yup raceseng! super heavy knobs (and expensive) but they feel great. made my skunk2 knob feel like a twig, and my skunk2 knob made my oem knob feel like a child's toy, so this one is exponentially better.

I'll answer more questions in the thread i make this week!

 

Sockr1, your 3G is looking sweet with the aspec kit. That was definitely one mod you were contemplating for a while, but worth the wait. Also, like the new choice in wheels. The XXRs were nice, but the polished TSWs provide another level of detail from far away.

 

Looks great Sockr1! Curious as to what your new audio setup is.

 

Dude, well done!

 

Nice work man! Love the new knob and sub! I like how it looks integrated with the trunk.

 

finally able to wash the car last night



completely changed my shifting experience: raceseng slammer, translucent clear....1.4 lbs!! (635 grams). review coming in a separate thread in a week or so

 

on point!

 

thanks! i really need to start using my wife's nice sony camera instead of the iphone...it looks good on the iphone but then i upload it on photobucket and it looks like crap haha

 

car looking clean man!! 6 speed in WDP UNICORN!

Question: Do you prefer the spc camber arm kit over the ingalls rear camber kit.

I dont know which to buy

Thanks!

 

thanks man, a lot of time and effort into the car to make it stay looking goood!

i'd recommend getting the spc camber arm instead of the ingalls. the oem lower arms are much more robust and the spc camber arm is pretty bullet proof too. the only time i would suggest doing ingalls is if you need to correct a lot of camber and toe if you are slammed.

otherwise go spc!

 

 

Beautiful car sockr1! Just caught up on your whole thread and I'm itching to do something to mine! haha

 

thanks man! People don't believe it when I tell them it's an 8 yr old car haha.

What mods are you thinking of doing?

 

How is the aem cai? Does it make a difference? How's the sound? Would you buy it again?

 

Well my car is all stock so a lot! haha, I know I want to get the lip kit and lower it on coilovers. I now am looking at doing some stuff in my engine bay like you did and a few of your other mods have me thinking too. I'm new to the TL scene so I'm sure there is more I'll want to do as I explore the site.

And yeah your car looks great for being 8 yrs old. Mine isn't to shabby looking being 10 yrs! haha

 

It's amazing how many times non-car people ask me "Is it a '14 or '15? I just laugh and say 2008 lol

 

until they go inside and see the cassette deck

 

^^^ LoL......

 

i would buy it again for sure. on my car, it goes very well with all my performance modifications and makes a difference. even if i was stock (not much performance gain from an intake alone), i would get it again because it gives off a great sound and makes the car sound more aggressive. definitely go with the aem v2 though if you get one

your car paint looks great!! i think black looks the best when a car is clean but we all know how long that lasts haha. you should make a progress thread to keep track of anything you do in the future

haha yea it's pretty funny but that's a great sign, your car is one of my favorites on here

so so true haha. people are like wth is that doing there?!



nothing major just updating the thread with some (crappy) pics:

i love using my new foam gun to clean the car...makes it so much easier to clean!





repainted my calipers the same color a few months ago since some of them were chipped:



switched out my blacksys cf-100 dash cam with the blacksys ch-100b which is the new and updated model (hardwired in with parking mode). i switched it with a guy on the dash cam forum plus some cash. this one has a much more robust mount and has better functions overall even though the other dash cam had slightly better quality. i have the dash cam in both my car and my wife's for peace of mind in case any thing happens. you can also see my hardwired radar detector (beltronics pro500) that is always permanently mounted.



also added the black acurazine decal from the charity drive on each rear window. hard to see unless someone really looks closely but that's what i was going for. may switch it to white one day but my wife wasn't too happy i was putting acurazine decals on my car haha



random and crappy pic



picture of my wife's 10 year old honda civic that shows how a little love and care will make a car look good for a long time. this was after a fresh wash and wax (detailers pro foam gun, pinnacle paint cleansing lotion by hand, pinnacle signature series wax by hand):



nothing special about this one, just didn't have a picture from the rear with the kit on. the lip color mismatch is more noticeable in pics, it's not that bad in reality

 

Yea, this is a really nice TL that we NEVER get to see lmfao

Stance looks great. Brembos look great.

The mismatch is crazy in that last pic.. hollaaay. My 2nd gen TL was WDP and that was also mismatched in areas, drove me nuts!

I wanted to buy one of those chemical guy foam guns but they dont ship to Canada

 

thanks jeff!!
haha i take a ton of pics but it takes me a while to organize and upload them...i'll try to be better!! maybe one day i'll use my wife's nice camera to do proper photos

yea the mismatch is the main reason why i didn't buy the kit for 8 years hahahha. finally i said screw it and went for it. but the mismatch is also why i went with the base front lip instead of the type s. the less lip exposed (base vs type s) the less the mismatch stands out

you gotta get a foam gun, it's a game changer!

 

did you guys buy a house?

 

Thanks for the link to this thread! Extremely insightful!

 

Damn man thanks!!

Funny about the black acurazine decal. I'm the same way and I have the black acurazine sticker there as well. I also love the aspec kit on the WDP and how you can see the black cut out more in the rear.

Looking good man, you should definitely post on here more!

 

Very nicely modded 3G TL. I've always liked those TSW wheels.

 

not yet, still need to save for about 6 more months. my brother rents my parents original house (where i grew up), so we moved in there and split my parents' mortgage (my parents live somewhere else). This allows us to save about 900 more per month and we are doing this for a year (half way thru) in order to accelerate our savings for a house. house prices are ridiculous here so we figured we should accelerate savings by moving in with my brother. upside is shorter commute to work and i park in a garage for the first time since i bought my car 8 years ago haha. downside is my parents stop by way too often and we my brother as a "roommate"...overall it works!

thanks guys!! took me a while to decide to sell my xxrs and get the tsw ones, but in the end i'm super happy. the tsw ones are SO much lighter and the slightly less aggressive fitment allows me to drive my car how it was meant to be driven! now i don't have gut wrenching reactions when i hit a bump or take a corner too fast haha

upcoming:
- i may plasti dip the chrome bar in the fog area to give it that slightly more aggressive look that the type s lip gives the fog area, the type s one blacks it out. not sure when i'll do it but if i don't like it i'll just peel it off.
- need to put in a new batch of gm friction modified mtf that i recently bought, it's been about 35k miles since the last change out.
- may switch out my 75a rear motor mount to the 62a or i might go back to the oem rear mount. there is just way too much vibration when the a/c is on and it's embarrassing with other people in the car haha. i increased my idle rpms in flashpro to reduce the vibrations and it did help a lot but may switch in the rear oem mount like it was a few months ago (front and side aftermarket xlr8, rear oem)

current mileage is 109,500 miles

i'll get to work on posting more!

 

Man this looks amazing.. My wheel is in need of repairing. Was actually looking to get something similar to yours. Very nice! that price isnt too bad i figure it wasnt cheap to redo them either

 

man that wheel is dope , this isn't a redline goods thing??

 

thank you, i absolutely love this upgrade. it took me a little bit to get over sticker shock but looking back i would pay the same in a heartbeat. i like to determine if something is worth it by looking at how much i use it. i use my steering wheel and shift knob the most during my daily driving, so i didn't mind spending the big bucks to make them perfect for me. when i got it and placed it next to my oem steering wheel, the oem steering wheel felt like a stick i could easily break haha

there are some other members that got the same exact setup as me (i think ivo/familyguy and some others)

this wheel will change your everyday driving experience since you use it so much. let me know if you have any questions.

thanks jeff. no, redline is considered very "cheap" next to this one. this is a super nice wheel makeover and blows redline goods out of the water.

 

oh wow, I did not know this! My redline arm rest turned out great nonetheless. Def pricey.. did you have to send them your wheel? what about the airbag? lol

 

haha yea armrest is no big deal, but i def think the custom steering wheel is much better (quality, craftsmanship, etc) between the two when it comes to the steering wheel. i did have to send them my wheel and my car is my daily driver...and i didn't want my wife to notice so this is what i did haha. i just bought a "skeleton wheel" on ebay for like 60 bucks, i switched over the electronics, sent them my original skeleton wheel, and put on my "ebay" one. then when i got the wheel back, i switched over the electronics again and sold my ebay wheel to get my money back. i could have just got my ebay wheel covered with the new cover, but i'm weird like that and wanted my original wheel haha

definitely look into it if you think about switching up your steering wheel!

 

Foam gun.

 

^^^ Just splurged and bought the AutoGeek.net foam gun! I haven't tried it yet because it's only been 132 degrees here in Kansas City......yea, 132 degrees.

 

thats great dave.

 

Hey Dave!

Car is looking great, A-Spec kit really finished off the exterior nicely.
What did your audio set up end up as? I've been contemplating finally finishing mine off by having the front speakers replaced with the focals that I've been sitting on for so long now, along with sound deadening in the doors. Was wondering if you were happy with your set up and thought it was worth the hassle in the end.

Also, nice steering wheel. You're clearly a guy with good taste

 

that steering wheel looks better than new!

love the wheels, nice and clean without looking ricey. sweet ride!

 

God... damnit... need... that... shift knob... so expensive for this Canadian

 

thanks kurt! the aspec kit really helped a lot for the exterior look and i was able to successfully install the base lip and not get any bulging!
haha great minds think alike? at least with steering wheels...

my audio setup ended up being image dynamics front components and an infinity 1060w sub corner loaded in the trunk, all powered by a JL 3 channel amp under my front driver's seat. i absolutely love how it sounds now and have it all dialed in. the only issue i have is some hissing/static but i've been to 6 shops and they all say it's due to the sensitive nature of the TL audio system and that's there's nothing i can do about it. it gets drowned out when the volume increases and it can only be heard on quiet songs but no passenger has mentioned it yet

i would highly recommend putting those focals in, you'll love the clarity and the extra mid bass. my sound has a lot of depth now and sometimes it honestly feels like i'm at a concert.

if you don't feel like installing them, or paying someone to install, you could always buy "jesse's amp" upgrades which run about 200 but they improve the oem sound output from the amp. that may be an easier route for you and i hear good things about that. i probably would have taken that route if i knew about it before i started down the audio path.

regarding sound deadening, i would do this no matter what, even if i had just oem speakers. they made a HUGE difference before i put in my speakers. it made such a difference that i actually put sound deadening on my wife's honda civic even though she is completely stock. she immediately noticed the difference.

i still want to update this thread soon and add an audio thread to show what i've done for an audio setup

thanks man! yea these wheels really grew on me and i absolutely love them. i try to keep my car looking as clean as possible without being too ricey (my wife thinks otherwise...)

yea it's pricey but it seriously improves the shifting experience...every single time you drive. i would say it's now one of my top 5 mods i've done to my car. it feels amazing. i've been able to convince about 3-4 TL owners to getting it and they all were hesitant about price but now love it.

 

Thanks for the update! I was actually at my audio shop on Friday to troubleshoot something, ended up just being a tiny issue with the remote wire and all was well. I talked about finishing the audio and finally doing the speakers, and they gave me a nice, fair quote, and I'm sure they would make it right if anything went awry, so I think I'll probably take it there when I do it (have it done, that is). Glad to hear you're really enjoying yours. I have a feeling I'll be kicking myself for not doing this 3 years ago, but it is what it is I guess.

I think I may have the same amp as you, JL XD500/3? Under the seat is really where I always wanted it - how difficult was it to get it moved there? Right now mine is in the trunk, but I'd love to not have it in the way like it is now. And it sounds like the deadening is going to be a must do as well, front doors and probably trunk while I'm at it I suppose. I have all the stuff sitting in a box anyway.

 

it wasn't hard for me to put it there since i wanted it there from the start haha. i found it pretty easy to route everything that close to the oem amp and speakers, and it fits perfect under that seat. yup same amp! great minds... haha

i'll put up some pictures when i get some time at lunch today and hopefully that helps you out. my whole goal is to have as little impact on the trunk space as possible and to keep everything tucked away which i felt i did pretty well. my last ditch effort to fix the hissing/static would be to take it to a really high end shop near me, but they charge 150/hr. maybe i'll have them just look at it and see if there's anything they can think of. it's really the only downside but can't be noticed once i take the volume up...but i know it's there and i'm ocd haha