Black Pearl Emblems
12-13-2005, 01:16 PM
#161
Originally Posted by XjoEnX
ron is right, its easier to take apart the grill by removing the bumper. its possible to do it without taking the bumper off, but prepare to get your hand scratched badly. its a real tight fit and it hurts
12-13-2005, 01:27 PM
#162
Originally Posted by Ron A
Sorry about the mixup, but as soon as I posted about having to remove the bumper, I remembered that you don't have to so I deleted my post.
All you have to do is to remove the plastic cover under the hood above the grille, and then I think you can reach in and remove the two screws and remove the emblem. If I'm wrong, someone let me know please.
All you have to do is to remove the plastic cover under the hood above the grille, and then I think you can reach in and remove the two screws and remove the emblem. If I'm wrong, someone let me know please.
I started by removing the two bolts to each side of the emblem....(the black center section you see in the schematic behind the emblem then was loose...but would not come out resulting in me having to remove the silver cross bar section and it came out with it) WOW...(looking at schematic again) I was trying to pull it out from front! Try this.....REMOVE ONLY TWO 7MM BOLTS TO EACH SIDE OF EMBLEM AND TRY TO REMOVE IT FROM BACK BY PUSHING IT THOUGH FROM FRONT TO BACK! Maybe that will save you from the other bolts and having to remove the silver cross bar cover section...as you do have to be VERY careful not to scratch that cover or any of the silver stuff...as you prob already know.
12-13-2005, 02:32 PM
#164
Instructor
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Vegas
Posts: 114
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by 1sweetTL
I'm out in Chino Hills, CA.
To be honest I have never put one on before either.
But I'd be glad to give you hand. (No need to pay me.)
Maybe you can come down once I get mine, cuz i am gonna change out the front emblem too.
Maybe we can get Trance to give us some pointers on how he did his.
To be honest I have never put one on before either.
But I'd be glad to give you hand. (No need to pay me.)
Maybe you can come down once I get mine, cuz i am gonna change out the front emblem too.
Maybe we can get Trance to give us some pointers on how he did his.
Thats cool...I'm in West LA but I have no problem going to Chino and helping out. Did you already order yours? When are you looking at putting them on?
12-13-2005, 02:34 PM
#167
Senior Moderator
Regions Leader
Regions Leader
Originally Posted by MichaelBenz
Wish I would have payed more attention to the manual on the back-side....cause I removed the entire inside trim of the trunk-lid to find out that there was no clip on the back of that dang thing and it was just friction holding it there on the guide pins!
hah!! I did that same shit, man I was mad....LOL
12-13-2005, 02:36 PM
#168
"Joe Cool"
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: So. Cal
Age: 57
Posts: 484
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by trancemission
hah!! I did that same shit, man I was mad....LOL
I don't have to make the same mistake as others.
I can learn from your previous experiences.
12-13-2005, 03:01 PM
#169
Originally Posted by 1sweetTL
Hey Benz,
POST some pics of your install.
Thanks.
POST some pics of your install.
Thanks.
I kept thinking while I was installing it that I should be doing a "during the install photoshoot" but it was too cold in the garage (under 20 degrees outside at the time) at maybe 38 degrees or so. I had to heat the truck lid with a heat gun to get a suitable install temp so make sure it adhered good it was so cold. I will run car though the "autowash" touchless spray wash thing I found the other day and take some pics. Wow...gotta go...just got call from Discount Tire, my 18" Michelin Pilot Alpins are in and ready to be installed....much needed! There is talk of snow tomorrow again and these Yokos suck in snow totally! Off to the store I go!
12-13-2005, 03:40 PM
#170
Team Anthracite Member
Originally Posted by NYFENIXTL
I actually bought a small plating tank do mine. I am having bandwidth issues with Photbucket so i can't post pics right now but you can see them in the "Arizona heat spawns hot TL" thread. I am looking into getting this done on a bigger scale and will let you guys know.
This plating tank you bought... would you happen to have an online link for it or something? I'm just curious as to what it costs. I want to plate my emblems too, and I was curious what the price was.
Thanks!
Rob
12-14-2005, 10:43 AM
#176
Originally Posted by cTLgo
I wonder if they could do the whole grille 
Not the greatest quality pics, I know. Light conditions not good due to incoming weather!
12-14-2005, 03:46 PM
#177
Senior Moderator
looks good on WDP...
my ideal setup:
1. front and back "A"
2. entire grille in the front (hood piece, bumper piece, cross piece)
3. trim piece above license plate
my ideal setup:
1. front and back "A"
2. entire grille in the front (hood piece, bumper piece, cross piece)
3. trim piece above license plate
12-14-2005, 03:47 PM
#178
Team Anthracite Member
cTLgo,
I'm with you. I want to do exactly the same thing to my car. I was going to paint everything black, but I'm afraid of chipping and stuff.
I've asked NYFENIX where he got his plating machine, so I might buy one to do it. Maybe I could do it for others too if I get one...
I'm with you. I want to do exactly the same thing to my car. I was going to paint everything black, but I'm afraid of chipping and stuff.
I've asked NYFENIX where he got his plating machine, so I might buy one to do it. Maybe I could do it for others too if I get one...
12-15-2005, 09:31 AM
#180
"Joe Cool"
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: So. Cal
Age: 57
Posts: 484
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by MichaelBenz
As promised, I took the car to the touchless wash this morning right before it snowed and snapped a few pics of the emblems.....submitted below.
Great Contrast!
12-15-2005, 04:55 PM
#184
"Joe Cool"
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: So. Cal
Age: 57
Posts: 484
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by ward148
Well i called today to place my order (talked with Steve) He said he's not ordering anymore sets.
Anyone else have a problem or did i miss something?
Anyone else have a problem or did i miss something?
You gotta be kidding me!!!!
I posted the emails he sent me he said he would order them.
What the??????
I'll have to call em again.
12-15-2005, 05:41 PM
#185
"Joe Cool"
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: So. Cal
Age: 57
Posts: 484
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
More fine Quality Customer Care by ACURA..... 
The Parts guy told me he would do it.
But I spoke to the Manager today ( just a minute ago) and he said
it would be better if we went direct.
I have 2 contacts:
Mr. Chrome as posted previously, website: mrchrome.com
he said he would charge about $30-$35 per emblem.
You ship him the emblems and he will ship them back
(at your expense i assume)
He gave me his contact: CG Sales in Fullerton, CA
Ph: 714) 992-2135
I called but got the Answering machine.
I will post any info I get.
Sorry guys, I tried!
The Parts guy told me he would do it.
But I spoke to the Manager today ( just a minute ago) and he said
it would be better if we went direct.
I have 2 contacts:
Mr. Chrome as posted previously, website: mrchrome.com
he said he would charge about $30-$35 per emblem.
You ship him the emblems and he will ship them back
(at your expense i assume)
He gave me his contact: CG Sales in Fullerton, CA
Ph: 714) 992-2135
I called but got the Answering machine.
I will post any info I get.
Sorry guys, I tried!
12-15-2005, 05:47 PM
#186
"Joe Cool"
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: So. Cal
Age: 57
Posts: 484
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by yendor
Or try goldrushplating.com
Genuine OEM Gold and Black Pearl Emblem Kits.
Features:
* Genuine OEM Acura Accessory
* Simple peel-n-stick adhesive application
* 1 Front Logo
* 1 Rear Logo
* 1 Acura Name
* 1 TL Name
TLK04GRetail price: $499.00 Our price: $249.00
That's steep especially since most of us only want the A emblems.
But thanks for the suggestion.
12-16-2005, 01:56 PM
#188
Senior Moderator
12-16-2005, 02:10 PM
#189
Originally Posted by cTLgo
12-16-2005, 02:57 PM
#190
Oderint dum metuant.
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Lake Wylie
Age: 46
Posts: 12,496
Likes: 0
Received 534 Likes
on
446 Posts
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but it looks like that's a site that sells Acura parts so Honda owners in Japan can make their Honda's look like Acura's...if so, that's pretty ironic considering all the people here with Acura's that buy Japanese parts to make their cars look like Honda's.
12-16-2005, 05:19 PM
#191
"Joe Cool"
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: So. Cal
Age: 57
Posts: 484
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by chill_dog
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but it looks like that's a site that sells Acura parts so Honda owners in Japan can make their Honda's look like Acura's...if so, that's pretty ironic considering all the people here with Acura's that buy Japanese parts to make their cars look like Honda's.
It is pretty Freakin hilarious, isn't it!
So anyone here read japanese and if they are coming from Japan how much is shipping gonna be?
I've gotten other quotes here but most places want a min. order.
Here is another email I got:
From: webman@chromeservices.com
Subject: BLACK CHROME EMBLEMS
WE HAVE A $65 MIN CHARGE SO IF YOU SEND ONE IT'S $65 IF YOU SEND 2 THEY ARE $45 EA.
CHRIS 949-254-4455
This guy is too expensive.
12-16-2005, 06:21 PM
#192
Advanced
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Az
Posts: 72
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by zax123
cTLgo,
I'm with you. I want to do exactly the same thing to my car. I was going to paint everything black, but I'm afraid of chipping and stuff.
I've asked NYFENIX where he got his plating machine, so I might buy one to do it. Maybe I could do it for others too if I get one...
I'm with you. I want to do exactly the same thing to my car. I was going to paint everything black, but I'm afraid of chipping and stuff.
I've asked NYFENIX where he got his plating machine, so I might buy one to do it. Maybe I could do it for others too if I get one...
The plating machine is a small brushplating unit, you can do some research at caswellplating.com. There is a black chrome plating solution, but it is still not straight forward.
When you get the chrome emblems black pearl/chrome plated they will strip the shiny chrome off until the underplating is exposed. This is tricky, because if you etch the part to long you may also remove the underplating and leave bare plastic or may even damage the plastic. In order for the black pearl or even the shiny OEM chrome to stick to the plastic you need a conductive under plate on the plastic. This is usually a thin layer of copper or I have also seen a thin layer of a conductive paint. Your chrome bond is only as good as the underplate bond to the plastic. I mentioned this in earlier posts and many have confirmed this that platers are charging $30-35 per emblem. When it is all said and done that is worth it in my opinion.
As far as the other trim goes.......
Based on the above, you cannot just send the trim pieces to your plater and have him black chrome them. Again, a conductive layer needs to be adhered to the plastic and this is not easily done and not done by many unless it is a large volume. There is a place that sells equipment that you can paint on chrome plating in any color. The equipment is expensive and they weren't able to tell me what shops had the equipment. It is called mirrachrome or cosmic chrome. The website is pretty interesting and there is lots of info and video clips of the process. The website is www.goldtouchinc.com. It is a painted process and I don't know how it will stand up to road debris, but you will see that they show a lot of automotive grills that were black plastic and they made them shiny chrome (I didn't see any colored, but it can be done). If you have seen any cars that look like they are completely chrome plated, they are painted with this stuff. They recommended one guy to me in Pennsylvania and he was like $300 to paint the headlight buckets, so I did not do it.
By the way the headlight buckets are vacuum metallized not chrome plated like the emblems. So they cannot be black pearled the same way as the emblems.
In one earlier thread someone mentioned powder coating. This can't be done either because the parts need to be metal to be powder coated. And beside the plastic would melt when they went to cure the powder coating.
I am going to be away for a couple of days so I wanted to get this info posted. Chroming the trim pieces can be done, be expensive and don't know how it will hold up. As far as black pearling the emblems, I think it is worth having a professional plater do it, but i know it is expensive.
12-21-2005, 11:57 AM
#194
"Joe Cool"
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: So. Cal
Age: 57
Posts: 484
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by cTLgo
Hey cTLgo.... any idea on how we can go about ordering from these guys?
Or what the pricing would be on this stuff?
12-28-2005, 08:34 AM
#196
Advanced
Join Date: Sep 2005
Age: 64
Posts: 97
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
For those looking for black Acura badges there is a Acura dealer on Ebay who sells black RSX badges. I contacted him and he can have the TL emblems black chromed in 2 weeks. Price quoted was $160.00 for the set what do you think?
12-28-2005, 02:30 PM
#199
"Joe Cool"
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: So. Cal
Age: 57
Posts: 484
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by yendor
For those looking for black Acura badges there is a Acura dealer on Ebay who sells black RSX badges. I contacted him and he can have the TL emblems black chromed in 2 weeks. Price quoted was $160.00 for the set what do you think?
