Vinny_P

After a few weeks of ownership decided to do some cheap/easy mods:
- Nokya Hyper Yellow Fogs (2500k),
- Nokya Arctic White Stage 1 DRL's (7000k) - Fail?
- Plastidip rear "diffuser"
- Also got the dealership to redo my clearbra and redo the touch-ups. Got a 2012 Camry as a loaner and god am I happy to be in my TSX again.

First Mod: Nokya Hyper Yellow 2500K H11 Fogs & Nokya Arctic White 7000K Stage 1 DRL's/Highbeams

Fogs came out good, but the DRL's are a disappointment (not as white as I hoped). The DRL's are almost the same as stock and only with high beams do they come out white. No where close to getting the crisp white w/ blue tint that KowloonSniperHK was able to get. Please comment.

Before (Fogs only):


After (Fogs):

Daytime Shot

Nighttime Shot


After (DRL's) - FAIL?


--- Shouldn't the DRL's look crisp white likeKowloonSniper

Plastidip "Diffuser"
Before:



Preparation: NOTE Cover the whole bumper with newspaper as the excess spray will end up getting all over the bumper Lesson Learned.

After: 1st Coat

After: Not as clean as I hoped, and not all that noticeable on a GLM. But what the hell, its plastidip and there is also room for a 2nd try.

ssjoeboe9

Did you photoshop out your reflection haha

Nice work though

Vinny_P

LOL I like remaining anonymous.

ed_423

looks great man, i love it

Acura_Dude

ed_423

bump, when you remove the tape, did it rip out some of the plasti dip? this is one of the cleanest diffuser i've seen, so just wondering

MrOtocinclus

I bet "Vinny" is a misnomer, and that this is actually a hot girl posting on the forum.

ssjoeboe9

miss vinny has some pretty thick legs then. I guess it's no worse than ed's mom though

ed_423

maybe miss vinny is a long distance runner?

or female body builder?

Vinny_P

lol, I could be a butch girl but I am definitely not. Definitely did not see that one coming.

It ripped for the first strip I removed, before I actually took a knife to the car, so right after I sprayed the last coat I took a knife to the edge of the tape. It would be a lot cleaner if I did it for every coat.

For the first strip that ripped I just taped it up again, resprayed and used a knife immediately. So now I have screwed myself and cannot go back. but I cut along the line of the diffuser.

This will tide me over until I pull the trigger on a SE rear bumper.

ed_423

so would you recommend this procedure?

1. tape up the car
2. spray first coat
3. immediately remove tape and let plasti dip try (if coat gets thick, use a knife to cut along the edges while im removing the tape
4. repeat untill satisfied

thanks mr/ms vinny

Vinny_P

I am no pro, as this was my first time using plastidip. But if you are willing to go through the repeated prep then I would say go for it.

A knife might still be needed, but if its right after the coat was done, you don't need to press hard but just use it as a guide as you remove the tape.

Where you planning on plasti-dipping?

ed_423

^ same place the diffuser

Vinny_P

Just got Formula One Pinnacle Series Tint done. And also got my rear taillights smoked.

30% Formula One Pinnacle (Ceramic) Tint Front
15% Formula One Pinnacle (Ceramic) Tint Rear

(Auto-links in Toronto did a good job - going for a followup visit in 2 weeks to make everything sets properly.)

Also ordered some LED's for my interior as well as my reverse lights. Hope to have them in 2 weeks.

Front Quarter

Left Side

Rear

Rear Quarter


Right Side

Harper

Tint and plastidip look great!

ed - as far as plastidiping, you can get away with one coat of dip....just spray it on thick, but evenly then just pull the tape off while it's still wet. (I did the body side molding on my truck like this). No need to knife and risk cutting into your paint.

Vinny_P

Just some small updates of things to come:

Before winter I installed the rear mudguards.



And over the weekend, finally had some above 0 deg C weather (above 32 deg F for you American folk) so I plastidipped the OEM alloys - trying to get as close to GLM as possible. (below is the step by step progress)
Used 2 coats black, 1 coat gunmetal, 1 coat smoke, 1 coat metallizer and 1 coat glossifier

Original OEM wheel (all clean)

First Coat - Black

2nd Coat (Heavy) - Black


3rd Coat (Gunmetal)


Comparo between Black (Left) & Gunmetal (Right)

4th Coat (Metallizer)

Smoke did not do much, so didn't bother posting. I might have had better luck going black with multiple coats of Metallizer - but oh well.

Still have some cold weather on the way, so probably 1-2 weeks before I throw these on the car.

Here are some mock ups.





Next Mods:
1) Got some G2 Caliper Paint, so plan on painting my calipers red in the coming weeks. Will give an updated when that is done with & the tires are installed.
2) Going to dip my grill and fog light garnishes. Going to try Black w/ Pearlizer to see how it turns out.

Vinny_P

Finally had some decent weather last week so I decide to complete the G2 Black Caliper Paint, and plastidip my front grill and fog light surrounds (Slightly darker colour)

Pics after a wash:


Brake Prep:



Front & Rear Brakes Painted:



Blacked Out Grill (3 Coats Black):


1 Coat of Plastidip Pearlizer:


Plastidipped Wheels Installed & Grill/Bumper Back On:




More Pics After a Wash:

01Blacuras

You just love plastidip dontcha ? Haha! Looks good man! Yea the drl was kind of a fail. But I like the caliper paint! Keep up the work! Check out my thread!

BaoZZeR

Isn't plastidip fun? I kinda want to try that pearlizer to color in my diffuser now.

Mr. NC

Vinny that coin-op looks familiar lol...well they all do actually haha you west or east side?

kowloonsniperhk

Vinny looks good! As for the DRLs, I took them off for a long time. But when you have it in DRL mode, its going to be yellow

Vinny_P

West side in brampton lol. Coin op is new image on hurontario and fisherman dr.


Took some quick picks before a meeting in Mississauga. The wheels can peel off so I can always change back, the fiancé is ragging' on me too.

Vinny_P

Just a quick update, had some free time this evening. Added some decals to the G2 painted calipers and cut out the Acura Emblem from the plastidip wheels - sort of butchered that.

Mr. NC

Butchered that is an understatement LOL

opboarding

Yikes on the lettering.

Also, not really a fan of the plastidip color on the wheels. Having the wheels (almost) match the body color looks odd to me.

ssjoeboe9

Idk why but the color looks off to me as well.

meh

Thanks for posting pictures of the ceramic window tint. I'm on the border of doing ceramic tint as well since Los Angeles is starting to get some hotter days now. The 30% ceramic tint up front looks fairly close to the 15% ceramic tint on the rear windows, is it like that in real life too? I kinda want to keep it on the lighter side and was thinking of 35% or even 50% ceramic tint all around.

Also, how hard is it driving around at night with the ceramic tint? I'm mainly just looking to reduce the heat coming through the windows and darkening the windows just a tad. It's just mainly to keep the interior cool when it's parked out in Los Angeles all afternoon.

ttk5

Tint looks great!

Vinny_P

Tint has lightened a little now; going on a year since it was installed. Still looks good though, still enough privacy. I find no issue driving at night. As for heat reduction it does keep the car cooler from what I remember when I had the fish bowl, but it is still warm when you enter. Still best to close the sunroof shade when parked for awhile.

As for the wheels they have grown on me, so I won't peel it off just yet. @ 60k with 42000km in the first year of ownership; I hope by the time my rubber is worn down, I can throw some decent rims onto the car and throw the plastidip on for the winter.

Is the lettering on the calipers that bad?

davidtnly

i think the letters look eh also. should compare to someoen who did the same thing but looks very clean

Vinny_P

I reviewed some others but it might depend on the shape of the caliper. Our stock TSX calipers have a divet in the middle section where the "U" is located which does not make it look as clean. Unless I just totally butchered it in your opinions.

Vinny_P

After a long hiatus, thought I should update on my recent changes.

Redid my plastidip wheels with 3 coats black, 3 coats silver metalizer and 2 coats acrylic clear to keep the brake dust off...found my last try the wheels were a PITA to maintain. Also cleared my headlights using kowloonsniper's DIY...much bigger PITA than I expected.



Also got the type-s replica kit back in October and finally got it painted and installed after this brutal winter. Thanks to Defcon for answering my questions regarding fitment for the 2012 bumper. And wassobe for trying to coordinate painting. Also got my grill paint matched, fogs painted black and a trunk lip spoiler. Forgive the cars condition no chance to wash it.

Rob from Phoenix Custom Autobody in Brampton was awesome to deal with, they really hooked me up. These guys do quality work and considering how poor the condition the kit was from storage over the winter I am happy the way it turned out.















My original plan was to get some Avante Garde 19's with some coilovers however with a house closing soon think I will be holding off for now. Comment on your thoughts, hope you like them.

xtcnrice

Nice!

I'm from Toronto too and I'm still debating which shop to get my tints done. How much did that run you? I planned on getting the pinnacles as well.

Also, has your tint scratched at all? Did you get them to install moleskin?

Keep up the good work! That was quite the hiatus

Vinny_P

Haha yea wedding, house shits been busy.

For tity I went through Autolinks in Scarborough, the Mazda3 or STI guys usually do a group buy so try searching if they are offering the extra $50 off. Price wasn't the cheapest because it was pinnacle tint at $400 (not sure if that included tinting my tails), however these guys came recommended and they are able to do it without cuting out the third break light . I did not request moleskin but it has no scratches that I know of.

defconskylude

nice looks good

Vinny_P

Wish we could edit our posts...definitely meant tint.

There is no way you are going to get titty at Autolinks.

waaasobe

wow, the car looks really good so clean, i can't wait to see it in person !

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Cool thread, I'll be checking in from time to time!

Vinny_P

Took a mini-photo-shoot while taking a Sunday drive up to Forks of the Credit. Enjoy!

Cu2Suspect

Looks good def needs a drop and wheels to complete the body kit