I think I’m going to do that carbon fiber bottom grill piece and get the OEM CF spoiler and call it done. I wonder how well 3M double sided tape stick to PPF. I don’t want to drill the trunk lid. I think it’s a beautiful solid piece design.

 

It should adhere well enough to PPF, just make sure you prep the surface really well and use adhesion promotor for extra bond. At point removing the spoiler would likely lift the PPF as well.

 

Which one on the trunk? From the Inspiration Series? My body shop was supposed to see if he could get one, as he couldn’t find a part number and was waiting on a Lexus Parts Manager. If you’re putting that piece on, tape won’t do it.

 

https://www.lexuspartsnow.com/parts/...781117009.html

 

Tape will work on that one. I’m one of the few people who like the Inspiration Wing a lot. I love the satin paint, but I just don’t think I can live with it. “Shouldn’t”, is probably a better word.

 

My car is not an Inspiration series. I’m not going to be a wannabe. Although, I think I’ve seen that wing available on bespoke as an option before, I don’t see it now.
I want something that I can remove and the OEM CF lip spoiler looks pretty good IMO.

 

I also need to find a set of the 10 split spokes wheels when I grow tired of all this black.
Not my car but I like these wheels ALOT!

 

Those wheels have really grown on me too. I thought I really wanted the split 5-spoke matte black that I ordered and like you have, but for only $40 more instead of $1960 or whatever the 10-spoke is the better choice in hindsight. C'est la vie.

Maybe someone somewhere got those but wanted ours, and you can work out a swap + some cash.

 

It’s not like throwing an M3 badge on a 1995 318is. I’m not sure how it’s a wannabe thing to put a wing on a car. What about satin PPF over white? (How is it different than you turning your chrome to black?) If I could find a wing that looked decent, it’d cost 1/3 of a Lexus part and I’d be thrilled. Anyone changing the door scuff plates that actually say Inspiration Series on them, or buying a fake plaque, is acting like a wannabe.

When I was looking at your car before you bought it, I wasn’t sure about the wheels which have since REALLY grown on me, and I got PMs of people willing to transact.

 

I get it. How about this LCF.

 

No go. I didn’t like it when it was the hottest thing to put JDM badges on cars that have been in North America since new. You’re not driving a Honda NSX or Integra, it’s an Acura. (To be clear, bringing over a 25-year-old Honda NSX is a pretty cool thing.) Anyway, at least with those cars, they were kind of paying homage to a real car. Not my thing, but I understand the concept.

This nonsense of making a car that doesn’t exist just doesn’t work for me. I remember talking some guy out of putting an M badge on an 850csi in the ‘90s. “This is what the M8 would be. It’s got a stick, the big engine, and the M Sport engineers even designed it.” “That’s great, and it’s a beautiful car, but they didn’t make an M8, so this isn’t one. Don’t make a pretty car look stupid.” They’ve since made an M8.

I know a guy with a Z8 that has Alpina wheels on it, so he put Alpina badging on it. It’s a beautiful car, but I shake my head whenever I see it. “That’s not an Alpina Z8, Bud.” That’s just me.

It’s kind of wild how many BMW examples are coming off the top of my head, because an M badge used to mean something. (Alpina still does.) Another guy had a ‘94 325is and put the ENTIRE M3 body kit on it after that car was released in ‘95, but on the rear deck lid, in bright chrome, it said 325is. I didn’t have a problem with it. He wasn’t trying to have something he didn’t. M3 badge? No way. I’m not cool with that. Even a debadged car that is modded to look like a higher trim would be pushing it, in my view. “A lie of omission,” one might claim.

 

Funny that you say that. The 850 CSi was an M8. Hagerty and Jason Cammisa just put out a video about its history. It was sold as an M8 "legally", as in, in Germany, it was listed as sold by BMW Motorsport (not BMW) and was called an M8 on registration documents. The engine is built by M and branded as an M engine but there were no exterior M badges. It got the exact same M treatment as the 325i which then became an M3. It was a weird, baffling decision by BMW to not brand it as an M car. Which is a funny 180 from today where they slap it on everything.

 

You learn something new every day. If the internet had been REALLY around in ‘95, with more than just a few Web 1.0 web sites, I would’ve known that. Fully agreed, and sad, about the 180 on M badging. You used to have to find a salesman at the dealership who knew what an M3 was, and he’d say “I may have one in the back. I’m getting two in next month.” Then, BMW made the mass market push, softening their rides up and adding creature comforts (and weight), and the M3 just became “the best 3-Series” so every salesman would upsell to it, and old ladies would be driving E46 M3 convertibles. It just accelerated from there, where they’d sell “M Appearance Packages” on the cheapest models by adding some wheels with M badges by the bolts. A brand destroyed, from a purity standpoint, while a good marketing move to sell cars, in about a decade.

 

Not the only baged LCF.

I have FBO, and yup, you guessed it



Lou

 

i'll trade ya wheels for my factory 21s.