Project: TL Type S

[WRXtranceformed]

Went in to have my pads changed and fluid flushed (my friend is a tech at the local Honda dealership) and discovered that at some point in the past the previous owner had taken it to a generic brake shop that overtightened the caliper bolt and stripped out the threads in the caliper. It was barely being held on for like 20,000 miles. Apparently Acura doesn't do an in-depth look at critical systems when they go about the CPO process, they just check the pad depth and rotor life. Acura of course wouldn't warranty it because it was a worksmanship defect from a previous mechanic (no documentation that the wheels had ever been removed at Acura, Honda has never serviced my brakes).

So, an order in to acuraoemparts and $300 later, I had a brand new driver's side caliper. At least my boy did the labor for free on the caliper replacement.

Brakes feel much less spongy now with the fresh fluid and new pads. I decided to try out the Autozone Duralast Ultralast CMAX ceramic pads because I've heard really good things about them from the EVO crowd and they have a lifetime warranty (apparently you can bring them back when they get worn out and they will replace them at Autozone anyway for life). I'll be doing the front rotors eventually.

Mostly going to be routine maintenance at this point on. I'm getting to that stage in life where I'd prefer to pay off debt instead of letting it drag on I'm also starting to consider the possibility of me getting married eventually... I KNOW WTF! Anyway, next oil change I'll be replacing the 3rd and 4th gear pressure sensor switches on the transmission. A guy on the TL forums has a built GNX that he races, and his tranny builder took his TL's tranny apart and found that it's actually built to stand a good bit of abuse and extra power. The problem though is that those pressure sensor switches fail and cause all kinds of damage to the tranny. They're $75 total, so it's cheap insurance and I have been noticing some sloppier bump shifts from the transmission lately even though I don't race or really ever push the car that hard.

My buddy just had a new type of tint applied to his windshield that doesn't hurt visibility but eliminates 60% of UV and IR rays. He said that it made a huge difference in how hot his car gets with our summer down here. I may give it a go if it really doesn't affect visibility at all. I do still plan to remove the mid muffler at some point and if I have an extra 400 bucks burning a hole in my pocket at some point in the future I may still pick up a j-pipe to pick up around 10whp/13 torques. And I will eventually get the massive scrape on my rear bumper repainted haha