DesertMistTL

iTrader: (2)

While doing a steering wheel swap, and given the only documentation on this is Youtube I thought I'd give it a write-up.





While this is a lot more time consuming I think it's better then sawing off the emblem with steering wheel on since the emblem is melted in place.

Materials Needed

1. Steering wheel emblem, this fit the 07-08 but fits lot of models according to listing - Ebay Link Here
2. A pick or a small flat head
3. JB Quik Weld or any epoxy glue that can withstand hot interiors -
   Amazon Link
   Amazon Link
4. Recommended: Ratchet screw driver

Instructions

1. Remove airbag from car using these instructions - Click here
2. Remove these philips screw, I recommend a ratchet screw driver because they were on a little tight
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3. Pry up gently these white caps
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4. Use a pick or flat head to poke these tabs loose for the bottom white cap here
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5. Now we need to separate the plastic tabs holding the airbag, shove a flat head on the back and just pry out, theres 3 tabs on each side. Put airbag on something soft so you dont scratch up the front
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6. Now lift the airbag bottom up, there's hooks up here in red that will just slide out of the plastic cover, no need to pry hard here.
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7. Now you'll have the airbag and plastic cover separated, and see all the melted plastic tabs the old emblem has
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8. Use some wire cutter or your weapon of choice to get under these melted tab heads and snip them. I was doing it the hard way but you can fit under these blobs and cut the heads off
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9. Test fit your emblem, and see which tabs you need to cut. If you are skilled in vinyl, now is a time to wrap this section for a CF look
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10. For me, I needed to cut the 2 o clock and 7 o clock tabs, but double check by placing new emblem in the holes and see where it's not slotting in first! emblems can be different
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11. After I had it all fitting nice, I trimmed the tops of the tabs because they were a lot longer then OEM, trim just a little
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12. Wipe down the entire area with rubbing alcohol
13. Mix epoxy and rub it into all the tabs and hold in place till try or clamp
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14. This is what you should be left with. It'll fit only as good as you holding it place while epoxy dries. Even mine isnt 100% flush but I accept it for what it is
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15. Reassemble the airbag
16. Reinsert the bottom clips back in first
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17. Clip back in the 6 tabs
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18. Pinch the spring and try to get it to seat around all 4 of these little retainer tabs
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19. Make sure these little vertical tabs are sitting outside the spring and NOT under the spring like this.
    
20. Pop the top cap back in and bolt
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21. Do one last check of everything
    1. All springs seated
    2. All top and bottom white plastic caps are in
    3. All 6 side tabs are in
    4. Top two hook/tabs are in
22. Tighten the side bolts as far as you can snug, bottom one doesnt need to be that tight because if you tighten too much it'll ground the horn and the horn wil be on ALL THE TIME
23. Not bad for little work
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Bonus Round

1. Experimenting dechroming the original emblem, might be useful for someone that doesnt want to buy a new emblem.
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2. Just pour bleach in a cup and toss the emblem in for 12-24 hours--it should dechrome the emblem. Keep out of reach of children, pets...and put in WELL ventilated area.
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3. After dechroming--just primer and spray paint black/silver
4. You can then reepoxy the emblem back in like how I did above--there should be enough back tabs to reuse the emblem
5. I just did this so not sure how well it'd work. I did this a decade ago to some Accord emblems and it stripped it clean but started to eat the plastic underneath so should watch it

Good luck! Follow me on my instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melon_tl/

Midnight Mystery

Such a detailed post man. Looks super cool but this little project requires some dedication!!!

wusty23jd

This.is.awesome. and also why Acurazine is still the best place to find informative DIY threads. Thanks for sharing your experiences with everyone. It looks great!

Rende_WDP

Awesome write up man! Never knew the airbag could come apart like that but it would've made my life a lot easier when I pried mine emblem off from the front lol. Wish AZ was still popular like it was back in the day for the 3g TL. Hopefully it can make a comeback.

DesertMistTL

iTrader: (2)

Bleached taking too long, someone recommended oven cleaner and wow it took 2 minutes!

o4Komodo

iTrader: (2)

As mentioned on FB. Glad you decided to write a detailed DIY here. And a proper one at that (none of that in-car removal stuff).

EvilVirus

iTrader: (8)

Nicely done OP

It was a PITA when i first tried to swap the emblem out

Ranuponya

thanks for the write up. the community needs it!

kcjohnnyboy

Is there another way to find the link to the emblem. I'm trying to replace one on my 05-08 Acura RL

DesertMistTL

iTrader: (2)

they're mostly on ebay and acura more or less used the same size emblem for almost all their cars for a while.

Acura TL Builder

Thank you for the detailed post!