Hey guys happy to finally be posting here. Up until this point I had been driving an 01 TL which just had it's tranny go for a third time, I know it had the recall and is one of the worst years, but I stilled considered myself an TL fan. Didn't like the 4G design, my mom even drives one lol, but was finally able to track down an 07 Type S. It only had one owner for 9 years with no modding, but that's about to change. I've read a lot on here and researched even more, with that I've decided what all I want to do performance wise and how I want it to look and sound, but have a few questions still.

First, let my show you what we're working with, I didn't want to crowd the post so I made an imgur album:
Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

I like the stock look a lot, I want it to still look luxury, but have the quality of life driving mods, and have it sound moderately aggressive. Keeping that in mind,here are my questions:

1. I want to plastidip the emblems and grill to change the vibe of the car moreso from shiny chrome to darker gunmetal tone that is closer to the wheels. I read the "gunmetal" plastidip isn't actual the color, and to use anthracite instead. Here's how it would look, I found this on the dipyourcar forums, shouts out to the user there Bucks13 who I borrowed these from:





Before dip




After dip emblems 1




After dip emblems 2




Before dip




After grill 1




After grill in darker light

and one more



Do you think this would go well with the ASM I have; color, texture, and shimmer wise? I'm on the fence but was thinking maybe a base coat or after finish could help with that possibly?

2. Note the side trim on my car, I have the indented line that runs along the side signal light to the door handles but also a corresponding parallel piece of trim lower down. I was thinking to remove it completely, but then the idea struck me to plasti dip it too, but that would probably look too tryhard wouldn't it lol?

3.Concerning the mods, I'm somewhat on a budget I don't really feel comfortable spending around 400 ish at a time, but at the same time I want to get the mods in the most complimentary and highest utility order, if that makes sense. I'm thinking: tint, plasti dip, mid muffler delete, DC Sports CAI, Progress RSB, UR pulley, spacers, maybe a ATLP V2-R and doubtfully the A-Spec suspension. Does this seem like a good plan to achieve that balance I spoke of earlier?

Anyways I know it was long but thanks for reading. Be expecting my progress thread soon!

 

That looks good....nice pick-up!

 

Thanks, I almost gave up on finding. I drove 3 hours to Alabama for it!

 

I don't want to sound rude by saying this but please don't Plastidip everything on the car. Just because you can doesn't mean that you should. Clean and classy is key If you decide to do the emblems, the color and finish would be fine. Either leave the Bodyside Moldings or remove them...PlastiDip would bring unnecessary attention to them.

The first thing I've always done with my vehicles is window tint. Next I would suggest researching the A-Spec kit and seeing if you like the look. If you do, go ahead and grab it before it's discontinued. For around $800 shipped it's already painted and has all of the necessary installation parts and it totally changes the look of the car. After that, there isn't a right or a wrong. Just don't rush into anything...do your research and ask around.

 

No offense taken lol, you're right though and had come to that same conclusion as well. I do want to take them off, do I go about it the same way I do the emblems? Will the paint be messed up?

As for the A-Spec it makes the car look too bulky to me, so I think I will hold off for the moment.

 

Congratulations on the pick up. I just picked an ASM 07 Type S too. Good luck with the mods. I live in Decatur too.

 

I would leave them on to ensure placement is correct. I hate seeing cars with emblems misaligned

Use some newspaper to mask off the trunk and use painters tape for easy removal. Do multiple light coats instead of one or two heavy coats. Don't rush!

 

Really?!? I'm actually in Brookhaven, Small world man, I was looking for some fellow owners out here. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get yours from, I only ask because I put in some work looking too. You planning to do anything on yours?

I was planning to box off the emblems in masking tape so it would pretty much serve as the alignment, but I'll probably do this and only take off the "TL" to spray since I'm placing it where "Acura" is currently.

 

So far I have tinted my windows, changed out my fog light bulbs, added a radar detector. I am in the process of getting all of my parts together for my timing belt replacement. I bought mine from Carmax.

As soon as i finish my service I will be replacing my suspension, rolling my fenders, & replacing my wheels.

 

Glad to hear you're putting maintenance before mods You're off to a good start daddy-o

 

plasti dip errthang!! even the driver

 

Sick, I just got my Asin timing belt in last week, haven't found time to get it changed out yet. I may have to check out some of your mods some time and get your opinion on them and see them in person. Are you getting the body kit?

I naturally already have a chocolate dipped coat

 

I haven't decided yet if I am going to do the A Spec kit yet

 

Finally got all my chrome dipped, well most of it at least. I went with anthracite then went over with a couple layers of metalizer.

I have some before pics for comparison, then a couple showing how I went about it, then the finished product.

































Roof spoiler from BWMOEMShop off Ebay

 

Wow, everything turned out really well.

 

Thanks! I'm going to experiment with the chrome inlays I have on the handles and the fog light housing bars and see if I like them dipped or not. I have a few more mods in mind too. Is there anyway I can get the topic renamed, or atleast the "few mod questions" part removed, I'd like it to be like a normal progress thread

 

may as well plasti dip the whole car now

 

Eh the chrome is just too flamboyant for me. Different strokes for different folks, right?

 

 

Buda did it....it actually looked pretty damn good.

 

Cleaned up my trunk a little.

I'm in love with how the car looks, I always turn back to stare as I walk away, does luster ever wear off lol?

 

I still look back at mine all the time, I hope that never wears off lol

 

since I have a silver TL as well, that was one of my first forays into plastidip...plastidip the grille.

No matter what color combination i came up with, it did not look good with the silver...

it looks best with the factory black chrome.

 

or paint matched

 

^ i super like the contrast between the chrome and the grey part. believe me, i tried...there is NO combination that looks great.

and I have a similar theme going on with my car too, silver and grey. but the nose or grille cant be grey or silver.

 

wait, but your car is 04-06 justn so you dont have the black chrome like the S does.

Did you swap them? the 04-06 trim is more flat which does indeed look great on the silver model TL's as it looks basically paint matched already

 

I see you know the dilemma well, Justin. I feel similar, I think it's the shimmer of ASM, the chrome backing of the lights, and the chrome fog bars that make it clash so hard. Even still, I just absolutely could not stand having the A on the grill and the one on the trunk NOT match.

I'm actually super obsessive over things like this, so I've been throwing around a lot of ideas in my head and looking to the grill pics thread for ideas. I was thinking of taking the lipstick off and color matching the hood; made some mockups too, for right now though, it will do.
.

 

for what its worth to ya heres my grille

 

I has type-s bumper.

 

Can someone please please please tell me how 06tl4life's grill below is set up. He sold his TL and hasn't logged in a couple of years, it looks like he color matched the chrome grill trim but he didn't specifically say it, trust me, I searched. I was thinking. Here it is for reference:

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-p...en-fun-891155/

 

 

Dem door strips doe

 

But..but..the dealership told me they add character!

 

^^^ LoL....

 

Big update. Added some "Acura" inlays, added 7 color LED footwell lights, and changed the rest of the lights white.

 

Wow, that looks good-you've been busy.

 

Settled on a grill combo. What do ya think?

 

^i think it needs contrast! especially the bar that goes across through the A.

but that's just me....if you like it, obviously keep it.


if you like it dark like that, MIGHT as well go for the "open shark" look or you can buy the grille from ebay, search C-mod grille.

remember, auto designers use black to hide or to create depth.
when you black out the grille like that, it's creating an illusion that there isnt anything there...thus my suggestion of going with the C-mod grille

 

While I may eventually go with the C-Mod, I would still do it in anthracite, I think it complements the paint better than black.

Speaking of complementing the paint, I really HATE the turn signals on our side view mirrors, what can I do about them?

 

Nice