ducal

Hi all! I'm a new car owner and I have recently purchased a 2002 Acura TL from someone who I am not able to get in touch with at the moment. I am absolutely in love with the car and the way it drives(I'm 25 and have been driving all my parents' cars since I was 16; this trumps them all by far).

Browsing through the photography section and viewing all your lovely cars makes me want to dip my feet into the scene that's happening on here. However, it seems like I have an issue with the paint of my car. Here are a couple of pictures of the TL:





This is the car after a fresh wash





Notice the paint surrounding the Acura lettering

What I'm starting to believe is that the paint on this car isn't stock. In fact, the darker paint surrounding the Acura lettering leads me to believe that this was a shoddy paint job. In addition, the car does not shine very well compared to many of the TLs on here.

Here is where my problem lies with that:

1. I want to purchase an OEM spoiler from here: 1999 ~ 2003 Acura TL OEM Style Spoiler - $99.99 - Carccessory.com , as I truly believe a spoiler really adds to the look of the car, at least for me. I know there is a 'painted' option, but I don't believe any colour codings would match, because the paint may not be any of the stock options that would come with the car.

2. I want to debadge the car, but I'm afraid after I debadge the paint will be different underneath the badges.


As mentioned previously, I'm a new car owner. I also don't have any experience or much knowledge of cars, so I apologize ahead of time for my ignorance. What I want to know or what options I should take in order to have debadged TL with an OEM spoiler that will look okay. I'm on a tight budget at the moment, and I don't think I can or really want to paint the entire car; since I believe this will run into the thousands?

Any feedback or advice will be greatly appreciative! I look forward to any.

3.2TLc

Welcome Ducal !!!
Hmmm, yeah the car definitely looks as though it had an economy repaint.
There are shops that specialize in cheap quick paint jobs. The finish appears to be rather dull without any shine or depth. Almost like they skipped the top clearcoat ? Is the entire car's appearance uniformly bland all around ?

Not much ya can really do. Maybe talk to a detail shop about buffing or a paint shop about re-clearcoating, IDK. Debadging may not be a good thing to do until ya get a professional opinion on the car's finish. I'm sure that ya could find someone to paint the spoiler for ya or find a used faded one at a salvage yard.

I'd be more concerned about the mechanicals and tranny at the present time before spending any kind of serious money on the car. A pro repaint is probably cost prohibitive.

ducal

Thanks for the reply there.

I have no idea about car paint so having a second opinion on the fact that it is more than likely a crappy paint job is helpful. The car itself has no issues as far as I can tell for the past few days I've been driving it(except there are no interior lights that come on when I open any doors), and I'm taking it in for a safety test tomorrow; hopefully all is well.

I'm thinking about repainting the car come spring. I know the usual cost for painting an entire vehicle is not really worth it for a 2002 car, but I found a cheap place called Maaco that will do a paint job for under a grand.

I know Maaco will probably do a crappy job too, but I'm fairly satisfied with the way my car currently looks aside from the Acura badge area(that bar of paint really gets to me). Here's what I'm thinking:

1. I can debadge the car; install the unpainted spoiler; then paint the whole car including the newly added spoiler with Maaco for under 1g

2. debadge the car and ask a car detail shop to fix the paint(is this possible?); get the spoiler painted separately

I'm not sure if either of these are a good idea.

01tl4tl

ck out mxxcos work before jumping on the offer!!
IF you do all the prep sanding and dent fixing yourself, they MAY do a decent paint job
BUT
don't expect anything better than what you have now

the rear badges are simply held on with double sided tape
a little dental floss behind them and off they come!

01tl4tl

as a new owner please register the car and you with acura care 1 800 382 2238 x5
call with VIN in hand. ask if all recalls are taken care of

also register online with acura at Acura Owners Site | Exclusive Knowledge, Service, & Benefits and download the free owner manual
It as lots of tips and info you would otherwise spend hours looking for on azine
Can store the radio and nav codes there too