Whatsup guys. First car actually.. looked at everything from new si's to is250's.. ended up with a used TL. Interior is worn and black paint shows some scratches, but hey with 75k miles we drove off for $10,800

Day I got it(7/23/12)

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Went out for a wash and took a few shots, thats my dads 5 series



I had to redo the side molding on the drivers side door but it started to peel in the carwash.. took all the moldings off and worked forever to get the sticky stuff off the doors. Was gonna post pics but it rained

To do list:

• Seat upholstery
• paint or plasti dip the rims
• tint
• idk yet...

 

Welcome to AZ. Plenty of potential with it

 

Looks Good! Congrats! By Redo, do you mean replace them back on the car? I would leave them off, unless the paint underneath the moldings is different compared to the rest of the car.

 

Very nice! Is it a 6MT? The paint looks in much better condition than mine, however mine's getting resprayed as we speak. Also, do you have any cracks in your dash?

 

Thanks! I've already been exploring the forums for DIY's and such

I've actually just taken them off and am gonna leave them off. There's dirt and still a little residue to get off because my cleaning was delayed by the rain but i'll post a pic tomorrow to show how it turned out

Naa its auto. Thanks about the paint though! it looks better in pictures than in person.. there's a lot of tiny scratches. And yeah i should post pics of the interior. On the passenger side theres a few cracks together and on the drivers side too

 

Looks really clean, Welcome to the forum!

 

welcome man.

 

Nice looking ride-welcome to Acurazine.

 

thanks guys! Until a get a job the mods will be subtle. Im gonna try to get some pics with friends supercharged si in the next few days just to show some shots

 

Congrats! Nice pick up!

 

Thanks!

Heres an update on the removal of the side moldings. Theres some residue/dust/dirt something I can't really tell what it is but I can't get it off. Ive used goo gone and a lot of elbow grease and still nothing. The first pic shows the water sort of catches on the sticky stuff, and the other two are drier pics of the actual residue on the door

 

^ needs a good clean and buff afterwards.

 

Looks good.. welcome to AZ!

 

use some wax this is good man

 

Yeah definitely im hoping it'll make the scratches look better haha. I love black up close it sure does show imperfections

thanks! glad to be on here

I'll look into waxing. I have some in my garage somewhere. I can only work in the early morning and night but at night i don't have too much light. This SC heat is something series in the summer.. we're averaging a high of around 100 this week

 

You're probably going to want to find an orbital and buff that out. I'm almost positive waxing won't hide that.

Look into buying a Porter Cable; they're quite a good investment.

 

+1, Best investment for black vehicles. An orbital buffer will take care of that residue. Use a compund, then follow up with a polish and wax/sealant afterwards.

But beware, a clean NBP causes severe OCD

 

After attempting wax and reading this.. I totally agree haha it did nothing. I'll look into it thanks for the advice!

I'll look into getting one i might have one around somewhere.. i'm so unorganized i don't know if anything can give me OCD haha. But the small scratches and handprints definitely are getting on my nerves!

Update:

Attempted a headlight restoration wet sanding with 1000 and 2000 grit.. doesn't look much different than before they weren't too bad to start off with though



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Thought I'd show some pictures of the interior because I plan on getting the front seats restored soon







The back seats were reupholstered/replaced by the previous owner



My mom(im still in hs) touched up the faded paint on the steering wheel emblem.. looks okay better than the clear plastic



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Also this is really annoying me right now. Any way to fix it?

Drivers side front wheel


Passenger side taillight



Sorry for all the pics. Its been an exciting few days so far. Looking to get the seats reupholstered and tint soon

 

After wetsanding, hit it up with an orbital, and you will see a day and night difference.

ex.

They could actually probably use one more pass, but here's mine after wetsanding/buffing:

 

Got one just this weekend as well. Same color...Enjoy man, I know I will!

 

ouchhhh That interior really hurts!

Definitely look into getting the front seats reupholstered...


IMO I'd rather have higher miles than an interior that worn. I'm guessing the sold it to you based on the mileage.

 

http://sarasota.craigslist.org/pts/3162291949.html or u can buy it look better and cheap

 

I actually found an orbital in my garage so I'll probably do that tomorrow in the a.m.!

Heck yeah! Ill be checking in to see how you're doing with it!

Yeah the big sell was the mileage. Dealers were selling 05 and 06's with 100k+ for 16k. Good interior of course. For only 450 to redo the front seats I don't think I'm too bad off

Theres not much selling anywhere in SC closest place to really look on craigs to get parts is Charlotte which isn't too far but I got quoted $450 to reupholster like five minutes from my house that's what I'm probably gonna end up doing

Thanks for all the comments guys!

 

An update for toady. Decided to plasti dip the stock rims black just to see how it looks and to get a feel for spray painting in case i want to go permanent. Looks pretty decent in my opinion except the fact that my calipers are rusted as heck...

My trusted Indian friend



Started around 8pm ish


It quickly got dark haha working with the only big light i had




I feel like they look gunmetal ish but here they are back on the car.. my calipers make it look horrible but we didn't finish this whole fiasco until around 1230 so painting those has to wait for another day

 

not feeling the plasti dip rims.... i'd paint them a gloss black if you are not gonna buy new rims. or a gunmetal. and wow what the hell did the prev. owners do to that interior? x2 on the buffing of the headlights. and there is a drill attachment that 3m sells its like a yellow rubber that will get that residue off where the moldings were

 

Welcome and congrats!

Those wheels look like Keep them stock until you lower the car or get the A-Spec kit.

 

Yeah the flat black isn't looking good at all haha. I plasti dipped mainly just to get used to the idea of painting rims.. All a learning experience. Im gonna return them to stock soon I leave for camp tomorrow so I won't yet. I'll look for that attachment when I get back also. The side molding stuff is really bothering me.

Interior wise.. I think the car was kept 100% outside all its life but other than that I have no idea how it got worn that much

haha yeah i think they do too. with my budget lowering and the lip kit aren't next on the list of mods so I think I'm just gonna get the wheels back to stock and wait until i can get some $ for lowering or the kit.

Thanks for the opinions guys! I really wasn't feeling the rims but its good to have other people agree haha

 

Nice updates-keep up the good work!

 

Thanks! I wish I had as many mods as listed in your sig haha.

Update:

Took the plasti dip off. It was such a pita i almost called up Fonzie from DipYourCar.com... not really but his videos on youtube are interesting.





Its pretty much off except around the lugs. Leaving for camp tomorrow morning I'll have to get it off when I come back thursday

 

That's what I love about plastidip. If you paint your rims and hate it, you can just take it off.

Nice looking car. What's next on the list for mods?

 

Just got back from a cross country camp in the mountains.. so sore from running too much. Next up is either tint or fixing the seats idk which yet

 

I would definitely get those seats taken care of first!

 

ahhh decisions. I need a job for everything I wanna do!

I cleaned it up today decided to take some shots

the fams cars


my moms '12 tsx.. drives so nice makes me want a new car

 

Agressive 5-series!

 

its a completely stock 528i haha. I prefer tsx>tl>528when it comes down to driving. the bmw feels too heavy to me

 

The exterior looks good, now time to focus on the interior.

 

Congrats on the purchase! Time to work on that interior!

 

Still not enough $ to do anything interior wise. Decided to take a few shots since it drizzled and the rain was looking kinda cool on the wax. Oh and some ducks showed up







AFLACK!!

 

Looks like the ducks need a ride!

 

hahah i tried my best to get close to them but they ran in the water too quickly. I need to find some better places to shoot