Hobogaragesale

Hey guys, brand new to the forums here. Brand new to the Acura too. Spent a good while car shopping with my father. Test drove a used 2003 tl s... was too expensive and not in that great of shape. Ended up finding a listing that sounded promising on Craigslist and went with it. Test drove the car, dark green (wanted black, but the dark green is growing on me), tan leather interior, 2002 acura tl s with 145,000 miles on it.

Test drove it, brought it to our mechanic... and bought it the next day for $8300. The car was in pristine condition. Mostly all highway miles, the gentlemen who owned it before me was the only owner and it was his company car. Our mechanic was thoroughly impressed by the condition of the car. The transmission was replaced twice by Acura for free, the guy never experienced any problems with it, it was part of the class action lawsuits or something... maybe... I don't really know. The latest transmission replacement was at 90,000 miles. We're having the timing belt and water pump replaced... at our mechanics suggestion.

Sorry for that long and boring part, just wanted to give some history/background of the car.

My main question is: What are some cheap/low cost cosmetic mods I can do myself with my sadly limited knowledge... Unfortunately I never really got into cars... never saw myself modding a car... until I owned this car... and found these forums .

I'm looking for mostly cosmetic mods since my mechanic advised against performance mods.

The ones I was looking at were: debadging, replacing most of the interior lights with LED lights... maybe a rear lip spoiler/ rear-window spoiler. I'd prefer low profile stuff (aka not some huge spoiler on the back or ricey stuff... I don't plan on racing just want to have a nice ride that just adds a nice "unique" touch). I'm not exactly sure, I'm too new to this stuff. Do you guys think that soldering and taking the car apart is something that can be picked up rather quickly or what? Most of these mods look daunting to me and I'm pretty scared to take things apart...

Any suggestions for cheap/easy mods would be helpful... or just any suggestions for a new Acura owner in general. I know you guys probably get these alot. I looked around the forums before posting, and found some stuff I'd like to try (debagding, lip spoiler,etc...). I'm just scared to do it myself... and I think most of the ones i read were older and I was wondering if anyone has had any newer revelations .

Thanks alot guys and gals,

jp

JpnSamurai

Welcome to the forum. I was scared to do anything to my car at first too, still am in some areas lol.
Some easy mods like you have stated are, debadging and replacing LEDs. Those were the easiest mods I did on my car and they don't require any kind of knowledge or skills, and gives your car a fresh look. If you like lip spoilers, theres some you can get off eBay for real cheap and you just apply with 3M tape thats already on there. Getting new muffler tips will look alot better too. Hope that helped some

fsttyms1

Welcome to the forum. I suggest you take your time to familiarize yourself with out different areas, and the search button. You may get results faster.

As for the wing, the oem, Mugen (near impossible to find and very expensive) M3/5 lip are the most popular.

Why did he recommend against performance mods?

jjashaa

iTrader: (23)

Welcome to the forums.

debadging is an easy mod to do. and that is personal tastes. i took off the 3.2TL and left the ACURA and A badge. do anything u like with the debadging

lip is found in black market or check local dealer. you might get lucky. OEM and Wings West is preferred most.

for a spoiler, you can search for years for a Mugen Spoiler or jus get an OEM one or a M3 lip. or even a Wings West (WW) flush mount.

Saranora or however you spell it has a roof spoiler for us.

LEDs at www.autolumination.com

have fun modding.

JP (my initials too.)

Hobogaragesale

Thanks so far guys. I was considering the M3/5 lip spoiler.

He advised against performance mods because:
A) Personal Preference, he's not a big fan apparently.
B) "When your friends that are modding their cars are broken down on the side of the road you'll drive by laughing with a car that works"
C)My father probably told him to tell me that because my father isn't a big fan of any sort of modding what so ever, which I respect... to an extent.

All I was really planning on doing was a cold air intake... but I've heard once you start doing this stuff... you cannot stop.

Thanks for the help so far!
jp

Hobogaragesale

Hah, how ironic. I play a little guitar too .

I checked out that site actually from another post someone had. I was still a little worried about some of the installs though... Are the guides they provide pretty helpful?

thanks!

jp

jjashaa

iTrader: (23)

nice nice, i play but i don't own a guitar.

and LED installs are pretty much straight forward. pop off, and pop on. unless them cold cathode lights for trunk or license plate (its pretty easy after you read through it enough and have some knowledge of electronic stuff..)

debadging is really straight forward too. i used hot water with floss and goo gone? or was it goo off, forgot.

the lip kit is pretty easy too. there's an instruction sheet around the forum somewhere. i haven't done the rear roof spoiler.

don't worry about the mods your going to add on, it'll be easy once you see it and hold it in your hands. just search about that mod once you get it.
people here will help you out or they'll jus say go search. (highly suggested)

good luck!

BOSSIN$TL

check the d.i.y threads theres a lot of easy mods in there that i bet will catch yer eye and kind of familiarize you will your car. start of simple and once you revel at your own greatness and build confidence in your work step yer game up haha.

some personal favorites are the back mesh grill ( quick and easy)
and the LED door handles
both in the D.I.Y section.

congratulations on the new whip bruh bruh

Hobogaragesale

Hah, thanks a lot! Yea I looked at some of those I was just a little unsure of my abilities, I think I'll start small and get used to this modding business.

Thanks guys!

jp

tientruong

Get exhaust tips, they give your car a kind of aggressive look.
you can upgrade fog lights to HIDs
Clearing your headlights, which you remove the orange thing and make it look nice and clean with all silver

BOSSIN$TL

exactly easy mods like this will help you get into the groove.
you can even start BASIC BASIC and remove your front license plate holder and mud flaps. its the little stuff that counts

mcflyguy24

The M3 lip spoiler is real easy to install and so are exhaust tips. You just have to be patient and make sure you line everything up properly. I actually had to adjust my spoiler real quick before the tape fully adhered, but it came out nice.
Get a cold air intake with a bypass valve, you won't break down or whatever your mechanic told you and you get better fuel mileage and throttle response. The TL is a heavy beast and the intake will get you into the higher rpms quicker while only adding like 8hp. Most of the mods for the TL are very safe, except for maybe the comptech supercharger, nothing for this car really adds massive amounts of HP that will push your engine over the edge.

mcflyguy24

Window tint and rims will give you some clean looks for sure too if you def don't want performance mods though. Good luck and welcome to A-zine

BOSSIN$TL

its all what you want either FASHION over FUNCTION its whatever, just don't go with function ONLY if you gonna wanna floss with other fools yaadig