TBO

I just purchased a 2008 base TL (silver) and I'm looking to throw some gunmetal rims on it. However, I don't really know where to look, what size to get, and what rims will even fit my car.

Is there a certain limited selection of rims that fit the TL, or do all rims that match my tire size work?

Also I think the car has 17" wheels on it, but I'll probably look to increase that to 18" wheels. In that case, am I forced to buy bigger rims for the tire to fit around, or will the tires work with any size rim?

Sorry for what are probably pretty bad questions, but I've just never modded any of my previous vehicles or messed with different tire sizes either.

RedRyder

iTrader: (1)

We all start somewhere.


Your stock wheels are 17" in diameter, 8" in width, and have an offset of +45 maybe, or around there. Go to TireRack and read up on what that all means before you do anything. Your bolt pattern is 5x114.3, so any wheels with that bolt pattern will fit, but it is ideal for the hub bore to match also...yours is either 64.1 or 73.1 I'm thinking, but someone else can confirm that. If it's different you can still mount them, you may just want to run hubcentric rings. By the way, this is all stamped on the back of your factory wheels, so you can confirm for yourself.


When plus sizing wheels, the tire sidewall gets smaller to compensate. The important thing to remember when changing wheels is that you want to keep as close to your overall OEM wheel diameter as possible (so tire edge to tire edge), because this keeps your speedometer/odometer accurate. There is usually a slight variance, for example with my setup it is ~2mph off. If you play with a wheel/tire calculator you'll see what I'm getting at.


So if you like factory Acura wheels, the 2004 TL A-spec had 18x8.5 wheels that were gunmetal (split 5-spoke)...or there are the 2007-2008 TL Type-S wheels that were also gunmetal, these are the "waffle" style (look up a pic on Google). If you want aftermarket wheels, that can get a little more involving, and I would advise you to read up on everything first. Wheels/tires are not cheap, and you may lower the car someday, etc...so you want to do your research first!

TBO

Thanks for the detailed reply.

I'm probably going to have to go aftermarket because neither of those options stands out to me for my car. I also know that I will probably never lower my car (I hear this leads to messed up driving dynamics, and I've never liked the look of it myself).

At most I am probably just looking to increase the wheel size from 17's to 18's and put darker rims on it (not black though). I'll do my best to make sense of all these numbers!

RedRyder

iTrader: (1)

Some people do mess up their car when changing suspension, but it's because they don't know what they are doing. For example, they may cut their springs (big no no), put different springs or shocks in front than in back, order the wrong spring rates, etc etc. Otherwise suspension really only improves the car. But if you are happy at stock height there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.


Given that you are not lowering the car, you don't want to wander too far from OEM specs, so in your case I would keep the width and offset roughly the same as they are now. For example, if you went with wheels that were much wider or with a much lower offset, your new setup could be poking out beyond the fenders. Plus sizing to 18" diameter wheels at stock height may accentuate your wheel gap a bit, but to some people that's no big deal. I would look up pictures of your car on 18" wheels at stock height to make sure you will like the look. Other than that plus sizing will bring no harm other than the ride being a little firmer and tires being a little more expensive.


I would spend some time looking at what other people have done, and if nothing else I would upgrade your rear sway bar to the 20mm if you don't have it already to rid yourself of the body roll with OEM suspension. Or even better yet put the Progress bar on. Anyway, good luck and happy hunting!

TBO

Thanks a lot for the advice Red. I basically am looking at making very slight, subtle modifications to make the car look a little more unique. I am also interested in modifications like the sway bar you mentioned because it seems that would be a favorable addition no matter what.

If you have the time, for someone like me who is buying a stock car and only wants to do mods that add value and make the car look / drive better, what would you recommend doing? I'm not interested in cold air intakes, exhaust, and all that mess because I hear for the TL it barely makes any difference in HP. I'm more looking for tasteful additions for better ride, and maybe an aesthetic mod here and there without drastically altering it from stock form. Do you have a list, a maybe things to prioritize?

RedRyder

iTrader: (1)

That's how I started out, but then I kept finding more and more things I wanted to do. My car is 16 years old though, so there are countless things I can do/have done to improve/update it. Anyway, I would look at other cars you really like, or the top trim leven of your model, to see what types of performance/luxury/aesthetic elements you like, then find a way to add that to your car.


Modifying a car is all about priorities...to some all that matters is performance, to others it's looks, and to someone else it may be a mix of both. In addition to the above think about if you feel that any certain areas/aspects of the car are lacking....then decide what you'd like to see/have instead. Hope that makes sense...I guess what I'm saying is, use your imagination.


But here's some ideas, just speaking objectively:
- change exterior/interior lighting to LED
- clearbra the front of the car to protect the paint
- paint your calipers
- tint your windows
- do intake or exhaust for sound and looks instead of performance
- add a rear view mirror that displays compass/temp (if you don't already have that, I don't know)
- add OEM exterior/interior bits that your car didn't come with
- wire something to work differently (i.e. on my car I used to have to have the low beams on to turn on the foglights, but now I can have just the parking lights on to turn on the fogs)
- etc

VisualEchos

iTrader: (1)

You will find the help you need here, but for the love of all that is sacred in the automotive world, please stop using the word "rim", and start using the word "wheel".

Boosejars

iTrader: (1)

best thing I did was peruse the wheel and tire thread -
https://acurazine.com/forums/tires-w...d-pics-577276/
not only was I able to see different wheels..etc, but also got to see what mods were being run - and its all TL's
lot of resources here too bro!

Ramrod

TBO, you might want to clear your inbox, you can only hold 200 sent/received messages. Go to the top right of the screen and under your name there's a drop-down menu. You can delete all the old messages in the inbox.