especially if the end is curbed. Then I park as close to the curb as possible (without rubbing the tires), which allows maximum clearance from anyone that parks next to me. Every time I park somewhere I'm soooo tempted to just take up 2 parking spaces but then figure that's jerky and would also invite someone to key the car.

In regards to the quality of the paint job....all I can say is that my Infiniti Q45 had several dings and scratches in the 3 years I drove her. I really don't think it matters how great of a paint job it is.....it's how many jerks you park next to.

 

TL4Mo,
I am the same as you....I park as far away from the "civilians" whenever I go somewhere. Even at work, I go to the very top level of my covered parking garage, and take up 3 spaces!
But everywhere else, I just park in spaces where only one side is exposed to dumba$$ door swingers! Mostly, if ya park far enough away, especially in the Houston summers, the lazy a$$ people won't walk that far!


Robb

 

"True that" robbdogg!

I guess I can park far and take up 3 spaces and now not feel bad! Thanks. I WISH our office building had garage parking.....that would help SO much on my DEP paint job. With open air parking, I am not only looking for shade but room. I am seriously considering a car cover.

take care robbdogg.

 

I am very very careful in parking lots,

Almost all of my dings and one serious deep scratch came from a brand new two door celica that is parked next to me to the left of my apartment parking space. On the passenger side next to me is a Honda Civic which is very careful so I do not have any dings on that side. Just to verify this I parked my car backwards - i.e. head out and sure enough the next morning I had a new ding on the passenger side. Now I am sure! But what do I do, I feel uneasy about taking revenge...I'm not that type of person, but I want justice

I complained to the manager and he confronted her about it but she is a psycho ***** on drugs and vehemently denies it!!

I am using the ding guards for now from www.no-ding.com which is preventing any further dings.

 

Agree.....
Some people have no respect other people's car....
I am trying not to park so close....

 

oh....one more thing......
Do not ever park on 2 car space even though you afraid of door dings..
My friend park on the middle of 2 car parking space and some dude key it all around the car....

Don't ever do that....

 

Yeah, sometimes I wonder if your chances of damage are increased the more you try to protect your car. My parents always park WAY the heck out where there aren't any other cars (Buick Riviera and Cadillac STS), and a couple of times these old beaters have parked right on top of them and clearly opened their doors into them on purpose.

Me, I just take my chances and park among everybody else. I figure accidental damage or damage because of careless indifference will probably be less severe than intentional damage.

It's a cruel, cruel world our cars live in. I was parked next to a fairly expensive Mercedes once in a mall parking lot and when I came back to my car, the very affluent-looking owner was there looking for something inside his car with his door resting against mine. I was like, "What the hell are you doing?!" and his only response to me was "Oops". OOPS?! Luckily the Grand Prix has some molding on the doors and there was no apparent damage. But come on!

Paul

 

Thats why I carry a lead pipe and a blow torch in my trunk! :p :p

 

robbdogg!! so that guy was YOU????

 

 

I went to a shop in Lenexa and they removed 4 door dings for $80. Looks brand new!

 

Just over two weeks old, been careful about where I park and the first day I park out on the street taking a client to lunch, for about 45 min, there is a huge gash on the rear bumper from some idiot who can't park! went straight past the paint into the black. of course the he or she is gone by the time I get back out there,

then i notice that a chunk of the chrome grill is chipped off, probably from a rock or something while driving. sucks!

 

What can we do to protect against these rock chips on the front end? Will the standard leather bra do the trick? I've heard mixed reviews (not on this forum) about the clear bra. I checked with my detail guy and his opinion is that, even though makers like Mercedes put these on their vehicles, once the rocks start chipping into the clear bra....the bra looks tackey. Now that's his opinion from seeing it on these high-end vehicles after wear and tear.

Any suggestions?

 

The standard leather bra works fine. But you still have to watch out...one of my bud busted his foglight when a rock nailed him. The rock came from a truck he was trying to pass on the highway.

 

What good is it keeping the paint on the front of your car in pristine condition if you can't even SEE the paint because it's covered by a leather bra! Might as well cover the WHOLE car and protect ALL the paint!:p

 

That is one of the thoughts I am struggling with on a standard bra. No only is the nose "covered" up but I am wondering with those of us that cannot garage our cars....will the rest of the pait fade while the nose is in pristine condition? Won't that be worse at resale time? Another question, how hard is it to add/remove the bra (like wanting to use only on out-of-town trips)?

Anyone? Bueller?

 

I have had nose masks on my ’89 Mazda MX-6 GT, my ’95 Ford Explorer Sport and now my TL-S. Only the silver Mazda was not garaged most of the time, so I will use it as the example of what bad things can result from keeping the nose mask on full-time.

Grit collects under the bra. You have to be careful when removing it, but otherwise the grit pretty much stays in place below the bra and doesn’t scratch the paint. Wax the car before putting the mask on.

If you leave the mask on for too long without removing it, the dirt below the mask gets really hard to clean off. It’s like a dark soot. It will come off with a little elbow grease and polish, but it’s best not to let it go that long. (A few months, I guess?)

If the car sits in the sun everyday, you will risk some change in color due to fading. If you keep your car in a garage at both home and work (I’m one of the lucky ones) you will have no problem. Perhaps a good wax with UV protection would help.

The bra is absolutely essential to minimize rock chips on the highway. It also makes cleaning off bugs a breeze, and prevents scratches from idiot parallel parkers. What the TL-S nose mask is missing is nylon mesh over the grill. Bugs can still cover the radiator. It doesn’t have a wind deflector either, like every other mask I’ve ever seen.

High pressure no-touch car washes with the overhead dryers can ruin the bra by stretching it out of shape. The hot air gets under the wet bra and turns it into a 38 DD.

You don’t have to remove the bra every time you wash your car. Only once every two months or so, and when you wax it.

Use armor-all (sp?) or similar to keep the vinyl mask from weathering. This is important. Also, the fuzzy side of the mask has to be cleaned by hand and vacuumed thoroughly before reinstallation. Do not use the washing machine and dryer.

While I have not yet had to remove my TL-S’ nose mask yet, the other masks went on and off in about five minutes. However, it is a bit of a pain in the butt since I’m always in a hurry. That’s why I just leave it on.

That’s all I can think of right now. If you use common sense, and aren’t too anal, an OEM nose mask will work for you. Never buy a non-OEM mask. They never fit right, and are of poor quality (from my experience). I have every intention of getting the Xpel clear bra in the future, if I can find a local dealer. I’ll put it on the rear bumper, as well.

 

Thanks R Man,

Your information is very helpful. With all that said, I think I still want to pursue the Xpel clear bra. I guess if it starts looking really worn (hopefully not until a few years), then I'll just get it replaced. I'm gonna give the xpel dealers in H-town a shout.

Thanks again.

tl4mo

 

Agreed, the leather bra is ridiculous...totally ruins the look of the car!

 

I guess the lead pipe and blow torch won't help with the flying rocks, huh? :p :p :p

Robb

 

I don't have any dings. I always park a long way out in the parking lot away from all the loser-crap. I had my GS400 for 40 months and never had any dings because I parked it away from everything too. The only worry about parking the TL-S in isolated areas is the thought of getting your lights ripped off by some scum. It's a shame the world is so full of crappy people.

 

Yes, mine tl-s has the same problem. Can we ask Acura to do something with this? How do you guys think?

 

Why don't we post this question to Wayne from Park Avenue Acura? He's an Acura insider and also a representative that wants to keep Acura customers happy. This is obviously a problem that is not going away and needs to be addressed. Somebody get Wayne online

 

Talk about dent, I had my car about 3 months now (TLS). I washed my car yesterday and found a dent on my front hood near the wind shield. Now I have to go to the Dent Doctor Removal Place to fix it. It's going to cost me $125 cdn. It seems that the metal is kind of cheap. It never happen to me when I was driving the bmw.

 

I had a 1997 GS-R that I kept for 3 years and 48,000 miles. The only dent it had was on the top (horizontal portion) of the right front fender where an Acura tech monkey from a dealership I won't mention (Acura of South Florida) leaned his elbow while inspecting something under the hood.

I traded the GS-R for a 2000 TL that I kept for 18 months and 17,500 miles. No dents or dings whatsoever.

Traded that for a 2002 TL-S that I've had for 3 weeks and no dents or dings yet. I do have a few small scratches that're getting fixed soon, however.

 

I am using the ding guards for now from www.no-ding.com which is preventing any further dings. [/QUOTE]

I checked that web site... wouldn't it be better to have a ding or two than to have that ass ugly strip of rubber on your car?!

 

They are ugly, that's for sure. However, these things are magnetic so you put them on and take them off after leaving the mall or something. I called the company and asked if they had any other color than yellow (like maybe black...less obvious) and the answer was no. I am considering ordering them because I would rather not deal with the dings and forego the vanity. However, my other question is, how do you keep from having these things stolen????

That was a question my wife posed to me. Anyone?

 

I checked that web site... wouldn't it be better to have a ding or two than to have that ass ugly strip of rubber on your car?! [/QUOTE]

Agreed, it is not only ugly it is also embarrasing in front of friends or co-workers. I use it only at the end of the day to prevent my jackass neighbor from dinging me.