hannamand

Hello World!

As my signature says I recently bought a 2004 TL, that has been pretty well used and abused, slowly bring her back to life, and the forum has already been a great help.

The question:

I'm finally ready to pull the trigger on a TEIN Street Flex kit... nice thing about being forced to wait is it makes you do research and gives you a chance to hear what other people have to say, again... thanks to the forums for your input, it's helped a ton.

Now that I've decided what to buy, can anyone help me out with the where to buy:
eBay has them listed for $899 with free shipping = $899
HeelToe has them listed for $1012 with $70 shipping = $1082
excelerate lists them for $1080 with $40 shipping = $1120

So we're all within $220. I don't mind paying a couple of extra bucks for good service and support of the community that has helped me so much already, does anyone have experience with the sponsors (positive or negative)?

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

I've been here for 6 years already. Marcus (heeltoe) and Josh (XLR8) Are BOTH BEST IN CLASS when it comes to service.

with that being said, I would go for the cheaper (ebay) set.
$220 is a BIG difference!!!!!!

since Josh and Marcus BOTH HAVE GREAT customer service, Maybe you can PM them separately and ask to price match.

AZuser

If you enter coupon code acurazinerocks at HeelToe, you'll save $35.xx

But yeah, I agree with crabs. $220 is a good amount of money. It could go toward camber/toe arms, an alignment, etc.

hannamand

Done. TEIN Street Flex inbound.
Slotted and drilled rotors and ceramic brakes already on the garage floor (old ones were warped badly).
New wheel bearings already here (Might as well if I've got it up in the air).



What am I missing? Parts that would typically be worn out on a 130K car?

AZuser

Since you have the car up in the air and will be taking apart the suspension and brakes, check the bushings, ball joints, CV boots, engine mounts, transmission mount, timing belt, serpentine belt, sway bar end links, etc. Pretty much just check everything.

hannamand

Of course, just trying to predict what parts I'll be likely to find and should have on hand. Thanks for the list of "possibles" though.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^right, but since you do have 130k...MOST of the front end suspension will need to be refreshed.

hannamand

Good point. I'm always amazed how cheap parts are for this car... set of CV axles (both sides) $121. Just a set of bushings and tie rod ends for my truck... $300.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

I suppose its because of the truck's capabilities and would need stronger, beefier components, raising the price of the trucks suspension parts

edit*
I had a 2002(the first year they changed the body style) Dodge Ram 3.7l 5 speed manual single cab.

what an awesome truck. I miss it.

hannamand

^ Mine is an '03 3500 with the 5.9L Diesel/Six Speed/4x4/SRW/long bed/four door. Kind of an unusual beast, but like a Timex, 320,000 miles and still going strong, just a pain in the behind to park in a crowded lot... hence the TL... Something more nimble.

UlsterBoy13

Are you more D or FW?

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

that combo is unusual! Lol i bet it is hard to park!

funny thing about the 3.7l v6....it chugged the same amount of fuel as the 5.7l Hemis....
probably due to the weight of the vehicle. and in 2008-2009 at the height of the recession, I couldnt afford the fuel for it and had to let it go.
but thats okay, cuz I bought the TL! lol

hannamand

I actually live on two acres south of Fort Worth, so I guess I'm more FW, I drove service van in Dallas for a few years though, so yeah, weaving a big truck through Dallas traffic was also a concern... Driving in Dallas is like a competition, driving in Ft Worth it can be annoying how nice people are... (merging onto the freeway for example) "Keep going buddy, I'll slide right in behind you and not cut you off... Nope, he's stopping on the freeway to let me in! AAAARGH!"

UlsterBoy13

Down in Burleson here....

hannamand

I actually get 20mpg on average with the diesel... it's one of the reasons I bought it, I was spending 2 hours a day commuting to downtown Dallas, wanted something that would last (I have a friend that put 500k miles on his). So far I'm getting about 30mpg in the TL... nice, but I work from home, so it doesn't make enough of a difference to move the needle... it will take me decades to save enough money on gas to justify the purchase... no this is all about comfort and agility.

I wouldn't own the Ram if it didn't have the diesel and the manual transmission... that combo has a track record of outlasting the truck. Mine is no exception, I've never had problems with the engine, but I have with just about everything else!

hannamand

Sweet! I'm Rendon, halfway between Burleson and Mansfield! You drive a 3G? I've contemplated pulling people over on the side of the road and asking if I could listed to their stereo just to get a comparison of what it should sound like (mine got hacked apart, and I still don't think it sounds right after soldering together all the cut wires I could find).

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

thats the trouble with owning some one elses car...
I'm in Houston, if I already didnt state that

UlsterBoy13

Bone Stock (well it has trunk lip) 08 3g TL NBP. Her name is Agnes.

Normally found between Burleson and Hurst ever day....was in Mansfield for Fireworks on Sunday and then FIreworks in Burleson on Mon. let me know if you need to see her when im out and about.

hannamand

Well and not getting that "new car smell" for the first few months... the two troubles with owning someone else's car.

On the benefits side, I really like not having a car payment. sure it will take me a while to work out the bugs, and there will always be things that aren't "exactly like they were new"... but I've taken those "It costs you $5,000 dollars to drive it off the car lot", and "in two years it will be worth half what you paid for it" hits before. They hurt, and making a monthly payment really adds insult to injury for me. When I look at the new cars that I like it's about $1,000 a month for the payment. If I dumped $1K a month into my two cars I'd run out of things to do pretty quickly.

Besides, you buy a new car, and you start thinking about modding it (at least I do) but you worry about voiding the warranty...

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

i bought mine used as well, in 2010. i'm 29 and havent bought a new car ever. and I dont think I ever will.
I had planned for 10 years with the TL. I'm at year 6! 4 more to go!! and even then, It will last way longer than that

at this rate, I plan to have it well into 2020

hannamand

If you do decide to sell it in four years, lemme know...

I'm 45, I've bought a couple of new cars new in my lifetime, and a couple that were 2 years old and I financed them (used to have a wife, most of those don't like you working on/modding their cars). When my kids were really little we bought a brand new Odyssey. Drove the hell out of it, like 10 years... for a mini van it was nice, and we took care of it... the transmission finally did it in, I just couldn't see spending $5,000 on putting a transmission in a car worth $4,300. That car owed me nothing, it was a good buy, but that was the exception... most of the cars I've bought and sold over the years were like throwing money away.

When you get into cars that you really like it's a little bit of a different story though, you don't look at it from the financial standpoint... for instance, I'll keep my truck until someone totals it I'm sure... aftermarket radios will do everything that the modern cars will, that engine is pre-EPA involvement so tweaking it to make 900hp and still be derivable on the street is not that difficult, I want to put in an air ride suspension so it's not such a beating to drive it... so why would I get rid of it?

I looked for a 3G TL because I like the body lines... it wasn't until after I bought it that I remembered I'd gotten a 3G MT TL as a loaner one time when it was new... I on my way home I pulled around a corner and it spurred the memory... I wanted it back then but couldn't even afford the payments, a few years later I own one, no payments, and it will actually be better than new because I'm "fixing" it with performance parts. I considered a 4G with AWD, but the curves just don't appeal to me, and really here in Texas AWD isn't really for winter driving, it's for racing... if I wanna go racing I'll drag my '74 260zx out of the weeds and buy a kit to drop in a LT1... and I still might.

thoiboi

Timeless man... this body style is timeless. That's why I bought mine 3 years or so ago too.


Awesome story and welcome again, man! Feel free to join us as we shoot the shit in Ramblings since you're at home all the time anyway

UlsterBoy13

Well i had an 05 Anthracite TL in 2008-2010 and went and got a G35 instead, kinda regretted it but had always wanted a G35 Coupe so it was nice to have. then kids so no more coupe, and just recently had the need for a daily driver that was a bit more reliable than my 93 Volvo 960 so the TL was top of list when looking.

Used to have wife? there are 2 viable options, hope one and not the other.

hannamand

G35 has nice lines too, I considered it... I gotta have four doors though, my dog loves going for car rides, gotta take my buddy along whenever I can.

"Used to have a wife" Yeah, she filed for divorce November of last year... we didn't really get along anyway, Kind of just going through the motions until the kids graduated. She's from El Salvador, so psychotic jealousy and a wicked temper is "normal"... I'm too laid back I guess. Anyway, I thought we'd last another three years until my son graduated, but she got wound up one day and pulled the ejection handle... we seem to get along better now that we're not constantly up in each other's face.

UlsterBoy13

Latinas......whatcha gonna do.......(get stabbed with a stilletto thats what!!) lol

hannamand

Stiletto heels in the chest aren't so bad... a little pain adds character!

zeemy

Welcome!