Tommy's AM Progress Thread
01-31-2014, 10:08 PM
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
Tommy's AM Progress Thread
Okay guys so I’ve been on this sight for a little bit now and I finally decided my car might be worthy of showing now that its made a little bit of progress.
2006 AM 5AT Non-Navi with 57,613 miles. Previous owners were a elderly couple who didn’t drive it much so it had never been abused really.
My previous car was an 2003 Acura MDX:
It was my mom’s car before I got my license and then I made it my own with a sizeable stereo upgrade and tinted windows. All my friends loved it cause it was so spacious.
2 10” JL W6’s
Probably a week or so after getting my TL I took it to a well reputable stereo installer and had this done
12” JL Audio W7v3 in a ported box with a custom baffle built to look flush with the trunk of the car
JL audio HD750
USA Spec Module
(Green LED’s were soon replaced with a much nicer blue strip)
And that same day my new taillights were delivered that I bought from another member on the BM here.
and later that week I had my windows tinted and tinted my rear side-markers (yeah I know I went cheap instead of buying the USR ones but hey got to save some $$$ where I can).
Right after I picked it up from being tinted:
Tinted Side-markers:
Before and after:
At some point I started to get annoyed when I would walk up to my car and see the rust on the rotors behind the wheels so I decided to get a sander and some black Rustoleum paint and go to town.
Before:
After:
(Yeah I know ugly green calipers I later redid them in blue, which gives a much better look to the car)
Pretty much right before I left for school this past fall I met up with Tyler aka CLtotheTL32 aka Penguin, and bought his TEIN S-tech springs, which were on OEM struts from him. The same day I went home and after a lot of elbow grease and a little help from a friend when I needed it, swapped out my OEM struts and springs with the setup from Tyler and “VOILA” I had a lowered car.
Before:
After:
Sometime in between I did the LED interior swap and replaced all the overhead lights and license plate lights with white eBay LED’s, and added blue strips in the foot wells of the front and back seats and put blue LED’s in the door lights (BEST MOD EVER college girls love that shit).
While I was away at school a couple of terrible things happened to my car…
Hit and run on my front bumper:
This didn't bother me as much because there was already a little bit of damage on the other side and in a few other spots from the previous owner that I had already planned on getting it repainted this coming summer.
Backed into while standing still in a parking lot:
I was backed into driving through my apartment complex.. My car was hit directly between the passenger side front and rear doors. The other car dented the pillar and did some nice work on both doors. The other driver who is a close friend of mine was completely at fault he just wasn't looking and backed up when I stopped because the car in front of me had stopped because these hot girls who were walking across the parking lot when impact happened. They stopped to make sure I was okay I should have asked for their numbers incase the police needed witnesses for the report.
.
Pictures of said damage:
**Insert random puppy pic here**
(see blue calipers!)
Damage to other car:
My reaction:
In the end:
Everything went through insurance and the shop we worked with managed to work with us and repainted my front and back bumper (back bumper had some damage from previous owner too) and I got the guy to paint the center A-bar of my front grille Gloss Black.
**Insert second random puppy picture here**
He picks good cars and a great sports team.
This semester I transferred schools from UNC Wilmington to NC State University so my parents decided it would be wise for me to leave my car at home for the semester because I will be pledging a fraternity and don't want to have to get my car trashed while doing that. But the next time I go home Tyler and I will be working on my headlights and clearing them. :thumbsup
I’ve got an expensive list of to-do’s and to-buys for this car:
Cleared headlights
Wheels- I think I want 19’s
Rear window spoiler
Lower grill fogs
Grill trim painted AM
ASPEC Kit (obviously) but I’ll have to talk my dad into this overtime.
CAI
OEM Window Visors
Slotted and dimpled rotors
Carbon Fiber Interior
Camber kits and Coilovers in the waayyy future
Mid-Muffler Delete
$67 dollar mod (dual exhaust tips)
Maybe some performance mods if I can afford them later down the road.
Basically everything that will happen will be slow and small because I have to work for the money to buy what I want, then earn double that amount to prove to my dad that I’m worthy of being able to mod my car. Or it has to be small enough where I can do it on my own without him noticing that something drastic has changed, or free. Free is always good to him.
Thanks for looking let me know what you guys think!!
Note: All pictures are taken with an iPhone 5 so sorry for the bad quality
2006 AM 5AT Non-Navi with 57,613 miles. Previous owners were a elderly couple who didn’t drive it much so it had never been abused really.
My previous car was an 2003 Acura MDX:
It was my mom’s car before I got my license and then I made it my own with a sizeable stereo upgrade and tinted windows. All my friends loved it cause it was so spacious.
2 10” JL W6’s
Probably a week or so after getting my TL I took it to a well reputable stereo installer and had this done
12” JL Audio W7v3 in a ported box with a custom baffle built to look flush with the trunk of the car
JL audio HD750
USA Spec Module
(Green LED’s were soon replaced with a much nicer blue strip)
And that same day my new taillights were delivered that I bought from another member on the BM here.
and later that week I had my windows tinted and tinted my rear side-markers (yeah I know I went cheap instead of buying the USR ones but hey got to save some $$$ where I can).
Right after I picked it up from being tinted:
Tinted Side-markers:
Before and after:
At some point I started to get annoyed when I would walk up to my car and see the rust on the rotors behind the wheels so I decided to get a sander and some black Rustoleum paint and go to town.
Before:
After:
(Yeah I know ugly green calipers I later redid them in blue, which gives a much better look to the car)
Pretty much right before I left for school this past fall I met up with Tyler aka CLtotheTL32 aka Penguin, and bought his TEIN S-tech springs, which were on OEM struts from him. The same day I went home and after a lot of elbow grease and a little help from a friend when I needed it, swapped out my OEM struts and springs with the setup from Tyler and “VOILA” I had a lowered car.
Before:
After:
Sometime in between I did the LED interior swap and replaced all the overhead lights and license plate lights with white eBay LED’s, and added blue strips in the foot wells of the front and back seats and put blue LED’s in the door lights (BEST MOD EVER college girls love that shit).
While I was away at school a couple of terrible things happened to my car…
Hit and run on my front bumper:
This didn't bother me as much because there was already a little bit of damage on the other side and in a few other spots from the previous owner that I had already planned on getting it repainted this coming summer.
Backed into while standing still in a parking lot:
I was backed into driving through my apartment complex.. My car was hit directly between the passenger side front and rear doors. The other car dented the pillar and did some nice work on both doors. The other driver who is a close friend of mine was completely at fault he just wasn't looking and backed up when I stopped because the car in front of me had stopped because these hot girls who were walking across the parking lot when impact happened. They stopped to make sure I was okay I should have asked for their numbers incase the police needed witnesses for the report.
. Pictures of said damage:
**Insert random puppy pic here**
(see blue calipers!)
Damage to other car:
My reaction:
In the end:
Everything went through insurance and the shop we worked with managed to work with us and repainted my front and back bumper (back bumper had some damage from previous owner too) and I got the guy to paint the center A-bar of my front grille Gloss Black.
**Insert second random puppy picture here**
He picks good cars and a great sports team.
This semester I transferred schools from UNC Wilmington to NC State University so my parents decided it would be wise for me to leave my car at home for the semester because I will be pledging a fraternity and don't want to have to get my car trashed while doing that. But the next time I go home Tyler and I will be working on my headlights and clearing them. :thumbsup
I’ve got an expensive list of to-do’s and to-buys for this car:
Cleared headlights
Wheels- I think I want 19’s
Rear window spoiler
Lower grill fogs
Grill trim painted AM
ASPEC Kit (obviously) but I’ll have to talk my dad into this overtime.
CAI
OEM Window Visors
Slotted and dimpled rotors
Carbon Fiber Interior
Camber kits and Coilovers in the waayyy future
Mid-Muffler Delete
$67 dollar mod (dual exhaust tips)
Maybe some performance mods if I can afford them later down the road.
Basically everything that will happen will be slow and small because I have to work for the money to buy what I want, then earn double that amount to prove to my dad that I’m worthy of being able to mod my car. Or it has to be small enough where I can do it on my own without him noticing that something drastic has changed, or free. Free is always good to him.
Thanks for looking let me know what you guys think!!
Note: All pictures are taken with an iPhone 5 so sorry for the bad quality
02-01-2014, 09:05 AM
#2
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Awesome start for your thread! Congrats on the TL and you're making great progress. Slowly but surely 
Sorry about the damages but at least that was all taken care of.
Slowly but surely Sorry about the damages but at least that was all taken care of.
02-01-2014, 12:38 PM
#3
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02-01-2014, 01:19 PM
#4
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We'll be waiting to see! 
02-02-2014, 01:02 AM
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02-02-2014, 11:02 AM
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Nice progress Tommy! I'm glad I could help out
Let me know when you'll be in the area for spring break and we'll knock out those headlights!
Let me know when you'll be in the area for spring break and we'll knock out those headlights!
02-03-2014, 07:10 AM
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02-03-2014, 08:12 PM
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Very nice Tommy!
02-04-2014, 09:29 PM
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02-05-2014, 08:14 PM
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Thanks brother.....this is my first Corvette. I've been missing it-it's sleeping at Anil's now. We just got 12+ inches of snow yesterday/last night.
Spring can't come fast enough.......
Spring can't come fast enough.......
02-09-2014, 07:09 PM
#14
Instructor
Thread Starter
Yeah man its definitely one of the best purchases to be had but I'll have to probably buy it piece by piece because my dad probably won't let me drop $750 all at once
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