I spent last weekend stripping the wax. claying, re-applying synthetic polymer + wax on my baby. And now I've got a grand to spend making her look mean. Here's the list of things I'm planning on doing:

replace headlights with Type-S and smoke them out
replace the sidemarkers to gray or white
replace the side mirror indicators to gray or white (essentially I want to remove the yellow from my car).
add a trunk lip
smoke out the taillight
add a clear bra

My TL is an Anthracite Metal 08 base. Any tips, ideas, advice on the most effective way going about this? I was thinking of just doing the headlights and the trunk lip so I had enough cash for a clear bra but I'm new to this and dont know if that still comes in under a grand.

 

Save your money.

 

you can save way much more money buy doing things differently...

ie..


open up your headlights you have now... black them out and leave the signal portion clear.

and smoking things =

 

Where do you live at in "Socal"? Socal usually means LA for the majority of the guys on here.

 

Orange County but close enough right?

 

whats the difference between blacking them out and smoking them? and is the yellow portion really that easy to remove?

 

If you ever wanted to take the drive down to oceanside I can help you with the blacking out of your headlights to save you some money for the other mods that you want to do.

 

save money, get drop -> lip kit -> wheels.


Everything else shouldn't matter

 

yes..

here's a before and after i did for a friend


BEFORE



AFTER

 

coilovers, drop, tint.

 

 

beat some hookers

 

i've already got the windows tinted except the windshield. and im actually still liking the stock wheels (even though one of them is dinged up and they did a shoddy job trying to cover it).

as for dropping it i figured it was too expensive to fit into my budget.

 

the A-spec lip kits are definitely sexy. but this is supposed to be a (hopefully) attorneys car the bar willing. so for now i just want the lights to look mean.

 

It all depends on what do you want to do with ur car.

If you like spirit driving get better handling maybe a set of shocks plus springs and a sway bar kit? i think ull be right at 1k

If you want looks, get the headlights, with combo hid fogs. You could also powder coat your oem wheels everything under 1k?

If you want sounds i think the TL sounds are pretty good, but the addition of a 10" sub plus amp and wiring wouldnt hurt at less than 800 bucks.

 

Get a custom plate that says "I SUE U"

Seems pretty mean to me...

+1 on ASpec kit

 

I'm moving up from a 99 Altima so I barely know if I'm going to be able to handle her stock

Again moving up from a 99 Altima with a busted driver side speaker means I'm stoked with how she sounds.

 

lol in this economy I'll take any job really.

 

A-spec + drop.

 

teopeht, it seems that you already know what you want to do then.

 

true, i've got a fairly good idea. i guess i was looking more for advice on how to approach this as i've never actually had any modifications done to my car before.

 

easy,theres already someone that could hook u up to paint the headlamps..u cant go wrong with that...=-)

 

anyone wanna help me black out my headlights and change my sidemarkers? i'll pay the bodyshop i talked to wanted to charge me an arm and a leg to get em done.

 

^if you want to come down to Oceanside I can do it for you. I will just charge you an arm ;p

 

will do, when are you free and do i need to buy the paint and bulbs and stuff before hand? a fun ride down the coast may be good for me

 

Well it all depends on you. I left my sidemarker stock but I am probably gonna get the led switchback towers pretty soon. Just get some black hi temp paint. I have the silicone and epoxy.

 

yeah i want to change the front side markers from yellow to white and the back side marker plastic to gray, you know i can buy those? acura dealership?

 

You can either go to the dealership and pay $100 for the gray ones or you can order them off depo which is a knock off company that produces headlights tailights and sidemarkers.

 

nice, will do but how about changing out the bulbs? i dont think i can send pms, you wanna get in contact with me? i can meet you but i'll probably need to plan ahead for a drive down to oceanside.

 

I dont know about the bulbs in the sidemarker you might have to ask someone else that has changed it.

 

you can always give it to me if you dont know what to do with it

 

Huh no sabe?? What is who giving away I want it ;p

 

he wants my grand :P i talked to the bodyshop and they wanted 250 for install and tried to push another 250 for HID lights. Lights are cool but I didn't want to spend 500 bucks on em.

 

What lights are you talking about? If your talking about headlights I can do that for you all it will cost you is some beer ;p and maybe something to grill.

Not this weekend but nextweekend I will probably having my friends over to get some stuff installed if you want to do it that weekend.

 

the salesman said i think 130 for the headlights and 150 for the fogs. he said if i was going to clear the lights i might as well change them to those 6000k hids or something.

 

clearing your headlights is simple and if you want to change the bulb just order a set of hid bulbs which can run from 60-100 bucks. Just let me know in advance if you need help.

 

sounds good. how long do you think it'll take to do my headlights and sidemarkers? i should be free after the july 4th weekend.

 

^it depends if you wnat to black them out or just clear them.

 

i'd like to black them out unless they significantly reduce visibility of my turn signals. if thats the case then clearing them is fine. does clearing em leave a reflector? or is it just black plastic behind the amber?

 

^it will still look fine you will have some reflective parts left but not much. If you black them out the process takes a little longer because we want to make sure that the paint is dry.