#ForcedInductionFamily - Project AWD Boosted Honderp

[.RJ]

I'm still not sold on the grille (my wife likes it) so I would like to figure out something there at some point.

Its your wife's car, stop fucking with it :lol:

Car looks sharp, Lee.

RJ, #hondatard for life

[WRXtranceformed]

I'm still not sold on the grille (my wife likes it) so I would like to figure out something there at some point.

Its your wife's car, stop fucking with it :lol:

Car looks sharp, Lee.

RJ, #hondatard for life

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :lol:

[xvxax]

Just had my first tint experience, tint has been a huge hassle. Got quotes, went with the tinter who had better Yelp reviews but odd phone manners. Now 3 of the 5 windows I had tinted need to be re-done due to dirt, bubbles or dust under the tint that aren't going away. These guys also weren't cheap at all and used 3m film which I guess is good. Now I have to work from home to go get my tint re-done for the 3rd time and deal with these guys who hate seeing me come back or admitting fault.

Trust your instincts on the tint shop and get it done once and done right. Every single freaking tint shop reminds me of walking into a custom audio shop in the early 2000s or something, just fully employed by the shadiest acting characters. Interesting experience but yeah, it sucks.

[WRXtranceformed]

It really is frustrating, especially when an establishment has a ton of good reviews. Sorry about your bad experience man. The thing is the vast majority of those online reviews are probably not car people...it's like Sally Sue who just leased her first bimmer and wouldn't know a tint bubble from a hole in her head. Which is why you really do have to trust your "feels" when you trust someone with your car as well as referrals from people in the car community. I don't even trust vendors who have a list of clients with high dollar vehicles. I ran into that when I had to take my car to the body shop last year after I got rear ended by that truck....the shop I went to was supposedly the best in the region and is one of the only Audi aluminum body certified shops in the south. And they did laughable work, I was back there I think 2 or 3 times. They painted over my powder coated exhaust tips...

The guy I settled on for tint was recommended to me by the same friend who recommended my usual shop. He actually does all of the tint work for Acura as well as residential and commercial homes and has been in the CLT car scene since the late 90s. He is willing and able to do the Xpel as well so I'm stoked about that, and he's WAY cheaper for the ceramic tint than what that high line shop tried to quote me for two windows.

[Mike]

I'm still not sold on the grille (my wife likes it) so I would like to figure out something there at some point.

Mod it. Totes. :thumbup:

[WRXtranceformed]

Had an awesome trip to Raleigh in this thing to see my dad and got to hang out with Dan and his mom for lunch. Until leaving the parking garage after dinner I strongly nudged a big plastic pillar that was almost impossible to get around because of how they were funneling traffic with cones out of it Basically just smushed in some of the rear wheel arch and a bit of chipped paint on the bottom of that panel. I have a bad history with parking garages, of the 4 times in my life I have accidentally damaged a vehicle, 3 of them were in parking decks. I was obviously pretty salty because I just love throwing away $500-750 like that but thank God it wasn't in my Jag or I would have gone nuclear. Maybe it will be a blessing in disguise, I will see if they can touch up some of the deep scratches and fix the buffer burn the car came with.

[WRXtranceformed]

Got the tint done on the front two windows and also had the guy do Xpel on the headlights / foglights to prevent them from delaminating / fogging in the future. He also did my Jag headlights:

Flawless install 2 days later:






XFR has a few bubbles around the circular part of the lens still because it hasn't been out in the heat at all, but not bad a few days later:


Tried to get a close up of the bubbles...They will likely disappear when I run the headlights more but some might always remain...They aren't noticeable at all unless you're 6 inches away:

[WRXtranceformed]

Got the rear wheel arch fixed, oil change with Pennzoil Platinum and swapped out all three pressure sensor switches as preventative maintenance, since the shifting was getting a little weird sometimes. Car runs like a dream, much smoother and better throttle response and power delivery than when it had Mobile 1...but that has been my experience with superior oils vs. M1 in the past. Shifting is crisp and perfect now. We took this thing up to the top of the world yesterday in the Pisgah National Forest (about 20-30mins from Asheville / Blowing Rock) and I found probably the best driving roads in my entire life.


No lie, like 10+ miles of uphill and downhill switchbacks, generous and intentionally placed passing zones, my God how did I not know about these roads before? Dropped the car into "S" mode and had my wife grabbing the "Oh-S*&T" handles a few times

I didn't bring the Jag this trip because the last few miles to the parking point were sketchy, rutted dirt roads (thank you TripAdvisor, I would have been pissed if I showed up in my car) and the RDX handled both mediums like an absolute champion. This might be just the perfect CSUV. If only it had a better looking face. There were a bunch of times mid-drive that I was thinking how much the XFR would love that road but it was quickly forgotten with how flat and compliant the RDX was through the esses. They really got the suspension so well done on this thing. And even with the fairly aggressive driving toward the latter half and a bunch of highway driving, we averaged about 22-23mpg. Not bad for a pre-MPG-push vehicle.

[ScottyB]

damn i wish i was there.

have you guys been up into pisgah/nantahala much outside of visiting that mountain property? i could sit in front of a topographic map and build out days and days of driving road adventures just within one of those parks. you are super lucky to be so close!

if you ever want to get the tires a little dirtier i know of a couple interesting gravel roads in the region...been making some trip plans for the scoob these past few years :twisted:

[WRXtranceformed]

damn i wish i was there.

have you guys been up into pisgah/nantahala much outside of visiting that mountain property? i could sit in front of a topographic map and build out days and days of driving road adventures just within one of those parks. you are super lucky to be so close!

if you ever want to get the tires a little dirtier i know of a couple interesting gravel roads in the region...been making some trip plans for the scoob these past few years :twisted:

Yeah the area in general is one of our favorite places to go. We have stayed at a mountain house near Grandfather Mountain before but some of our favorite hiking areas are in those mountains. That 360* panorama view was actually at the top of a fairly strenuous and not well known hike, but well worth the effort. The trails aren't even marked there and it's all kept up by volunteers (Hawksbill Mtn). South Mountain State Park is not far from there either and has some of the best waterfall hiking in the state. We always make it a purpose to set a weird GPS route home and just let the roads take us where they take us...we find cool places like this all the time: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.redbonewilly.com/about-redbone-willy.html">http://www.redbonewilly.com/about-redbone-willy.html</a><!-- m -->

I will be bringing the Jag back to that highway sometime soon, if we can find another good hiking area that is not down a gravel road

Oh man I can't imagine how much fun it would be to huck the RDX around a dirt track...with some good tires I bet it would actually handle itself fairly well!

[WRXtranceformed]

So Rachael casually mentioned that she wouldn't mind if I blacked out her grille with Plastidip. I might just do this real quick before she changes her mind and it gets too cold

[WRXtranceformed]

Blackout grille and foglight surrounds was a success! I actually did the initial plastidip application better than I did on my car. It was my first time using Glossifier and it turned out OK, I couldn't get a clear, good coat in one "wet" application like the guy in the youtube videos did. The only hiccup was we got a little peel over into the grille around the Acura badge but I can touch that up with a paint brush, it's only visible when you get like 6 inches away.

Before spray:



First coat:

3 coats later:



After glossifier and all finished:



Much better! :thumbup:

[*insertusernamehere*]

So when is she gonna sell this and get a cool car? You should actually sell this and give her the Jag. Tell me thats a bad idea?

[Jake]

I didn't hate the silver beak, but this looks good too... the glossifier really makes it look similar to paint. Nice work!

[WRXtranceformed]

Thanks Jake! I probably need some more practice with the glossifier but it turned out OK for my first attempt. The wife loves it so that is good with me :thumbup:

So when is she gonna sell this and get a cool car? You should actually sell this and give her the Jag. Tell me thats a bad idea?

Definitely a bad idea for lots of reasons. But honestly this is a really cool car! It has grown on me a ton since we have owned it. It was such a weird niche car, Acura basically made it for people like us: young couples with a fairly active lifestyle that want to have a larger vehicle but that also want something that is fun to drive. For those who love wagons, it's kind of a like a big turbocharged sportwagon with a lifted suspension. It's surprisingly flat through turns, pretty quick for what it is and doesn't turn bad fuel mileage. Super comfortable, well thought out interior and features, cheap to own and maintain. It's pretty much the perfect vehicle at this stage for us.

[Evan]

holy shit that is heinous. peel it off right now.


as awful as the beak is, its better with contrast

[D_Eclipse9916]

^^^ Ya beat me to it.

[WRXtranceformed]

Ha no chance! We'll agree to disagree on that one. Car looks much better especially in person!

[Kaan]

holy shit that is heinous. peel it off right now.


as awful as the beak is, its better with contrast

doesnt this prove that pontiac was ahead of its time... RIP

[WRXtranceformed]

^^^ Ya beat me to it.

The same passive aggressive comment in two different threads DJ? :lol: