MAS Progress Thread (Comptech/Hondata/Aspec/ATLP/RV6/JnC/Sarona/.......)
05-28-2011, 09:21 PM
#161
7th Gear
Join Date: May 2011
Age: 39
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Tint
Hey thanks for the reply MAS. I did do some reading up about having the moleskin installed and here in Calgary the shops do it for free just because they say it wouldn't be fair to only charge TL owners and not other customers so it's going to be done for sure. Also the tint laws here are basically as dark as you want for rear 5 but no tint for front. I was thinking 20% for rear 5 and 35% for front if it would blend well. I really like the classy look of the camel interior so I'll be sticking with it but I think your carpet swap out was a really nice touch. The camel mats and carpet is asking for stains right from the get go. I know there will be tons of people who disagree with me but I really don't like the aspec front lip it just doesn't do it for me but I think the subtle change of having just the aspec side skirts will be one of my first mods. Maybe the base 07-08 front lip will be an option. Hope to have my NBP as sharp looking as yours someday. Cheers
05-28-2011, 09:42 PM
#163
oh, here's a quick comparison for before and after of my exhaust with factory finish and now painted flat black. As someone mentioned the ATLP exhaust is a non-polished stainless steel and therefore it easily looks dull after a while. Props to JPTL04 for polishing his entire exhaust....it makes a real difference. I couldnt go that route so i decided to paint it flat black (thanks to Jnc for the idea). I was on the fence with it for a long time, after all once you paint it it's going to be almost impossible to go back. I finally made the decision a couple weeks ago when my wife was driving my car in front of me while i followed her in her car. I could not stand the look of the dull stainless pipes sticking out like a sore thumb. That was it decision made....i immediately stopped and picked up some high temp paint and painted it that night. I think it looks much better . WHat do you think?
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
A better after pic:
06-03-2011, 09:00 PM
#165
props on probably the first to swap seats. it looks good in the pics from the outside with the windows down... but that shot of the interior of the seats and the rest of the cars' interior makes the seats look like they definitely do not belong. looks so out of place.
i would feel weird sitting in the back passenger looking at the seats than glancing at the side door panels than looking up at the head liner
i liked your old seats better. but maybe if you get rid of some woodgrain and decided to make your headliner black it would look alot better on the inside.
this is my opinion though, not trying to hate. its nice, but these are just some things i would try to add down the road to make it flow much nicer.
but maybe you like it how it is, that's fine. cool with me
i would feel weird sitting in the back passenger looking at the seats than glancing at the side door panels than looking up at the head liner
i liked your old seats better. but maybe if you get rid of some woodgrain and decided to make your headliner black it would look alot better on the inside.
this is my opinion though, not trying to hate. its nice, but these are just some things i would try to add down the road to make it flow much nicer.
but maybe you like it how it is, that's fine. cool with me
... forgot to blurr out the license's plate....ahaha!!
06-06-2011, 09:34 AM
#168
Moderator
iTrader: (3)
Ebony seats look great! Did you buy them from a junk yard or did you paint them/reupholster them?
06-06-2011, 10:57 PM
#171
props on probably the first to swap seats. it looks good in the pics from the outside with the windows down... but that shot of the interior of the seats and the rest of the cars' interior makes the seats look like they definitely do not belong. looks so out of place.
i would feel weird sitting in the back passenger looking at the seats than glancing at the side door panels than looking up at the head liner
i liked your old seats better. but maybe if you get rid of some woodgrain and decided to make your headliner black it would look alot better on the inside.
this is my opinion though, not trying to hate. its nice, but these are just some things i would try to add down the road to make it flow much nicer.
but maybe you like it how it is, that's fine. cool with me
i would feel weird sitting in the back passenger looking at the seats than glancing at the side door panels than looking up at the head liner
i liked your old seats better. but maybe if you get rid of some woodgrain and decided to make your headliner black it would look alot better on the inside.
this is my opinion though, not trying to hate. its nice, but these are just some things i would try to add down the road to make it flow much nicer.
but maybe you like it how it is, that's fine. cool with me
No offense taken. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Now don't get me wrong, if I could find and afford the whole interior over to black I would. I agree that all black interior looks better than the combo that I have now BUT what I have now does not look out of place to the untrained eye because the car already has alot if black. In fact I have had coworkers in the car for lunch since the swap and they have said "youve changed something right?"
So am I the first to do the swap this way?....i feel kinda special
08-09-2011, 10:38 PM
#173
Just finished repainting my calipers. In my opinion this is a key detail that nice cars should have. Almost nothing looks worse than a bunch of rust behind a nice set of wheels. I always paint my calipers silver. I almost painted them red as just this week I saw a black Ferrari and it had red calipers which of course looked great. I've always been opposed but I seriously considers thus time. In the end I didn't think red would look good with my car so I stuck with the silver. While I was painting the calipers I noticed the front black brembo calipers had lost all shine and looked very dull. Of course this is where the Acura logo is so I want it to look nice. Since it was late and no auto parts would be opened I just used a regular spray can of clear coat I had nearby. I really doubt it will withstand the heat but i gave it a shot anyway. Pics of this mini maintenance project coming soon.
08-10-2011, 11:01 AM
#175
takin care of Business in
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Kansas City, MO
Age: 40
Posts: 30,994
Received 4,732 Likes
on
4,064 Posts
damn dude....you car has come a long way....
looking good....
looking good....
08-15-2011, 06:34 PM
#176
6th Gear
Love the progression. You have definitley given me some ideas to steal.
Unless you favor the red, tail lights I have clear tail lights on mine or some Type-S tail lights. I would go all black with mine but do not want to sweat a ticket My .02
Unless you favor the red, tail lights I have clear tail lights on mine or some Type-S tail lights. I would go all black with mine but do not want to sweat a ticket My .02
09-29-2011, 12:19 PM
#178
^^Thx for the good comments guys.
Next mod: Lighting
So i've wanted to mod my lighting for a long time now. Finally getting the courage to do it. I just bought a couple things on V-LED website. First off i am going to redo my head lights. I had Jnc do them the first time a couple years ago but i think i'm due for a change and this time i'm going to try to do them myself using the DIY on here.
My headlights currently look like this:
And i'm gonna make them look like this (thx ballinfizzle):
I think it will look much better because since i my grill is painted black i think my front end is too dark and needs some contrast. This way with the redone headlights it adds some much needed lighter colors to the front end. Just like ballinfizzle i will be putting in amber LED turn signals, 6000K headlights and yellow fogs. I think that combo is very nice and it will look different than anything out there (well, except for ballinfizzle). I am not 100% sure how it will all look because Ballin's grill is factory silver color and mine is painted black it will look just a bit different.....Photoshoppers feel free to help me with visualizing this. While addressing lights, i'll be changing the rear turn signals and license plate bulbs to LEDs as well.
I trying to make this one of my last mods since my car already has 120k miles and i'm starting to feel that i shouldn't put any more money into it as it nears "retirement" but the LEDs weren't that expensive so this is now in the works.
Feel free to share your opinion on the change. I'm gonna do it anyway but feedback is always welcomed.
PS----I might be selling my RV6 V3 Long-tube j-pipe to fund this project but i don't know yet. I REALLY like the gain it gives and most of all the deeper growl it gave my ATLP exhaust so i'm still on the fence...probably more likely not to sell it as my new badass lights will need to be paired with the nastiest growling exhaust possible
Next mod: Lighting
So i've wanted to mod my lighting for a long time now. Finally getting the courage to do it. I just bought a couple things on V-LED website. First off i am going to redo my head lights. I had Jnc do them the first time a couple years ago but i think i'm due for a change and this time i'm going to try to do them myself using the DIY on here.
My headlights currently look like this:
And i'm gonna make them look like this (thx ballinfizzle):
I think it will look much better because since i my grill is painted black i think my front end is too dark and needs some contrast. This way with the redone headlights it adds some much needed lighter colors to the front end. Just like ballinfizzle i will be putting in amber LED turn signals, 6000K headlights and yellow fogs. I think that combo is very nice and it will look different than anything out there (well, except for ballinfizzle
). I am not 100% sure how it will all look because Ballin's grill is factory silver color and mine is painted black it will look just a bit different.....Photoshoppers feel free to help me with visualizing this. While addressing lights, i'll be changing the rear turn signals and license plate bulbs to LEDs as well.I trying to make this one of my last mods since my car already has 120k miles and i'm starting to feel that i shouldn't put any more money into it as it nears "retirement" but the LEDs weren't that expensive so this is now in the works.
Feel free to share your opinion on the change. I'm gonna do it anyway
but feedback is always welcomed.PS----I might be selling my RV6 V3 Long-tube j-pipe to fund this project but i don't know yet. I REALLY like the gain it gives and most of all the deeper growl it gave my ATLP exhaust so i'm still on the fence...probably more likely not to sell it as my new badass lights will need to be paired with the nastiest growling exhaust possible
09-29-2011, 01:28 PM
#180
^^Thx much....they are def gunmetal aspecs....get compliments on them all the time....and aside from many people on this website having them i very rarely run into someone on the road that has them.....people tell me all the time about how they have never seen Honda/Acura wheels like this before.
11-21-2011, 02:44 PM
#181
Just had my wheels professionally redone today. Two wheels had gotten curb rash while the car was at the body shop for a minor rear end accident (body shop must have parked on a curb or hit a car lift or something). Got body shop to fix the two they messed up and then while they were fixing those two i had them fix the other two which had very minor curb rash i did a couple months ago (these weren't that bad and probably have gone without fixing but i've got to keep the TL happy so i did it).
Anyways here's a pic of it while they were doing it. These guys go to you and they do a really nice job. My brother-in-law works in the body shop/detailing industry and he says these guys are the go to guys for wheels in Orlando and surrounding areas.
The wheels turned out real nice. They actually ended up a little darker than the traditional gunmetal A-Spec and it looks great. The darker gunmetal looks closer to the gunmetal color on the front and rear A-Spec lips. It looks meaner/sportier now. So far really satisfied. Will post up better pics soon.
Anyways here's a pic of it while they were doing it. These guys go to you and they do a really nice job. My brother-in-law works in the body shop/detailing industry and he says these guys are the go to guys for wheels in Orlando and surrounding areas.
The wheels turned out real nice. They actually ended up a little darker than the traditional gunmetal A-Spec and it looks great. The darker gunmetal looks closer to the gunmetal color on the front and rear A-Spec lips. It looks meaner/sportier now. So far really satisfied. Will post up better pics soon.
11-21-2011, 02:53 PM
#182
Moderator
iTrader: (3)
Congrats! I was going to have a mobile service like that come and redo my A-Specs but they wanted way too much, therefore I went the powdercoating route.
In for more pics!
In for more pics!
11-21-2011, 03:10 PM
#184
Moderator
iTrader: (3)
$300 for just powdercoating. Few hundred more for having the tires mounted, dismounted, balanced, and alignment afterwards.
A local wheel repair place wanted $500 and they weren't very nice over the phone, so I opted for powdercoating.
A local wheel repair place wanted $500 and they weren't very nice over the phone, so I opted for powdercoating.
11-21-2011, 04:03 PM
#185
Damn....$300 for powdercoating is really cheap. COnsidering i assume they do some type of sand blasting to get all of the paint, primer, clear, etc off each wheel. Then they have to get the right color powder, then they have to put it in the powder coating machine, then in the oven right, then i would assume they have some finishing process like buffing it or something.
Again $300 is REALLY good for this. If i can find someone for that price near Orlando i may do that next time my wheels need fixing.
Again $300 is REALLY good for this. If i can find someone for that price near Orlando i may do that next time my wheels need fixing.
Last edited by MAS; 11-21-2011 at 04:05 PM.
11-21-2011, 06:01 PM
#186
takin care of Business in
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Kansas City, MO
Age: 40
Posts: 30,994
Received 4,732 Likes
on
4,064 Posts
^^^ I paid $85 a rim for powdercoating....since I wanted a pin stripe it was $25 per rim additional....so came to $440 total....
came out SICK !!! the guy did a great job.....
came out SICK !!! the guy did a great job.....
11-21-2011, 06:36 PM
#187
Well, all of this just sucks! :P I paid more than that and I don't have the superior strength that powder coating provides.
These prices you guys mention.... How did you work it?.... Did you have to bring the wheels without tires?... How long was your car down during the process? I guess I paid extra for the convenience of it being done while I worked.
These prices you guys mention.... How did you work it?.... Did you have to bring the wheels without tires?... How long was your car down during the process? I guess I paid extra for the convenience of it being done while I worked.
11-21-2011, 06:41 PM
#188
takin care of Business in
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Kansas City, MO
Age: 40
Posts: 30,994
Received 4,732 Likes
on
4,064 Posts
^^^ yes....
I found this shop $5 for dismounting or mouting, right next to the powdercoating guy hahaha....
gave him $50....he dismounted, stored my tires and then mounted it back when I got the rims back....but yeah I was rolling on stock rims (my winter rims) while these were being worked on
too bad one of my tires too a dump on the highway and I went ahead and got a new set....
I found this shop $5 for dismounting or mouting, right next to the powdercoating guy hahaha....
gave him $50....he dismounted, stored my tires and then mounted it back when I got the rims back....but yeah I was rolling on stock rims (my winter rims) while these were being worked on
too bad one of my tires too a dump on the highway and I went ahead and got a new set....
11-21-2011, 10:45 PM
#189
^ got it. Well I don't have another set of wheels and this is my only car so I guess powder coating would not be an option for me right now anyway. Maybe it will be in the future as I soon need new tires and this its usually when I get the itch to get some new wheels.
11-22-2011, 12:08 AM
#190
takin care of Business in
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Kansas City, MO
Age: 40
Posts: 30,994
Received 4,732 Likes
on
4,064 Posts
^^^ if you need tires soon then this is the best time....
yeah you will need to get a spare set or some like that but yeah this is the best time....
yeah you will need to get a spare set or some like that but yeah this is the best time....
11-22-2011, 08:32 AM
#191
I bet you can find a local member that'll loan you some oem wheels to ride around while your a specs are getting powdered. I'd probably need to redo mine if I ever do decide to throw them back on the car. I already hid the defects pretty well with a dremel and some touch up paint...but I'd like them to be perfect. 
Your car looks great, bud.
About your calipers...have you taken any pics of it yet? I actually just realized my clearcoat is failing on mine too...but I think I've decided to finally take my time...and paint all the rusty parts of the hub to black (had done it in silver but didn't prep correctly) and then paint my calipers silver...already got the brembo decals to be applied after. I think it'll look CLEAN!
PS...are you certain about opening up and changing your lights? I mean, I've had cleared, I've had blacked out...and now I have a different setup...but JNC sealed lights are about as good as you can get and he basically factory seals them (or better) which is an ART to master. Trust me...it ain't easy. Honestly, on the cleared lights...the contrast is nice...but the exposed chrome and little area where teh diffuser clicks into place wont' be your favorite. The dark amber, looks pretty cool to me. Bah...what do I know...I change my lights and tails ALL THE FRIGGIN TIME.
and before you think it looks weird...it goes with my theme
black and blue, baby.
Your car looks great, bud.
About your calipers...have you taken any pics of it yet? I actually just realized my clearcoat is failing on mine too...but I think I've decided to finally take my time...and paint all the rusty parts of the hub to black (had done it in silver but didn't prep correctly) and then paint my calipers silver...already got the brembo decals to be applied after. I think it'll look CLEAN!
PS...are you certain about opening up and changing your lights? I mean, I've had cleared, I've had blacked out...and now I have a different setup...but JNC sealed lights are about as good as you can get and he basically factory seals them (or better) which is an ART to master. Trust me...it ain't easy. Honestly, on the cleared lights...the contrast is nice...but the exposed chrome and little area where teh diffuser clicks into place wont' be your favorite. The dark amber, looks pretty cool to me. Bah...what do I know...I change my lights and tails ALL THE FRIGGIN TIME.
and before you think it looks weird...it goes with my theme
black and blue, baby.
11-24-2011, 08:07 PM
#192
^^^dont have pics of calipers....clear coat didn't last anyways. I think your idea of black and silver will look good. Regarding the headlights, I just feel my front end is too dark. I would love for jnc to do them again but I just can't spend that money on headlights agin right now, plus I just had mine resurfaced and jnc's swap out system would have me getting some other headlights back.
12-05-2011, 03:17 PM
#197
Here are some recent pics. Its hard to tell from the picture that they are a bit darker than normal gummetal after getting them professionally redone. In person its pretty obvious as a friend already asked me if i did something to the wheels.
Also, let's play a little spot the mod (easy one, i know)
Side note: I'm soon gonna need new tires and i would like to get a tiny bit lower profile tires to help the 18in aspecs look a little bigger and help me lower the coilovers a bit more without ever rubbing (i will not gonna compromise spirited driving for flush-ness). Currently using 245/40/18. I think the 245/35 would be almost rubber band-ish. I already did the math and the 255/35 would achieve slightly less sidewall but will be easier to rub. Lastly 235/40 would be nicer sidewall but it would look a tiny bit streched on my 8.5 aspecs. I think i'm going to stay with 245/40's but try to find a tire brand/model that just comes in a slightly lower sidewall.....any suggestions/recommendations??
12-05-2011, 03:51 PM
#198
takin care of Business in
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Kansas City, MO
Age: 40
Posts: 30,994
Received 4,732 Likes
on
4,064 Posts
^^^ what you need is window visors....i bet rockstar would agree 
on a more serious note....the car looks AWESOME !!! great work
I have one question fro you thow ? why do you use BOLD all the time ?
on a more serious note....the car looks AWESOME !!! great work
I have one question fro you thow ? why do you use BOLD all the time ?
12-05-2011, 04:05 PM
#200
takin care of Business in
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Kansas City, MO
Age: 40
Posts: 30,994
Received 4,732 Likes
on
4,064 Posts
install Mozilla Firefox and set option to "search when i start typing"
i do that....but i gotta say, using bold to look for your post is a killer good idea...
i do that....but i gotta say, using bold to look for your post is a killer good idea
...