SF bay off road shops

I am a new member and a new Tacoma owner. Where would you guys recommend I shop for parts and equipment? I live in SF but am all over the bay so East, South, North bay all are in range.

Thanks

 

Internet. Toytec, Wheelers offroad, demello... what are you looking for?

 

Humm http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/bay-area-metal-fabrication/

 

I thought he was more looking to buy accessories or lift..

 

I want to lift, rims tires, supercharge or turbo (not sure), bumpers, the works

My '09 is completely stock right now, but that will change.

 

The problem is, I am new to Tacomas and I really prefer to talk with a knowledgeable mech in person who can tell me the ups and downs of what I want.

This site is great but you guys have a lingo all your own that I havent mastered yet, which makes it a bit difficult to follow sometimes.

Example: Supercharge or turbo, pro's/cons of each, damage possibilities, etc.

 

Thats a simple question. Supercharge is your only option in california. Factory TRD supercharger is the only thing legal in cali. Turbo would have to be a custom kit and will be an utter nightmare and will cost you closer to $10Gs to do right anyways. Fire away on the questions there are more than enough of us who know a lot about this truck. Jerry is the guy for for custom fab work, skid plates, sliders...whatever he has on his forum.

JUST STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM 4 WHEEL PARTS, except for maybe wheels.

 

What's your budget? We can recommend stuff based on your price range and help explain them to you.

 

For suspension stuff Shaffers Offroad in Alameda.

http://www.shaffersoffroad.com/

 

Would buy all parts on line. Downsouth Motorsports was a big help for me. I've also had good experience with Wheeler's offroad. If you want ot go to a shop in person, go talk to JLee. Or make a meet up and a lot of us could give you some really helpful information.

 

Why are turbos illegal? I have never heard that before.

 

Surf the builds of those trucks you like. That's a good start.

I sometimes buy stuff from 4Wheel Parts. Usually when I need it now-though they often have to order at which time; I usually pass. The vast majority of parts have been mail order. Wheeler's Off-Road and Toytec. Shrockworks for the bumper and Amazon for a lot of other stuff.

Wheeler's and Toytec have been awesome with their help. Either on line or via phone. Very happy with both of them.

 

order everything from 4wp, then wait, let the day they were supposed to have it in pass, wait some more, then just wait a little longer, then call them extremly pissed off and get everything 50% off...

Or just go with toytec or wheelers and get your stuff when you need it.

As for talking with someone knowledgeable, you probably aren't going to find a mech that knows more about these trucks than some of the guys on here. You'll probably get a more honest answer from these guys than a local mech who is trying to sell you something. just a thought, I know what you mean about wanting to talk in person, it makes the conversation so much easier than over internets

 

Anything like that.. including even intakes require carb certification to be legal for use in california. the factory TRD supercharger is the only one for the tacoma with this certification. There are turbo kits for some other popular cars that do have CARB certs, but very few as most companies don't want to bother with the bureaucracy of getting them certified. Meaning, if you install a non carb certified kit you will fail smog check. Thats no problem you say. I have a buddy who works at a smog shop! ... well that will get you by for a short while. If any cop suspects you have illegal mods they can write you a ref ticket. Kind of like a special fix it ticket. Well if your kit is legal , you go to the ref who is like a super special state run smog shop, and he says no problem and you pay like a fix it ticket. well..... if your stuff is not certified then you fail ref and your registration is instantly void until you modify your car back to a legal state. The first time you get a ref ticket you can buy your way out of it for like $450. the second time... youre SOL. this is why you see turbo 240s and civics on CL all the time for cheap and they always say for off road use only or buyer has to smog (which is illegal). You get away with illegal intakes for much longer because they are not as obvious as a car/truck with a turbo/SC.

I used to be heavily involved in the import tuner market. The guy over at turbohoses in livermore swaps his entire 650HP engine back to stock before heading to Smog or the ref if he gets a ticket.

 

Thanks for the help guys, I would definatley be interested in hooking up with some of you guys.
Does anyone have a meet up for beers or ginger ale coming up? I would be interested in seeing your builds first hand, totally more useful than reading about it!

 

Buy a car with a turbo already on it Seth!

As for the meet up we should have one in san Rafael corte madera area. Anywhere in the northbay is good with me.

 

Say I put on an ARB bumper/winch, would I need to upgrade my front springs? Same thing with a rear bumper?
I will more than likely upgrade my suspension but thats down the road.

We are coming into winter and I make weekend trips to Tahoe so I want the added protection of heavy duty bumpers for the back country ski trips up logging roads.

Im good with meeting in San Raf, I work in San Mateo so its a bitch with afternoon traffic, but still down.

 

I would upgrade suspension with a front plate bumper. Rear plate bumper you can still keep the stock suspension but i would add a leaf or tsb anyway because the stock pack is pretty weak.