Hey everyone, ive been wanting to do this for a while but just never got around to it. So, heres my 2008 NBP TL base. I picked it up in 2010 with around 30,000 miles for 23,999 base price with complete acura care and factory warranty.

Before showing you my TL, here is my previous car. It was a 2006 Mazda6 V6. It was a beautiful car and the engine was so smoothe, but some lady pulled out in front of me and it got totaled. I was in the market for a mazdaspeed6, but i wanted some luxury too so the TL was my best bet in terms of reliability, prestige, price, and also looks.



Heres the first picture i took with my cousins car. The first thing that is a must was to remove the front license plate. I went to the dealership and they just gave me the plugs for free.



This car looks so sexy in NBP, even without the aspec kit.



The second thing i decided to do was to buy a new lip from ebay. I looked around for the actual TL type S, but they were absurdly priced. I picked my lip up for 130 dollars i believe. In addition, i picked up a new license plate frame from the dealership. These plates are actually much cheaper from the dealer rather than from ebay. In addition, the white type s is my other cousins car.



After discovering plasti dip, i got a little crazy with it and decided to do my emblems, but i felt as though it looked a little cheap and removed it after a week.



I decided to try plasti dip on my tailights, it looked so cool but quickly rubbed right off because i could only apply two very light coats. In addition, i blacked out that little metal strip over the license plate.



After removing all of the plasti dip, i decided to debadge my car. I was never really fond of it, but after seeing so many acuras debadged i decided to do my own. The process was super easy and can be found on youtube.



After doing so, i decided to change out my stock license plate bulbs. I picked up a set from ebay for like 7 bucks. The lights arent as bright as a lexus, but i find that it matches almost perfectly with new mercedes models.



After a little bit, i was looking for a few easy things to do and i decided to paint my calipers black. I am not a big fan of bright colors so i did black just to keep it sleek and simple. I was too lazy to bleed my brakes, so i found a way to paint it without removing any of the brake lines. just be careful to cover everything up.







After looking at my brakes, i decided to paint my rotors. Here is the end product. I am starting to get tired of these rims but I've gotten 3 tickets over the last month... and well i cant afford them with nursing school in session



Guess who got the aspec kit???? i found that for 2008 models, they discontinued the NBP front lip, so i decided to take a risk and purchase the front for the type s aspec. This front end looks so aggressive on NBP, so i was secretly happy. I figured out how to place it on my bumper without having to drill any extra holes. I decided to use a lot of double sided tape, and it came out just fine.











After some research, i decided to buy some vinyl from Sticker city in sherman oaks. I picked up the whole kit and i believed about a yard of quality vinyl for 20 dollars. I first did my front grill and it came out really nice.



I also decided to do the back just to give it a really clean look.



The most recent thing that i have done is cleaned my exhaust tips. I used some paint thinner and it came out really nice. i still plan on changing my tips and doing a stage two, but that will have to come later when i get some cash.

 

Wrong section, but welcome

 

Whale cum to the forums!

 

Awesome progress! Thank you for not painting your calipers a stupid bright color

 

oh shit i was worried about that, could you link me where i should post lol

 

Haha, no worries the mods will probably move it to the photo sectio. That is above all the 3G threads. Just a heads up so you'll be able to find it later

 

Mods will most likely move it for you. it will go to the Photograph Gallery.

Welcome and nice NBP

I like what you've done.

And stop speeding! 3 tickets?

 

Nice work DJ-keep going!

 

yeah i see that they moved it for me already. Haha yeah 1 ticket was for simply holding my phone in traffic, the next was for parking over the lines designating the space, and the last one was for no front plates. worst luck ever

 

Wow, holding a phone in California.....surprised they just didn't cut that arm right off!

 

Welcome! Car looks good !

 

so how's the mazda's v6 compared to the TL's v6?

 

 

Nice progress. Car look good

 

Congrats. Clean NBP TL!

 

Thank you!! just trying to catch up with everyone else haha

In terms of reliability, i feel as though the TL is more reliable. With the mazda, i had a tranny problem and many recalls in a matter of three years. In addition, the TL is heavier, has a bigger engine and manages to do around the same gas mileage. The only thing that i had to get used to was the gas gauge. At first i thought i was doing horrible gas mileage until i realized i still had a good 4 gallons on reserve. Surprisingly im doing 25-28 mpg per tank.

In terms of power to weight, they are almost equal in terms of accelartion, but the tl stock still sounds better.

 

nice progress. can you get more shots but not so up close to the car

 

car is clean man.

 

 

nice progress, i got a base too. doing the same mods

 

yeah ill post some up soon, still just embarrassed of my stock rims

 

Washed the cars today! Came a long way from the first picture i took with my car. Ugh, audis look so aggressive stock -_-

 

that audi is money!!! throw some rotis and slam it you be breaking necks for sure!

 

Mod your headlights and get nice wheels, you'll be eyeballing the TL more than that Audi

 

I really do need to mod my lights -_- Cant decide what i should do first. Change up the headlights of get the stage two and quad tips?

 

i would do the headlights first. Im not a big fan of the stage exhaust mods, from most of the post regarding the stage mods, most members end up replacing it or getting a new aftermarket one. So in other words save your money although tips would be better but thats just me.

Wow cant believe they discountinued the front lip already. Makes me want to order a type s rear and store it away until i get an exhaust.

Your off to a good start on the mods, keep them coming.

 

So i was bored one weekend and so i decided to Pull out my exhausts to have it fit the aspec rear lip better. I felt as though the exhaust were too sunken into the car with the lip installed. I plan on doing the stage two, but first i just wanted to do the mid muffler delete and just take out the resonator. I didnt touch my cat so here are a few pics.


I decided to take my car to a place on rosecrans in La, the guy did a good job and it took him only about an hour. Charged me 25 to pull out the exhaustsm 35 to delete the mid muffler and 35 do take out the resonator.



As you can see here, he just straight piped it. Notice, nothing with the cat has been changed. Ive heard people losing a lot of power and getting super shitty gas mileage when they do that. So this is just a simple little tweak for now



Here, i chose to pull out my exhausts. I may switch to the quad exhausts but i feel as though these exhaust tips just fit the aspic rear so much more cleaner. This is a picture after it has been pulled out. For those of you who have the aspec and the normal stock exhaust tips, you can see that it fits the kit much cleaner now and makes it look more aggressive.



Oh, then a bird decided to shit on my car after baaha -_-



Heres a short little vid. So here is a few questions for you guys. I know it sounds a little raspy but secretly i kindve like it lol . When i am driving normally is sounds like a g35, but when i push it... it just sounds like rice in second gear when it hits a higher rpm.. then it sounds really clean especially with vtech. I am not sure why its raspy. could it be an exhaust leak? or is the piping tooo large or small? or is this normal when you straight pipe it? If i get annoyed enough im just going to do the dynomax stage 2 and i know that will just clean it up, but probably make the car a bit more quiet.

heres a vid on youtube of my exhaust.


it sounds a bit raspier over the camera.. but some feedback would be cool guys!

 

It's raspy because you don't have any resonator in there. You just straight piped the 2 pieces that reduce noise and rasp. You'll need to put a resonator in there to get rid of it. If you want the exhaust to stay louder then go with the Dynomax 24215. If you want it to be a bit more toned down. Go with the Dynomax 24235. I'm personally a fan of the 24235.

 

Btw man beautiful rims!! i want to get a pair similar to that or maybe forgestars if i can one day afford them haha. But yeah that is what i figured. ill probably pick up a dynomax in a month or so. Until then... im keeping it under 2500 rpm up until third i dont want anyone hearing the rasp. Its honestly such a minute thing but people who know cars will immediately call out ricer then see the car and be utterly confused.

 

Hey everyone, some updates! First thing i got was a front lip from ebay. Its more of just a little rubber guard but it makes the Aspec front lipp look much more aggressive.

I got tired of all the rattle from the stage 4 straight pipe so after some research i decided to go with the stage 3 dynomax 24215. I dont plan on getting a jpipe or doing any extra exhaust work so this will do.



Here are two videos i uploaded.



Aside from this, i also decided to do the stow and go license plate with my cousin.










here's a video of how it works.

 

Nice progress!

 

i like that plate mod, now get it motorized and your good. Also nice progress.

 

Looks really good.

 

I used to think that plasti dipping emblems and rims were fire, but as of lately a lot of ricers have been messing with it in my area.. so i feel as though this trend may slowly be disappearing. Anywho, i swore id never do my rims but i got bored while studying and decided to do this just to see how it looks like for a month or two... and because student loans have kind of disabled my ability to even afford rims hahah. Anyone want to donate some xxr's or bbs's? or.. forgestars? lol thatd be nice.



after seeing the first coat... i kindve want to paint them a gunsmoke?

 

Nice work.

 

First things first, it started raining a bit, and I needed new windshield wipers. Instead of replacing them with the cheap inserts, i went ahead and got the Bosch wipers. They usually come stock on benzos and beamers so.. here they are.



I also decided to buy some Tein S Techs. I am not going to be racing my TL or gonna do a lot of work on rims so i decided not to dish out for coil overs. Found these on ebay for 150 plus tax. came out to 180, which is good considering they usually go for 225 plus tax.





After a while, i decided to buy XXR 530s.
FRONT ~ 18x8.75+20 215/35/18
REAR ~ 18x9.75+20 225/35/18
This seemed to be the cleanest look with just enough poke, without any sort of rub with my teins. I also did not have to roll my fendors with this setup. I also just ended up using my stock base center caps that match decently.



I needed some last minute lugs, and decided to go with the varrstoën v48 tuner lugs. I am not a big fan of flashy neochrome lugs… nor lugs that draw attention away from the rim.. so these were the best conservative choice for me.





Halfway done! just to show you guys the difference


The finished product

 

^things have come a long way since your first pic. I'm not a fan of the garage door lip, but everything else looks great.

 

Your car has come a long way. Post some pics once the springs settle.

 

Springs and wheels. But I'm most excited about the windshield wipers!

 

Looks great!