Hello, Acurazine members I recently saved up enough money to barely buy a 2004 Acura Tl about a month ago. I have been looking at modified TL's and have been wanting to turn my car into one that I can be proud of for college. I received a full ride to college, so I can focus most of my money on my car, but my parents fear that the scholarship will get revoke if my grades go down so they do not allow me to work anymore. I want to modify my Tl but I am in a huge budget. What I have thought about getting as of this moment are, xxr 527 rims, TEIN street basis coilovers, i wanted to buy a A Spect bumper but on a budget, so if you know anyone who's selling one for super cheap or know of any lips that look good on a 2004 Tl then that will work fine. THANK YOU for reading this long message.

 

so, why not use the TL as your college car and focus on maintenance.
I guarantee you, maintenance will take up most of your funds. you will need to have on hand; about $2k if the transmission decides to die.
if you dont have $2k on hand, you need to seriously rethink modding your car and focus on school

 

Auto or manual?

 

I do not know how to quote and reply to individual users, sorry, and it is an Auto Trans and the trans was replaced at 107k miles and compressor was replaced 2 months ago

 

First and foremost, focus on your studies.

When buying a vehicle as a 2004 TL, you're purchasing a vehicle that's 13 years old. It will certainly require some form of maintenance. During your duration of college, you're certainly going to need more $$ towards repairs. My 2 cents, get something newer, less miles, more reliable and treat yourself once you finish college.

 

How many miles do you have now?


Maintenance > mods.


The last thing you want is a unreliable car with a tons of mods and a dead transmission

 

focus on studies. do maintenance. then, if any extra money can go to mods...but Maintenance FIRST!

 

it was 178k

 

Timing belt? That's critical if it hasn't been done. Regular maintenance will take it far.

 

The previous owner showed me all the bills for the maintenance he to the car. All oil changes on time and pumped everything out at 160k miles. For now oil changes is the only thing I have to worry about and shocks might be wearing out so I have to change those but I don't know whether to get coils or something else.

 

my girlfriend's father is a mechanic so he just requires me to buy the parts and help him install it and since I started dating her any repairs have all been free. (except the part of course)

 

I think you're a bit over your head on this one. Not at 178K would I buy a vehicle such as the TL and expect it to be reliable while going to college. What if you split with the GF? What happens to her father as a source for a trusted mechanic?

 

Welcome

Some things you can do on a budget that won't break the bank: debadge emblems, tint, all season floor mats, metal pedal covers, interior LED's, roof wrap, roof/decklid spoiler, detailing products. Big ticket items like wheels/tires, suspension, exhaust, A-spec kit...those types of things are going to cost much more money obviously. And if you're a college student on a budget, it may not make the most sense at the moment.

One thing I've learned is that it NEVER ends, one thing leads to the next: wheels, tires, lug nuts, mounting/balancing, suspension, camber kits, fender roll, alignments, adjustments, and that doesn't include the installation costs and parts that wear out because you modified.

Only my two cents. Just please don't start Plastidipping everything.

 

^you could argue that with maintenance too!
I assume he's going to be racking up miles, and that's going to wear out parts....
he has oil changes, tires, fuel, and insurance just for monthly costs.
now, the little mechanical bits like the starter and alternator are gonna go, and he's going to have to have an emergency fund! if he doesnt have this money saved up, it'll end badly for him

my maintenance is NEVER ending. I gotta replace a wind shield. new tires for the spring. i'm already looking at $1200 for February!!

 

ITS NOT WORTH IT.
I know this isn't what you want to hear, but everyone is going to tell you to forget about mods. I'm not going to dish out a big speech and preach to you, but there is a reason why this is a bad idea and there are reasons why everyone is telling you to focus on school instead. Everyone here has at some point in their earlier years been in a similar situation and made the poor choices.
Finish college, get a real career going then reap your hard work. It's not like you're going to be old and decrepit by the time you graduate. But being stable and financially independent is the best blessing you can give yourself.

 

If you do decide to modify before you do anything sit down and make a budget and stick to it! It's easy to go into mod-crazy mode and ignore other priorities like maintenance and your schooling.

 

Assuming everything is mechanically sound, I think your TL sounds like a great college car as is! Hind sight is always 20/20 but I personally would not put majority of my money into a depreciating asset.

If if I were in your position, I would check the current value of the car and not spend more than half that amount on the car. I would budget reserves into a "car fund" for any anticipated or unanticipated parts you need to buy for repairs. I would rather save my money and put it towards a newer vehicle once I finish college and haven a good job or when the TL dies. I think you would be happier in the long run...As always, just my $.02

Best of luck!!

 

Jeez, just answer the man's question. You have a full ride to college so I assume you're a smart individual. I would also assume you knew that maintenance is a big thing when it comes to your vehicle. That being said,

DarkTower19 hit it on the head! You can also do audio work (they sell budget-friendly subwoofers at Walmart).

Buying car parts will stop you from spending your money on weed. :P

 

Focus on maintenance, studies, and keeping the leather soft so the chicks will dig it. Also, you're 18 - ignore your parents and get a job for some extra cash.

 

Or for some items, just use maintenance to mod. Depending on the mileage of the car, I'd wait until the stock suspension goes and then I'd just spend a little more money on upgrading to Teins. No point in throwing out a perfectly good part.

 

The previous owner changed the middle of all the seats to suede. Has dark corners and the middle is gray, I feel like it looks cool and he showed me how much he paid for the material, which was high quality. Yeh I already made a whole budget for all the money I will be using for maintenance and have an app to keep track of all the things I need.

 

how much did you pay for the car? Have any pics?

Don't be scared by some of the comments, I bought my first TL about 2 years ago with 174k and it was also my real first nice car. I sold it to my uncle but I know he has done nothing but oil changes and trans flush.

You have a great car man, id recommend not modding it too much though. Get tint and just paint the stock wheels for now

 

Dads friend sold it to me for 1300 because he knew I needed a car for college so he tried hooking it up and I was just planning on putting xxr 527 wheels, TIEN street basics and I do not know what front bumper lip would look good or what bumper looks good. I will post pictures when I get home from school.

 

Just leave it stock. Don't waste your financial aid refund check on that stuff. But if you insist, buy my xxr530 wheels. 18x7.75 +38. Offer up.

 

Anything near houston?

 

wow that's a steal, keep it stock dude. Change the trans fluid and pressure switches.

 

i'm going to say the opposite haha. i think it's ok to mod within reason, and you have your mind on relatively cheap mods which is good. a set of xxrs and lowered on tein will drastically change how it looks from stock in a good way. those aren't too expensive and for about 1200 you can have a nice looking car. don't overlook maintenance since that is most important but you're young and should enjoy your car without going overboard.

i would highly suggest buying the street advance over the basis for just a bit more to have control on the ride stiffness.

so in summary, do some "cheap" mods while you have free labor but don't forget about maintenance! enjoy the car and put up some pics!

 

For me so far, stance and wheels is what's been on my mind. There's a lot to play with on these cars.

dark tower is right. One mod leads to another. And the order you do it in could save or cost you money.

I would do a nice drop on some decent springs, but it's 200 for the springs, and when you drop you need to clock all the bushings, replace some and get it aligned. Then move to what wheel you want, tires, and camber stuff. Fender rolling and spacers Yada Yada .

 

i'm with you, cuz that's how I modded my car...

but OP stated he had a hard time purchasing the $1300 car....
xxr+tires = 800, coils= 800.

it would be better to take that $1600 and maintain the vehicle.

 

I barely had enough because that was all the cash I had at hand. I still have a savings with over 10k and waiting for tax returns that I was gonna use to pay for college because I had 0 hope of getting a full ride. Now that I know that I don't have to pay for anything (received my award letter after I bought the car could've bought a better one probably type S) now to maintain and mod but just still mod on a budget just in case.

 

Do you live in Houston!?
cuz it's goin dinnnnnnnnnnn in H-tinnnnnn next weekend for the superbowl

 

and you better NOT FUCKING spend that $10k
keep it in your savings

 

Jeez everyone is acting like you can't spend a single dollar on your car while in college. That shit doesn't make any sense. Enjoy your time in college and enjoy the car.

Yes, maintenance is important and especially at our mileage (I'm 190k as of tomorrow) so it does come first. But, modding your car isn't wrong just because you're in college. And I'm not saying to go out and buy full A-SPEC, PCD JPIPE etc...

As a college student myself, I've slowly progressed with my car. Some budget friendly mods - tints, wheels (find them for a steal on facebook/craigslist), detail, visors and etc....

 

I wasted thousands of dollars on my cars while I was in college and look at me now.

 

Dont mind me just gonna leave this here. The cheap mod thread. happy modding !

 

I got into a wreck with my college car which was a 04 accord. Some high school kid on his phone hit me. Bought my 07 Type S as a graduation gift since I'll be leaving in May. For the past two months of owning the car, I've just been doing maintenance and making sure the car could make a cross country drive back to California =D

Congrats on the buy! You'll love it. It's a chick magnet :p A lot of positive feedback from guys too on the Type S.

 

I stay right by the NRG stadium where its taking place. Planning on not leaving houston already crazy traffic imagine that weekend going to be crazy and those 10k will stay in the savings for now just making a list of all the expenses to plan it out

 

i live in the Southwest!
did you go to any of the NFL superbowl related activities this weekend?

 

Yo that's crazy meet? lol and I couldn't my dads job was busy this weekend and I was, for like the first time in forever, free so I worked the whole weekend needed to make some extra cash and by where do you live? I go to school in the southwest

 

HCC? I live right relatively near the Stafford campus, I'm in Sugar Land