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Acura MDX Accessories and Modifications
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Comments
As for the self installs, the side steps/running boards seem straight forward enough, as all holes are pre-drilled at the factory. The Tailgate deflector, on the other hand, requires you to drill thru the paint . .. . I'm with chen and kinda leery of putting holes in a $41K car .. .. (not to say it can't be done.)
Good Luck!
What brand dvd-r did you use? I tried Princo in my MDX I got today and they didn't work? Thanks!
I intended to add the fender flairs , front bumper and spoiler myself.
I am looking for opinions.
What does anyone think of adding these trim items colored sandstone or burnished bronze instead of color matching the Aspen white? After that I was thinking of switching hardware with the gold package.
Any thoughts?
Trying to turn in your MDX into an Eddie Bauer Edition? I'd forego any of these gaudy treatments. They just take away from the clean lines. My color of choiceis Silver over Black with white over gray coming in second. They may not turn heads, but they retain their value better than trendy colors. You can always dress the look up with a nice set of non-stock rims and tires, but I'd leave the body configuration alone. Just my opinion, not the gospel word.
http://www.handa-accessories.com/e/MDX/08L33-S3V-200F.pdf
when I want to install one bracket assembly using 4 flange bolts, I find only 2 holes, so where do two other bolts go?
Please let me know how to install side steps if you have experience in installing side steps or you already have in your car and can take a look at under your MDX.
Thanks
I am not sure I follow your question. The instructions show 4 bolts used to attach bracket B, 4 to attach the bracket to the car and 4 more to attach the step to the bracket. Each bracket has to be assembled separately before you attach it to the vehicle...maybe that is where you are confused?
I put the brackets together the night before and then attached everything to the car the next day. When it says to only tighten the brackets to the car 3/4 threads it means it...I thought I would get ahead and tighten them more, the brackets need to be loose in order to slide the steps onto them for attachment...I had to back out all the brackets to make it loose enough to get my boards to fit on top and then re-tighten them.
You will need a torque wrench. $60 at sears and it is a good investment anyway.
This interests me because I am removing the side steps from my '04 MDX and plugging back the holes with new clips.
I do see the 4 mounting holes under the car for each bracket (3 brackets per side). 2 are close to the edge and the other 2 a little further in underneath the vehicle on a structural frame.
According to instructions, there are only 6 clips per side which presumably are to prevent dirt accumulation.
Are the plastic clips covering the 2 holes at the edge or the 2 further in?
If not, has anyone modified their MDX stereo to accept the mini-jack? I think the best place to put it is the well storage between the front seats. It would be nice not to have to use the cassette adapter.
Thanks
As to which will go better, that's up to you: the chrome will match the door handles, and the satin will match (kinda) the wheels. I got the chrome with my sagebrush pearl, and am happy with that choice.
Good luck!
Note the instructions on Hondacuraworld and other websites are for 2003, you must email them to get 04 instructions which are slightly different. There are less bolts on the 04 installation of side steps because only the front bracket on each side is two pieces the other two are now a one piece bracket. I completed the install in about 3 hours after, getting the correct instructions! I bought a mechanics creeper from Sears for 25 dollars that made the install much easier. Quick tip, to knock out the plugs in the body, tap the center of the plugs with a knife point. The plastic tab in the center breaks and the tab pops right out. Make sure to leave the brackets loosely screwed together until you have all bolts in, this makes the job very easy.
On to the grille and gold emblems.
The bumper is a real shocker,definitely light weight plastic. The really bumper is heavy weight steel underneath the plastic and you do not touch that. After removing the screws, bolts you realize that the bolts are just screwed into very light weight plastic. I laid the bumper on my creeper and this set it high enough to allow me to remove the fog lights. The instructions are a little vague here. I actually took the lamps out of there housing by turning them 1/4 turn. This was easier than pulling the wiring harness off. I got the bumper off in less than 30 minutes, being very careful. Installing new grille was a snap. (Really light weight plastic, they really make money on these accessories). It took me about 10 minutes to put the bumper back on, except for one "bolt" that did not want to thread back into its cheap tin clip that is actually attached to very light weight plastic. Be careful when putting these bolts back in so you will not over tighten or rip plastic. Emblems were as instructions say, just floss them off and remove adhesive and replace. Once again, you realize that Acura makes big bucks on this lightweight plastic. Still everything looks great in the end. I am an average handyman at best and had no problems with this. The creeper really made things easy. I rested the side step on my lap while rolling my legs under the MDX and this made the side step easy to align and attach.
The cargo cover is a no-brainer; I can't believe some dealers try to charge an "installation" fee! It just snaps into two slots in the interior's sides! You just push in the end of the cargo cover and keep it pushed down so it can pop into place.
The wood grain trim kit just requires patience in aligning the pieces, and some prep work in cleaning the areas so that the adhesive sticks well.
Arguably the most difficult item in your list are the rear splash guards. Two of the screw and clip combos are pretty easy to put in. The third is a bit of a nuisance because the tire gets in the way of most screwdrivers. It helps to have a very short screwdriver or one of those that let you screw from the side. Some folks have removed the tire to make it easier! Some folks just leave out the third screw.
The MDX box might not be not be bad also, if you don't want to muck around with drilling a new box (mine is several years old, so modifications don't worry me).
You could also email yakima and Thule just to be sure.
Does anyone have reccomendations on brand and models? Also, any installation tips would be great.
Has anyone considered making modifications to the brakes on their MDX?
Brake feel won't change with better tires, but my experience has been that much shorter emergency stopping distances have resulted when I put better tires on my cars.
Moon roof visor: Careful of the clear grease within the moon roof itself. It's CLEAR, if you accidentally get some on your arm or hand you will have it all over your roof. This was easy to install, only took about 10 minutes.
Air deflector: Be sure to know the parts before you start! There were two screws that had a semi clear bushing on them so I mistook them for a different set of screws.
Attaching the two side supports: The directions call for you to measure 15mm from the front edge of the hood. Forget that Try attaching the supports first to the air deflector with the appropriate screw and then attach the visor to the hood you can use a piece of white soap to mark the edges of the supports so they line up properly. I made the mistake of following the directions and holes in the unit weren’t accurate. I had to twist the screw sideways into the hole.
This weekend I will be tackling the body side moldings. I think I will use the soap line method for that install and see how that works. Has anyone else already installed these? Do you have any tips?
The Acura dealership wanted $98/hr to install accessories Yeah right!!!
If someone has done the installation, please post detailed instructions.
Thanks
Good Luck
I did install the moonroof visor, front air deflector and the cargo tray cover myself. The visor and cargo tray were no-brainers. The air deflector has some tricks that you really only learn until you have done one.
Good luck!
There have been a lot of posts regarding whether these fit on the truck in the past, so I finally got around to putting it up there. It would probably been easier if I had a template, the Thule site just says you have to drill holes.
The FormFit is much more attractive than the Acura-issue one, IMHO.
Pricing varies depending upon type of coverage you chose, installer, type of film, etc.. Regardless, this is probably the most expensive option. Plan on spending $600+ if you opt for full coverage for MDX. You can get the qualified installers/quotes from www.3M.com and www.Xpel.com. 3M is the film manufacturer. Xpel is a pattern maker working with 3M.
This is definetly not a DIY. If you decide to go DIY, you will probably end up costing you more at the end because it is easy to mess up the kit during install. For professional installer, they can pattern out a new kit using a bulk role film. If you mess up, you'll have to purchase another kit which will then completely wipe out any savings and actually put you in a hole. My professional installer had to go through several kits just to get it right. Highly recommend getting a reputable installer in your area.
There are severl paint protection film manufactures; 3M, Avery, Llumar, and Venture. 3M seems to be in the business the longest but each installers has their preference and recommendation.
Does anyone know what is involved in removing the original simulated wood inserts and then replacing them with the new real wood inserts? Additionally, do you think that this replacement of OEM parts would cause any problems for us at the end of the lease?
I know Honda/Acura is linked to XM, but they don't have the NFL which is why I'm going with Sirius. Also, if anyone did install satellite, where did you mount the receiver?
Three of my last 6 cars have not had body side molding (including my MDX). There hasn't been a noticeable difference between cars with or without.
One of my current vehicles, with body side molding, has dings above and below the molding, as well as a mark on the molding.
My Cruiser received two dings in the driver side rear door on the same day. Only one would have been prevented with molding. Paintless dent repair removed these two dings, plus another large one on the front fender. The cost was $50.
My Acura dealer put a dent in my MDX's door with the door of another vehicle. The dent was much lower than where the body side molding would have been, so the molding would not have helped. Paintless dent repair worked.