Getting my girl on tuesday few questions

I CANT WAIT!!! I get my black 2011 trd off road DC on tuesday, but I wanted to ask some question(s).

1) I believe they come with 16 inch wheels, lets say in the future I wanted to add bigger tires, in order for me to do this would all I need is bigger rims? like if I wanted 18in tires I would need 18inch rims... correct?

2) How are the stock tires? are they good for snow/rain? and what are some recommended tires to get for the snow? I went on tirerack and they don't have an option for 2011 tacomas -_-

3) What would be a good first mod? I was thinking about just tinting after a month just to enjoy its beauty while stock =]

4) Before I even start looking into a lift, do they harm the vehicle at all in the long run? I was told that it does by many people. However if it really does not, which are the best lifts I can get? only 3"

5)I forgot what their called, but it's those cage type accessories that go on the taillights so if someone hits you they don't break and the one that goes on the front of the car that big bar bumper thing? What are some good ones of those?

I have searched the forums already but.... yeah.

I don't understand why they never put heated mirrors -_-

Oh, and if someone could direct me to a thread already thats all about the black tacoma beauty's(that show pictures of the black tacos), I would really appreciate it. I could not seem to find it (if one even exists)

THANK YOU!!!! in advance.

 

1.yes 2.not very good 3.sliders 4. 3 inch 5.no idea

 

Hi and congrats on your new truck.

Sliders or a new stereo would be my first mod.
Tint on a black truck would look great.
Most people get rid of their stock tires. Mine stunk in the snow and were off the truck as quickly as I could save the money for new ones. It took a couple of months. Some places will buy your stocker new for upgraded tires. I would have done that if places around here did it.
I also run snow tires in the winter.

I don't think I ever have seen a tacoma with the tail light guards. They are not something I have seen here either. Maybe I am wrong

yeah heated mirrors would have been nice. There are threads on here with people adding them, using heated grip elements to full out buying Muth Heated mirrors. It all depends on how much $$$ you are willing to part with.

Trust me if you hang out here you will start spending all kinds of money
Look around here, there is all kinds of info on lifting & upgrading tires. Enjoy the new truck and post up pics if you can.

 

Welcome

just keep coming back here and all your questions will be answered.

of coarse, your wallet may be getting thinner ???

 

There's a guy running around my area that has tail light guards and they look good i think. are these kinda like what you're looking for? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2005...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

 

No. If you want bigger tires, you don't have to get bigger rims. You can get bigger tires for the 16" rims.

 

If you lift 3" you have about a 20% chance of confusing your vehicles VSC (Vehicle Stability Control) system.

The ride will be stiffer. Most folks like that, but not all.

The driveshaft U-joints and CV boots will wear out quicker.

You may get some new vibrations. Most 3" folks do. I do.

Unless you add upper-control-arms as part of your lift (which is a good thing to do, but adds to the buckage and labor) you won't be able to set your alignment back to "stock." You'll have to choose between losing "Caster" which changes how the truck tracks slightly, or having the tech fudge everything to get everything "close as possible" to in spec. That means you'll have suboptimal tire wear. I personally don't have UCAs, and set my Toe and Camber to optimal, with Caster set to "mildly twitchy"

You have to decide what's most important. If you want the look or performance of that lift, and are willing to take the risk of those issues - more power to you. You're certainly in good company! But if the most important thing is a trouble free truck, I wouldn't do that. Pay your money, take your chances. No whining!

There is a middle ground -- you can do a 1 to 1.5" lift pretty safely. To do that, you get bilstein 5100 shocks for the front and install them set at 0.85 or 1.75" (but not 2.5!) and put on a 1.5" add-a-leaf in the back. You still increase the chance of leaf squeak.

Then you can mount 265/75R16 tires or some plus size equivalent. Folks will tell you you can run that size without any lift at all. It leads to a somewhat "stuffed" look and a few who've done it have found that they need to significantly trim or remove their front mudflaps. My local dealer wasn't willing to order that size tire for me unless I was willing to remove the mudflaps if necessary.

All this info and more is available on this forum - just go to the suspension and tires/wheels threads and start reading through the "sticky" threads at the top.

Oh, and here's the black tacoma photo thread. Until last year, "black" was "black sand pearl" so skip to the most recent pages to see the true black trucks.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/15584-lets-see-those-black-sand-pearl-tacos.html

 

Thank you for the information, however when buying new tires do you usually buy new wheels also? I also saw the heated mirrors with blinker which does seem like a very nice mod to do and heated seats as well =] maybe I shouldn't stay around then... I don't want too get an addiction and spend all kinds of money =] and once I get her I will certainly post pictures.

Yeah those are pretty close to them except the ones I saw were chrome, but maybe black and black would not be too bad, thank you.

...THANK YOU for the very informative respones, I think I will stay away from the lift until I learn more about them. I prefer to enjoy the stock for a while and see what happens, I do wanna get new tires on her though. Also thank you for the link I could NOT find it anywhere.

 

I also wanted to ask (maybe a dumb question) but for aftermarket headlights, which are the best ones to go with? I would prefer them to be a lot brighter cause... I always like to have bright lights; so which are some good bright aftermarket lights? also those PIAA lights... could I put them on a stock taco or do I need to buy additional equipment?

Thank You!

 

Don't waste your money on those tail light guards. If someone hits you hard enough to break your tail lights, even with those guards you could still end up doing damage. If you're going for the look, then go for it, but they're not really worth the money if you're looking for protection. Just my $0.02.

You do not have to change the wheels when you change the tires. You can easily put oversized tires on the stock rims. You need to change out the wheels when the tires get too wide for the stock wheels so it depends on how big you want go.

What tires do you have from the factory? Although the stock tires aren't the best, when they're brand new, they perform decent enough for the first winter. Unless you're in a hurry to run out and drop $800, you'll be fine this winter unless you constantly travel desolate, unplowed roads. I ran my stock dunlops through 2 winters and finally swapped them out this past summer.

Lastly, I'll say it, use the search feature on a specific topic and read up. There are a lot of people that are here to help, but if you do the initial reading on your own, you can then ask more specific questions if you still have them afterwards. Welcome and congrats on the new truck!

 

Which PIAA lights, the self-contained units, or just PIAA headlight bulbs in the stock headlights?

Go to the lighting, there's a sticky there called lighting FAQs, read through that, it's got all the basics on aftermarket lighting.

 

there are also 6" kits available and a 4.5"